Brief Musings on Nashville: On The Other Hand
Season finale! And boy are they lucky their renewal just got announced, this would have been a seriously unsatisfactory series finale.
First of all, my obvious question: do we feel like there's any chance that Scarlett's departure is a real thing and she won't be back next season to torture us with her pouting and twitching and the rest of the cast assuring us of her special snowflake status? (Holy crap, that line in Gunnar's song about her about how whenever she opens her mouth DIAMONDS START POURING OUT?! I almost choked on my laughter.) Or will we be subjected to everyone in town taking turns to sing her praises and beg her to stay and go on about how she's too wonderful to deny the GIFT THAT IS HER to the world/town/country music?
Sadly, I think I already know the answer to that.
Right, so there was an engagement!
Luke proposed very intimately in front of a stadium full of people. I never understand that. Just last week he was insecure that she even loved him, and this week he's so confident she'll be his wife that he risks public rejection like that? Public proposals are one thing if you've discussed marriage and you know the proposee will say "yes." But yikes. Regardless! It happened. In front of her ex-husband and her ex-fiance and a jillion other people. The inner circle was less than pleased, especially Mr. SadFace Deacon.
Maddie, too, was pretty annoyed. She clearly favors Deacon over her other dad, though they are an adorable non-traditional family.
I suppose Maddie's big fantasy is that her birth parents will reunite and then she'll be a big music star. Or something. Point being she's pulling some real asshole moves with Conrad and doing her level best to make him feel like an outsider for not being a musical person. I don't care about Conrad very much but it's rough to watch even him go through that.
Deacon, of course, had to make his play for Rayna. And he was pretty convincing, too, considering he got rewarded with a big makeout session. Now Rayna has two rings! WHO WILL SHE CHOOSE?! (My guess: not the boring dude.)
Juliette's storyline was unsurprisingly the best part of the episode. She awesomely tried to alienate Rayna so she could get kicked off of her label (so that she could meet Jeff's blackmail demands and sign with him), and Rayna awesomely saw right through it and didn't allow it.
Love love love these two as allies!!!
She gave Juliette excellent counsel that she had to tell Avery the truth about the drunken hate sex, but sadly Avery found out about it first so she really doesn't even have the moral leg to stand on of, "Well, I did confess!"
Obviously the best part of all of this was when she showed up to see Avery play at some Country Music Tribute to Sobriety (or whatever that was) falling down drunk. God I love her. And then of course the best not-hilarious scene was when Avery went back to try to find out why she would have done such a thing as gross as sexing up Jeff Fordham, she killed us all with a speech about how much she hates herself and ruins everything. She even as much as guaranteed Avery that if he took her back she would likely destroy it all over again, but then begged him to please not make her be alone again. Just about killed me dead. The masterstroke followed that, which made it clear this happened to be an episode made by the showrunner herself. While waiting for an answer from Avery, he took just one small step backwards. He didn't leave, he didn't stay, he didn't say anything. Just took that one step, almost right out of the frame but not quite. Awesome shit like that is why mise-en-scène is a thing.
Meanwhile, Will had a sexy little video chat with the personal trainer he wants to bang. You guys, they're both really looking forward to it and the trainer has been thinking a lot about Will's.... "training." Later, though, motivated by some unfortunate career-related disappointment, Will seeks out support from Gunnar who tells him unequivocally that, career or no career, he is never going to be happy living a lie.
And then HALLELUJAH! Will went home and admitted to his wife (oops) that he's gay! At which point he threw herself into her arms as if this was going to be the person to comfort him in this moment. I tried to get a screencap of the look on her face that screamed "WHAT THE EVERLOVING...." in response to his expectation, but it just didn't happen. It was sublime.
Will's face, during his confession, though:
Yep. That's pretty much the face I made at that moment in my life, too. Just kidding, mine was way more a combo of massive relief and "WHOA THAT EXPLAINS SO MUCH."
