For inside info on what Nashville does and doesn’t get right about music industry stuff, check out EMI Nashville artist Kelleigh Bannen’s Nashville commentary here!
Welcome back to ‘Nashville’! As the show opens, Maddie is sing “Beyond The Sun,” as Scarlett and Deacon keep vigil by Beverly’s side at the hospital with Rayna there for support as the doctors run various tests. Rayna gets a call from school. Juliette wakes up after a raging party in her hotel room and Luke has slept with some random woman who dresses and leaves his room. The next time we see her, Juliette has gone into high-function mode, and is running on a treadmill. It turns out that Maddie is in a studio recording, and Mr. Sims drops by to congratulate her on a great performance. Like the rest of us, he wonders why she’s recording alone.
To DOWNLOAD “Beyond the Sun,” written by Aaron Espe and Claire Guerreso and performed by Lennon and Maisy Stella, click HERE!
BONUS: Check out co-writer Aaron Espe’s version of the song here:
It doesn’t take us long to find out where Daphne is – she’s with Rayna and the school principal in the prinipal’s office. Turns out that Daphne initiated a fight in school. She doesn’t deny her culpability and the fact that she threw the first punch combined with Langhorne Academy’s zero tolerance results in Daphne being suspended from school for three days.
Meanwhile at Gunnar’s, we have three men and a baby sight gags. Cadence is crying, Avery trying and failing to reach Juliette via her tour manager, Will tries to comfort “Cady,” (“Her name is Cadence!” barks Avery), Will asks Gunnar, “What’s with all the fussiness?” and Gunnar replies,”Avery or the baby?” LOLZ. Avery heard that, of course. Despite Gunnar making delicious pancakes for breakfast, Will decides to escape to Kevin’s and Avery goes to shower and then head out. Gunnar asks Cadence, “Why am I the only one who’s ever in a good mood?” Uh huh.
Somewhere out on the road, Juliette runs into Luke in a hotel hallway. In the awkward conversation that follows, we learn that neither is going back home to Nashville during their couple of days break from tour. They are in Indianapolis, it turns out, and Luke plans to take in some of his favorite sites. Juliette invites herself along.
Back in Nashville, a doctor is reporting to Scarlett and Deacon on Beverly’s test results and the news is grim. He says there’s little brain stem function, that Beverly’s body is being kept alive by machines and that a meaningful recovery not likely. He suggests that they consider taking Beverly off life support. Deacon is having none of it since Beverly had just come out of a coma. But it’s Scarlett’s decision based on medical power of attorney. Scarlett is, for some reason, not as convinced as Deacon about keeping Beverly on life support. She asks if her mother is in pain. She isn’t, the doctor assures her, but he again reiterates that Beverly’s chances of recovery are very low. He also brings up the value of organ donation and once again, Deacon is not ready to let Beverly go. The doctor suggests that they can do an apnea test to see if Beverly can take a breath on her own, in order to facilitate Scarlett’s decision.
Over at Langhorne, Rayna finds a way to get Daphne to explain why she punched a schoolmate. At first, Daphne is reticent but she finally reveals that somebody taunted her about Teddy. Daphne is convinced of Teddy’s innocence and wants to see him.
Cut to Avery meeting with P.A. Emily and Manager Glenn. Emily’s still on the payroll despite doing nothing and having no contact with Juliette, but is happy to take care of Cadence. Manager Glenn senses that Avery is ready to give up but argues for Juliette, saying she always finds her way back. He reminds Avery that she’s sick.
Back to Indianapolis, where Juliette and Luke have taken turns racing around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They banter about racing, with Juliette unimpressed by the idea and Luke all about it. Juliette has her own idea of fun and brings Luke along. They start off at an empty bar at noon, but Juliette’s about to take care of that. They’re not going to hook up, are they?
Will has headed over to Kevin, where he’s writing with friends. Will doesn’t want to intrude despite the welcome he receives. They were taking a break for lunch anyway, and Kevin wants Will to get to know his friends.
We head over to jail, where a bearded Teddy takes a call from Rayna. We learn that he has pled not guilty and that his attorney thinks they can win if they drag this out past the point where the public cares. But is no longer willing to stall on Teddy seeing the girls, something he has been putting off in the hopes that something works out for him.
