S05.E08: Stand Beside Me

[Moxie Cat]

6 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

why is Maddie not in school like Daphne? I know Maddie's seventeen and I'm pretty sure she's still in high school.

Thank you! That was my biggest question during this ep. Maddie is emancipated but I didn't think she dropped out of school - you'd think that would have been a plot point if she had.

Scarlett and her hair are terrible. Gunnar, Will, and Avery have been terribly used this season. But I still love Deacon and Rayna, so naturally, that will apparently be ruined too. On the bright side, there's been no mention of Cash, her horrible father, or the Beverly this year!

[STOPSHOUTING]

NOTHING in this episode made sense. 

Yes, why wasn't Maddie in school with her sister? She's 17. 

Scarlett "chooses herself" and then jumps into bed with abusive director. Ugh. Shut up, Scarlett. And the retcon of Gunnar as done-Scarlett-wrong, when she's the one who keeps ending their relationships is ... Not great. 

Avery's music sounded pretty dang happy to me. But why and with whose money is he recording again?

Why do all these people who walk away from recording deals keep getting recording deals? They're not the only people in Nashville that can sing and when you keep breaking contracts and ditching gigs, guess what, you don't get to keep working in an industry town. Just blurgghhh at the dumbness. That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works.

ATTN: Scarlett and Avery ... If you don't want to be in the music business, you don't have to be in the music business. End of story.

Why was Rayna at Hwy 65 LISTENING TO MUSIC ON HER COMPUTER WITH HEADPHONES IN AN EMPTY OFFICE??? A) I'm pretty confident she has wifi at home so she can peruse YouTube there at her leisure and B) If she must be at the office for ... hand wave ... reasons ... then why the headphones? Just dumb. Dumb. DUMB!

Also, another car wreck? Seriously, Nashville? Seriously?!?

EDITED TO ADD ... As to Herskovitz's claim in the EW article that, "this sort of unexpected randomness is exactly how such events tend to occur in real life," Umm, nope!

Seriously, dude? Sure, just last week my cousin was held hostage, escaped without injury, and then a safe fell on her head. I mean, who doesn't have a story like that? 

If this is Connie's exit, I'm going with her. This show has always been super cheesy, but I sense this is their jump-the-shark moment for sure where not even the music can keep me guilty-pleasure watching.

Edited February 18, 2017 by STOPSHOUTING

[areca]

What a stupid episode.  Everything was ridiculously forecast, utterly trite, and boring.  I think I'm out whether CB stays or not. Bleah.

[sunflower]

I think they're making a huge mistake with Juliette's storyline.   the whole found religion angle I guess is fine, but she's become such a drag as a character.  I know she was in a plane crash, but it affects Avery in the sense that while I used to want them back together, now I want him to dump her.  Such a course of action would make him look like the bad guy, which is maybe what they want??  Maybe they'll meet in the middle, but I'm bored with her.  

Also, is Avery, and other musicians not allowed to write surface love songs whatever anymore?   Are we not allowed to dance and bob our heads, Juliette?  Not everything is deep or "mature."  Sometimes. it's just a song, dude.  

Edited February 18, 2017 by sunflower

[piratewench]

2 hours ago, Moxie Cat said:

Thank you! That was my biggest question during this ep. Maddie is emancipated but I didn't think she dropped out of school - you'd think that would have been a plot point if she had.

When she was going through the emancipation process, her attorney asked her about scheduling her high school equivalency exam, and she indicated she was taking that.  In Tennessee they have to prove they are finishing school, so I would expect that she did that concurrent with the ruling in her case.

[gryphon]

Quote

Also, why is Maddie not in school like Daphne? I know Maddie's seventeen and I'm pretty sure she's still in high school. It is disappointing that she couldn't help her sister out.

OMG YES!  Fuck off, Maddie.  She really is not a good sister and I hate that. 

