S05.E13: ‘Til I Can Make It on My Own

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Juliette experiences anxiety about her upcoming first major performance after the plane crash. Bucky clashes with Zach. Scarlett confronts Damien.

Promo:

[Primetimer]

In the middle of a spiritual crisis (of sorts), Juliette sees flashbacks of her father. Will he give her the strength to go on, literally?

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[TVFAN]

Yay!!!!!! Finally a Javerycentric episode!!!!!!!! Can we focus on them every week?

[seewillrun]

I love Deacon, Juliette and Avery so I'm going to watch this show as long as it's on the air, but what the hell was that?  Juliette's dad was in the military... I don't think his hair was regulation.  Since Gunnar and Scarlett's previous relationship has been retconned, and now Juliette's dad, why not just make the girl that Daphne has brought home be Deacon's long lost daughter from a one night stand?  

I don't like Zach at all, but I did think his idea of Maddie's single release was good.  Bucky isn't an idiot, he can learn new ways to promote songs.  I hope this isn't the last we see of him.

I would like Juliette to find out about Avery's offer and encourage him to go even though it seems like she still needs lots of support at home.

The Gunnar-Damian-Scarlett mess is indefensible.

[absolutelyido]

34 minutes ago, seewillrun said:

I would like Juliette to find out about Avery's offer and encourage him to go even though it seems like she still needs lots of support at home.

I hope Gunnar accidentally mentions it to Juliette, assuming that she already knows. I'm kind of assuming that's the reason they had Gunnar there when the offer was made, so that he can be the one to tell Juliette.

CMT is not in my cable package so I can't watch it live, but I am able to watch it on demand the next day. I was flipping channels tonight and the episode was on Nickolodeon (Nick at Nite) an hour after it was on CMT. It made me wonder if that is part of the reason that they keep pushing these teen stories with Maddie and Daphne, because they are now also playing in on Nick and trying to appeal to a teen audience. This is a depressing thought to me, as I have no interest in these story lines. 

Edited June 9, 2017 by absolutelyido

[dbell1]

Week  2 of "Love is a Battlefield" street kids. Joy. 

I could do without Scarlett and men pining over her. Man up Gunnar and walk away.

Less Maddie this week is always a plus. Still not sure what the hell happened to Rayna's final release. Bye Bucky, glad you escaped this mess. Would love to see him come back and take over the label after Zack ruins it.

My biggest question this week is what was up with putting Juliette on the stairway to nowhere that then sunk into the stage? Here's a great idea folks. We'll dress her like Cleopatra's slutty cousin, put the limping woman on a staircase, pop fake stained glass windows of Jesus suffering on the cross and have some random people wave beer in front of the stage. Are the writers high?

[WhosThatGirl]

Yeah. I'm pretty bored. The only interesting thing to me was trying to figure out where Daphne and Rayanna Graff lite found good looking quality Daria episodes. I've searched on YouTube, quality is terrible. I guess they have the DVDs? Either way I was kind of jealous about that.

[Emily Thrace]

2 hours ago, seewillrun said:

I love Deacon, Juliette and Avery so I'm going to watch this show as long as it's on the air, but what the hell was that?  Juliette's dad was in the military... I don't think his hair was regulation.  Since Gunnar and Scarlett's previous relationship has been retconned, and now Juliette's dad, why not just make the girl that Daphne has brought home be Deacon's long lost daughter from a one night stand?  

I don't like Zach at all, but I did think his idea of Maddie's single release was good.  Bucky isn't an idiot, he can learn new ways to promote songs.  I hope this isn't the last we see of him.

I would like Juliette to find out about Avery's offer and encourage him to go even though it seems like she still needs lots of support at home.

The Gunnar-Damian-Scarlett mess is indefensible.

I was thinking Bucky could step back from the label and be Maddie's manager. Its what he's actually good at and it would keep him in the family.

I suspect the show is not so much retconning Juliette's Dad's death as Juliette never new the truth herself. The "Whole Daddy was killed in the Marines" always rang a little false and sounds like something Meth Mom might have cooked up. She didn't want to explain that Daddy got killed in a bar fight after I caught him with Trashy Tammy or a drug deal gone wrong with his deadbeat friend Jimmy so she lied to poor little Juliette. I half expected him to turn out to still be alive.

I felt bad for Deacon tonight, he clearly is using the girls and the label to help fill the void left by Rayna. I half expected him to turn up at Scarlett's when the girls didn't need him. He is a little lost without her but that's to be expected. He just needs to make some friends his own age. That might makes things interesting when useless Teddy gets out of jail. With Rayna gone they might finally be able to actually be friends.

I half expect that Scarlett is going to lose this baby (the over the top morning sickness is so often a sign of that in TV land) so I'm not invested in that. I was observing that Scarlett and Gunnar have amazing chemistry and the writers thrown everything but the kitchen sink at them to keep them apart. It ridiculous at this point.

