Stiffville
Conveniently, Southern Living Magazine is doing a feature on Rayna Jaymes, taking us inside her world -- which would be remarkable if she hadn't lived in this house for a decade-plus, and thus, already had plenty of people peek into her world. She did a freaking Christmas shoot with Luke and her kids, for God's sake. Anyway, it gives them a chance to do a reset: When the reporter asks for the kids, Bucky hastily covers, and Rayna and Deacon take a second to collect themselves and remind all of us that Maddie is still fighting them. We also learn that Deacon is a better actor than Rayna, because he seems perfectly fine in front of the lens and she is stiff and crabby.
Sparkleville
Juliette is back on-stage in another sparkly mini. I feel like Nashville and its costume budget haven't caught up to what performers are doing these days. Even Carrie Underwood has adopted a bit of Katy Perry. I chose this particular screen grab, though, because Juliette is insisting this is all NBD -- "It's easy to make thousands of people love you," she says, the flip side being that she can't make one very important person love her again -- and Emily is giving Glenn the greatest DOUBTFUL expression. They really need to give Emily some webisodes. Those still waters run both deep and sensible.
ACKville
When Juliette goes out and kills it, Layla's expression is priceless. SHE would like to go out there and kill it, if by "it" you mean "Juliette's voice box."
BItterville
Will calls Gunnar to tell him and Scarlett that they're on the radio in Nashville, and Gunnar looks at her all, "YAYYYY," and she glares back as if to say, "I want to rip off your hair and use it to polish the SHOES OF THE DAMNED." Gunnar can't figure out what he did, but we know it's bad because Scarlett is swaddled in knitwear again.
Woolville
See? The angrier Scarlett gets, the more she turns into the tangled inside of someone's grandmother's knitting bag.
Duetsville
Avery and Layla decide to hide from Juliette by working, which involves putting their heads super close together to listen to a song so that Cadence doesn't wake up. Naturally, this ends with them tickling each other's vocal cords -- until they knock out the headphone plug and the song plays through the speakers, waking Cadence. This child must be the world's lightest sleeper, because she's all the way back in the trailer's bedroom, and the volume wasn't even turned up that loud, and it went for MAYBE 5 seconds before they turned it off. Dylan can have a screaming night terror and Liam doesn't even stir.
Later, Avery tells Layla he needs them to stay friends, which is how you know they will not. That conversation NEVER means anything if it happens in the middle of an episode.
Lawyerville
This speaks volumes. Cash is all up in the lawyer's grill, discussing Maddie's case, and Maddie is staring morosely at her phone. She's scrolling through all the texts from Daphne that she's ignored, wondering if this makes her a festering boil on Satan's rump. (It does.) The lawyer instructs her not to have any contact with ANYONE at Chez Jaymesborne until their hearing in 48 hours. Yes, you read that right. Apparently the courts like to act really quickly on cases involving kids -- which might be true, but also sounds like BULL to me because I know plenty of cases involving kids that drag on FOREVER -- and Maddie's need is so great that they can get in front of a judge that fast. Yes, Maddie. Who does not have an abusive family and has a record deal, and plenty of money, and parents who aren't using said record deal to pad their own wallets, etc. Yep. GREAT need. That everyone says this is such a good case seems absurd to me. I hope the judge laughs them out of the room.
Jailville
Teddy makes prison look as challenging as a corporate bonding retreat. Turns out that Teddy is still legally Maddie's parent, so Rayna has to get him to sign an affadavit that he agrees with her stance. She lays out her case, and interestingly, she explains Cash as "a mentor we brought in" to work with Maddie. Which is not at all who she is, or how it happened. Maddie met Cash at their wedding and started working with her and Deacon and Rayna simply thought it was cute. She also mentions Cash's connection to Deacon/Frankie, with a bit of a hand-wave, and does not seem to mention Maddie's discomfort with Deacon's temper. Teddy is getting the worst rendition of the facts here EVER.
Cardiganville
Juliette is dressing a lot more simply and sunnily; like, this is very Ann Taylor for her. She notices Layla watching jealously as she and Avery cluck at Cadence, so she blurts that maybe Avery should play "Don't Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet" with her. He freaks out, so she improvs a lie about how it was all Glenn's idea. Rookie move, Barnes. If you're going to lie, it's better not to tell one that will get found out in about thirty seconds. New Juliette has lost her touch.
