‘Nashville’ Recap: Tears Flow, Scarlett’s Baby Drama Grows
There were so many tears in this week’s
Scarlett’s baby bump is all over the tabloids and is big – and getting bigger – news on TV as well. There’s also some big-time ‘shipping going on with the Exes. Not the UPS or FedEx kind, but of the fan-girl variety, with “Scunnar” now the country version of the once-popular “Brangelina.” And we all know what happened there. Scarlett is confused by the whole “shipping” phenomenon and Gunnar, bless his heart, is just confused in general. He’s also not exactly Mr. Sensitive. He tells the mama-to-be “there’s no point in getting all miserable about it.” Try that in about six months, Gunnar, and see just how well it goes over. We see a trip to the ER in your future.
Later, Scarlett has lunch with a “journalist.” The character does have a name but we didn’t bother to learn it because we’re really just over the whole depiction of journalists in the Nashville universe. Anyway, the nosy parker finds out that the woman and her baby-daddy are acquainted with one another. In fact, while she was doing a profile of the video director, they had a romantic fling. Because… journalists. Scarlett denies that the same thing happened with her, but this clever, manipulative and perhaps vindictive “reporter” puts two-and-two together and gleefully confronts Scarlett about it. When Gunnar sees the news online, he’s, understandably, not thrilled. When Scarlett goes to Deacon to talk about the tabloid interference, she reveals to him that he’s going to be great-uncle to a little girl. But she’s overwrought with insecurities about not being the mother her daughter will deserve. Deacon tells her, “You could lift a truck off a man and you’d still feel weak. Just love her and the rest will follow.” Meanwhile, he admits that in Rayna’s absence, “My ineptitude as a parent has been made painfully clear.”
“Perfect” and “harmony” are two words that most definitely do not describe Juliette’s working relationship with Hallie.
The fireworks with his own children ignite when Maddie finds out about the gif and the ensuing memes that Liv, Daphne’s homeless friend, uploaded to the Internet after Maddie and Clay were stopped by police and Maddie stood up to them. Daphne, who clearly regretted it immediately, is wracked with guilt. After a shouting match erupts with all three girls, Maddie kicks Liv out of the house and tells Deacon about the videos. Daphne is shattered but her dad says he doesn’t think an apology is enough, so he takes away her cell phone for a month. Maddie, however, doesn’t think that is punishment enough. Maddie remains an emotional wreck, annoyed that although she’s in-demand for interviews, they only want to ask about Rayna. Deacon tries to get his daughters to reconcile with each other but fails spectacularly. He leaves them home alone together, which could be a disaster but turns out to be another reason to have a box of tissues handy for this episode. Their shared grief, still raw and overwhelming, is a reminder that their mom would have wanted to air their grievances, say their apologies and get back to being the sisters she knew them to be. If you’re not moved by their scenes in this episode, consider getting some therapy. Daphne takes Maddie to where Liv and her friends are staying on the street, and she invites her back to stay at the house. Liv wants the rest of her friends to stay there as well, but Maddie isn’t feeling that charitable. They leave her behind and go home, where Deacon arrives, ready to lay down the law and unaware that he nearly got a starring role in a new production of Annie. He discovers that his daughters have made up and everyone eats Chinese food, after which Daphne and Maddie hit the recording studio, working together in perfect harmony again.
“Perfect” and “harmony” are two words that most definitely do not describe Juliette’s working relationship with Hallie as she and her band are recording a song she didn’t authorize them to do. Hallie informs her they’ve already done that song, which Juliette loves but Hallie is less than enthusiastic about. Juliette, who is just about 10 degrees short of a full 180-degree turn back to the bitchy, insecure, demanding person she was in Season One, is not only not seeing eye-to-eye with Hallie on the direction she should take her music, she’s convinced she’s seeing romantic sparks fly between Hallie and her man, Avery, that may or may not be there.
Later, Juliette is watching All About Eve, the classic 1950 film about the young, seemingly innocent actress who came between Bette Davis’ character, Margo Channing, and everyone in Margo’s life, until she had completely overshadowed the aging star and stolen her limelight. She lashes out at Avery, warning him that she knows Hallie a lot better than he realizes and that he’d better be careful, which led to the most memorable exchange of dialogue in the episode as Juliette said, “I didn’t use a girl in a wheelchair to get a recording contract!” To which Avery replied, “You were one phone call away from a restraining order.” Hallie, still reeling from her breakup with married musician George could only stand by and watch in shock and horror as Juliette railed against her.
As the episode ends, Juliette is weeping, Hallie is microwaving soup… and crying her eyes out, and Scarlett is grocery-shopping on the verge of tears once she spots a “Scunnar”-related tabloid headline. At this rate,