S05.E09: If Tomorrow Never Comes

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

After her life-changing experience, Rayna scrambles to write one more song for the concept album with Deacon. Meanwhile, Juliette's leg starts to hurt inexplicably; and Gunnar fights for Scarlett.

Promo:

 

[Armchair Critic]

Is Reyna going to die? Seems like they are wrapping up her storyline by having her talk to all the people who are close to her.

[Kathemy]

I don't want Gunnar to fight for Scarlett. I want Scarlett crawling back on her knees to lick his boots asking for forgiveness, and then we can talk about who should fight for whom, if anyone.

[Artsda]

So I guess Connie going on Ellen and lying was damage control because her leaving was spoiled? 

[Moxie Cat]

Yep, I think I may be out. I don't blame CB for wanting to move on, but they could have pulled an Elena Gilbert.

[luna1122]

Well, wow.

I didn't know Connie had been doing damage control, and I admit I was pretty shocked that they went there with this. Even though it was very foreshadowed and telegraphed for the whole episode. But I thought it was nicely done. I actually almost shed a tear, even tho the 'this is us' episode this week that left everyone covered in tears and snot didn't make me cry at all. This is not a better show than that one, and no more subtle, surely. Maybe it's just that I've known these people a little longer.

so, yeah, wow. 

Edited February 24, 2017 by luna1122

[RemoteControlFreak]

Probably the worst written and cliche-filled killing off of a main TV character that I can remember.  This show should have quit while it was ahead, like after Season 1.

Edited February 28, 2017 by RemoteControlFreak

[Armchair Critic]

If no Reyna means more Maddie, Daphne, and Scarlett I may be out too. I am already hanging by a thread.

[WhosThatGirl]

I think I'm done. I'll keep it on DVR but read what you guys say here. I just don't care about anything else left on this show

I miss this show and Juliette in sparkly dresses singing about black mascara tears! WHERE IS THAT SHOW?!?!?!? CAN THAT SHOW COME BACK?

[slasherboy]

They recently had a casting call for mourners, so it couldn't have been that big of a secret.

[bilgistic]

I was a goner as soon as Daphne started singing. Bawled the rest of the way through. Deacon crying, "Don't leave me!" gutted me. Ugh, I've cried so much this week!

[dbell1]

Wow. I really thought they were pulling a fake out on us. 

Really strong performances tonight from Connie and Charles. I've watched since episode one and am floored by this plot twist. Loved little Maisy Stella tonight, she broke my heart. Lovely moment when they played Wayfaring Stranger for a few seconds, brought me back to the season opener. 

Things I hated: Selfish Maddie. She leaves the hospital and doesn't come back for what feels like days, but we have to deal with the angst. DVRing worked well, I skipped all of her scenes. I'm not here for the Maddie Show. Acting is weak and her face has two emotions, constipated and bitter.

Hated the press outside the hospital, too bad Juliette didn't whack them with her crutch. 

Real life comment, my dad died from a MRSA infection. The opening had me flashing back to a horrible time in my family's life. 

And the ending had me in tears. Happy trails Connie. Hope your next show is a better fit.

[WhosThatGirl]

3 minutes ago, slasherboy said:

They recently had a casting call for mourners, so it couldn't have been that big of a secret.

I honestly wasn't surprised. It was a big news thing that CB had decided to only stay on for 10 episodes when this got picked up, right? So that's why I didn't cry at all. It wasn't a shock to me. I didn't tear up. I'm just over the show, I think. 

I hope Connie's next show is more Friday Night Lights. 

[Armchair Critic]

I didn't read any spoilers about Reyna dying but to me Connie Britton has been better in other roles and I can't blame her if she wanted out. I think it would have been more interesting to have wrote her more like an Alexis Carrington, more of a dramatic diva. 

[Runningwild]

I hadn't seen any spoilers so I was shocked. Not quite as gutted as last night's crying, but little Maisy killed it. Charles too. I knew as soon as her momma was talking to her it wasn't going to be good but I held out hope. I'll stick with it for a bit at least. Good to have Teddy back even if he isn't everyone's favorite. Wonder what will happen to her record label. And she didn't update her will?