[GaT]

So I guess we're going back to the "Juliette is a selfish bitch" plot. Again. At least there was some music this episode, but other than that, I don't care.

[sashabear21]

Juliette and Avery are awesome together. I can't get into this Daphne storyline with the homeless kids. The cast is already about to get more characters already (although admittedly, I'd watch Rachel Bilson read a phone book because she's awesome!), but there doesn't need to be 20 new characters to make up for Connie Britton's absence, plus didn't we just have the, "OMG poor orphan type people exist!" storyline with Maddie finding street singer Clay who rents a room in a studio to sleep in? I also don't care about Scarlett's pregnancy with Tom Riddle. It's all just a set-up to get her back together with Gunnar and have him raise the baby and have him look super benevolent for doing so.

[WoodyCee]

  10 hours ago, seewillrun said:

I love Deacon, Juliette and Avery so I'm going to watch this show as long as it's on the air, but what the hell was that?  Juliette's dad was in the military... I don't think his hair was regulation.  Since Gunnar and Scarlett's previous relationship has been retconned, and now Juliette's dad, why not just make the girl that Daphne has brought home be Deacon's long lost daughter from a one night stand?  

I don't like Zach at all, but I did think his idea of Maddie's single release was good.  Bucky isn't an idiot, he can learn new ways to promote songs.  I hope this isn't the last we see of him.

I would like Juliette to find out about Avery's offer and encourage him to go even though it seems like she still needs lots of support at home.

The Gunnar-Damian-Scarlett mess is indefensible.

I was thinking Bucky could step back from the label and be Maddie's manager. Its what he's actually good at and it would keep him in the family.

I suspect the show is not so much retconning Juliette's Dad's death as Juliette never new the truth herself. The "Whole Daddy was killed in the Marines" always rang a little false and sounds like something Meth Mom might have cooked up. She didn't want to explain that Daddy got killed in a bar fight after I caught him with Trashy Tammy or a drug deal gone wrong with his deadbeat friend Jimmy so she lied to poor little Juliette. I half expected him to turn out to still be alive.

I felt bad for Deacon tonight, he clearly is using the girls and the label to help fill the void left by Rayna. I half expected him to turn up at Scarlett's when the girls didn't need him. He is a little lost without her but that's to be expected. He just needs to make some friends his own age. That might makes things interesting when useless Teddy gets out of jail. With Rayna gone they might finally be able to actually be friends.

I half expect that Scarlett is going to lose this baby (the over the top morning sickness is so often a sign of that in TV land) so I'm not invested in that. I was observing that Scarlett and Gunnar have amazing chemistry and the writers thrown everything but the kitchen sink at them to keep them apart. It ridiculous at this point.

They should do a whole "My Two Dads" thing when Teddy gets out of jail!

[piratewench]

10 hours ago, absolutelyido said:

I hope Gunnar accidentally mentions it to Juliette, assuming that she already knows. I'm kind of assuming that's the reason they had Gunnar there when the offer was made, so that he can be the one to tell Juliette.

 

Actually, that wasn't Gunnar, although it did look a lot like him.  That was Michael Ray, a real country artist.

[Soup333]

Stupid things that happened in this episode:

Deacon allowing the Lost Girl to stay at his house. Crazy for a number of reasons, especially considering what happened with Cash and Maddie a few months ago. Did he seriously not think that Liv at 16 could influence his 13 year old step-daughter to perhaps do something she isn't supposed to be doing? This is just not wise.

Scarlett's outrage at Damien asking her if the baby was his. So ridiculous I laughed when she said she didn't like what he was insinuating. As if it's not FACT that she slept with Damien and Gunnar within hours of each other. Sorry, baby girl. You don't get to sleep with two men and then act retroactively virtuous when they question paternity.

Zach, innocently asking Deacon what he'd done as if he didn't freaking know. This is beyond me. Why is it as if Zach owns more than a small part of this company? Why is he shotcalling at this point? Why did Bucky give in so easily, as if the only option Deacon had was company or family? He wasn't saving Deacon from anything. It was all confusing and stupid. I did agree with Zach's idea though. Although it sounded very familiar (i.e. the SAME) to Jeff's idea for Layla's single way back when.

The entire retconned Barnes family history. If her father was in the military, she'd have had proof of that. Come on, show. Actually watch the old episodes, all of them. The writer said he based all of this off of 2.2, but he clearly didn't watch 2.19. 

I can't even go into this fugue state foolishness or Juliette's reaction to it, which proved to me that she needed to be in therapy. She claimed not to have time to speak to a stranger but she already had a therapist as of 506, I think? So...why couldn't she just go talk to that person? 