Gunnar is meeting with Noel, who is concerned about Jesse the drummer playing hard to get, and it’s from Noel that Gunnar hears that there’s been some kind of setback with Scarlett’s mom, though he doesn’t know what. Noel doesn’t want to be the go-between for them and suggests Gunnar talk to somebody who knows more.
Over at the hospital, the apnea test is underway, and after a period of no positive signs, Deacon is convinced Beverly took a breath because of a beep. Doctor tries to explain that that’s not what happened. Scarlett weeps as everybody talks over each other. Where’s Dr. Caleb in all this?
Avery has gone to meet with a lawyer, and it turns out he’s ready to file for divorce.
Back to the hospital where – there’s Dr. Caleb. He and Scarlett talk and he asks what he can do. Scarlett wants him to tell her her mom’s not coming back. Ever rational, Dr. Caleb says she needs to come to that decision herself and when she’s ready, not because he told her to. Scarlett agrees and walks away. Dr. Caleb senses he didn’t give her what she needed.
Back at the lawyer’s office, the divorce lawyer says that Juliette’s behavior gives them a clear case of abandonment that should entitle Avery to a nice settlement, alimony, child support, etc.. But Avery wants full custody – lawyer says this might be trickier, but Avery doesn’t think Juliette will fight him on that.
Speaking of Juliette, she has turned the bar into a country song party, with band is jamming some rock. Juliette drags Luke to stage to perform “Bad Reputation.” He’s sitting there, she gets the crowd chanting, “Luke!” He at least gets up on stage and eventually does take a verse. They are not well-suited to this song, to be honest.
To DOWNLOAD “Bad Reputation,” written by Ritchie Cordell, Joan Jett, Mitchell Kupersmith and Kenneth Laguna and performed by Hayden Panettiere with Will Chase, click HERE!
We return to Kevin’s house, where the songwriters compliment Will on his work with Kevin and again want him to join in. When he again politely declines, one of the songwriters makes a snide comment about noticing how he’s taking a break from music.
And now, over to jail, where Rayna and the girls have gone to see Teddy. Maddie has no interest in embracing Teddy but Daphne runs right up to him. She obviously believes in his innocence, since he pled not guilty, and wants to know when this will all be over. At first, Teddy tries to reassure her, but in the end, he can’t lie to his daughter when she asks him whether he did any of the things he’s been accused of. Daphne is devastated, rips off the necklace he gave her and demands to leave. Teddy is left alone and broken.
Back at Kevin’s, Will’s self-consciousness and reclusiveness finally become the central topic of discussion when he asks that snide songwriter to just say what she wants to say. She lays into Will for not doing more for his community, saying she’s struggled for 10 years to make a difference, and here he is in the position to do something and he’s backing off hoping the world forgets he’s gay. Kevin puts a stop to it and kicks his songwriter friends out.
Meanwhile, Scarlett has gone to the hospital church to sort out her feelings and the decision she has to make.
Maddie & Daphne are more proactively dealing with their feelings – they are so angry and hurt, they are ripping up family scrapbooks as Rayna comes into their room. She stops them and reminds them that Teddy is their father and that they are a family. Maddie reminds her mother that she gets to opt out.
Deacon is keeping vigil at Beverly’s bedside and promises he won’t let anything happen to her.
Back in the hospital church, Scarlett sings “Speak To Me,” a plaintive, beautiful cry written by Tofer Brown, Lucy Schwartz and Sarah Siskind.
To DOWNLOAD “Speak To Me,” written by Tofer Brown, Lucy Schwartz and Sarah Siskind and performed by Clare Bowen, click HERE!
As she finishes the song, naturally, it’s Gunnar who shows up and he’s totally not there to reveal Dr. Caleb’s inadequacies. Scarlett runs up and embraces him.
Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, Juliette is still living it up at the bar. But the bar manager goes over to Luke and politely informs them that they’re over capacity and need Luke & Juliette to leave. Luke and the bar manager start plotting an escape route.
Back in Nashville, Scarlett confides in Gunnar. Scarlett regrets the time she and her mother wasted being angry at each other, while Gunnar comforts her by saying that anger was because their relationship mattered, because there was love there. Gunnar gives Scarlett the confidence to make a decision from her wisdom and empathy.