Desperateville
Rayna finds out Maddie is going to visit Teddy, so she skulks around the prison hoping to run into her. Instead, she finds out Cash is taking meetings for Maddie all over TOWN, and Rayna gets a friend to take a meeting and then not show up so that Rayna can go bully Cash a little. She plays the You'll Never Perform In This Town Again card, which is THE DUMBEST, Rayna, because OBVIOUSLY Cash is going to turn around and tell Maddie you said that. "You'll Never Work In This Town Again" is not the play of a good guy, and it's DEFINITELY not the play you make when your daughter already hates you and thinks you're trying to control everything.
Rayna does catch up with Maddie later and plead with her to come home and talk this out, because all she wants is for Maddie not to be exploited. Maddie accuses her of making the Highway 65 deal "bogus," and Rayna promises it's real, although I think we can all agree it sure looks bogus given that Rayna has done nothing at all about any of it.
Emptyville
Poor Will. Luke has arranged a big showcase for local radio people, and nobody shows. Will handles it with his trademark amiable grace, and Luke handles it by still not letting Will come play on his tour. I sincerely thought he was going to have Will come out and perform with him at his concert. In fairness, he is about to go that one better, though.
Robinville
Luke goes on GMA and announces he's giving up his performance slot to Will -- and fully calls out all of country radio for being bigoted. Robin Roberts is way into this, and I feel like this will lead to floods of phone calls for Will, because America should in general always consider doing whatever Robin Roberts says. Because she's the classiest and best.
Willville
Also HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS FACE. He's like a puppy, jumping up and wagging its tail and just wanting a rub on the belly.
Whiskeyville
Scarlett and Gunnar get trapped in an elevator and have to talk through their irritations, which is straight from the Wheel of Plots. (SCARLETT and GUNNAR get A FLAT TIRE and are forced to DELIVER A BABY in a RAINSTORM, etc.) She travels with a vat of booze now, and cracks it open in the elevator. Gunnar doesn't seem perturbed that a girl who was once in rehab for pills, and went insane on tour, is guzzling hard liquor. Instead, he takes some. Way to look after your duo, dude.
Chugville
Naturally, talk turns to Autumn, whom Scarlett refers to -- in all seriousness -- as a "cooter." I would LOVE to know what words they discarded. Poopyhead? Dumbpot? Wee-wee-face?
So, Gunnar tells her that Autumn made a play for him and he refused, and then we get a bit of fake backstory about how they ACTUALLY first met at the East Nashville Hipster Hootenanny and Snood Emporium, when she saw his band play and went to congratulate him afterwards. (I don't believe this at ALL because she was with Avery at the time, and her admiring and approaching some hot young dude -- even wit platonic interest -- doesn't really jibe with who Scarlett was back then.) She does get off a good line about how she was just impressed to see a man who sang as high as she does. And then they make eyes at each other and sing "If I Didn't Know Better," the song they performed to close the pilot. Back then, it was pregnant with unrequired longing and bubbling chemistry, and this time, it's them saying, "Screw it, let's stick everything everywhere."
Yesville
And dammit, they do. And honestly, I know some people are over Gunnar and Scarlett, and I'm SURE this will lead to annoying problems, but to me they are each other's best fit. I love when they perform together, and don't appreciate them as much when they perform apart. I honestly think Sam Palladio and Clare Bowen should just BE a duo. And there's a really lovely moment where Gunnar says that she minute he saw her at The Bluebird he knew she'd change his life, because she's "extraordinary," and Reader, I melted. I did. Just stop monkeying around, you two, and be The Boinkers instead of The Exes.
Scoldville
Avery, of course, calls Glenn and tells him that he is NOT playing with Juliette and to stop meddling. Glenn rightly stomps straight over to Juliette and tells her this type of BS is exactly what she promised him she wouldn't do, and she's forced to admit that she punted -- badly -- out of desperation. So she goes straight to Avery's room and admits it was all her idea for them to play together because she wants to build back their relationship. Jonathan Jackson is predictably wonderful in his rebuttal, in which he points out that it kills him how much it all still smarts, and that she chewed up and destroyed the very real parts of him that he gave to her. Juliette sort of takes it, but urges him to trust Juliette 2.0 -- who is, in truth, more like Juliette 5.0.4.
Truthville
Maddie complains to Teddy all about her lousy caring parents who care, and Teddy admits he might've done the same thing Deacon did. No one properly DIRECTLY points out to Maddie that "removing one's underage daughter from a nightclub and the illegally wandering paws of a drunk patron" does not equate with "standing in the way of one's child's dream."
Teddy DOES tell her the truth about the Edgehill deal, and how it was all blackmail and prostitutes. Maddie is slow on the uptake and acts shocked when Teddy mentions the hooker part. Which makes little sense, as Maddie TOTALLY knows Teddy is guilty of some of this stuff because he told her that the charges that landed him in prison were all true.
