S04.E19: After You've Gone

[RedheadZombie]

2 hours ago, Telepath said:

Sure she can. She sang Telescope with Hayden and she made her look like a rank amateur. That said, her range isn't fully developed yet. Her voice is yet to mature.

And:

Yes. I could legitimately see that the disastrous way her character has been written this season could have negative consequences for future projects, at least short term.

Remember, though, this is a show that loves to abuse actors. This is a show that made a new mother suffering from P.P.D. act out a scene with her throwing a heavy object at her onscreen husband and newborn baby.

Personally, I don't believe Maddie's emancipation storyline is going to damage Lennon's acting aspirations.  Most teenagers on TV are petulant assholes.  She's showing more range than when she was happy Maddie (remember that?), so if anything I think it might help her career.  I think most casting agents know the TV role is not the actor.

I don't know how abusive the show is to its actors, but I am saddened by Hayden's storyline.  I don't know at what point in taping they discovered Hayden actually had PPD.  But, it really bothers me that Avery seems to act like Juliet was simply being a selfish bitch, and I wonder what Hayden's true feelings are on that subject.  I realize the show had Juliet lose custody of Cadence, but it sort of gives the impression that women in recovery for PPD aren't to be trusted with their babies unless they're supervised. 

[Auntie Anxiety]

I just can't with this show anymore.  Somehow, I find that it not being renewed is so liberating. Yes, I could have stopped watching when things started going south (Season 2) but I tend to stay committed much too long to things, even if they get unbearable.  

What happened to the Rayna-Deacon relationship that I used to love?  Scarlett and Gunnar remind me of an old vinyl record that has a scratch and keeps repeating. The Maddie plotline is in desperate need of some tough love.  Avery and Layla?  Aren't there any other potential romantic partners in the whole of Nashville and surrounding towns? Derek Hough?  Really?  

Now I will have my Wednesday nights free to watch The Americans, a really good piece of tv drama.

[Kazia]

I just rewatched part of Season 3, Episode 12 where Maddie and Rayna are writing a song together (this is after Rayna left the BlueBird for a performance she was supposed to give because she was overwhelmed with memories of Deacon).

Maddie was like, "Juliette signed with Big Machine at 14 and you signed with Edgehill at 16, and I have a lot more support than you did."

Like, whatever happened to that? Whatever happened to sweet, considerable Maddie sitting in Rayna's beautiful house writing and singing songs that she and Deacon worked on? Sweet Maddie who understood (after some gentle reminders) that things take time and that she's in a very fortunate, promising position?

Sigh. I'm kind of glad it was canceled, but at the same time, I'm secretly hoping for another network/Hulu/Netflix/whatever to swoop in and give it a ten episode shortened season so that the new writers can fix the mess.

Looking forward to seeing what Connie does next, though! I'm wondering if she'll be moving back to LA now? (especially after the stance she took on all the new legislation in TN?)

[candall]

56 minutes ago, Tnbella7 said:

Okay, since the show is cancelled, part of me thinks this is what someone wanted all along.  (There is soap opera  and then there are total cl*sterf*cks where none of the characters are redeemable.   Man alive.)

I was looking forward to (Thirty-Something) Zwick & Herskovitz taking over as the new showrunners next season.  But your post made me suddenly realize the current showrunners probably weren't as pleased with that situation as I was, ha.  Maybe they did decide to burn the joint down on their way out the door.

[AnnaRose]

3 hours ago, scribe95 said:

Overall it is me or does the actress that plays Maddie have any range? It seems to me she sings the same song over and over again - soft, slow vocals. Can she do anything upbeat? Can she belt?

I have enjoyed some of Maddie's songs very much, but she often sounds like she has severe vocal strain and her voice is cracking.  It sounds painful at times.  I have wondered if it is because she was pushed to sing at an early age, without being taught proper breathing and vocal technique.   I can't imagine how bad it might be in twenty years if she keeps this up.

[beeblebrox]

2 hours ago, RedheadZombie said:

Personally, I don't believe Maddie's emancipation storyline is going to damage Lennon's acting aspirations.  Most teenagers on TV are petulant assholes.  She's showing more range than when she was happy Maddie (remember that?), so if anything I think it might help her career.  I think most casting agents know the TV role is not the actor.