I think Juliette and Avery are in different musical exploration stages of their lives.  This doesn't mean Avery's is wrong, it's just not what Juliette is feeling right now--they are growing in different directions musically. Avery is just happy to be back at making music and that's enough for him right now and Juliette seems to be discovering something else, maybe something deeper and more spiritual to her.  Different paths, but neither is wrong or bad...I think Juliette sees his music as immature right now because she's been through that phase and is changing in different ways.  

[Marley]

Can Scarlett please fuck off forever. She is the worst and her hair sucks and voice is annoying. I'm so done with her and Gunnar's on again off again crap. What was even the point of them getting back together last season? Scarlett can take that pos Maddie with her too pls.

[Moxie Cat]

3 hours ago, piratewench said:

When she was going through the emancipation process, her attorney asked her about scheduling her high school equivalency exam, and she indicated she was taking that. 

Thanks, I didn't remember that, but then I blocked most of Maddie's emancipation storyline from my memory. I still think she would be better off in school, or taking some kind of college courses. I mean, what was she doing all day before this internship?

[Cranberry]

Not only is Scarlett/Gunnar relationship drama boring and stupid, but it means we don't get as many nice duets from them, and their earlier duets are some of my favorite music from the series. Why can't the writers let them be happy and make good music for a while?

I had such high hopes for the new showrunners, but this is the same old soap opera garbage, except now it's focusing even more on the characters I don't care about (MADDIE). Also, there was a promo a while back where all the actors were talking about how there was so much more music this season. Where is it? 

[absolutelyido]

8 hours ago, STOPSHOUTING said:

Why was Rayna at Hwy 65 LISTENING TO MUSIC ON HER COMPUTER WITH HEADPHONES IN AN EMPTY OFFICE??? A) I'm pretty confident she has wifi at home so she can peruse YouTube there at her leisure and B) If she must be at the office for ... hand wave ... reasons ... then why the headphones? Just dumb. Dumb. DUMB!

And of course in a mostly dark office, because if someone is stalking you, you want to sit alone in a large office with the lights off and headphones on and your security detail outside in the car.

[KaveDweller]

2 hours ago, Moxie Cat said:

Thanks, I didn't remember that, but then I blocked most of Maddie's emancipation storyline from my memory. I still think she would be better off in school, or taking some kind of college courses. I mean, what was she doing all day before this internship?

I think that's why Deacon got her the internship, because she wasn't doing anything else with her time. I don't know how much time has gone by in the Nashville universe, but maybe she missed deadlines for college applications or something. Her original plan was to sing and not go to college, so she wouldn't have applied right after getting her GED.

[Bwill3133]

 I should know by now when a show lingers on someone in the backseat,  a T- bone car crash is about to happen. 2nd major car accident in about 3 years for Rayna. It's not impossible I guess but the odds are pretty high against it. And wow does Rayna have the worst security in the world? You didn't even look in the closets and you got in your car and left her ALONE when she has a stalker?! Also as someone posted earlier why didn't Rayna just go home to listen to the songs? There's no where quiet for you to do that in your giant house since you know somebody is after you.  But where would the drama come from with that? 

This new and improved Maddie that was coming has yet to surface. Being mean to Daphne as usual, your mother being stalked is inconveniencing your life of course and an attitude that never stops. Daphne was trying to reach out to you as her big sister and Maddie cannot be bothered. It's tiresome at this point. Either have Maddie embrace that she's kind of an awful person or get her a personality transplant quick please. 

Speaking of awful is this the last of the on-again/off-again relationship of Scarlett and Gunnar? I hope so. The retconning of poor innocent Scarlett being mistreated is a big miss for me. New writers I know but did they skim through the previous seasons to see their relationship? Their breakup seems rushed but whatever. I vote for them to only sing when they are together from now on. 

Hey Juliette and Avery. What.. You're arguing in one of your TWO scenes you had? Shocking. I mean can we get a couple happy parts for them before they default to the usual? Plus it wouldn't hurt to see Juliette being supportive since Avery has been there for her. 