Questions - How does Gunnar feel about ANY of this baby daddy/love triangle stuff? Why don't I know??? Where is Will (probably should get this on a shirt at this point). Why is Avery consistently telling Juliette she's crazy? Considering all that has and is going on with her, this seems insensitive. Why do all the performances look exactly the same? Same lighting, similar backgrounds? I realize this was a festival, but last week's episodes were similar too. None of this feels like Nashville anymore. Where did Scarlett and Gunnar's song come from? Did they write it recently? Together or....

Ugh.

[gesundheit]

Poor Avery. Go on tour, man! Do it! It's your turn!

So now BOTH men want to be a family with Scarlett and her spawn. Because of course they do, she's such a catch, what with being god-awful all of the time and having frightening hair.

[seewillrun]

14 hours ago, dbell1 said:

My biggest question this week is what was up with putting Juliette on the stairway to nowhere that then sunk into the stage? Here's a great idea folks. We'll dress her like Cleopatra's slutty cousin, put the limping woman on a staircase, pop fake stained glass windows of Jesus suffering on the cross and have some random people wave beer in front of the stage. Are the writers high?

I'm so glad you mentioned this.  What genius stage manager would think that climbing a set of metal stairs in four inch heels for one's first performance back from near paralysis was the way to make an entrance?  Surely Glen and Avery both would have issued a PG-rated WTF and had that entrance changed.  And even if she just HAD to climb the stairs, why was no one back there to help her?

The fake stained glass windows looked like something envisioned by someone who most definitely does NOT go to church.  They were wildly inappropriate to the song Juliette was singing, which I actually like.  And I'm Catholic, the churches I attend actually look like this because they are older and more traditional. 

[Angeltoes]

I don't expect Daphne to be streetwise (considering she was stupid enough to leave the bloody bandages in Deacon's trashcan) but Deacon sure should be.  It's obvious that Street Girl hasn't been away from home that long.  She has a nose ring and a cellphone so she had money at some point.  And she seemed at ease with normal teenage activities like eating a mountain of food and goofing over tv shows.  My guess is that her photo is on the page for missing children.

[Silly Angel]

The most annoying thing in this episode was the wonky placement of the dumb jeweled headband thingy on Juliette. I wanted to yank it straight.
Please let her turn into a raging, selfish bitch again. The RSB roles can't go to the James daughters; it's just too boring. We need a villain, one we remember and love from season one.

[J-Man]

I'm pretty sure that guy who was congratulating Avery on his performance called him Avery BARNES, and I think closed-captioning said that too. I can't believe that was intentional, otherwise someone would've mentioned it.

[missbonnie]

On 6/9/2017 at 1:08 AM, GaT said:

So I guess we're going back to the "Juliette is a selfish bitch" plot. Again. At least there was some music this episode, but other than that, I don't care.

I know and that's going to be the deal breaker for me with this show. If they go back down the road where Juliette and Avery are fighting half the time, I'm out. I am very disappointed right now. I thought that these new writers were supposed to be fantastic? I don't see any evidence of that and no offense to the Lennon sisters but I seriously do NOT  care at all about their characters and their dumbass teen angst. I want to see adults with the bulk of the storylines. 

Edited June 12, 2017 by missbonnie
forgot a word

[tennisgurl]

21 hours ago, Emily Thrace said:

That might makes things interesting when useless Teddy gets out of jail. With Rayna gone they might finally be able to actually be friends.

I would gladly sacrifice Scarlett and her baby daddy drama for a wacky My Two Dads style plot with Deacon and Teddy co-parenting the girls and slowly becoming friends. That could honestly redeem this whole show for me.

I actually did think this was an improvement on the last episode, mainly because we actually got to hear some real music this week. I know critics in the shows world didn't like Juliet's gospel stuff, but I liked her song pretty well. Also, gospel is probably a good fit for Juliet, considering her dad is possibly Jesus.

Avery, do the tour! I know that your wife has a new physical or mental breakdown every other day and your the best husband ever, but you deserve this! NO ONE deserves this more than you! I just want one episode where Avery is the focus of his marriage, and not Juliet and her drama train.

I don't care much about Daphne and her homeless buddy, but I did like the scene where Daphne was explaining how much her life sucks even if she's rich. I don't really like this plot, but I don't hate it.

That scene at the end where Bucky saw that picture of Rayna while he was walking away trying not to cry actually got me to have a feeling.

[Soup333]

2 hours ago, J-Man said:

I'm pretty sure that guy who was congratulating Avery on his performance called him Avery BARNES, and I think closed-captioning said that too. I can't believe that was intentional, otherwise someone would've mentioned it.

He said Barkley. 

[slasherboy]

On 6/8/2017 at 10:27 PM, dbell1 said:

My biggest question this week is what was up with putting Juliette on the stairway to nowhere that then sunk into the stage? Here's a great idea folks. We'll dress her like Cleopatra's slutty cousin, put the limping woman on a staircase, pop fake stained glass windows of Jesus suffering on the cross and have some random people wave beer in front of the stage. Are the writers high?