I don't know how abusive the show is to its actors, but I am saddened by Hayden's storyline.  I don't know at what point in taping they discovered Hayden actually had PPD.  But, it really bothers me that Avery seems to act like Juliet was simply being a selfish bitch, and I wonder what Hayden's true feelings are on that subject.  I realize the show had Juliet lose custody of Cadence, but it sort of gives the impression that women in recovery for PPD aren't to be trusted with their babies unless they're supervised. 

This bothers me so much about the show. They really addressed postpartum depression poorly. The one mini PSA when the doctor was talking about Juliette's acting out/drinking as part of it did nothing to bring light to it. If they wanted to do it right, they could have shown her going through the mental anguish of it on whether or not you made the right decision to have kids, wondering constantly if you're a good parent to your kids, or imagining hurting yourself. Instead, they just crapped on Hayden, the show, and the viewers. Even worse, they made the spouse totally unsupportive or even suggesting marriage counseling. It was "nope, she's acting out, let's take away the kid and divorce her." Whoever wrote that should attend a PPD help group to see just the mental/emotional side of it. They did those characters dirty as well as women who are suffering from PPD. I'm glad that Hayden's honest about how hard it has been on her and open about seeking treatment. 

[dcalley]

23 hours ago, Brinny said:

Also...what are chocolate chip eggs? Are those...are those a thing? Gross.

That was my favorite moment of the episode. Rayna/Connie got to be fun and silly and show some personality that has nothing to do with all the soapy drama. She was just saying that if Daphne asked for chocolate chip eggs, Rayna would call her bluff and make them.

[Brinny]

48 minutes ago, dcalley said:

That was my favorite moment of the episode. Rayna/Connie got to be fun and silly and show some personality that has nothing to do with all the soapy drama. She was just saying that if Daphne asked for chocolate chip eggs, Rayna would call her bluff and make them.

Okay, so they aren't some strange sort of American breakfast food? Good to know. (FYI, I am only a neighbour from the North, so I'm not far, but sometimes there are weird foodthings that you guys have that we don't and vice versa and Connie Britton just offered it so convincingly that I thought maybe I'd missed something. Aaaand now I feel like a dolt.)

[RemoteControlFreak]

While Maddy's character has been pretty one-dimensionally written as a stereotypical teenage brat but Lennon Stella played  this part very well. She's certainly a better actor than, for example, Claire Bowen with her ridiculous attempt at a southern American accent. 

I don't think her acting options will be limited at this point because of the role she played on Nashville.

[Tara Ariano]

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

Nashville Offers Juliette A Rebound Relationship

And she could definitely do worse!

[Sandman]

On May 12, 2016 at 5:55 PM, anonymiss said:

She was kind in not outing her husband; she just silently suffered and internalized the pain to the point of wanting to take her life.

No, she wasn't; she blackmailed Will into getting him to get his management to sign her. Her overdose came as a result of many things, but silent suffering is not what was happening.

ETA: Even if she hadn't been blackmailing him, not doing something she had no right to do anyway doesn't qualify as an act of kindness.

Edited May 14, 2016 by Sandman

[Soup333]

On 5/12/2016 at 5:55 PM, anonymiss said:

You can be kind by not being cruel to people, by being respectful. You know, unlike Juliette's overfloweth hitlist. She was kind in not outing her husband; she just silently suffered and internalized the pain to the point of wanting to take her life. She's been "layed" on the entire course of her character development and is only now acting out selfishly. This is still the nascent stages. There's nothing to believe she still isn't a decent, but flawed person, like every other character who has messed up and then been written to redeem themselves. 

This proves the point that she was wrong with that she did to Avery. She disrespected the arrangement they had made to keep that relationship private. You also don't get bonus points for not shitting on people. In life, the right thing to do is not to be cruel to people. That's not being kind or doing anything out of the ordinary.  That's just being a decent person.

And Layla's been selfish since probably day two of being in Nashville. What she did to Scarlett in S2 was done out of selfishness. Like Avery, Scarlett had not done anything to deserve what Layla did to her. 

I'm flabbergasted at the last. There is EVERYTHING to believe she isn't a decent person. Avery had a huge redemption arc, but he hadn't sank back into those patterns of S1 Avery (until recently, but that's another discussion). Layla has ALWAYS been manipulative and sneaky. Even through several iterations of her character's development the one constant thing has been that she will do anything and screw over anybody to further her career. 

1 hour ago, Sandman said:

No, she wasn't; she blackmailed Will into getting him to get his management to sign her. Her overdose came as a result of many things, but silent suffering is not what was happening.

