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# Recap: Nashville, season 5, episode 5
- URL: https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/recap-nashville-season-5-episode-5/
- Published: 2017-02-02T08:08:53.000Z
- Updated: 2017-02-20T00:10:48.000Z
- Author: Heather
- Tags: Nashville, #wp, #wp-gallery, #slideshow, #Import 2026-10-07 07:49

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-6-1486017052.jpeg)

We are going to start with the best part. Remember last week, when I got all insane about the stalker note? NASHVILLE PAID IT OFF. When Rayna rifles through Randall's desk and finds the trinket he stole -- okay, first of all, she has no right to do that, but also, WHY IS HE KEEPING PROOF OF HIS FOLLY AT WORK -- she and Bucky grill him about whether he's the stalker, who I gather has sent more notes and flowers. Bucky asks him to write a sentence to demonstrate his there/their/they're knowledge, and he passes with flying colors, so they merely fire him rather than have him arrested. I love you, *Nashville*. Thank you for living up to my expectations. Next time, though, develop this a bit longer so that your red herrings actually do smell like fish. (Whatever that means.) Thanks.

Also: The stalker turns out to be Roadside Selfie Dude, or at least, that's who they arrest. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bf/b9/bfb99790-924d-4e41-a7e6-5e3c6e04fe57/content/images/static-gofugyourself-com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-1-1486016986.jpg)

For a guy whose money is no-strings-attached, Zach has convinced Rayna to do pretty much everything he wants -- including hiring this poncey independent film director, and yes, I suspect uncaging Scarlett's inner beast as hinted last week is exactly where this may go.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-2-1486016998.jpeg)

Scarlett is stuck wearing this scanty nightgown the entire time, which she basically claims makes her skin crawl, except honestly they've put her in sundresses this season that are not that different. 

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-4-1486017025.jpeg)

Gunnar, meanwhile, looks like he's about to break into Puttin' On The Ritz as part of a Taco cover band.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-5-1486017040.jpeg)

The plot of the video -- for a tender love song -- is that Gunnar is entranced by Scarlett, but she's kind of a hot mess who just wants to torture him and tantalize him, and make him jealous and enflamed with desire. So *that's* progressive. Part of it involves Scarlett crawling across a dining table but pausing to eyeball a pretty lady, and she loathes this (CORRECT; it's stupid and such a dated view of women as fickle temptresses) and cannot get into character -- this, despite the whole thing being storyboarded for them in at least one meeting. I'm not taking away her right to hate the experience, but she doesn't really have a right to surprise at this point.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-12-1486017131.jpeg)

This country music love song features Gunnar in twelve pounds of eyeliner, and Scarlett dancing with a dude in a man bun. It's like a hipster Eyes Wide Shut, sans masks. The plot of this video is so irritating, and cookie-cutter in its approach to women, and not even relevant to the song. Is Rayna even paying attention?

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-9-1486017089.jpeg)

And of course, the director's style is to hurl verbal abuse at Scarlett until she gets so angry that she gives him Ocular Sex Rage, and he goes, "CUT, PERFECT," etc. In one case, he provokes her into decking Gunnar during their characters' semi-violent fight. Gunnar is supportive of Scarlett, but not to the point of telling the director to shut his piehole, and Scarlett just stands there fuming and telling the director she thinks this is all a terrible idea. None of these people are communicating responsibly. Start with calm "I statements," everyone.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-11-1486017117.jpeg)

The director then takes Gunnar out for whiskey, and Gunnar blah-blahs all about his past with Scarlett. It's sensitive male blah-blah, but also probably a lot more opening up than most dudes would do on a first work date. Maybe Gunnar's healthy bro bonding with Avery and Will has inclined him to bleed himself to anyone who asks. GUNNAR. Save it for your core posse.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-13-1486017143.jpeg)

This nightgown really IS awful. It makes poor Clare Bowen look so hunchy. And of course, because she's not being \[Insert Predictable Adjective About Ladies Here\] enough, the director hurls YET MORE insults at her designed to push her buttons. She refuses to do any more takes of what he wants, so he deletes all their dailies, forcing her to keep going. Worse, when Rayna shows up for three seconds and notices Scarlett is not right, she lets Zach talk her out of being worried, even though Rayna's Spidey Sense is SO OBVIOUSLY RIGHT.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-14-1486017156.jpeg)

Gunnar follows Scarlett outside, at which point she shouts to him all about how she's a super nice person who puts others first and always wants to be happy and gives and gives and gives and SHE'S FINE WITH THAT OKAY. She comes across defensive of herself, but in a pradoxically self-aggrandizing way -- as if she's someone who is only nice to other people so that she can remind them, later, how nice she is. Which I actually DON'T think is Scarlett's character at all, so hearing her talk up her virtues as an example of why she's better than Gunnar and the director is very discordant to me.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-18-1486017211.jpeg)

It will not surprise you that this ends in YET ANOTHER screaming match, in which the director makes passing reference to Scarlett as a tragic doormat who sits by while Gunnar sleeps with half of Nashville. Poor Gunnar, who is handcuffed to a bed, doesn't defend himself -- he just tries to shout at the director to cut it out about Scarlett, but it's too late. She snaps and Finds Her Inner Sexy and it's great. I'm so grossed out by this whole plot, as if it's Scarlett's DUTY in the world to prove she's appealing by grinding against a bedpost. Awful. Not to mention my other issues, which are...