I seriously could not be happier about that, and really hope the fact that the moment was recorded for their reality show (without their knowledge) leads to an exciting story arc next season that they actually spend real time on, focusing on what it's like for him in the public eye in a genre of music that hasn't quite caught up with some others as far as acceptance goes.
So what did you guys think of the finale? The season as a whole? Are you excited about the renewal? What do you think/hope for next season?
I think I am willing to even put up with poor woe is me Scarlett for another season as long as I get more Juliette and Avery. They killed it for me.
Posted by: Loki | May 15, 2014 at 10:50 AM
I dunno, Chris Carmack gave another great performance, but I feel like Will's arc lost a lot of momentum in the back half of the season. And I sadly think we're in for at least a few episodes when it comes back in the fall of Layla and Will trying to make their facade of a marraige work (at least for career reasons) before the reality show drops the mic on them.
And you know who could help out with that? Brent. BRENT!
Posted by: C | May 15, 2014 at 10:57 AM
Oh, and how dare this show tease us with Scarlett leaving when it's never going to happen? Is the audience really dying for some kind of triangle between Gunnar, Scarlett, and Zoey? Booooo-ring.
Posted by: C | May 15, 2014 at 10:58 AM
Chip Esten (Deacon) tweeted that he came drunk to Juliette's show last season and she came drunk to his this season. Love it.
Callie Khoury writing and directing brought back all the awesome.
"Luke" is signed as a regular, so I wouldn't expect a quick resolution. And Rayna loves what he brings to her career/life. Remember, she was thanking God for him right before she went on stage. And she has told him Deacon is her past-he is her future countless times. I like this choice Rayna has to make, because it affects her career, her label and her kids. Which is most important? It's not a simple choice.
Posted by: marz | May 15, 2014 at 11:24 AM
Ugh, Will Chase is a contract player for Season 3? That's a bummer. I appreciate a good triangle, but Luke has no personality and Chase doesn't exactly light up the screen.
C, I am shocked -- shocked, I tell you! -- that you think Will's storyline needs more Brent! (But let's hope Big B shows up to comfort Will in his time of need.)
Posted by: Louise | May 15, 2014 at 11:45 AM
Louise, I'm surprised you caught on, I've barely mentioned Brent at all lol. BRENT!
But sadly, it might be time to give up the ghost.
Posted by: C | May 15, 2014 at 12:07 PM
C, I clearly had dreams of being a detective as a child. Just call me Nancy Drew, okay?
Posted by: Louise | May 15, 2014 at 12:09 PM
I'm so glad that Will is being truthful with himself, and with Layla. I just wonder what the fallout will be? oh, right, media shaming will commence!
And all I can say is this: Layla, you brought all the public scrutiny and taunts and media shaming that is going to happen on yourself (remember, she pushed for this reality thing...)
And Go Deacon!
Posted by: WG | May 15, 2014 at 01:01 PM
Will Chase said he knows "Luke" is the other man, so eventually, it's Deacon. All in.
HP and JJ killed those scenes.
Posted by: marz | May 15, 2014 at 01:16 PM
And with my stupid state of Tennessee cutting the tax benefits to the show, the budget might impact some contracts.
Stupid Tennessee.
Posted by: marz | May 15, 2014 at 01:18 PM
Juliette pisses me off more than anything else. Poor me. I've had a bad life. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever. JJ is the only reason I bother to watch her scenes.
The show feels as though it is running around in circles, without a plan or a destination.
I don't care about Will as a character. I don't find the actor good enough to make anything interesting. Or maybe it's the writing. Don't know, just know that I don't care. I don't love Scarlett, but I don't hate her, either. Certainly I prefer her to Will or Layla or even the too-predictable Juliette.
Deacon is one of the few characters I find compelling. Avery is intriguing more often than not. Maddie's story has gotten better. That's about it for me.
Posted by: RAP | May 19, 2014 at 10:56 PM