The Sounds of Mistresses

 

Music is a powerful tool.  It sets a tone and can instantly change a mood.  It can transport the listener back in time.  Superfans of The Sopranos could tell you that “Don’t Stop Believin” was playing when the series concluded.  The screen abruptly cut to black after the words “don’t stop.”  In that scene, as well as in others, the music is carefully selected to aid in the meaning making process.  In this essay, I will explain how the musical selections in the finale for the show Mistresses were able to enhance the viewer’s understanding of the characters, foreshadow that something bad was going to happen, and manipulate the audiences’ feelings by taking them on an emotional rollercoaster by using uplifting and depressing music.

 

Anything could happen.  The four main characters were facing uncertainty in their lives.  All of the choices they had made or were about to make were going to have major ramifications on their lives.  The first scene of the final episode begins with up-tempo Synthpop music.  It sets the mood.  A hand reached out to test the water temperature in the shower.  My first thought was, “This is totally going to be a sex scene.”  I was wrong. The person in the shower came into focus.  It was Karen, the psychiatrist, with a calm look on her face.  In the previous episode she was completely devastated because she found out her medical license was suspended for six months.  Later, her business partner confessed he was the one that had turned her into the board and that when her suspension was up she was going to have to find another practice to work at. #Betrayed. The camera cuts to the next scene as a female voice began singing “Stripped to the waist we fall into the river…”  The song was “Anything Could Happen” and could not have been a more appropriate choice.  April, the store owner, was lying in bed about to fall asleep when she became fixated on the picture of her ex-husband on the night stand.  With a quizzical look on her face, she flipped it over.  She was trying to decide whether she should take him back after he faked his death and disappeared for 3 years.  Next up is Joss.  She was pacing in her room while calling her sister’s estranged husband trying to get back the paternity test results he stole from her room in the previous episode.  And last not but least Savi, the center of the show, made an appearance.  It was her birthday and someone sent her a bouquet of flowers with an unsigned card.  Who were they from!  Were they from her estranged husband she had finally decided to let go of or were they from the hunk that might have impregnated her?  Cue the song ending with some high pitched screeching notes and the audience got just as excited to find out who the flowers were from.

 

            Oh no you didn’t. The girls met at April’s store to celebrate Savi’s birthday. There was the faintest song playing in the background. Most of the words were impossible to hear, but the song is called “Oh my” and ‘oh’ and ‘my’ are about all that is detectable.  The girls did not send the flowers. Uh oh.  It just had to be one of the guys!  More oh my moments followed.  Savi admitted that kissed the guy she had an affair with!  April admitted she made out with her ex-husband and was considering taking him back!  After the girls piled on her and warned her she would be making a mistake, she called them out on their lying and cheating.  The music starts to get a little dark, slow and suspenseful.  The moment Joss changed the subject the music got a little higher and mischievous.

            The signal that danger is on the horizon is characterized by ascending sound and pulsation.  Dark music is played when Karen finds out her nemesis is crazy.  The music becomes louder and starts to pulsate when Karen is the center of an argument between the mother (the nemesis) and son of one of her former patients.  As the son walks through the house looking for his mother the slow music accented with chimes picks up pace.  When he discovers the gun is missing, the music crescendos.

            The final ten minutes of the episode was where the manipulation occurs.  Ironically, a song called “Saturday Smile” was meant to evoke sadness.  Savi had been in a bad car accident and was in critical condition.  She survived and so did her baby.  Her estranged husband rushed to the hospital.  He knew that he was not the father, but after he saw her so close to death he decided that he chose her.  He was now willing to help raise another man’s child.  As he stroked her hair, the song began to play, “I've stolen all the stars to make a wish we can fly. Away, away up high to that old place in time.”  Yes, he was willing to take her back.  The camera cuts to the emergency room and April’s (back from the dead) husband was consoling her and Savi went over to lend support to her sister’s baby’s daddy.  But wait, there’s more.  The earlier foreshadowing of danger came through.  Karen is being held hostage by her former patient’s ex-wife.  She wanted to force her into committing suicide. The son broke into Karen’s place to try to save her.  His mother admitted she killer her father.  Shit got real!  He lunged at her.  “Saturday Smile resumed.  “I think it's love. That gets us through. All our goodbyes. So when we die. Think of love. I'll think of love. And thoughts of you. To lay me down. I think it's love.”  Someone got shot! And while the song is playing, back in the hospital, Savi began to flatline!

            As you can see, music plays a big part in how a TV show can make us feel.  It tells the intent of the character by playing music.  It sets a mood by bring a high energy song or a slow paced one.  It makes laughter possible or crying.  Mistresses succeeded in enhancing the show’s meaning by having good use of sound and a good song selection that sometimes had double meaings.