Pixieville
We don't get much runup to the haircut; just Scarlett saying she doesn't need it anymore, as if she is giving her hair to the sweet sweet angel Beverly to turn into wings. Cut to her walking into a band meeting and Manager Scott Reeves FREAKING OUT because they just spent a boatload on merch that features the ex-Scarlett in The Exes. Scarlett shirtily encourages him to call Locks of Love and explain to them that t-shirt sales matter more than sick kids. YA BURNT.
Sparkleville
And boy, Clare Bowen barely spared herself an inch, huh? Good for her. Go big or go home, I say. This really brings out her eyes and cheekbones. It's really stark and surprising at first, but I think once I get over the initial shock I'm going to like it, and I'm curious to see how she settles into it.
Scarlett is settling into it by becoming All Business. They are GOING ON TOUR and they are going to be LASER-FOCUSED. No hair equals NO TOMFOOLERY.
Wreckedville
Juliette wakes up in her hotel room to the sound of cops knocking on the door, notifying her that Oliver Hudson is dead. She betrays no knowledge of this, which we learn is because she genuinely has blacked out -- or at least blacked IT out, erasing all memories of the rooftop from her drug- and booze-addled brain. Kudos to the makeup people for making her look like she is mad strung out. She's the visual equivalent of a cut strands of pearls, beads dropping one on one as it loses its shape and sags into its shadow.
Whaaaatville
The thing this show did that I actually LOVE, and most people do NOT do, is: It showed every character finding out about Oliver. We see Will find out and tell Avery; we hear Rayna find out and tell Deacon. We join Layla shortly after she's been told, but we're with her in the immediate aftermath, in which she's all but comatose with shock and busy fending off Oliver's unfeeling sister, who doesn't buy that Layla mattered to Oliver and is freezing her out of the memorial.
And then here, we're with Luke before and after, for the period in which he rejoins Colt, and Colt excoriates him for being missing last night when Colt saw Oliver plunge to his death trying to save Juliette from jumping. So we get the initial reactions from some people, which are half the fun, and then everyone else is treated with an additional piece of info they can react to, and it's very well done without feeling repetitive. It's actually quite natural-feeling.
Statementville
Juliette barrels out of the hotel and spits something to the press about how her manager committed suicide, because she is nothing if not measured and thoughtful in word and deed.
This confuses Luke enough -- vis a vis Colt's eyewitness account -- that he demands everyone keep quiet about what they know, in part because all his Wholesome Corporate Investors might not like it that people are flying off the roofs of buildings around him. Colt is understandably grossed out by this lie of omission, doubly so when Luke agrees to fly a wrecked Layla home and comforts her as she sobs her confusion about why Oliver would do this when they were so happy together.
Colt also doesn't appreciate that Luke was banging Gabrielle instead of being easily located in his hotel room, and Luke in turn isn't terribly impressed with Colt being drunk -- going to far as to suggest, when Juliette pleads ignorance, that Colt hallucinated it all in a whiskey haze. That would be one intense booze fog. I'm not sure why Luke decided it's MORE believable that Colt made it up than that Juliette forgot it, especially because he's seen how she's attacking all substances great and small.
Boxville
Oliver had sent the movers to pack up Layla's things. In another great move, the show had her lean on Will. She also calls Rayna, who comes by to offer support, but it makes sense to me that she'd reach out to him since they managed to hammer out an amicable parting. Will even stays up all night to unpack everything for her. She sympathizes with how much work that was, while I sympathize with the set dressers who had to do the same. Will doesn't tell her that a big reason he was available to do all this is that he and Kevin broke up. Which I ALSO like. Now is not the time for Will to bend Layla's ear about how sad it is that his still-living ex-boyfriend is not currently in his bed, given that her still-dead ex-boyfriend will never again be in hers.
Barville
Rayna has big concerns about Deacon randomly buying a bar, namely that he's an alcoholic, and she's not sure he should be around it. However, she never seemed to mind when he was, say, playing music at The Bluebird, or in any one of the bajillion stadium or other venues he's played in over the years -- often with HER -- which all serve alcohol, and could have kicked him far more easily off the wagon than he can be budged now. So... I get it, but also, check yourself, Rayna.
