S04.E11: Forever And For Always

[marsha]

I like Deacon, but his two defaults - rage and woe-is-me, I'm a terrible person - are pretty offputting.

clanstarling, I was coming here to post about that. My heavens, but it must be exhausting to be in any kind of personal relationship with someone like that. I wonder, has Rayna ever looked into Al Anon? I guess not as she always has one of two expressions on her face when she's around "babe": either a look of confused befuddlement or sheen of Valium induced calm.

 

The upcoming Layla/Juliette/Avery story line might be fun, though. 

[pattycat]

Maddie has known about the car accident for a couple of years. She never showed any reluctance to be around Deacon. She's known him her entire life as "Uncle Deacon", and never witnessed any bad behavior, on his part.

When she and her Dad began developing a relationship, more than anything, she wanted her parents to get together. So after all these years of knowing Deacon, she witnesses One episode of Deacon, in the midst of grieving for the Sister that lost her life saving his, trashing a room, and she decides he might be dangerous???

Sure that would be upsetting, but, it made no sense that she wouldn't have, if not talked to Deacon, talked to her Mom. And to have such a strong reaction, made no sense, at all. Deacon had never been anything but wonderful, to her.

As for the photographer, yes, better to try and ignore the creep, but, he was in Maddie's face, shoving a camera at her, and screaming insulting questions. Deacon shoved him down, he didn't attack and beat him. His behavior was protective of his Daughter, even if, a cooler head would have been better.

There are so many, less over the top dramatic ways, that Nashville could have shown Deacon, a lifelong bachelor, having a bumpy time, adjusting to being a full time Dad and Husband, no matter how much he loved his family.

[WhosThatGirl]

Maddie's whole thing was strange, because you are totally right. And it is kind of funny that right after she was all happy, that Deacon screaming at a camera guy made her weary. It also made me mad on behalf of Daphne because her concerns are legitimate. And I feel like a lot of her reluctance to the Deacon/Rayna marriage is that her older sister is making this transition awful. To me, Maddie seemed to reinforce Daphne's fears, she said to Rayna, "you're one of them!" and Maddie to me is constantly pushing her fears in some way- you could tell when Maddie introduced their song at their rehearsal dinner. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I usually roll my eyes at Maddie's behavior so I am the last person I thought would be defending her, but I think that part of the reason she reacted so strongly to Deacon pushing the photographer is that she has led a relatively sheltered life. I don't mean that in a bad way though. Even when Rayna and Teddy were having problems, they never screamed at each other in front of the kids. When Maddie is in trouble, at most she gets a raised voice (but still very far from being screamed at). She has not grown up in a loud violent out of control environment where she has been physically or emotionally abused and she has not witnessed domestic violence.

 

She really freaked out after she saw Deacon out of control after Beverly's death but she kept it to herself. I think if Deacon had only shoved the photographers out of the way, she might have been more accepting of his behavior, but then Deacon went beyond that and deliberately smashed the camera too. One incident can be swept under the rug, but she has now seen two incidents of Deacon manifesting his anger physically and she sees it as Deacon losing control, which scares her because she never thought she would see him do anything like that. She grew up seeing him as a nice, loving, gentle guy so the fact that he's capable of losing his temper scares her. I think that's one of the reasons that the movie What Lies Beneath was so disturbing to me - I grew up seeing Harrison Ford as this funny, charming, roguish but basically nice guy so to see him be deliberately violent freaked me out!

 

Anyway, one thing that annoyed me was when Maddie brought up the car accident. An accident is an accident. Yes, Deacon was partially responsible because he had been drinking and that's why Rayna was in the car, but it was still an accident and accidents can happen to anyone at any time. Rayna could get into a car accident with Maddie in the car tomorrow and even if there are some extenuating circumstances (for example, Maddie was being a brat at school so Rayna had to come pick her up and take her home for the day), that wouldn't make the accident Maddie's fault. I understand that her concern was rooted in her mom being safe, but I thought that the car accident was a totally separate thing that had nothing to do with seeing Deacon's behavior with the paparazzi.

[Clemgo3165]

Honestly, I see Maddie's concerns regarding his taking out his anger on the furniture after Bev's death, I would have been freaked out about that too. But I would have been more afraid of the paparazzi than my Dad - smashed up against her, shoving cameras in her face, asking her horribly rude questions - I don't blame Deacon one iota for reacting the way he did. 

 

I wish that the writers had had Maddie reach out to Rayna after the first incident rather than having her hold all that in. That's the point where she should have gone to her Mom to express her concerns about what she saw, and shown some fear for her Mom's safety (not to mention Daphne's.) And then to have it all just swept aside by the "he feels things deeply" speech was kind of ridiculous.

[madam magpie]

If Maddie had been scared of Deacon three years ago and upset about the car accident, I'd have bought it. That was a huge deal, it made clear why Rayna was afraid of Deacon's behavior years ago, and it was scary. But Maddie wasn't really even that upset about it back then, and within a couple of episodes, she and Deacon were best friends. I don't think it makes any sense to be freaked out about it now. I also don't believe that she wouldn't have said anything about the Beverly situation, and the photographer? I don't know. Maddie lacks empathy. That's been my assessment of her for awhile. She's unable or unwilling (or written so flat) to see anything from someone else's point of view. I can see that entire situation scaring someone, but it seems unreasonable that Maddie would decide that it makes Deacon a violent threat to her mother. It would make more sense for her to read tons of old articles online about how violent and unreliable Deacon used to be and then worry. But even that seems too late. This should have come up in season two or three.