[imakeepit100]

I'm done with the show. I was only hanging on by a thread. I loved seeing Rayna and Deacon together. I could tolerate Juliette... but everyone else? nope. I really wish they had left it where they ended on ABC. I just can't imagine watching the show anymore. It's lost its heart.

[smiley13]

There is no Nashville without Rayna.  At this point I wish they had just let the show go when ABC cancelled it.

[Madding crowd]

Rayna was the heart and soul of the show to me. Charles Easten and the girls did a good job tonight. I will finish watching the season but can't imagine it continuing on .

[dirtydi]

1 hour ago, Kathemy said:

I don't want Gunnar to fight for Scarlett. I want Scarlett crawling back on her knees to lick his boots asking for forgiveness, and then we can talk about who should fight for whom, if anyone.

Can't they just go their separate ways.  I think she is awful and my least favorite character, even beating Maddie.

[luna1122]

I liked rayna but I honestly thought a lot of people weren't that fond of her and thought  that the focus of the show should be Juliette. I'll miss her but I think it will give Charles Eston a lot of stuff to work with, and I love him so I'm good with that. I really started watching the show for Jonathan Jackson, and I'll keep watching for him. I just wish he had a little more to do. I'm not crazy about it becoming the maddie show either, so I hope the teen angle doesn't take over. 

Edited February 24, 2017 by luna1122

[Sandman]

21 minutes ago, Runningwild said:

... but little Maisy killed it. Charles too. I knew as soon as her momma was talking to her it wasn't going to be good but I held out hope.

Yeah, talking to her dead mama kind of sealed the deal. (And just maybe "Maybe this song is finished?" was overdoing it.)

36 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

I was a goner as soon as Daphne started singing. Bawled the rest of the way through. Deacon crying, "Don't leave me!" gutted me.

Yup. Ugly sobs over here. "A Life That's Good" finished me off.

dbell1, I'm sorry. That can't have been an easy thing to be reminded of.

[TWP]

Next time Connie Britton says, "I'm in for the duration," that means half a season. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/connie-britton-confirms-full-time-role-cmts-nashville-season-5-960688 

Lying liars make me mad. Glad I wasn't very invested. I'm done.

I watched mostly for Esten and his screwed up crying face isn't good TV. If they were going to kill off Rayna make her despicable. Otherwise if Connie wanted to leave, find a new actor.

Edited February 24, 2017 by TWP

[Sandman]

... for the duration of Rayna's, er, lifespan?

[Irlandesa]

I don't know why they went to such lengths to try to make it seem as if Connie were here for the long haul.  There was certainly a rumor she was leaving but there was nothing confirmed and it was just an online rumor.  By sending her out to make statements on Ellen and in the press, it brought up the question as to whether or not she was going to stay more to the forefront than it would have been had they just let the rumor be unaddressed. 

I definitely suspected she was a goner as soon as the rumor leaked and no amount of press made me change my mind.

And because of that, I felt like I was rather unaffected by her death.  I like Connie.  I like Rayna.  She wasn't the reason I was sticking with this show, though. The show threw every bit of foreshadowing that she was going to die but I did think the scenes in the ICU were effective. 

Knowing that she was leaving, though, really makes it obvious what a mistake it was to put so much focus on her stories and journey in the first ten episodes. I believe Hayden and Juliette has what it takes to take the reins of the show but I can't see it working with a gospel storyline.   Maddie is too annoying. Scarlett is too awful and the actress is so one note.  

I will keep watching, though, because I'm curious to see if the writers can pull themselves out of the predicament they placed themselves in.

[SuzieQ]

1 hour ago, imakeepit100 said:

I'm done with the show. I was only hanging on by a thread. I loved seeing Rayna and Deacon together. I could tolerate Juliette... but everyone else? nope. I really wish they had left it where they ended on ABC. I just can't imagine watching the show anymore. It's lost its heart.