No way would there not be anyone backstage to help her up the stairs.  Phoney baloney.

 

 

3 hours ago, Silly Angel said:

The most annoying thing in this episode was the wonky placement of the dumb jeweled headband thingy on Juliette. I wanted to yank it straight.

I thought I was the only one who noticed that and was driven to distraction by it!

 

 

44 minutes ago, Soup333 said:

He said Barkley. 

I know a dog named Barkley.

[ladle]

Can we take all of Scarlet and Gunnar's lines and give them to Avery?  I'd honestly rather follow the Daphne plot than watch one more tedious minute of Scunner.  At least then we might find out if Tino ever shows up to hang. 

 

ETA: And why is Maddie re-enacting that scene from Get Out next week? 

Edited June 12, 2017 by ladle

[TVbitch]

I thought I could not hate Scarlet any more than I did last week, but then she was a total dick to Damien too! So see, the show can still surpise me! 

The Hard Knock Life kids went to the Ponyboy school of acting. 

I will never be able to quit the men on this show, so I'm in it for the duration. 

[stormborn]

I too really want Juliette to find out about Avery's tour and encourage him to go. Cause I think it's about high time Juliette supports Avery with his needs and desires. It's been so skewed the other way around for far too long; to the point where now Avery can pretty much be considered for sainthood. I do love Juliette and Avery a lot though, so as much as this show makes me *eye emoji* every 10 seconds I'm in for the rest of the season. 

The show needs to stick a fork in Scarlett and Gunnar once and for all cause they have been DONE (to death).  Scarlett treats him horribly and Gunnar can do better. I am so over their dynamic and now with Mr. Crumpet in the mix as her baby daddy it's gonna be even more frustrating.

Maybe Rachel Bilson's character might be the upgrade that Gunnar needs. I miss his time with Zoey. That was the happiest I ever saw him on this show. 

Speaking of Rachel, I'm excited to see that she and Kaitlin Doubleday from Empire have been added to the roster of new cast members. Both are enjoyable actresses, I'm hoping the writing for their characters do their talents justice. 

And finally I echo everyone here when it comes to the Stella sisters. I'm sure they're lovely girls in real life but I am extremely maxed out on them and their teen angst on the show, Maddie's in particular. 

The cast is already very bloated and we don't need to have them and their Degrassi hour moments every single episode.

Like, can Will get some screen time?? Please??

[areca]

I might be a weirdo, but I think Scarlett and Damien have WAY better chemistry than Scarlett and Gunnar.  Like, orders of magnitude.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On My Way by Juliette Barnes

[Sandman]

On 2017-06-09 at 11:09 PM, tennisgurl said:

I would gladly sacrifice Scarlett and her baby daddy drama for a wacky My Two Dads style plot with Deacon and Teddy co-parenting the girls and slowly becoming friends. That could honestly redeem this whole show for me.

Same here.

I don't understand how we got to this point in Scarlett and her baby daddy drama; I really don't. Damian is an awful, self-adoring attention vampire of a man without a particle of genuine feeling for Scarlett or anyone else as far as I've noticed, and Scarlett lurves him because ... uh, he was real mean to her that one time?  She continues, unfathomably, to be angry at Gunnar. Maybe she just hates his stupid haircut. (That I could almost understand.)

Not to be contrarian, but I don't see much chemistry between Damian and Scarlett, honestly.

Edited June 21, 2017 by Sandman

[seewillrun]

On 6/21/2017 at 9:25 AM, Sandman said:

Not to be contrarian, but I don't see much chemistry between Damian and Scarlett, honestly.

To take this one step further, I don't see any chemistry between Scarlett and anyone anymore, except at times, Deacon.  Scarlett seems closed off to everyone right now, which is why I keep thinking the storyline is going to meander it's way back to the mental illness which runs in their family.  Some kind of disassociative personality disorder or something, which I think pregnancy hormones can worsen.  They would need a big reveal of something seriously wrong with Scarlett to repair the damage they have done to her character. Because while I have thought her a bit flaky, I liked her for the relationship she had with Deacon.  

Remember the Scarlett who walked away from Avery because she saw that he wanted success more than her?  I wish the writers remembered her.

[smartymarty]

Glad others noticed the 4-inch heels going up the stairs. Also, if the choir showed up last minute, how did the stagehands have the stage set for the gospel music instead of Juliette's country/pop music that she'd intended to do? And wouldn't she also be dressed in a country/pop music outfit instead of the one mimicking the look of stained glass?

 

Oh goody, we're going to have a "I found this homeless person. Can I bring her home and keep her?" story line. That's never been done. (How long until we find out the waif can sing?)