She blackmailed Will and Jeff over this. Her actual words to Will were "you disgust me." If she was mature, she would have approached the situation with actual kindness and understanding. A tall order for anyone in that situation - but out of the stratosphere for Layla. She doesn't have the emotional maturity or empathy to concern herself with Will's life even now as evidenced by her jealousy when they met up just a few episodes ago and talked about what was going on in his life.

[STOPSHOUTING]

Will's dad? Seriously?!? I've seen subtler stereotype portrayals in Bugs Bunny cartoons. 

I'm sorry but so completely unshaded bigots in this day and age? I just don't see it, unless their church affiliation was Westboro. You can be the biggest, fundamentalist, Bible-thumping, black and white know-it-all but once you're talking about your son -- your only child, at that -- the shades of gray are inevitable. Especially after years have passed; because time really does soften just about every position, especially with general societal evolution on this topic being what it has been over the past decade. 

And Maddie completely ignoring everything but stupid want-to-punch-her-in-the-face Cash. Ugh.

But never does Nashville use a light hand when a sledgehammer is available. Never have so many quite capable actors, and so much really good music, been so poorly served. I'm also glad this hot mess is coming to a close.

PS: I always loved Luke. Rayna used and abused him from day one. 

[izabella]

59 minutes ago, STOPSHOUTING said:

I'm sorry but so completely unshaded bigots in this day and age?

Yep, I believe it.  They exist, even in this day and age. 

[Cranberry]

Visit the comments section of any article about LGBT topics and you'll see tons... even on Facebook, where they proudly post under their real names.

[Clanstarling]

No Deacon, you haven't done everything right. You never tried to address your anger/impulse control issues. No excuses for them when you're sober. Take a note from your niece and accept responsibility for your own stupid actions.

Speaking of Scarlett - there are two versions. One who communicates with her uncle in a clear, straight-forward, kind but direct manner. And the other who can't manage a complete sentence with Gunnar without getting offended and huffing off and making bad decisions. I always liked the first version, but the other, more frequently seen version, has me rolling my eyes every time she's on.

I can't even with Maddie, Cash and Frankie. I did love Glenn showing up and giving Maddie a brief lesson in the way things work.

Sadly, I'm relieved the show has been canceled. Now I don't have to actively decide whether or not to watch it.

[Ohmo]

On 5/12/2016 at 11:09 PM, ReadingZombie said:

Why the hell did they dig Derek Hough back up? My God, he's a bad actor. Stick with the dancing and choreographing, dude. 

 

I don't watch DWTS, but I did see Derek on GMA once, and dude can definitely dance.  That's why I was happy when Noah asked Juliette to dance.  Not that I was expecting a DWTS routine, but I thought that line was a wink and a nod to having someone in the scene who could actually dance.  I thought, "Cool, they're going to have Derek and Hayden dance."  But then we saw NO dancing!  Grrr!

Has that bus arrived to run over Cash and Frankie yet?  I wish it would hurry up and get here.

[thuganomics85]

So.... I finally get around to this episode, and sure enough, ABC finally decided it had enough of it's shit and canceled it.  Well done, Nashville.  I'm pretty this season alone was what did it.  Tax breaks and sales from music can only appease ABC for so long, I guess.

I almost quit watching the episode once Scarlett told Deacon he had to make amends with Frankie, because fuck that noise.  Deacon does need to make amends for other things and he really need to accept he has anger issues and work on fixing them, but fuck Frankie.  I can't believe no one is bringing up how Frankie violated his role as Deacon's sponsor, and everything is just acting like Deacon showed up to insult Cash, and deserved to have a punch thrown at him.  Fuck all that.

Maddie's singing was horrible.  Am I just too old or is that really what kids like these days?  It just felt so off key and like she was trying way too hard to be "sexy", but failing at it miserably.  But all the music execs were bouncing their heads and everything, so I guess I know shit about this.  Still, basically Maddie is an idiot, who despite Juliette wisely letting her borrow Glenn for advice, decides to listen to Cash and accept some kind of record label from NYC.  Dumbass.  Considering how moronic Maddie has been, I can't see her surviving The Big Apple.  At least Glenn's presence did lead to Cash clearly being threatened, which was nice.