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-23-1486017274.jpeg)

... she wakes up the next day and kind of hugs it out with Gunnar, while also admitting part of what freaks her out is the fear that people will look at her and think she's pathetic because she keeps taking him back. Which... what? Am I remembering wrong, or did Gunnar NEVER cheat on her? Why are we recasting them this way? He proposed and she said no. They broke up. He fell for Zoey, and Scarlett and Avery got back together somewhere in here, and then that all fell apart; there was the sound tech and Autumn Chase for him, and A SERIOUS LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP for Scarlett, and then they fell in love with each other again and that's where we are. I don't get why Gunnar is suddenly The Great and Terrible Whore of Nashville, and Scarlett is The Sad Woman Who Keeps Laying Down For Him. NONE of this adds up to me.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-10-1486017104.jpeg)

Maddie and Clayton are still flirting, playing each other music, going to clubs, and then not kissing. Maddie is SUCH a teen about it -- "I'm NOT a virgin," she huffs at one point when he says there are obstacles to their love. But he did invite her over to his place to sing for him... and then sent her almost immediately back home because the lust was too great and This Is A Bad Idea, and all that. Clayton, your signals are mixed

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-3-1486017011.jpeg)

He is awfully cute, though. He won't specify *why* they shouldn't be together, although he does bring up the race issue and the idea that what isn't a big deal to Maddie MIGHT be a big deal to other people. But he also later cradles a bottle of pills.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-8-1486017077.jpeg)

This made me laugh: Maddie announced, truthfully, that she was going to hang out with a boy. And though I don't totally buy that Deacon and Rayna would just let her pass without interrogation, it's so awesome when the door slams and Deacon turns to Rayna and says, "Which car do you want to follow her in?" Great line.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-15-1486017171.jpeg)

Maddie seeks advice from Juliette about Clayton, which is nice -- see, this show is remembering to throw characters together when it can. Maddie tells her that she likes a boy who keeps insisting they can't happen, and bless her, Juliette essentially says, "Then you can't happen. He's telling you what you need to know. Listen to him and walk the other way. This stuff never ends well." Juliette's got some good sense, which she attributes to having made every mistake and being hopeful that Maddie won't have to make them too. (There is no Avery in this episode; one thing New *Nashville* does not have yet is a way to balance all its people. Or possibly the budget to put them all in every hour.)

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-17-1486017199.jpeg)

Oh, but Will does show up for a random two seconds at the video shoot, where Zach fanboys all over him and then gives him a hard sell for some PR opportunity or other. Maybe his obsession with Rayna was a misdirect and he's actually into Sex with the Lex.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-21-1486017250.jpeg)

Back to Maddie: She is ignoring Clayton because he only wants to be friends, and she hates being told no. But then she turns up at his door anyway, in time to find him bleeding from the head because some white guys didn't like the cut of his jib and beat him silly. She takes him to the ER, and he admits to Maddie he is bipolar -- or, he describes it to her, and she puts that word on it -- but that he won't take his meds because they dull his senses. He scoffs at the notion that he should just show up at her door smiling and shaking hands with Rayna and Deacon, when he's got all these problems he can't solve. After this, Maddie is a total pill to everyone she encounters, because she's upset, and when teens are upset they burn down the house.

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-24-1486017285.jpg)

But LO: Clayton rings the doorbell, politely introduces himself to a stunned -- but also welcoming -- Rayna and Deacon, and tells them that he'd like to get to know them, and vice-versa, so that he can spend more time with Maddie. I feel like... did we miss the scene where Maddie was like, "Oh, by the way, my parents are absurdly big celebrities"? Clayton seems to have taken THAT bit of news well. But the size of the grin on Maddie's face as she hugs him and takes his arm is very sweet. Please, *Nashville*, handle this better than you're doing Scarlett and Gunnar right now.

[Recap: Rayna Loves Grammar As Much As I Do (S5, E5)Y'all, it happened: Nashville USED GRAMMAR AS A PLOT POINT. I knew this show was my soulmate. However, in the negative column, it has re-shaped Gunnar and Scarlett in a way I find inaccurate and annoying -- and it's doing so via a music video scenario that is so outmoded and weird. Come join me and rant awhile.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bf/b9/bfb99790-924d-4e41-a7e6-5e3c6e04fe57/content/images/static-gofugyourself-com/uploads/2017/02/nashville-recap-season-5-episode-5-1-1486016986.jpg)](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/recap-nashville-season-5-episode-5-02-2017/)