[Clemgo3165]

But Maddie wasn't 16 then and wanting her own recording contract, apart from her sister. So we now make her suddenly afraid of Deacon's lack of anger management skills to drive story. 

 

I'm totally with you on the Maddie lacks empathy score. While I don't blame her for being freaked out by what she saw at Deacon's house that night, I don't find it realistic that she would have kept that from her Mom, especially when he was living in their home full-time by that point and her little sister has a room right down the hall. And to not even show the least bit of concern for Deacon himself when she'd witnessed him putting his hand through a mirror just reads wrong to me entirely. Get in the car, call your mother, and wait outside to make sure he had help if he needed it and then sit down the next day to talk it out - and maybe get Deacon to therapy to help him manage his anger more productively.

[izabella]

Why is Gunnary's hair always so ridiculous?  And Avery is long overdue for a hair make-over! 

 

I felt terrible for Avery and his panic attack, and everyone asking about Juliette and no one caring about his career whatsoever.  He's definitely getting the shitty end of the stick as far as his marriage to Juliette is concerned.  I guess he probably agreed to all the lies because he thought it would be best for the baby in the end, but Juliette is going to have a mountain of repair work to do when she gets back.

 

Which leads me to Layla.  I wish she or Colt would have told Avery what happened on that roof.  He needs to know.  I hope Juliette told her counselors about it in rehab, but I bet she never once mentioned she tried to kill herself. 

[pattycat]

When Maddie witnessed Deacon trashing the room, at his house, I thought at first, she was going to call her Mom, and say something along the lines of, "Oh my gosh, Deacon needs help, I think he's having a breakdown."

Maddie is 16, not 10. She had followed Deacon to his house, because she knew what a tough time he was having. She sees him loosing it, I think, at least, at that moment, your fear would be for them, not so much of them. The man is having to deal with his Sister dying, saving his life. That's going to overwhelm anyone. Especially, when you throw in the guilt of knowing, your liver was destroyed by your alcoholism.

I agree, Maddie lacks empathy. Part of that is probably being 16. Everything is still pretty black and white. You still see things in terms of how it affects you. I think the latter, is more true, when, like Maddie, your life has been sheltered. She's a child of wealth and privilege and has had a life that's buffered her from a lot of harsh realities. By the time Deacon, Juliette, Scarlett, were 16, they were all, most likely, taking care of themselves, in a very harsh reality.

I think not only could Deacon and Rayna benefit from therapy, as a couple, the whole family could benefit.

But then, who in Nashville land, couldn't

[Clemgo3165]

But I know kids who are 16 and yeah, they certainly have their "me" moments, but they're also working at soup kitchens, and traveling to Haiti for a working spring break, and volunteering with churches, campaigns, and civic events, etc. They are fully capable of seeing outside of themselves and their own needs, and showing care for others at home and around the world. And they're certainly capable of expressing care and concern for the people they love. 

[Sandman]

The upcoming Layla/Juliette/Avery story line might be fun, though. 

 

Please believe me, marsha, when I say I sincerely hope you can find it so, but I can't imagine how. The whole idea just makes me want to delete the show from my PVR, and also my brain.

[Bwill3133]

For me I wish Teddy wouldn't have gone to jail. Daphne wanted to live with him and I think it would have been interesting to see how Rayna handled that. It also might have toned down the brat in Maddie since she wouldn't have her sister around to yell at.

[airwair]

I agree 100% that Maddie lacks empathy.

Honestly, at this point I almost kind of wish they'd say she has inherited some form of mental illness from her grandmother and aunt. It'd make it much easier for me to forgive her behavior. As it stands, I just find her insufferable and I hate the way she is suddenly reacting to Deacon and where this road is ultimately headed. What they're having her do to the relationship that they've built over the course of the series (which in some ways has been more fulfilling to me than his relationship with Rayna) is infuriating and borderline painful to watch.

But they won't do that. The only tangible reason they will ever give is Deacon is some kind of dangerous, demonic violent alcoholic who deserves every bit of doom the show has to offer and can never have happiness because he doesn't deserve it.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Will Nashville Get Cold Feet?
It's Rayna and Deacon's wedding day, but some people have doubts...and that includes the groom.

[DeLurker]

 

I felt terrible for Avery and his panic attack, and everyone asking about Juliette and no one caring about his career whatsoever.  He's definitely getting the shitty end of the stick as far as his marriage to Juliette is concerned.

Given how well JJ does these heartbreaking scenes, I have to believe he's always going to have the writer's itching to give him drama-trauma.

[bonniejmac]

Given how well JJ does these heartbreaking scenes, I have to believe he's always going to have the writer's itching to give him drama-trauma.

 

This! He's just so good at devastated and distraught, I think they just can't resist. But it's kind of exhausting - for the viewer and, probably, for him. It's a lot of why he left GH the last time around, because of the constantly emotionally draining storylines. I'd just like him to be able to smile once in a while.

[Marsupial]

I wish the Nashville writers had just let Avery and Juliette have their happy ending, like they did with Rayna and Deacon. They were able to make that storyline dramatic and up-and-down for a long time, so why couldn't they do the same for what was the best couple on the show? I am tired of seeing bedraggled, mournful Avery and messed-up Juliette. I want them together, happy and successful--but I don't see how the show can get back to that now.

 

I have the same mixed feelings about this show that I do Downton Abbey; it drives me up the wall in so many ways and yet I'm always happy to step into its world.  I like Nashville better because it truly embraces its own soapiness at times.

 

That said, I was a total sucker for the wedding. Nicely done!