I so knew Layla set-up that paparazzi, because she seemed so unsurprised and indifferent, when Avery discovered it.  What a lovely relationship Avery has gotten himself into.  Maybe Layla truly thinks she cares about him on some level, but I don't know.  I don't think she can ever be trustworthy, and I don't see this ending well at all.  Again, I get not wanting to go back to Juliette, Avery, but maybe you could have found a less famous person to date?  Added bonus would be a person who isn't unhinged, either?  Sigh...

Juliette already rebounds with Noah/Derek Hough, which whatever, I guess it's nice for Juliette to be happy for a second.  I still am more interested in her Oscar story.  Who are her competitors?  I want to know!  I so wanted her to have a rivalry over who gets that sweet Oscar gold!  Is it Meryl Streep?!  Jennifer Lawrence?!  Cate Blanchett?!  That would have been too much fun, I guess.

Of course, Will has another tragedy, with his mom dying, but Chris Carmack was great in it.  His dad his still one dimensional.  I loved how I was suppose to find it a big deal that his dad finally stood up for him, when that one guy called him a homo.   Yeah, no.

At least Rayna finally goes back to Daphne, after wasting most of her time foolishly trying to stop stupid Maddie.  Tandy did good, at least.

Luke continues to actually be one of the better characters.  And I agree with him: it will be rough at first, but in the long run, he'll come out ahead sticking with Will.

Scarlett and Gunnar continue to be idiots.  The Rolling Stone article makes it all about Scarlett, which pisses Gunnar off, so Autumn swoops in, and continues to drive the wedge.  It would be funny, if it wasn't so sad how easily these two get played.

[Auntie Anxiety]

Shallow comment alert:

Alicia Witt had the bad luck of inheriting some awful under eye bag genes which make her look ancient.  I'm usually not a fan of cosmetic surgery, but she should get a brochure and check it out.  Reminds of me Little Georgie Stephanopoulis' wife, Ali Wentworth.  He looks like he's about 12 yo and she always looked like she was old enough to be his mother. I think she finally had the surgery.

[Kathemy]

I've always been a bit puzzled about her appearance. Sometimes she looks like 40-45 and sometimes she looks like 25-30. 

[TWP]

Just watched. All that's left for Maddie is twerking. I'm sure they're saving it for the finale.

Oh and my husband pointed out that Derek Hough is Oliver. LOL.

Edited May 16, 2016 by TWP

[Stripper Glitter]

On 5/12/2016 at 1:37 PM, Cyranetta said:

Hells to the yes! One of the things that kept me watching Nashville in S1 was the music, and I hope that if there is another season with new showrunners they bring back more music...just not Maddie's current number!

*whispers* I kind of liked the song 

*slinks away*

[Shellie]

9 hours ago, Stripper Glitter said:

*whispers* I kind of liked the song 

*slinks away*

That song might have worked for Layla, or for Juliette some years back, but not for Maddie.  With Maddie, there's an ick factor because of her age.  Which is the entire point, I imagine. 

[LadyMustang65]

I know it will never happen, because Rayna does not seem willing to get tough with Maddie, but I want to see her in court asking the judge to enjoin Maddie from using either Jaymes or Claybourne as her last name and from letting any label promote her as their child.  Let Maddie see how far she gets as Maddie Conrad or Maddie McBrattyface or whatever she wants to call herself.  Maddie is so deluded and so egotistical at this point that it has not occurred to her that the only reason anyone is interested in her at this age is because she is Rayna's daughter.  Yes, she is talented, but she is not so incredibly amazing that she would stand out from the crowd absent her lineage.  Maddie seems to truly think she is God's gift to country music, and she needs a wake-up call.  But they seem determined to make Rayna a doormat for her daughter, so it won't happen.  But I really want to see her tell Maddie that since she doesn't want to be their daughter any more, then she doesn't get to ride on their coattails either.  You want to be on your own then be on your own.

And speaking of that, seriously, Cash?  She's not your daughter any more?  Emancipation means Maddie has been declared a legal adult.  The court didn't magically declare that Rayna and Deacon aren't her parents any more.  They just don't get to make decisions for Maddie any longer.  That irritated me no end.  Cash can be incredibly stupid at times.  < sigh >

[STOPSHOUTING]

29 minutes ago, LadyMustang65 said:

And speaking of that, seriously, Cash?  She's not your daughter any more?  Emancipation means Maddie has been declared a legal adult.  The court didn't magically declare that Rayna and Deacon aren't her parents any more.  They just don't get to make decisions for Maddie any longer.  That irritated me no end.  Cash can be incredibly stupid at times.  < sigh >

Rayna's "I guess you're not very good at biology" was the perfect response to that, and a rare instance of sharp writing, or great ad-libbing by Connie Britton.

