Viewville
In case you're wondering, Luke Wheeler is continuing his trek through all of ABC's daytime properties, in an effort to promote Will's cause. The ladies of The View are concerned that Luke is doing this all by himself without any help from Will. So basically, if you're mapping this episode on your GPS, that's your starting point and the end will be Will Has A Revelation. Which I assume will happen on the set of The Chew.
Exesville
These two are still as frosty as the snowman. Made worse by the fact that, during Scarlett's break to shoot the headphones commercial by herself, Autumn pretends to invite both of them to see Elton John -- but, I think, totally knows Scarlett can't come and that she will end up bringing Gunnar alone. Gunnar leaps at the chance. Gunnar, you are so easy. HAVING SAID THAT: I also would have jumped at the chance to see Elton John, even though he is a shell of his former self. I LOVE Elton John's 70s and 80s stuff, and yeah, maybe some of the 90s stuff too if I am admitting it while hidden behind a voice-changer and a shadowy screen.
Eyeville
I never noticed that picture of an eye before, and it is... bonkers. Which of the three men and their baby are we to believe purchased this item? Because it feels like NONE OF THEM. Unless Cadence stole daddy's One Kings Lane password.
Oh and Will is tickled because his father is calling him a bunch now and doesn't seem to hate him. I'm happy for Will, if also unwilling to believe it's for real. I'm VERY protective of him.
Haydenville
She looks so great. I just... I grieve for what a hard time she's having with PPD, and I hope she has a strong support system rallying around her, be it friends or family or her fiance or all three. When Juliette went through it and felt like the only friends she had were people on her payroll, it was terribly sad. I hope for more for Hayden. She is SO talented.
Therapyville
Rayna and Deacon head into marriage counseling this week. The therapist quizzes them both separately, and basically concludes that they each treat their bond as this Untouchable, Inevitable Thing of Myth, and that perhaps they need to take it off that pedestal and sort through what they really want -- in life and from each other. It's brutal. Rayna even admits she married Teddy as a way of putting up walls to keep Deacon out, although the doctor does then ask her why she proceeded to crack the door for him by putting him in her band. She signs something about The Music and Their Magic Bond and yada yada yada. I wonder if this will end with the two of them effortlessly writing a hundred new songs about their pain, for four new albums.
Cadenceville
Avery drops off Cadence with Juliette so that he and Layla can go to her Bluebird show and then bonk each other without a baby monitor present. Derek Hough is there, and being wonderful, which immediately makes Avery freak out because he's jealous. So he pretends he's just unsure about Derek being a stranger, and proceeds to have twelve tiny aneurysms the rest of the day.
Disillusionmentville
Derek has shown up at Juliette's door to tell her he wants to give their relationship a true go. And so they spend a hot night or two realizing they have nothing in common, and it's all fairly shallow stuff. Juliette here is horrified that he is making her spaghetti squash, and that he's healthy. (I feel you, girl, but hear him out. Spaghetti squash is an excellent delivery system for sauces.) She's also dumbfounded that he doesn't love Tommy Boy. That's it. That's enough to douse the flames, even though he's also SUPER COOL and helpful with Cadence. I think Juliette might need better barometers for her romantic partners.
Accessoriesville
"I gave her my heart; she gave me a necktie that matched her outfit."
Drawersville
We haven't discussed in a while how much I hate the fixtures in Luke Wheeler's office. They're ENORMOUS. I REALLY WANT TO RIP THEM OFF OF THERE. It's like a kindergarten class learning to sew construction paper with giant twine.
Radioville
Luke gets Will an interview on radio, which he says won't be about his sexuality -- and then has to bail, because Colt got hurt at basic training. Will fields it alone, and dodges the issue by saying he's nobody's spokesman and just hopes people like his music. Later, as he's coming home at night, a guy walks up in the dark and shouts out to him... and turns out to be another gay man in Nashville, who says Will is wrong about not speaking for people. The man says Will inspired him and makes him feel less alone and less hopeless, and in that way, Will should be proud to speak for a whole lot of people because he has a platform many of them lack and might be able to pave the way for the struggling artists around him. Guess what sinks in? THIS.