Will! please come back! 

[WhosThatGirl]

Yeah I don't understand what saving the show and doing THIS to her is making it better. The first couple of episodes were pretty good and I was excited about this network move and new showrunners. But now not so much.

It seems like they seem really intent on making Maddie and Daphne a huge thing and on another show I'd probably be okay with that, but not on this show. I watch many a teenager drama filled angst shows, probably why I watch them but not Nashville. 

[Aulty]

On 17.2.2017 at 9:03 AM, Soup333 said:

I see Clare Bowen is overjoyed with the breakup but her character didn't come off as some poor innocent dove to me. This wasn't about her needing time for herself. She liked the guy and she wanted to sleep with him. She could at least own it.

Do Clare Bowen and Sam Palladio not get on IRL? I would not be surprised tbh.

I confess that I have always had a weak spot for Scarlett and Gunnar and I was hoping that - based on how the last season ended - they could finally be the no drama couple of the show and get on with their music, because neither Juliette & Avery nor Rayna & Deacon are set for a quiet releationship life. I wonder what breaking them up will do to the Exes, because every other plausible scenario has already been done in earlier seasons, unless they plan to have Will, Gunnar and Avery form a boyband ;-)

Thanks for the info about the Damien actor being a young Voldemort. The character reminds me of that Oliver guy in The OC.

Edited February 19, 2017 by Aulty

[amaranta]

While I'm still glad the show is alive, I've had one major problem. And that is the main focus being on the Rayna and Maddie driven story lines while rotating out the rest of the cast.  Where the hell is Will? And Avery, who gets maybe three lines and thirty seconds of song in this episode, was completely missing from the last one.  This I do not like.  Perhaps with The Big Event out of the way they can move away from that.  Yes, there will be fallout, tears, hearts a'rending, etc. ; but after can they please be a bit more even-handed with story and screen time? 

After the crash I realized that it feels like the first half of the season was written to bring us to this point, starting with Rayna's cross country drive of self discovery and then on to last night's truck slam.  So New Writers, now I'm ready for Nashville: The Whole Show.

Edited February 19, 2017 by amaranta

[Lady Calypso]

14 hours ago, Bwill3133 said:

Daphne was trying to reach out to you as her big sister and Maddie cannot be bothered.

Exactly. And they even specified that she was working at the studio but the food run she was going on was for Avery. She could have easily let him know that she needed to go help her sister and he would have been fine. It's not like it was Youtube Vegan, who would have probably fired her or got mad that her food was going to be late. Avery would have let her go help out her sister. It was just Maddie being selfish Maddie, who couldn't care less that her sister got her first period and was embarrassed enough to not tell Rayna right away. If Daphne did that to Maddie, she would have thrown a fit. 

[schroob]

Spoiler

 

Did Rayna hire Crappy A$$ Security Firm from the Yellow Pages? Even Whitney (RIP) got a panic button in The Bodyguard, to say nothing of the security dude doing a quick check of the office (and not the utility closet???) and not stationing himself in the frigging office despite what HRH Rayna says about leaving??? Or why was she even in a dark office after hours??? Ugh so laaaaaaame!!!!

[TheGourmez]

Quote

 I wonder what breaking them up will do to the Exes, because every other plausible scenario has already been done in earlier seasons, unless they plan to have Will, Gunnar and Avery form a boyband ;-)

YES PLEASE

[EuropeanGirl]

On 17.2.2017. at 7:25 AM, Irlandesa said:

I kind of loved the Scarlett stuff in this episode because I think it's the first time I got the feeling that they were exposing her for what she was.  Or at least I hope they were.  She's there trying to make her need to be away from Gunnar all profound and Gunnar's not having any of it.  He's looking at her and nailing the fact that she has a serious case of the lusties and is gonna scratch that itch. The funny thing is, I think Scarlett believed her BS and that probably lasted just the length of time it took her to get to Damian's hotel.  The only one she was fooling was herself. 

