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The observer | WEDNESDAY, march 31, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
By WILLOUGHBY THOM Associate Scene Editor
On March 24, 2021, the amazing Jessica Walter passed away at 80 years old. Walter was an American actress who appeared in over 170 film, telev ision and stage productions, but she is most famously know n for her role as Lucille Bluth in the series “Arrested Development.” I was heartbroken to hear the news of her death. Lucille Bluth is my favorite telev ision character ever created. “Arrested Development” wouldn’t be the same w ithout Walter’s incredible work as Lucille. The telev ision show, “Arrested Development,” was critically acclaimed, but received mixed rev iews by the public; it was a highly character-driven comedy and would be considered a cult classic. The show was pure w it and Lucille Bluth was the queen. Prior to her role on “Arrested Development,” Walter had a prolific career in the arts. She was born in Brook ly n, New York, attended the New York Cit y High School of Performing Arts and studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse
By JOHN CLARK Scene Writer
Opinions on this topic var y dramatically depending on who you ask, but I think meme-ification is one of the greatest honors a song can receive. Something about a song has to resonate deeply w ith people to prompt them to, for example, record themselves singing it in the Goof y’s voice. “Bring Me To Life,” the 2004 breakout hit by Evanescence, is a classic in my book. It was one of the defining songs of the 2000s and heralded the transition from the nu-metal and postgrunge — which defined the most prominent strain of early 2000s American alternative music — to the anthemic emo pop-punk proliferated by My Chemical Romance and the artists signed to Fueled by Ramen. Evanescence was always about taking the pounding drums and monolithic guitar sludge of grunge and metal, and adorning it w ith gothic aesthetics to craft stages for Amy Lee’s transcendent vocals. In “The Bitter Truth,” Evanescence’s first album of original material in over a decade, the band uses their formula to craft songs that manage to sound both colossal and intimate. “The Game is Over” is an anthem about being yourself and bearing your scars for the world to see. The bass on this track has an electronic tinge
School of the Theatre in New York Cit y. She began her career on Broadway, which led to her w inning a Clarence Der went Award for Outstanding Debut Performance in 1963, and made her film debut nearly one year later in the neo-noir drama “Lilith.” In addition to her prominence in cinema, she began to work in the telev ision industr y after her first T V role as Julie Murano in “Love of Life,” running from 1962 to 1965. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Walter appeared in a my riad of telev ision shows, and in 2003 to 2006 she appeared as a regular role as Lucille Bluth on Fox’s “Arrested Development.” If you are unfamiliar w ith comedy series, Lucille was the matriarch of the Bluth family and was know n to be a scheming alcoholic. However, not w ithstanding Lucille’s unhealthy habits, tox ic inf luences and snobbish tendencies, she was the backbone of the fictional Bluth family and the show as a whole. Her incredibly memorable one-liners such as, “I don’t understand the question, and I won’t respond to it” and “Go make a star war,” as well as iconic mannerisms like her amazing w inking skills and her love for Gene Parmesan, w ill go
dow n in histor y. Walter’s character was an unfriendly and cold indiv idual, but this wasn’t what she was like in real-life. According to her daughter, Walter was the opposite of Lucille: “A nice and boring person.” Unfortunately, the series was canceled in 2006, but it was rev ived in 2013 and 2018 by Netf lix. The reboot wasn’t as good as the original episodes, but Netflix brought the show back to life despite the negative reviews it received in the early 2000s. Nevertheless, Walter’s work on “Arrested Development,” whether you are a big fan or not, will be remembered as one of the greatest characters of our time. In addition to her role as Lucille, she was also the voice of spymaster Malory Archer on the FX animated series, “Archer.” As I sit writing this retrospective, the portrait of Lucille Bluth on my desk elegantly stares back at me with a drink in her hand, mid-wink. I hope she knows how much joy she brought to the people who have seen and continue to watch her incredible work in film, television and theatre.
reminiscent of Primal Scream’s landmark 1991 album “Screamadelica,” a milestone for the integration of house and rock music. “The Bitter Truth” takes cues from other bands that experimented w ith electronic music elsewhere in the album, such as w ith electronic pulses on “Better Without You” and the bouncy bass-line on “Yeah, Right,” which is distinctly reminiscent of Radiohead’s “My xomatosis.” “Yeah, Right,” is one of the standout tracks on the album, not on account of its qualit y, but because of its mood and st yle. It’s a distinctly fun track on which the band operates outside of their t y pical rhy thmic wheelhouse. The lighter and sassier ly rical content about their experiences being in a band and nav igating the music industr y allows them to groove in a way that wouldn’t be appropriate for the grav itas demanded by Amy Lee’s t y pical song w riting. It also has a killer guitar solo, which is always fun. “Wasted on You” is another highlight. It opens w ith just Lee’s voice and piano, and the band adorns it w ith a dreamy arrangement, reser v ing the guitar crunch for the choruses, which grants them greater weight. The track demonstrates, both in the clean guitar during the verses and the soaring lead guitar toward the end of the track, a more atmospheric approach to guitar work, a testament to the grow th of Evanescence’s st yle since
their debut. “Use My Voice” is the centerpiece of the album, a politically charged anthem inspired partially by the stor y of Chanel Miller, a Stanford student whose experience w ith sexual assault on campus became a national talking point back in 2015. Lee’s refrain, “Don’t you speak for me,” is one of the most v isceral moments on the album. The album closes w ith “Blind Belief,” another track that opens w ith a solo piano before bringing in the rest of the band. The soaring choruses are the greatest strength of not only “The Bitter Truth,” but all of Evanescence’s music, and “Blind Belief” has one of their best yet. The climactic moment of the chorus, when Lee asserts that “We hold the key to redemption,” is a bold declaration of faith in humanit y that is awe-inspiring.
Contact Willoughby Thom at wthom@nd.edu
Contact John Clark at jclark20@nd.edu
“The Bitter Truth” Evanescence Label: BMG Favorite Tracks: “Yeah, Right,” “Wasted on You,” “Use my Voice” and “Blind Belief”
JACKIE JUNCO | The Observer