Will and Kevin have a frank and honest conversation about the pressure on Will. Kevin explains that no matter what Will wants (privacy), the public perceives him as a gay cowboy and he has an opportunity to speak for the community. Will doesn’t want all that on his shoulders and walks out.
Meanwhile, Avery arrives home, only to find that Emily has been playing Juliette and Avery’s “Hold You In My Arms” to get Cadence to sleep, and it’s worked like charm. Avery vents about his situation with Juliette, Emily says she’s here to listen. While she gets why Avery wants a divorce (Avery shows her the papers), she assures Avery that “Juliette wanted that baby and she wanted you.”
Back at the hospital, a newly resolved Scarlett tells Deacon she’s decided to take Beverly off life support. Deacon is not OK with that, but Scarlett is resigned to the fact that even if by some miracle, Beverly woke from her coma, she wouldn’t be the same and her life would be one of unbearable suffering. Scarlett says the best they can do is make her death mean something. Scarlett asks Deacon to be there at noon the next day.
Will returns to Kevin’s later in the evening and the two apologize to each other. Will explains that he’s confused, doesn’t know what he wants, doesn’t know what he’s going to do and he’s just not ready to shoulder the weight of expectations right now. He only knows that he loves Kevin and Will asks if that can be enough for now. Kevin says it is and they kiss.
Rayna and the girls go to see Teddy again. Rayna gives a beautiful talk to Teddy in which she thanks him for the rock that he was while she was out having a career. She assures Teddy that nothing can change that, that nothing can change that he is family and that family means forgiveness for mistakes. Teddy already knew what he had to do, and tells Rayna and the girls that he spoke with his lawyer and has decided to plead guilty. The girls are worried about him being in jail, but he says that actions have consequences and promises that when he gets out, he will do everything he can to regain their trust and be somebody they can be proud of. Teddy – never more likable than when he accepts his failures and takes responsibility. It’s a genuinely moving scene, and family embraces ensue.
Back to Indianapolis, where Juliette wakes up in Luke’s bed (noooooooooooo!), but he didn’t sleep there (thank goodness). It turns out, as Juliette vaguely remembers, Luke snuck them out of the bar in a roadcase. Luke takes the opportunity to tell that when he was younger, he was Juliette and then some, but he had a wife and 2 kids at home whom he made feel like a second choice. His wife had had enough and he claims to have felt relief and just stayed out in the road. By the time he realized what he was doing, he had missed half his kids’ lives. Juliette reminds him Avery and Cadence were at the launch party but Luke calls out the absence since then, and very reasonably tells Juliette that he’s not judging her, just doesn’t want her to make the same mistakes he did. And once again, this show does friendship better than it does just about anything else.
At Casa Jaymes, Rayna comforts Deacon and reminds him he and Scarlett need each other more than ever. Deacon can’t make himself go to the hospital. Rayna says Scarlett’s choice may be right, it may not, but that Deacon’s going to want to say goodbye to his sister. Rayna says she’ll go with him but Deacon tells her to stay there. He obviously has something in mind.
Avery is about to sign the divorce papers when Cadence not at all symbolically interrupts him by crying. The only way he can calm her down is to play Juliette and his “Hold You In My Arms.”
To DOWNLOAD “Hold You In My Arms,” written by Sarah Siskind and performed by Hayden Panettiere and Jonathan Jackson, click HERE!
As the song plays, we get a montage of Juliette returning to her hotel room, which her BFF visits to bring “breakfast”: orange juice and champagne, Dr.Caleb standing among the staff as Beverly is wheeled out with Scarlett by her side, and Deacon going to his home. The montage continues with Avery putting the unsigned divorce papers in his desk, for Juliette to discover them at the most inopportune time, no doubt. Then Scarlett tells her mother she loves her and asks her to please forgive her. When we see Deacon again, he has returned to his home and specifically Beverly’s room, which he had painted yellow as she had requested.
In the episode’s final scene, Beverly passes as Scarlett and Deacon each weep in their respective locations. And that’s that. We’ll pick up the pieces of this tearjerker of an episode next week. Join us, won’t you?