 By far the more interesting aspect is how Juliette feels about where she is musically and how she reacted to where Avery is.

We're on the same page, just like everybody else who has commented on their issue, as well as Juliette's problem with Avery's music. Yes, they always made Scarlett look almost as innocent as Rayna, but too naive for real life (and too hard not to be taken as a joke). She was always this poor, sweet little girl, but this season they are really showing her true colors.

I bet the actress was glad to play the dark side, but to me it's Scarlett's true, horrible face. I mean, she had 0 emotion when she was talking to Gunnar and I'd even go as far as saying she hasn't had it for the majority of the new episodes that have been aired. I agree that she was really believing in what she was saying. It's like she was horrified and shocked by Gunnar's premonition, but still didn't deny it. She's just awful! When you think about it, there were more times when Gunnar was still in love and in pain because she was with the doctor/not in love with him then, than she was longing for him. I heard a saying that, in a relationship, there is always a person that loves more and in their case, I think it's Gunnar.

I am also interested in finding out more about why Juliette doesn't like his music.

On 17.2.2017. at 4:12 AM, Racj82 said:

Scarlett can fuck right off. And gunnar knew the score. And she keeps doing that thing where you drop shitty news on someone and says sorry if that's hard for you. Take it how you like. Again fuck you.

Yeah, she said that with an emotionless face. Like, what the heck is wrong with you? He meant something to you before and you guys have a lot of history together. Obviously that didn't mean anything. Also, she thought she sounded mature when she was giving her speech, like that's how people break that kind of news and break up. Get the eff outta here with that stuff.

I wonder how'd she react if the tables were turned and she was the one hearing that speech. Hmm...

On 17.2.2017. at 9:03 AM, Soup333 said:

Scarlett is a mess. I see Clare Bowen is overjoyed with the breakup but her character didn't come off as some poor innocent dove to me. This wasn't about her needing time for herself. She liked the guy and she wanted to sleep with him. She could at least own it. 

I need Juliette to show Avery some affection.

Exactly! He called you on it and you didn't say a thing twice! Put on your big girl pants and just spill it. You already broke his heart.

I need Juliette to be kind and loving to Avery as well. That man went to hell and back for her. It would be nice to see that they're still very much in love and not just supportive roommates, like they seem now.

On 17.2.2017. at 2:35 PM, luna1122 said:

Yeah, this, seriously. She came off so smug and self righteous, nobly telling Gunnar she had no feelings for him and did have feelings for British Douche, but she wouldn't cheat, that's not who she is, and then sighing condescendingly 'everything's not about sex. Did you even hear a word I said?' when Gunnar, accurately and rightly, said she just wanted to bang the other guy, and was going to. She didn't waste three minutes before she was in Damien's bed. I haven't hated Scarlett before, but Bowen so often plays her with such a lack of affect that she seems robotic and weird and emotionless, and it's off putting.

I loved Avery's song--plus he looked hot AF performing it.

I agree. She's so cold to Gunnar, like they've been together for a couple of weeks and like in a casual way, nothing too serious.

I enjoyed the song very much and it just reminded me that we need more music from him!!

On 17.2.2017. at 7:48 PM, Soup333 said:

The "Scamian" storyline is insufferable. She's dead to me and I hope Damien hits and quits and Gunnar never takes her back. In the promo that skank took Gunnar's call while Damien was lying right next to her. She couldn't have at least got up out of bed?? Fuck her. I might have had a little more sympathy if she hadn't proved Gunnar right by going directly to dude's hotel.

I agree with you on the sympathy part. It didn't take her at least one episode to jump in bed with him. She's disgusting and I'm surprised the lack of self-awareness, the same goes for her actions. Does she like who she is now? Is she okay with what her actions say about her? Also, Deacon's advise was ridiculous - hey, you're a grown up, nobody can tell you anything, so of course you can take your time by choosing between the two guys. Why would they accept to be a part of that?!