And the thing is, when you read all that, it's like, "Oh, yeah, Maddie has a rageaholic dad, a mom who got in a car accident with him and nearly killed both of them and also runs a really bad record label that either never signs people or signs them and then does nothing about it, and a dad who's in prison for embezzlement and all KINDS of terrible stuff. EMANCIPATE THEM ALL. NONE OF THOSE YAHOS CAN MAKE DECISIONS."
Soloville
Daphne is supposed to play with Maddie at a benefit, and no longer trusts that Maddie will show. Deacon practices with her and offers to support her however she needs it, and poor Daphne admits she just really, really loves playing with her sister, and misses it. Deacon hugs her, which is good, because if he hadn't I was going to reach into the TV and do it for him.
UGHville
Maddie is starting to waver and wonder if she's being too dramatic, so Cash tells her -- as we all knew she would -- exactly what Rayna said to her. The best I can figure is, Cash either wants to exploit Maddie for her own gain, or thinks of Maddie as the little sister she never had, or both. She also tries to lay some line on Rayna about how her parents were also terrible, which... we have met Frankie and know that he is not great, but since they seem congenial now and he'd been sober for 15 years, the show has done a lousy job making clear what their relationship is now or was then. So I don't care. I don't care about her AT ALL, and this makes her a useless villain. She's a plot engine, and not a person. Which is a problem because she is surrounded by characters that ARE fleshed-out people.
Confusionville
So, okay. When Layla came back, it came off like she was going after Avery PURELY as a revenge play against Juliette. Then she started acting like she's pining after him. We never got the episode where she slowly realized she had real feelings for him outside her plotting, and all her private moments play like Layla is in love and moping, or wildly jealous of Juliette's presence, so if it turns out she IS still plotting... it will make no sense. Basically, I'm concerned that left hand doesn't know what right hand is doing. Namely, that nobody is making moment-to-moment choices that are consistent with what the story arc was setting itself up to be.
Tearville
Nobody, BUT NOBODY, is better at squeezing out a slow, artful tear than the erstwhile Lucky Spencer.
Hopeville
Juliette texts Avery, "I'm scared too, let's be brave together," after going through several earlier drafts. Avery reads this as he's pacing the hotel hallway, and then he knocks on a door. Juliette hears a knock in that moment, and that's how you know Avery isn't on the other side of hers. She opens the door with the most beautiful expression of hope, disbelief, and delight...
Cadenceville
... and is greeted by two faces she loves, but not the one face she wanted. Oh, I feel for her. I know she screwed over Avery, but she was sick, and I sincerely believe they are each other's lobsters. We need to wait for it, for sure, but I think he'll be bored with anyone else and she'll be unmoored with anyone else.
Smoochville
Unfortunately for Juliette, Avery is swayed by Layla's artistry and the fact that she gave him her tour bus because there was a studio inside and more room for Cadence. The fact that she thought of his Pack n Play needs does the job, and the two of them maul each other. I know there are those who hate Layla, but I actually really like her voice and enjoy her performances, so ... that's something. I actually think she's usually a pretty good, thought-out, consistent character. It's just the way she's playing this arc that's lost me a little because I feel like an emotional turn was missing.
Shoesville
This shot isn't great, but we all need to celebrate that Rayna has graduated from sparkly jeans into a sexy-as-hell cocktail dress with gorgeous metallic heels. Our girl is all grown up.
Sistersville
Maddie shows up in time to perform with Daphne. This week, the show did a great job using music to tell stories. Scarlett and Gunnar's duet was perfect, because its smoky notes played under their longing, and Avery's, and Juliette's, and Layla's. Then here, this song is essentially Maddie's way of telling Daphne that she'll always be there for her even when she's physically not, which is a precursor to her informing Rayna that she's still going ahead with the emancipation and then grabbing Daphne's shoulders and saying, "I'm not emancipating from YOU; I'll always be your sister."
Heartbreakville
And oh, when Maddie leaves, Daphne bursts into sobs. And it's ... Maisy Stella outdoes herself. It's not actressy crying, it's not showy squealy crying; it's just a little girl losing her best friend and her idol and not understanding ANY of it or whether it's her fault. Rayna has to stay out on stage and sing, and her lyrics -- if I remember correctly -- are about holding on, which she performs while watching Deacon clutch a sobbing Daphne as Maddie trudges out with Cash, possibly for good. I've been waiting for the show to get back to this a bit, and as much as Maddie is tough to take and Cash is such a wart on society that even Satan would have her removed, I thought the way the show used the performances in the last two acts of the hour was pitch-perfect.