After Will's debut album bumps hers to second place, Rayna pursues new and unexpected opportunities for publicity. Layla pressures Will to help her rebuild her career. Juliette deals life-changing news and prepares for a big audition. Maddie continues to act out. Zoey becomes paranoid about Gunnar's past with Scarlett.
Nashville is back for its third season! I missed out on reviewing the season premiere last week - but I mostly thought it was gimmicky for no real reason and wanted to elongate the cliffhangers as much as possible. And now, the series is back to telling the kinds of stories it typical does. Everyone seems to be gearing up to go out on the road again and there's a Patsy Cline movie in town trying to cast the leading role. Throw in some soapy melodrama and it feels great to have Nashville back.Ultimately, Rayna chose to accept Luke's wedding proposal instead of Deacon's - even though that relationship is not as fleshed-out as her relationship to Deacon. And yet, I'm really looking forward to seeing the show try to ground that relationship and make Luke into a guy who's worthy of our leading lady - but also a good character in his own right. That still hasn't happened. And yet, I have a feeling it might solely because Tandy is leaving town. Tandy was never more than a one-note character and yet her relationship with Rayna has always been pleasant. It gave Rayna someone to talk openly with who wasn't a guy and trying to win her affections. Now, Luke is going to be forced into that role. He goes to Lamar's house with her to pick up a few things before the auction starts and he's the one who gets her to accept the way the business works nowadays. That is interesting - even though I'm still very uncertain about it.
Last season I didn't think it was that organic to the narrative that Juliette and Jeff slept together. It felt like something that happened solely to shake up a few key dynamics for Juliette - mostly between Avery and Rayna. And now, that mistake could potentially become something even bigger because Juliette is now pregnant. It's largely a way for the show to write in Hayden Panettiere's real-life pregnancy. And yet, I don't mind because the twist actually does flow organically from the story. I also really appreciate that they are not dragging out the "Who's the baby daddy" question. By hour's end, Juliette knows it's Avery's because she is 8 weeks along. And that frankly is the person I would want it to be because it would allow for a better source of drama. The two of them are still not on good terms. The one time they see each other, it erupts into a screaming match. And now, he's kissing the cute new girl at the Bluebird. This pregnancy will force them to talk again and that is the thing I'm most excited to see moving forward.
Elsewhere, there's weirdness going on in the Scarlett, Gunnar and Zoey dynamic. Zoey is becoming paranoid about the other two a bit too much now. She's worried what their talking again means. She loves Scarlett and she loves Gunnar. But she also feels threatened for some reason. That reason being that they make nice music together. I'm not exactly sure what this plot is doing. And yet, I have mad respect for Scarlett to recognize that she needs to figure out herself before she can start doing work with someone else. That was her downfall last season and I'm glad that she doesn't want to make the same mistakes.
Some more thoughts:
- "How Far Down Can I Go" was written by Meredith Lavender & Marcie Ulin and directed by Mario Van Peebles.
- I love Scarlett and Gunnar duets. I did not like the Scarlett and Gunnar duet in this episode.
- Juliette actually does seem like a good actress. It's not just the show saying a character is a good actor. They actually gave us proof that she could pull off the role of Patsy Cline.
- The truly dramatic camerawork in the Juliette-Avery confrontation did take me out of that sequence a little bit. It was distracting.
- Why is so much time spent on Maddie? She was so annoying in this episode and I just don't care about her struggles.
- Also, I just hate what the show is doing with the Will story. It's too isolated from the rest of the cast and he's often paired with the two characters - Jeff and Layla - I want to write out of the show the most.
- Laura Benanti pops up for 30 seconds as an artist who has had a big year. It will lead to something bigger later I'm sure. It just felt so odd to introduce her here, have Jeff know what's going on with her but keep the audience largely in the dark.
- And now, we apparently are suppose to care that Jeff may be losing his job. And that he has a problem with woman. Umm, that has been apparent since his first episode and doesn't need any more focus.