I think her using the name "James," which is neither her mother's, nor Maddie's, legal last name, would be a valid reason to go back to the judge. It certainly does NOT exhibit someone wanting to cut all ties with her so-called abusive parents, and Rayna's record label. It'd be different if Maddie had previously used, or even once performed under, that moniker, but to adopt it a week (day? month? who knows with this show) after she was supposedly emancipated from the same woman she's now invoking to jumpstart her career? If nothing else, I'm guessing Rayna owns the rights to her stage name, and who can profit off it. (And while "James" is a fairly generic surname, I'm sure it would be obvious why this particular singer wants to use it.) 

I'm not saying Rayna should blackball her kid, but making it clear that she is NOT supportive of this career move of her daughter could, practically speaking, scare off a whole lot of labels, who are clearly hoping to capitalize on Rayna's fame, thus protecting Maddie, which is Rayna's goal.

Of course, this ignores the utter B.S. that is the idea you must live in the same city your record label is headquartered at. It's not like you go into the office every day and sing. (FYI, 99.99% of recording is done in independently owned studios, no matter where your label is headquartered.) That's not how the music industry works, Nashville. That's not how any of this works. <<<<<------Which should totally be Nashville's tagline. 

[LadyMustang65]

1 hour ago, STOPSHOUTING said:

Rayna's "I guess you're not very good at biology" was the perfect response to that, and a rare instance of sharp writing, or great ad-libbing by Connie Britton.

I think her using the name "James," which is neither her mother's, nor Maddie's, legal last name, would be a valid reason to go back to the judge. It certainly does NOT exhibit someone wanting to cut all ties with her so-called abusive parents, and Rayna's record label. It'd be different if Maddie had previously used, or even once performed under, that moniker, but to adopt it a week (day? month? who knows with this show) after she was supposedly emancipated from the same woman she's now invoking to jumpstart her career? If nothing else, I'm guessing Rayna owns the rights to her stage name, and who can profit off it. (And while "James" is a fairly generic surname, I'm sure it would be obvious why this particular singer wants to use it.) 

I'm not saying Rayna should blackball her kid, but making it clear that she is NOT supportive of this career move of her daughter could, practically speaking, scare off a whole lot of labels, who are clearly hoping to capitalize on Rayna's fame, thus protecting Maddie, which is Rayna's goal.

Of course, this ignores the utter B.S. that is the idea you must live in the same city your record label is headquartered at. It's not like you go into the office every day and sing. (FYI, 99.99% of recording is done in independently owned studios, no matter where your label is headquartered.) That's not how the music industry works, Nashville. That's not how any of this works. <<<<<------Which should totally be Nashville's tagline. 

You're right - that was a perfect response.  I loved it.  :)

James is a fairly generic surname, but Rayna spells it Jaymes, and that is not generic.  You could well be correct that she owns the rights to that stage name.  There can be no doubt why Maddie chose to use it.

I also agree on the idiocy of Maddie needing to move to New York.  Because naturally that's such a hotbed of country music . . . not.  They've shown us multiple times of people renting studio space, and Maddie can fly to New York when she is needed there. 

[Clanstarling]

I have this vague memory that "Jaymes" was Rayna's mother's maiden name - and her mother was also a singer? Or wanted to be. I don't recall if she used it to spite her father, or if she was forbidden to use his name. There's some kind of irony in there, but I'm too tired to figure it out.

[RachelKM]

Full disclosure, I have never been a Rayna/Deacon shipper, but tonight (and last episode as well) was a perfect example of the reasons why.  I like Deacon generally, but he does have huge unresolved anger issues only seems to have two speeds, particularly whenever it has anything to do with Rayna and/or Maddie and Daphne, self-loathing martyr or self-exculpating hothead.  And recently he's displayed both almost simultaneously.  And frequently when he's angry with himself it's for the wrong thing.  

Yes, Frankie using his knowledge of Deacon gained through his role as sponsor was skeezy as hell, and yes Frankie attacked him, but Deacon took the bait and he didn't stop at simply incapacitating Frankie and holding him and calling for help, he beat the snot out of him.  Likewise, he was 100% justified in hauling Maddie's underage ass out that bar, but they way he did it was way too agro and was legitimately unhinged.  But instead of recognizing that good motives don't absolve you of bad tactics, he boo hoos how he's TRIED! What has he actually tried? 