Edited February 20, 2017 by EuropeanGirl

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Anatomy of a scene: the stalker:

"Close to the Fire" - Clay

[Sake614]

If there was one firm takeaway from this episode, it's 'do NOT get in a car with Rayna James!'

[Bort]

"Mom, can I go with my friend Daphne to the movies? Her mom will drive us."

"HELL NO!!"

[shksabelle]

1.  The Afterschool Special about a 12-year-old  girl getting her period, which needs to be "celebrated" with a gift from Tiffany. 

2.  Nashville (the show) discovers Black people 

3.  Scarlett's "I'm just a confused, fragile waif who needs time to figure things out for myself", but excuse me real quick while I run over to hop into bed with this new guy.

4. Another car accident?? Seriously???

If I were Connie Britton, I'd be begging to be written out of the show. 

[Tara Ariano]

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

Nashville Deals With Famous People Problems

Life for the Jaymes/Claybourne/Conrad family keeps getting disrupted by Rayna's stalker. What could be more relatable?

[eelpout]

3 hours ago, shksabelle said:

4. Another car accident?? Seriously???

If I were Connie Britton, I'd be begging to be written out of the show. 

Actually, it's the other way around. The talk has been that she only signed for a limited number of episodes, thus the story line. The question is whether it's permanent or not. Indefinite comas are commonplace in the soap world and a possibility here as well, so who knows.

Did CMT sign up for more than one season?

[Auntie Anxiety]

I've started purging idiotic drama shows from my "must watch" list and this is the next one on the chopping block. Life is too short to spend an hour (okay, 40 minutes if I fast-forward through the endless ads) on this tripe. Just too stupid for words, especially after the Scarlett-Gunnar on-again, off-again extravaganza and the Rayna car accident. Didn't we already see that? Ugh. Maddie is a shit, don't care about her romance (can't remember his name but her "boyfriend" is a horrendous actor), Juliette has become boring, Rayna & Deacon is lather, rinse, repeat. Only ones I care about is Daphne and Cadence. What does that tell you?

[Sandman]

On 2017-02-18 at 11:21 AM, STOPSHOUTING said:

Seriously, dude? Sure, just last week my cousin was held hostage, escaped without injury, and then a safe fell on her head. I mean, who doesn't have a story like that? 

Sure! (Hee.)

[taragel]

On 2/17/2017 at 3:03 AM, Soup333 said:

Scarlett is a mess. I see Clare Bowen is overjoyed with the breakup but her character didn't come off as some poor innocent dove to me.

 

On 2/19/2017 at 5:06 AM, Aulty said:

Do Clare Bowen and Sam Palladio not get on IRL? I would not be surprised tbh.

Yeah, I wonder what's up with this. I heard rumors when I went to see the tour that they did not get along. Actually saw the tour in two cities, once with Sam and once without, and they had very little interaction when he was there, and when he wasn't there, her fiance did some of his parts in the duets. Weird vibe. 

In general, I find Scarlet to be such a complete oddball. Why on earth does this girl want to be famous? She hates all the trappings of it. Go write some songs and sell them and stay off the stage if you're so completely scared of your own shadow. I think the British director is a total boor and agree with those who say this relationship is born out of some weird, vaguely abusive dynamic....mostly. But I kind of also just think Scarlet is such a twit, that she's spooked by anything and everything. If she didn't want to do what the director said in the vid, she should've just put her damn foot down and said no to all that. Then we wouldn't be dealing with this stupid and gross romance storyline, where she turns into an out and out cheater because Gunnar had...previous girlfriends when they weren't even officially together? What the frak ever. I can't with her whole guilt tripping him all the time either. They are so toxic together. 

[smartymarty]

So Wayne hid in the closet on the off chance that Rayna would come into the office all by herself at some point in the weekend and her security would not find him? Well, I guess in this Nashville world, that isn't a big gamble.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Inside the episode: