Review : 'Nashville' : 'A Picture From Life's Other Side'

This week's episode of Nashville certainly had enough drama to satisfy the requirements of a season finale. And yet, we've got one episode left next week. Here's what the writers set up for us.

Rayna's just finished up the current leg of the tour with a show in Charlotte, NC. Bucky steps in for some house keeping. 1) Gotta finish the record. 2) Gotta find another act. But that's okay, because Deacon's there to suck face a while. Who even knows where Bucky went? Deacon and Rayna plan to have dinner with the girls. And they do! And it's damn heart warming. Mama Jaymes makes dinner and Deacon hangs out with Maddie and Daphne. They play "Ho Hey" together because the producers were like We can milk that song a little more. Everyone's so contented, we're a turkey away from a Norman Rockwell painting when Teddy walks in like:

He's not stoked to find Deacon there when he kept Peggy away at Rayna's request. He has the audacity  to acuse Rayna of having an emotional affair with Deacon the entire time they were married and she's like WHOA. I  loved you when Daphne was born despite the fact you have the personality and looks of a 2x4. (I may have embellished that last part.) The next day, presumably, Rayna gets two surprises. 1) Luke from the O.C. crashes Rayna's label auditions and does well. 2) Rayna gets served with a restraining order to keep Deacon away from the girls. She shows up at Teddy's office to ask what, pray tell, is wrong with him and he says, "I took your father's advice and grew a pair." So, Teddy thinks Lamar's words of wisdom are Mr. Rodgers-caliber now? Must-follow gems of guidance?

Maybe. Rayna goes to see Lamar and he's in a sweater drinking tea. Whatever. She asks him for help and he's like I'll take care of it. I shudder. Anyway, Rayna's in her bedroom recounting everything to Deacon on the phone, and Maddie overhears her saying "I love you." Rayna admits she was talking to Deacon. Maddie is like... You dated Deacon before Dad, yes? Rayna, in some kind of parenting gymnastics combo pulls the Trust Me/I'll Tell You When You're Older cards. Here's the thing, Maddie is a sharp kid. This isn't over. Rayna and Teddy go to a hearing about the restraining order. It's temporarily shelved. Later, they have a heart to heart where Rayna is like You gotta trust me, bro. She asks for a lot of trust considering. He agrees. Anyhoodle, later whenever, Rayna is at the Opry to introduce Scarlett and the new Highway 65 record label. Back at home, Maddie starts digging through her mom's closet and manages to find paternity papers. Sobbing on the phone, she tells a friend she doesn't think Teddy is her father. I intend on watching next week's episode from behind a riot shield.

After the Charlotte show, Avery helps Juliette with her monitors and suggests that whatever tune she's humming, she write down. Thanks Avery! They banter a bit about the drunken scene at the CMA party, and she tells him he's going to help her get that song down. That means he winds up at her house and she sort of opens up about how she dosen't believe in love (which is pretty cliched), and I find it contradictory because she's clearly starting something up with Avery, yet she's playing all jaded. Do you talk about personal feelings with randos? I didn't think so. Let's not forget Dante's still out there somewhere with a sex tape and the intention of blackmailing Juliette. At first he asks for $2 million, and then realizes he can ask for more. Juliette will have to sell off some stuff to come up with the new asking price of $10 million. While talking to her security team, Juliette dejectedly tells them Dante can release the tape. She'll get out in front of it. At least he won't make as much money. Jolene, who's just been to her old dealer for a bag of pills and... something else, is freaking out. What about the CMAs?! What about the new album?! Juliette's too broken down to care. So, Jolene gets Dante's number off her daughter's phone. That night at her place, she calls Dante and tells him she loves him and basically lures him over with the promise of money in exchange for the SD card. When he arrives, she demands the card because she in fact, is not in love with him, but is out to spare her daughter the humiliation of a tawdry scandal. When he asks for the money and stalls, she shoots him. Jolene calls Juliette who is about to do an interview about said tawdry scandal, and tells her not to. She says some nice words and Juliette is like WHAT IS GOING ON DRUGGIE MOM. By the time Juliette and various people in suits arrive at Jolene's apartment, they find Dante dead on the floor and Jolene dead on the couch from an overdose.

COME ON. I'm honestly sad to see Druggie Mom go. Despite many past transgressions, it's good to see flawed characters achieve some type of redemption. I think Jolene had a ways to go, or at least deserved a little better than skeazy murder/suicide, even if it means that she was trying to be selfless. Juliette cries while watching local news coverage of her mom's death.

Over in the political intrigue portion of the show, Tandy and Lamar are in a meeting about what to do with that land they've got. She wants a mixed use high rise. He still wants the ball park. She's like: Hey. It's OVER old man. Tandy, while stroking her well-worn copy of King Lear, meets with THE BOARD and they plot some kind of overthrow. At the end of the episode he shows up and kicks her out of his seat.

Over in East Nashville, Gunnar comes home looking like hell. "Are you ever going to have a recording session that doesn't end at dawn?" Scarlett chirps as birds help her with house work. No. It's an image thing. One must stop showering and only wear leather jackets in order to be a badass. She reminds him she's making her Opry debut that night. He runs off because his producer guy says that Vandy's radio station wants to do an interview with him. He tries really hard to be, (inarticulate and dickish) cool during this interview by responding "I do what I want" to just about every question, including one relating to his love life. Scarlett is listening in her car and is like:

O RLY

When he gets home he's like Oh crap, you heard that? And she's like, Yup. I generally support the people I love, but apparently we're not dating. "I don't get what you're doing," she tells him. Amen, sister. Anyway, she does ask Luke from the O.C. to talk to Gunnar. Luke shows up at some bar where Gunnar is playing and looking even more like hell that before. Some guy at the bar challenges Gunnar's credibility. Luke defends. Gets punched. Gunnar punches the offender. BAR FIGHT.

Alas, they all wind up in jail. Backstage at the Opry, Scarlett is nervous. Deacon's there, though. She gets the special dressing room for artists making their Opry debuts. Someone delivers a present for Scarlett from someone in the audience. It's a whisk form Avery because of that one time he had her sing into a whisk in the living room. Good times. Sort of. Scarlett performs. It's great. Meanwhile in lock up, Luke and Gunnar talk. Gunnar doesn't even know what his deal is. Nevertheless, he thanks Luke for having his back. Luke apologizes about that thing and tells Gunnar about how his dad caught him and kicked him out of the house. He doesn't know his deal either, but he knows he's happy on stage. Scarlett bails the both of them out and basically breaks up with Gunnar. "I can't be with you like this. I fell in love with you, not your brother," she says. We feel better about her character. Three cheers for the lady with the backbone.

Next week: All hell breaks loose and Maddie apparently will play a round of Are You My [Daddy]? with Deacon.

Stray Observations:
+ Where do they store Liam through all of this?
+ I've been waiting so long to use that gif from The O.C.
+ Moment of silence for Druggie Mom.