And Rayna placates his ass.  "I know honey, I probably would have done the same thing..." (re: grabbing Maddie, only she wouldn't have gone about it that way), and then she gets upset with him after his actions and her enabling his actions has consequences.  Rayna, this ish is on you too. 

I wanted to kiss Scarlett for her completely kind and yet awesomely on point comment about actually being sorry for what he did instead of whining like a victim.   Too bad Deacon didn't hear her apparently (other than the apology part which was the least wise advise and which he managed to take in the least apology like way - just apologize for your actions Deacon, don't try  to explain his.) 

Of course, having only two gears is apparently a family trait.  As someone said above, there's the rational, loving, supportive, yet kindly truth bombing Scarlett and then the sullen, with drawn, worst case scenario jumping Scarlett who exists in pretty much ever scene with a person to whom she is not blood related.   She an Gunnar deserve each other.  They are both too stupid for words.  Alicia Witt is being about a transparent as humanly possible and those two nitwits are falling for it like she Meryl Streep. 

Also good truthsayer (which fell on equally deaf ears) was Juliette's talk with Maddie.  Too bad Maddie inherited her parents' powers of self reflection.  I was so excited to see Glenn show up to help her and was all YAY JULIETTE! But apparently Maddie even failed to fully heed his advice in the face of Cash's (inexplicable) influence.  

But yay for Aunt Tandy's talk with Daphne and for Rayna finally tuning her attention to her other daughter and telling her that she didn't have to hold them together. 

Edited May 17, 2016 by RachelKM

[Sandman]

A somewhat random observation: did anyone think that the (somewhat random) guy who called Will "homo" looked like a kind of bargain-basement version of Garth Brooks? I did notice that the guy was wearing an actual black hat. Because that's how this show thinks symbolism works.

I agree that Cash's comment about Maddie's not being Rayna's daughter anymore got exactly the response it deserved; if the point of this exchange was to cement the impression that Cash isn't all that bright -- well done, show.

Edited May 16, 2016 by Sandman

[wendyg]

scribe95: plus, it's actually realistic that she'd be more nervous - smaller audiences (I speak from experience) are much harder to play for, especially as a solo, than larger ones, and with so much riding on her performance it's not surprising she'd quake. But I think it's also a sign that at this stage she's better in a duo with someone else on stage to relate to and who can lift some of the pressure.

There's also a thing that happens when you turn pro as a performer: it's not your fun hobby any more, it's not your this-is-my-someday-future any more, it's your JOB, and it's much harder to look at failures as learning opportunities. She's very young, so she may well have another chance with labels that decide to pass on her now, but when you're her age and hungry it doesn't feel like that. It feels like the world has ended.

Back when NASHVILLE was a good series, Juliette was deeply frustrated by being pushed into the teen-pop-princess category; she began the show deciding she wanted to grow up to be worthy of playing with people like Deacon. Layla kind of went through that sort of crisis, too, when she realized she had nothing to say (and then found things to say). And Avery sold out a load of stuff he cared about for his chance at stardom and then trashed the masters and quit. So the show has a lot of priors when it comes to artists being mismatched to the material others want them to perform and crashing out of it one way or another. I imagine the sort of plotline of these others was meant to happen much faster to Maddie, because unlike Juliette, Layla, and Avery she already has a famous name.

[LadyMustang65]

13 hours ago, clanstarling said:

I have this vague memory that "Jaymes" was Rayna's mother's maiden name - and her mother was also a singer? Or wanted to be. I don't recall if she used it to spite her father, or if she was forbidden to use his name. There's some kind of irony in there, but I'm too tired to figure it out.

You could be right.  Now that you've said it, it does stir a vague recollection that this wasn't some random name she pulled out of thin air.  But it's been so long now, I can't remember.

[vibeology]

The one thing that really bums me out about the cancellation is that I won't get to see Deacon buy the land across the street, open a bar and crush Frankie's hopes and dreams after Frankie somehow came up the with money to buy Deacon out of the Beverly. Its probably too easy as a plot, but it would be fun. And I say that as someone who only likes Deacon some of the time. But just imagine lines going around the block to get in to see Rayna, Juliette, Luke, Deacon, The Exes, Will and anyone else Deacon could easily call in while Maddie plays to a crowd of just Frankie and Cash.