Hahnville
Hey, remember Dr. Hahn, the heart surgeon who didn't realize she was a lesbian until Callie had sex with her? And then Grey's wrote her off? She plays the photog for Scarlett's shoot. and her hair looks swell.
Joyville
They have Scarlett down as "Joy," and so of course this happens: She puts on the headphones and tries to replicate whatever she saw on the artist's rendering. It's as forced as can be, and it's terrible, so Hahn closes the set and makes her listen to an Exes song. Scarlett explodes into tears and of course Hahn is like, "IT'S PERFECT, GO WITH IT."
nashville-recap-season-4-ep-20-16
Autumn has done a marvelous job planting seeds in Gunnar's head that he's got the goods to go solo if he wants to, and she's abetted by Elton John, who invites Gunnar to play on-stage with him. I enjoy that Elton John is for sale, and willing to go on a struggling (it wasn't cancelled at the time of the shoot, obviously) ABC show just to try and remind people he's still recording new stuff. Do what you've gotta do, Elton. I'm all for your longevity.
Blouseville
Gunnar is conveniently wearing a loud blouse on this day, of which I'm sure Elton would approve, although he went comparatively sedate. They play a new Elton song, which is completely forgettable. It has the word "blue" in it. But it's no "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues," which might be one of my all-time favorites, and ergo I cannot retain it in my brain.
Sexville
Then Autumn seals the deal while Gunnar is high on the afterglow of a duet with Elton. She feeds him lines about how Elton thinks he's The Real Deal, and he could totally go solo, and he wins at life, and she reeeeeeeeeally digs him... and so they have sex.
Whoopsville
And they do it RIGHT as Scarlett is realizing, and confessing to their manager, that she's in love with Gunnar. I kinda thought she'd realized that when they had sex again, but decided they had too much water under their bridge, but whatever. The symmetry is this: Both Gunnar and Scarlett, and Rayna and Deacon, have creative and romantic pasts that are complicating their futures.
Wimpville
In Rayna's case, she can't get over wanting Maddie back -- it's all she can think of when Deacon asks her, "What do you want?" And OF COURSE Deacon goes on this self-pitying rant all about how he's a ruiner who ruins things, and he YET AGAIN seems willing to just give up and go and accept that he's a sad wilting flower in the garden of life. BORING, Deacon. Don't be such a Beverly.
Sleepville
But as they lie awake in their beds, next to each other but miles apart, Rayna suddenly rolls over and gently takes his arm in her hand. He reaches back and squeezes her fingers. So in fact, we have Gunnar inching away just as Scarlett wants to hold on; Avery looking backward just as Juliette takes a step forward, and Rayna and Deacon trying to hold onto each other even if they can't. It's a lot of good couples drama coming to a head at once, which is a mark of good plotting, even if it was slow getting here.
Headwoundville
Colt, by the way, is fine. He's a bit the worse for wear because he got into a fight with some recruits; his evil grandfather tells Luke that it's all because Luke is defending Will, and that Luke is selfish and crapping all over Colt's life. But then Colt wakes up and tells Luke that he threw the first punch to defend Luke against some bigots, because he believes in what Luke is doing and is -- FINALLY -- proud of him again.
This head bandage, by the way, is the show's way of getting around not making the actor shave his head the way the Army would have made Colt. CLEVER, show. It's like having a pregnant lady stand behind giant potted ferns.
Bluebirdville
Layla performs her set, but Avery is checking his phone the whole time -- Juliette called him once with a teething question that Derek Hough helped her solve, but it unfolded while Avery was on-stage, and he couldn't stand it. Luckily, Layla didn't notice him putting his phone on his amp, or glancing at it every ten seconds. However...
Plotville
... later, as they're about go to dinner, Avery says he needs to check on Juliette and Cadence first and maybe he can meet Layla later. And Layla, that MINX, immediately executes an absolutely artful piece of jerkfaced trickery. She instantly drums up tears, saying that Rayna's absence (for "family reasons" that we know was a day of therapy, which... I'm not sure she couldn't have done both, but Rayna is terrible at her job, so...) has ruined her night, and she just knows Rayna doesn't care about her. Her pathetic waterworks have the desired effect: Avery instantly decides he's being too overprotective of Cadence, and devotes the rest of his night to Layla instead. Oooh, Layla. You got him on his knees, Layla.