Not sure if I'm done but I'm on that road.  This doesn't feel like the same show that was on ABC.  I liked the glitz it used to have.  This seems so watered down, like a budget version of it's former glory.  And I'm so sick of Maddie's teenage angst!  There has been 30 years worth of drama packed into her teen years UGH!  

Edited February 24, 2017 by SuzieQ

[taragel]

I was glad when I heard Connie Britton was moving on because she never fit quite right in this role. CB can say y'all with the best of em, but her as a country superstar just never rang true. I was ready for Juliette to become the true lead this show deserved, and Hayden is more than capable. However, the way this season has gone under the Thirtysomething writers doesn't give me a lot of hope for what's to come. Now we're going to have to struggle with the immense mourning/grief of Deacon and the girls for ages. Maybe they should take a page out of Jane the Virgin's playbook and flash forward a few years so they can shake up all the storylines.

[Racj82]

I wish it wasn't seemingly expected that people on or behind tv shows should be telling people what are essentially spoilers. It's a tv show. They shouldn't be forced to confirm or deny anything. Of course, she lied. She oddly wanted the story to unfold on screen the way it was intended. It's not a crime. I just never got this whole thing. We shouldn't know anything. Behind the scenes rumors, casting rumors, etc. The entertainment medium is just eroding at thus point. Nothing is expected to be presented naturally now. 

This is not hit me hard A because people were already talking about the rumors on here last week which leads to what I was just talking about. I couldn't just consume the narrative the way it was designed. I already heard too much and I wasn't even looking for any news. But also, I was wrecked by this is us this week. No more years for me to shed. I'm also not emotionally invested enough in thee characters to cry. Which is crazy since I've been watching this since day one for years but have only been watching this is us for a few months. 

[Auntie Anxiety]

I'll go out on a limb and guess that Deacon is going to start drinking again. Because we haven't seen that enough in the prior seasons.  And then he has some anger management problems. Because we haven't seen enough of that either. Yeah, I'm done.

[slasherboy]

I'm not done!  I want to see what happens next!

[GaT]

Damn, I can't believe they actually went there. They could have come up with something else besides killing her off. They better plan of on having Juliette becoming the main character, because it better not be Maddie.

I really wanted Juliette & Rayna to form a supergroup called The Broken Bones. The logo on their drum set could have been a wheelchair.

Edited February 25, 2017 by GaT

[HighQueenEB]

11 minutes ago, slasherboy said:

I'm not done!  I want to see what happens next!

Me either!  If it means more Juliette then I am all in.  Of course, I'm not sure that even a Juliette-centric storyline can save this show.  We're a far cry from the glitz, glamour, and shine of the country music business that was season 1 or any season on ABC.  Hayden certainly has the ability to handle it, and I won't complain if an increased Juliette presence is the ultimate outcome of Britton's departure.

Scarlett was surprisingly not obnoxious during her scenes with both Maddie and Daphne, but I was right back to wanting her off my screen in all her interactions with Gunnar.   He really needs to just move on from her, but we all know the rinse & repeat nature of their relationship.  The moment he moves on, she is going to get jealous and develop feelings for him again.  He deserves better than that.  This show is so predictable, especially with them, so I'm sure we'll have at least one more go-'round with them in the second half of the season.  Ugh.

Based on the promo - is Teddy out of jail already?  And Maddie is calling him Teddy?  I realize that Deacon is her father but Teddy was the man she knew as and called "dad" up until a couple years ago.  I'm not sure what she should call him but hearing her call him "Teddy" was a little jarring.

