Julietteville
Yes, Our Lady of Supreme Excellence is HOME AGAIN. It's not that there aren't good performers on Nashville, but Hayden Panettiere brings energy to every single scene she's in, and it spills over through the whole episode. Here, she's stoked after another really good visit with Cadence, and her therapist announces it's time to go home. Sensible Emily pops in to be supportive but she doesn't bring her book with her. I assume it's because she had it encased in glass and hung on her wall. Also this actress has the best part: She gets to work minimally, but when she DOES, it's with Avery or Juliette, with the occasional sighting of Gunnar and Will. CLING TO THAT JOB.
Coverville
Deacon is stoked that The Beverly is getting such good coverage now that Riff Bell's show was a hit. And of coure Frankie is nowhere near that cover shot. But if that was Riff Bell's return to the stage after 15 years, the magazine wouldn't have used DEACON on the cover EITHER. They'd have used a shot from the set, or just of Riff. NICE TRY, FAKE MAGAZINE.
Blahville
Where is Vita blah blah the cops don't blah blah blah worried.
Bangsville
Why do Layla's bangs have a widow's peak? Is she part Vulcan?
Sobriety
Cash tells Deacon it's Frankie's 15-year celebration at AA, and Deacon is sad Frankie kept it to himself. So he shows up at AA and hears Frankie admit that he's "been feeling overshadowed lately," and somehow Deacon STILL totally misses what's going on here. HE JUST TOLD YOU. RIGHT THERE. He also freezes Deacon out of his celebration with Cash, and Deacon doesn't even notice he's getting the hand.
Reunionville
Will wants his songs back -- the ones he co-wrote with Kevin, which Luke decided not to release because of how Will is gay -- and Luke would really like to talk to him about that but hang on one second son I have to take this call I'll just be with you in a second there. Will goes to sit in the lobby while Luke picks up a call from Colt, the first one in an eternity, and it's because Colt is asking for parental consent to join the Army. "Ask your mother," Luke does not say, because no one remembers he has one.
USPSville
I guess nobody put a mail hold on for Juliette.
nashville-recap-season-4-episode-14-8
Somewhere in the pile is a Spielberg script that they're offering to her. I can't see the cover but the end of the word is ATA so I'm forced to assume it's called MIATA and it's about a cabal of people who drive absolutely the tiniest cars. She's torn about it. She wants to do it, but she is just on the road back with her daughter. She gets three hours a week with Cadence, but going to shoot this massive movie for two weeks -- really, only two weeks? That seems like a BARGAIN for a major movie role -- means that while she'll only miss six hours of Cadence time, it's also her ONLY six hours and it's not like she can make it up with gajillions of Cadence time before and after. Emily sensibly sensibles that she should just ask Avery about it.
Shockville
And she does. He's on the line with Layla talking her off a creative ledge -- she's doing a radio showcase and she's terrified and panicky and maybe changing her set list and yada -- when he opens the door to Juliette, and I guess no one told Avery that Juliette was being released. Y'all, Emily cannot do EVERYTHING. But Emily, you probably should have shot him a heads-up that she's back at home.
Sadsville
In a lovely scene, these two grapple with their emotions and rein them in as best they can. She haltingly explains that she would have called but wasn't sure he would answer, and tells him she's been offered a movie, and does he think she could get more Cadence time. Avery clearly wants to tear into her and tell her exactly how much pain she caused him, but can see that she's really trying, and swallows it and instead points out that she has JUST gotten out and needs to prove herself a bit more first. Juliette, in turn, obviously wants to argue that point because that's still her nature, but she knows she has no ground here. And you can see in her face the sad acceptance that it's entirely her own doing, and there's a very morose maturity to it all.
Exesville
Will is depressed because Luke stormed out of the office with vague promises to talk later. He can't write his own songs; he needs partners. Scarlett and Gunnar are like, "YO," but obviously don't have any actual TIME to help. So this falls apart quickly. Also... poor Scarlett's hair is not growing out well. I can't really bang on it, because Clare Bowen cut it for a good cause, and you cannot control how your hair grows out of a close-cropped pixie. But I do feel like having a TV show's raft of stylists at the ready means you could be getting DAILY assistance in doing something better than Low-Flow Shower with it.
Wittville
Alicia Witt joins as Autumn Chase, a hit singer who needs an opening act for her tour. In three days. Dear Readers, why is it always the case on this show that NOBODY has any opening acts until like an hour before the tour buses pull away? Is that remotely realistic? Educate me on the music biz, please.
Anyway, she's there to evaluate Layla, and they get along like a house on fire -- amusingly, in part because they both had first husbands who turned out to be gay. Layla invites her to The Bluebird later, where she thinks she and Avery will be watching The Exes play. (Avery, of course, is not going to come, because he's going to write songs with Will, which turns into him complaining about Juliette and then getting a beer and leaving Will alone to play his old Kevin songs and frown.)
Cottonville
Scarlett's dress is a problem. It's so MATRONLY. You are supposed to be a young and hip duo. This styling is doing NOTHING to help her haircut. I feel like in order to make Low-Flow look edgy, they need to stick her in leather pants, or a leather jacket, and not something that looks like a Massengil ad.
Oopsville
Needless to say: While Layla is googly-eyed over being Autumn Chase's new bestie, Autumn Chase is ogling Gunnar. She ends up asking for The Exes to be on her tour, and while I am purely guessing at the sexual undertones of this offer, I don't think I'm wrong about them either.
Drunkville
Deacon gives Frankie the 8 p.m. slot or something, and Frankie shows up drunk as a skunk. He stands there on front of the B, which I also believe to be a portal to a hell dimension, and spews venom at the crowd. Deacon and Cash are like, "Uh oh." Sadly he does not get sucked into whatever netherworld currently houses ACTUAL Beverly.
Lullabyville
Avery has allowed Juliette to watch Cadence so he can write with Will, I think? I'm sorry, I did miss this connective tissue a little. I think she came over to tell him she accepted the Spielberg movie, and he starts laying into her for being a flake, but she points out that he wouldn't give her extra time and yada yada yada, this puts her in the right place to help out so that Avery can write with Will, or go to the Bluebird with Layla, or whatever. Avery accepts. He hears her settling a fussy Cadence with a sweet song...
Sniffleville
... and pain washes over his face as a perfect tear drizzles out of his eye. These two. Neither one of them is ever false. And I'd like to point out that they both honed their craft in soaps, or at least started out there -- him in particular; she was really young, but that doesn't mean she didn't also learn a ton. So HOORAY FOR DAYTIME ACTORS, is what I'm saying. They take a lot of flak for the genre's more outrageous attributes, but they work their asses of and they know what they're doing.
Sorryville
Deacon apologizes to Frankie for shoving him off to the side at The Beverly. He should also apologize for the name and the decor, but he doesn't. Also, Frankie did embrace those things. Frankie DID want his bar to be successful. He just resented how it got there and that it didn't come with any gold stars for him. Frankie and Beverly may share some unresolved issues with not being world-renowned and adored. Frankie also then has to go back to AA and start back on Day 1.
Armyville
So, yada yada yada, Colt convinces Luke that the Army is the one thing he believes in now, and Luke decides to support him and helps him enlist. His mother would be all, "Do I get a vote?" if anyone had called her. Say goodbye to all that hair, son!
PRville
Juliette gives a press conference about how excited she is to do the new movie. But then she's given a question about how she's doing it all as a single mother, and she cracks and admits the entire truth: Her breakdown, her treatment, that she almost died (though she doesn't say how), that she broke her marriage and nearly her relationship with her daughter. Then she backs out of the movie. This all makes sense -- going back to work does seem a LITTLE too fast for her here -- but I also always get defensive when people portray women as being incapable of doing both a job and motherhood. It was TWO WEEKS. They could have set up Skype times for her and Cadence. Two weeks was not the end of the world.
Blouseville
Blah blah blah Vita blah blah sads blah blah the police don't think blah blah.
Righteousville
Will storms into Luke's office and DEMANDS SATISFACTION vis a vis his songs. Luke pauses him and says he was wrong not to get back to him, but that he's learned to do the right thing even when it's a scary thing, and so he's going to re-sign Will to his label. Will probably should have made him sweat it a little bit, but he has no chill and he's already emotional, so he just beams and shakes Luke's hand. And when Chris Carmack beams, so does the world.
Compromiseville
And finally, Avery shows up to give Juliette a little bonus time with Cadence. And she tells him she didn't send 434 to the floor to get Cadence more, and he tells HER he didn't give her more Cadence because she sent 434 to the floor. There is no making out at the end, but SOMEDAY. But not before Layla gets in the way: Right at this moment, she is tearfully leaving Avery a message about losing Autumn Chase's tour slot, and she is NOT GOING TO BE HAPPY when she figures out that a detente is imminent between these two.