As for moving Maddie to New York. Good. Go away and stay there! Get lost on the subway and get eaten by the rat king. Cash would make for an excellent appetizer. I honestly never got the sense that Maddie cares about making country music. She wants to be famous, to perform for adoring fans and to be rich. I could see her, if this was real life, going pop almost immediately. The days that Maddie cared about the art seem far behind her at this point.

[LadyMustang65]

41 minutes ago, vibeology said:

The one thing that really bums me out about the cancellation is that I won't get to see Deacon buy the land across the street, open a bar and crush Frankie's hopes and dreams after Frankie somehow came up the with money to buy Deacon out of the Beverly. Its probably too easy as a plot, but it would be fun. And I say that as someone who only likes Deacon some of the time. But just imagine lines going around the block to get in to see Rayna, Juliette, Luke, Deacon, The Exes, Will and anyone else Deacon could easily call in while Maddie plays to a crowd of just Frankie and Cash.

I would love to see this.  ;0

[aradia22]

I liked Rayna's song to open the episode both as a song and as a Rayna song. It sounded a lot more like her character than things we've heard in the past. It was like "No One Will Ever Love You." I was like, yup, that's Rayna.

"If you're going to stand out there all night chanting, the least you could do is make it rhyme." I liked that. That was good. Luke usually isn't funny. I really feel like he got some of Deacon's personality. Go away, Ken. Seriously, of all the people to keep around it's Ken?

Oh my God, I totally forgot that Will and Layla had a show until Glenn brought up the "two reality shows" thing. Oh, Nashville.

Again, how in the hell is Cash a struggling musician with all these industry connections?

I'm sorry, but Scarlett's advice to go see Frankie again was idiotic.

I did enjoy that Layla could only get one camera guy.

Poor Will. I know it happens all the time in the real world but it's heartbreaking to think that misguided notions of religion or morality could make a person turn on their child like that.

I loved the scene with Juliette eating ice cream in bed. I think that's the key. Juliette can be silly and histrionic without being a diva. She's good at being the underdog. You just can't beat her down all the time. Hear that, writers?

I don't think Aubrey is a terrible actress but tonight I saw what some people have been saying in the comments. Her acting isn't strong enough for me to know what she's feeling. When Layla ran out on Avery I genuinely wasn't sure if she was manipulating him or if she was upset because she thought he was embarrassed of her. And not because of her ambiguous, subtle performance. God, I can only imagine what that Jem movie was like.

[aradia22]

I knew that Will's mom was not going to be as bad as his dad in the way it was worded with her sitting with the Bible every night. As shit as the writing has been, Chris is doing a good job. That scene where he found the photo was great. And in the church? Wow, he made me tear up so fast. No one on this show has been able to do that for a long time except Hayden.

I know Tandy did some shady stuff with Lamar but I don't mind her sticking around if they retcon her to be Rayna's version of Emily.

Well, Rayna and Deacon deserve each other, both stepping into traps of their own making.

Wait, Cash hired Ty? Where is she getting this money? Emancipation doesn't come with a check like a divorce settlement. And Maddie hasn't signed with anyone yet.

How can Frankie afford to buy out Deacon? Wasn't it a dive bar? How long have they been open? How could he have enough money to buy him out unless he's forcing Deacon into a terrible deal? Also, it's terribly convenient for him to be doing all of this now that the bar's been fixed up with those pews and curtains and now that Deacon has brought famous friends in to make it a popular music venue.

The sister playing Daphne is a better actress than the one playing Maddie. Good use of Tandy in that scene though I'm kind of over Nashville drawing all these parallels if nothing is going to come from it.

That song is really wrong for Maddie. It sounds like a Scarlett song and I can see her doing it in her twee Lolita way. The lyrics are from a Juliette song. Maybe even a Sadie song. Maddie doesn't have the voice or stage presence for it.

Cash continues to make no sense. Why would you leave Nashville if you're a country artist? I have to imagine Cash secretly writes rock or pop songs or something else where NY would make more sense so she'll drag Maddie along if that's what it takes to get there. Otherwise, Glen's right. She's just weirdly paranoid about Rayna because newsflash, pissing off the queen of country is a bad idea if that's the genre you want to play.

Also, how short is Derek Hough if he's not towering over Hayden?

I burst out laughing when Juliette jumped straight to "I have a room upstairs." God, I missed Hayden.