All the predictions of Deacon going back to drinking are as predictable, cliched, and likely telegraphed as Rayna's death was this entire episode.  Heck, if the writing didn't make it obvious she was a goner then the Nashville glam shots of CB during the commercial breaks made it abundantly clear where this was going, lol.  Mind y'all, I certainly cried the last ten minutes or so.  At least they got Maddie to the hospital before Rayna actually died, though I spent the majority of the episode thoroughly irked at how the writers kept her from getting to the hospital to have any meaningful conversation with her mom before her body shut down.  I even wondered "who would be playing?" because football season is over, and then, as I was writing this, I remembered Nashville has a hockey team.  That apparently shuts down traffic to the hospital.  I've never been to Nashville but...  come on, does it really take HOURS to get to any hospital?  I do live in a fairly large metro area (Portland OR) and, unless we're experiencing a significant weather event, it would never take more than an hour to get from one side of the city/suburbs to the other if that's where the hospital to which you were going was located.

[madam magpie]

Nashville has football and hockey and is a decent-size city, but still! It's not LA and doesn't have LA traffic. Come on now.

This show is just beyond ridiculous. Best of luck to Connie Britton. Hope she gets something more reasonable and sane. I do wonder how much they had to pay her to get her to stick around at all this season...

P.S. Carla Gugino was a nice touch.

Edited February 24, 2017 by madam magpie

[Marley]

This show is so shitty now I didn't even cry when she died. Now it's gonna be what more Daphne and Maddie? No thanks.

Scarlett is disgusting and her hair is horrific. Why would Gunnar wanna fight for that bitch. Not sure why any guy would wanna be with someone who looks acts and talks like a grandma.

This show used to be fun. What the hell happened. I'm out.

[WhosThatGirl]

I mean..so many things just aren't okay in this show anymore. Daphne is the one I feel the most for here. When she was crying that there's only Rayna left for her here, that's probably the only amount of emotion I felt. And also yes, most of my emotions were on This Is Us this week, this sadly can't compare to that.  

And next weeks preview makes me mad. I agree with the other poster who said Maddie now calling Teddy Teddy instead of Dad is screwed up. She was calling them both Dad at one point. I see no need for why that has to change? Also, he raised her for almost 12 years and did a lot of the heavy lifting considering Rayna was touring and all that.  It makes me mad. 

Also, another thing that made me mad was Gunner saying "Should I chase you around like a puppy?" NO, Gunner, you DESERVE BETTER, actually. I'm not getting why they're acting like Scarlett is the wronged party in this relationship as if Gunner broke her heart all the time. Did he? Because from my memory he didn't.  And he's been fighting for her..since the day we met them. Granted there were blips in time where he wasn't activity fighting for her because she was with someone else or made it clear they weren't a thing but I can't be invested in this merry go round anymore. 

[vb68]

Well I could tell it was coming as the hour went on, but that was just horrible. Daphne made me feel the most. She was fantastic in her scenes.

Why doesn't somebody just shake Maddie? I know she's a teenager and teenagers can often be erratic, but somebody needs to get real with her. what was she thinking indeed?

I guess that wasn't a very subtle baton passing with Rayna telling Juliette she's changed.

Why didn't Scarlett ball through her tears that she was sorry about everything to Gunner?

Agreed 100% this show should have ended with ABC.

Connie grounded the whole show and even if she didn't fit the role perfectly, she had genuine gravitas that was badly needed.

Edited February 24, 2017 by vb68

[EuropeanGirl]

5 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Knowing that she was leaving, though, really makes it obvious what a mistake it was to put so much focus on her stories and journey in the first ten episodes. I believe Hayden and Juliette has what it takes to take the reins of the show but I can't see it working with a gospel storyline.   Maddie is too annoying. Scarlett is too awful and the actress is so one note.  

I will keep watching, though, because I'm curious to see if the writers can pull themselves out of the predicament they placed themselves in.

I, as well, hope that Juliette will become the center of the show. I was tired of characters being mostly there just for Rayna this season. I need them to pull Juliette season 1 and hopefully, they will do so. I'm torn: I really want to see what they will do next, on the one side, but on the other, despite being sad that the show got cancelled, I'm not sure if their doing the show right.

3 hours ago, GaT said:

Damn, I can't believe they actually went there. They could have come up with something else besides killing her off. They better plan of having Juliette becoming the main character, because it better not be Maddie.

I thought I wasn't gonna cry, but the pregnancy hormones got the best of me. I can't believe it either. Why couldn't it be something else, like Rayna doing something else for a career, maybe just working on her label, or moving for some other purpose? I don't have a perfect exit right now, but I really think this was unnecessary (although I get that they wanted her to go out with a bang). I'm not looking forward to episodes of mourning.

Also, Rayna tells Daphne that Deacon is there for her and all of a sudden she starts calling him dad? In the last scene, when she said it, first I thought it was Maddie.

On a more positive note. I am glad that Teddy is back! I've missed him. I didn't see the preview, though.

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

Why didn't Scarlett ball through her tears that she was sorry about everything to Gunner?

Yes! How come she didn't she was doing him wrong just by watching Rayna and Deacon. She's always telling Rayna things in the lines of 'Oh, I wish things were that simple with Gunnar and me'. Shut up, Scarlett. Like some poster said, she needs to crawl back crying to him and he needs to not to give a damn.

[nlkm9]

So Gunnar wants to apologize to Scarlett for her going and sleeping with another man? Im so confused!!!

[dbell1]

Theory: Rayna is fine until Maddie walks in the room, then she has a setback. Maddie leaves the hospital, Rayna recovers.  Maddie comes back and sings, Rayna flatlines. The problem, as I see it is Maddie. People die just to get away from her. I'm obviously over the less talented Stella sister. :/

[Armchair Critic]

6 hours ago, WhosThatGirl said:

I'm not getting why they're acting like Scarlett is the wronged party in this relationship as if Gunner broke her heart all the time. Did he?

I think Avery is the one who did her wrong, seems like they are rewriting history

[gesundheit]

Well, that was.... something. That's for sure. It certainly looks like Maddie is taking Rayna's place as one of the three female leads of the show, and I already hate Scarlett. And frankly Juliette's on notice from me until she starts being more supportive of Avery. And the new writers have written Will out completely (what the hell was the point of his one-second appearance?). I like Deacon but don't want to watch a custody battle, don't want to watch him and Teddy arguing again. I think what I'm saying is I may have run out of good will. I won't make an "I'm out!" announcement 'cause those are always famous last words and maybe they'll surprise me, but my hopes are low. That said, it was an emotionally affecting episode despite the ending being telegraphed from the beginning. Except for Scarlett. Shut up, Scarlett.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Hahaha, thanks for the much needed laugh, @dbell1!

Man, it's been a rough couple of weeks between Jane the Virgin, The Magicians, This Is Us, and Nashville killing off main characters. Hopefully this is the last one for a while because I don't know if my poor tear ducts can take this much longer.

The person I felt the most sorry for is Daphne. Like she said, Rayna was the only person she had left. Maddie is off being a petulant teenager, Teddy is in prison, and Deacon is her stepfather (not her legal father because I can't see Teddy allowing that).

Fine, Maddie had a panic attack, but then she CHOSE to stay out all night and most of the morning with Clay, never stopping to think that maybe Deacon or Daphne might need her. Sure, Deacon told her to go home and get some sleep but he told Daphne the same thing and she stayed.  When she was running through the streets of Nashville to get to the hospital the next day, I just rolled my eyes. Deacon got to the hospital earlier that day with smoothies and a burger so it was obviously late enough in the morning that regular restaurants (not just all night diners) were open. She could have used common sense and gone back to the hospital before Deacon called her so I felt no sympathy for her, especially because she was making it ALL ABOUT HER.

When Deacon told Rayna that the nurse said only immediate family was allowed into her room, I expected her to say, "Bucky IS family." Heh, loved that Juliette just ignored the nurse and barged in anyway. I know that recovering patients need to rest, but emotional support is important too.

I agree that Scarlett and Gunnar need to just break up. I totally rolled my eyes when he asked if she was going to stay with Damian because the sex was so much better. Gawd. Don't get me wrong - Damian was a total douche during the video shoot so I don't understand why Scarlett is at all interested in him, but reducing Scarlett's interest in Damian to "is he better in the sack?" is so stupid and immature.

Can't wait to buy Daphne's version of "Make You Feel My Love."

[ch1]

I say revolve the show around Avery, Will and Gunner.  Every female can go - especially Maddie and Scarlett.

[luna1122]

7 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I agree that Scarlett and Gunnar need to just break up. I totally rolled my eyes when he asked if she was going to stay with Damian because the sex was so much better. Gawd. Don't get me wrong - Damian was a total douche during the video shoot so I don't understand why Scarlett is at all interested in him, but reducing Scarlett's interest in Damian to "is he better in the sack?" is so stupid and immature.

I was confused, cuz AREN'T they broken up? Doesn't "I have no feelings for you and I DO have feelings for some other guy and I'm going to explore them" mean, hey, Gunnar, we're broken up? If not, don't be such a chump, Gunnar. Yeah, 'is he better in the sack?' is immature but I'm not altogether certain it IS much more than that. She wanted to sleep with the guy but instead of just either realizing that's part of life, sometimes, being tempted by someone else and it doesn't really mean anything, she had to go and elevate it to searching for some kind of meaning her life or something. Or maybe I'm supposed to buy that this guy really gets her and Gunnar didn't. Whichever, I don't care.

[Tikichick]

9 hours ago, Auntie Anxiety said:

I'll go out on a limb and guess that Deacon is going to start drinking again. Because we haven't seen that enough in the prior seasons.  And then he has some anger management problems. Because we haven't seen enough of that either. Yeah, I'm done.

That will be tragic if they go that way.  The silver lining I can find in losing Rayna is the potential for storylines to go in entirely new ways, not get stuck on an endless loop of wash, rinse, repeat.

I felt all season Connie was leaving, just kept trying to figure out a way they could accomplish it short of death to allow for her to make appearances from time to time.  The stumbling block was always Deacon and the girls.  Just couldn't come up with a plausible idea to keep her away and keep them on the show.  I came up with jail or splitting up with Deacon for good & taking the girls away with her.

Unfortunately I realized quickly this season that these writers might not be creative enough to move beyond the constant relationship angst.  I don't know, maybe things have been in a holding pattern thus far while they waited to rearrange the deck chairs after Rayna was out of the picture, but I am holding out hope they will return to the idea of a wider mix of stories and ideas like what propelled this series in the first season.  It wasn't all relationship drama, there was a wide world of music and stories to explore.  Let's go there again. 

[Jillybean]

To me, this was a poorly written and executed episode. Since we knew Connie Britton was only doing a certain number of episodes, it seemed obvious that she would die in this one. Once they pulled a fakeout last week with her surviving the stalker only to be T-boned (very unimaginative, soapy trope), I thought it was obvious that they one again were trying to fake out the viewers with her seeming to pull through surgery just fine early in the episode and then biting it at the end...especially after seeing her dead mother (Carla Gugino must be really hard up for work). I actually giggled at the death scene with Deacon and the girls sobbing over Rayna's flatlining body. If they were going to do such a phoned-in death episode, perhaps they shouldn't have aired it two days after This Is Us aired a flawlessly acted and executed episode culminating in the death of a beloved character.  And I actually liked Rayna.

I've already removed this DVR timer. I have no interest in seeing Tandy, Teddy, and Deacon fight it out for custody of the show's new main characters, Maddie and Daphne -- or to watch Avery following Juliet around carrying her stuff week in and week out. 

[SuzieQ]

10 hours ago, Auntie Anxiety said:

I'll go out on a limb and guess that Deacon is going to start drinking again. Because we haven't seen that enough in the prior seasons.  And then he has some anger management problems. Because we haven't seen enough of that either. Yeah, I'm done.

Exactly!! Even the car accident was done already.  This show hasn't been on long enough to recycle story lines.  And if i never hear Scarlett again, I would be thrilled.  Unless she's singing, I never want to hear that voice!

[luna1122]

5 minutes ago, Jillybean said:

Once they pulled a fakeout last week with her surviving the stalker only to be T-boned (very unimaginative, soapy trope), I thought it was obvious that they one again were trying to fake out the viewers with her seeming to pull through surgery just fine early in the episode and then biting it at the end...especially after seeing her dead mother (Carla Gugino must be really hard up for work).

I laughed at Rayna's "can you believe this, another car accident?" line cuz it was so meta. I did read that Carla Gugino and Connie Britton are, like BFFs, so that's why she came in for that scene.

[SuzieQ]

8 hours ago, WhosThatGirl said:

 Daphne is the one I feel the most for here. When she was crying that there's only Rayna left for her here, that's probably the only amount of emotion I felt. 

And next weeks preview makes me mad. I agree with the other poster who said Maddie now calling Teddy Teddy instead of Dad is screwed up. She was calling them both Dad at one point. I see no need for why that has to change? Also, he raised her for almost 12 years and did a lot of the heavy lifting considering Rayna was touring and all that.  It makes me mad. 

Also, another thing that made me mad was Gunner saying "Should I chase you around like a puppy?" NO, Gunner, you DESERVE BETTER, actually. 

YES YES YES to all of this!! Poor Daphne! Her whole world is caving in and her sister sure won't be there for her.  Have really grown to hate Maddie.  I know she's a teenager but she's insufferable.  And after seeing the previews I feel a little sorry for Teddy.  Yes hes spineless, but so is Deacon.  Maddie is almost an adult, so her "custody" is almost a moot point.  Poor Daphne will be so torn and not want to hurt Deacon or Teddy's feelings.  Also, if Teddy is out of prison, why haven't thy even casually mentioned him seeing Daphne?  I had just assumed he was still in prison and that's why we hadn't heard anything about him.

Gunnar needs to get Scarlett out of his head and she needs to be run over by a Mack truck!

[Absurda]

I still have enough good will with this show to see where this goes, but I do NOT have enough to sit through another "Deacon completely spins off the rails in self-absorbed mourning" like we got when awful Beverly died.  Nor do I have enough good will to sit through any Maddie "she died because of me/I've been so selfish and now she's gone/me, me, ME" story line.    Either of those Deacon or Maddie story lines would be natural, but they've totally drained the good will well on these and I just can't see any more of it.  I hope with Deacon, at least, they use the "I have to be there for the girls" reasoning for him to keep his shit together for a change.

The only one who really had me sniffling was Daphne, FINALLY they touch on her, reasonable, feelings of being the odd one out in the family.  Rayna and Deacon spent so much time and energy on Maddie's BS that it's no wonder Daphne feels somewhat alone.  My DVR cut off most of the previews but if Teddy is back as others have said (perhaps he got compassionate early release) I hope he does take Daphne.  He'd be the only one NOT too self-absorbed or wrapped up in his own grief to be really there for her.

Now that CB is gone, maybe they can use her salary to spend more time on other characters, like Will maybe?  Maybe we could actually get scenes of Gunnar, Avery and Will hanging out and (gasp!) singing together. 

Rayna's advice to Scarlett that sometimes women act like the man is the only one who gets to choose a mate is good in general, but it's really not an accurate reflection of Scarlett and Gunnar's relationship.  Yes, Gunnar loves her and has never kept that a secret and I could see it if Scarlett kept drifting back to him due to a lack of other options.  But she's such an unbelievable passive-aggressive witch to him whenever he does try to move on and date someone else that she's as much choosing as he is.  What I'd really like Gunnar to do is tell her "fine, we'll break up the band, cancel our tour and you can go figure yourself out at your leisure.  In the meantime, I don't want to see or hear from you.  I'll move on with my life.  Hey, maybe Zoey can come back and retake her place in the Ex's now that the kid drama has been resolved."  Unlikely to happen, but I can dream, right?

[luna1122]

I would take Layla back (but I always liked Layla) over Scarlett at this point, any old time.