Also, she has not expressed ANY concerns about the shitty name (THE BEVERLY), or the fact that perhaps the reason this bar is failing is that a) cars don't pass it, and b) it looks like it's half car-park.
Bootyville
Gunnar got his booty call, Erin, an interview to be their sound person, and Erin let slip to Scarlett that she and Gunnar have been feasting on salami sandwiches together. Scarlett gives him a dressing-down about how that's probably unprofessional and she needs his FULL ATTENTION ON THE MUSIC. Never mind that her being in a long-distance relationship could be just as distracting, if not more so. But whatever. Business Scarlett isn't necessarily any more rational of a Scarlett. She just talks louder.
Anyway, Gunnar hems and haws and then decides he thinks he can handle it, and so Erin will join them. She's likable enough, but I am growing tired of this love triangle shifting back and forth. The four of you just GET IT ON and then whittle it down to two based purely on skill, okay? It can be Sex Thunderdome.
Roomieville
Avery had been looking for an apartment, which was a little careless -- which he learns the hard way when a Realtor recognizes him and asks cheerful questions about when she'll get to meet Juliette and whether the flat is for Cadence's grandparents. But he and Will are still depressed about their breakups, and they lean on each other in their shared moment of grief. Then Will -- having pitched in with Cadence and written her a cute lullaby -- convinces Avery to stay now that Gunnar is hitting the road. As I've said before, Nashville does the bromantical relationships better than any other. They're supportive of each other, they're Get-a-Grip with each other, they're full of useful advice for each other, they occasionally make stupid suggestions about alcohol consumption to each other... throw in the fact that Will sniffed Cadence's diaper once on-camera, and it's the perfect relationship.
Yawnville
Dr. Boring loves Scarlett's hair. He doesn't love her being on her phone during their date, making tour arrangements, but then he sucks it up and deals and hugs and learns and buys himself one more week before they have one of these strident conversations again.
Shirtville
That night at the show, Luke conscripts Juliette into a tribute for Oliver Hudson on-stage. Layla attends, and decides to wear the most curious of shirts -- one that looks like half of it is actively trying to fall off her boobs. Intriguing. I guess it's symbolic of her world falling apart, but I think Oliver is up there drinking whiskey with Powers Boothe and Peggy and going, "I NEVER LIKED THAT SHIRT."
Chris De Burgh-ville
Juliette thoughtfully puts on a fire-engine red sexpot dress, which is totally inappropriate for this AND YET I feel like Oliver Hudson would have wanted it his way.
Oopsville
Luke is super irritated and and makes Juliette put on a small black cardigan with it. But Juliette can't experience feelings right now, so when she gets on-stage, she just says, "We'll miss him," and leaves. Colt finds her and rages at her for not showing any remorse given that Oliver died trying to save her life. The expression on Juliette's face is like SAY WHAT BOY? But then it all starts flooding back to her, capped by Juliette seeing the same poster on-stage that she saw from up on the ledge. Her response, naturally, is to run away and lock herself in her dressing room.
Layla, aware of none of this, asks Luke to let her go on and take control of the memorial as a way of saying goodbye, and let's face it, Luke doesn't really care about Layla's mourning BUT this offers him a convenient way to keep the crowd happy while he sorts out what to do. Strangely, the answer STILL does not appear to be, "Discuss with Juliette the fact that she almost threw herself off a roof."
Rehabville
Juliette, though, creeps into Luke's dressing room and sputters, "I need help." She has remembered everything, she knows she was going to kill herself, and she is accepting that she's got to do something about it. And... I mean, again, thinking about what Hayden went through for real, this is hard not to watch without an aching heart. The end of the show is her checking herself into a clinic in the dead of night, where I assume there will be an attractive man character who rubs her the wrong way and doesn't take her seriously but then they end up bonding over their shared pain and then SEX HAPPENS and poor Avery. We'll see.