BWW Recap: NASHVILLE's Home of the What Ifs, Wishful Thinkings, and What the Hells

Last week's episode- albeit insanely fast paced- dropped a lot of information without resolving too much. Sadie Stone, hiding from her abusive and violent ex-husband, is now armed with a gun. Will Chase is turning the wedding that didn't happen into a PR stunt (when he's not lashing out at Rayna), Rayna and Deacon are attempting to sort out their feelings for one another while Deacon secretly (against Scarlett's wishes) battles with his newfound, potentially terminal issue. Avery and Juliette, who we want to turn into the cutest and happiest newlyweds of all time, are slowly but surely trying to iron out some of their many petty issues. Gunnar confronts Micah about the truth regarding his paternity, and Layla and Will are (seemingly) off the hook for their incriminating reality show, following Layla's near overdose. With so much being squeezed into last wee's 45 minutes, here's hoping tonight the NASHVILLE writers slow it down a bit, and dive into the nitty gritty of the show's most intriguing story arcs.

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3 minutes in and NASHVILLE hits the ground running. In NASHVILLE, however, it's still all about the music. Juliette, going stir crazy from the baby (because clearly being a newlywed isn't exciting enough), is chomping at the bit to get back into the studio and finish her album. Rayna wants to take the called-off wedding to go back to her roots and play for her, and plans to do so by playing the Bluebird (press or no press- take that, Luke Wheeler). Jeff Fordham, too busy swaying between good guy and bad guy for us to make an informed judgement, is back at it at the record label- forgetting asisstants' names, avoiding the topic of Layla, and desperately searching for his next new act (which- call me crazy)- is probably heading towards signing Rayna's girls).

it's interesting to finally see Deacon battling the effects of his alcoholism. I feel like the show has shown him in one of two extremes; extremely intoxicated, desperate, and hopeless, and sober and confident with a contagious energy and lovable personality. We haven't seen much teetering in between- until now. With his diagnoses, Rayna calling of the wedding, and his sister making a no-so-surprise visit (to most likely test positive as a liver donor if I know Scarlett at all), Deacon is in a weird place where he's sober, in a good place, but simultaneously having to fight liver cancer and the possibility of a fatal illness. It's such a hard place to be, but it makes his character that much more dynamic.

His will to survive has to go up against his pride (once again, though in different circumstances). Throw in the twist of his sister not being a match, right in the middle of perhaps the most adorable family song session ever (which is completely tainted and retracted by Scarlett's mother's lie about being a match), and it's hard (but exciting) to imagine the ups and downs to come.

For all of the flak I've thrown at Teddy recently, I have to give credit where credit is due (temporarily). The way he stood up to Jeff Fordham, defended his daughters as a team, and refused to go behind Rayna's back- agreeing the girls were too young for a record deal- was admirable. It was nice to see a spark of the loving, concerned father, and not the man who cheated on his wife with Peggy Cantor and went out drinking with Jeff and fooled around with strippers and prostitutes. Unfortunately, it's easy to foreshadow that this level headedness will not last very long.

For whatever reason, I haven't seen Connie Britton as a lead during this season. Whether it was planing the wedding, trying to meet Luke, etc., I've felt like the focus shifted away from her throughout the engagement. Finally, during that moment at the Bluebird, we got Rayna back. She once again claimed her rightful place as NASHVILLE's protagonist, and the writers gave her a real, honest-to-goodness, emotional, torn moment. The Deacon flashbacks, combined with her backing out of her Bluebird appearance just initially sparked what will be a played out, but nonetheless intriguing character arch for Britton- and it's about time she got back into the spotlight. Here's to seeing much more, three dimensional Rayna. And the moment with Maddie when she asked to write a song together? Made the entire episode.

Part of me hates to say this- but the Gunnar/ Micah storyline is tired. I'm not quite sure where it's going, and honestly, it's not all that interesting to me. Sure, the moments between the two are genuine and somewhat awe-inducing, but what I really miss is seeing Gunnar, Scarlett (and even Avery) jam out together and make hum-able, fantastic music. I'm ready for this storyline to be finished so we can hopefully see much more of what made me love Gunnar in the first place.

The pace in tonight's episode slowed immensely, and gave all the feleings (in the best way). Maddie and Daphne singing with Rayna at the Bluebird, Deacon reflecting on the people important in his life and why his life is important, the small but lovable moment when Avery comforts Juliette in the studio, and even Gunnar going through the box of memories provided the perfect dose of emotional and adoration for the episode. The only taints, of course, are Sadie's upcoming uphill battle and Jeff's blackmailing of Teddy in order to sign Maddie- both of which we have at least half of a season to anxiously unravel.

Did you see Jeff's blackmail plan coming? How do you think this storyline will all unravel? Are you for or against Maddie being signed (circumstances aside)? Let me know in the comments or tweet me @WendiReichstein.

Photo Credit: ABC