Courtesy of ABC
A not-so-surprising end to the mayoral race and not enough Rayna (Connie Britton) and Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) cattiness makes for an alright installment of Nashville this week.
Let’s bitch it out… Well, I can’t say I’m really surprised that Teddy (Eric Close) won the election to become the next mayor of Nashville. They’ve spent a lot of time and dedicated some big stories to this race for mayor, so if Teddy hadn’t been successful, it would have been a waste of the past nine weeks. However, I guess they do leave us with a little bit of mystery as to whether or not anything underhanded was done at the last second for the win. It’s a bit up in the air since Lamar (Powers Boothe) claims he didn’t do anything, but last week the guy was ready to throw his own granddaughter’s paternity under the bus for the win so I’m not sure if I’m buying his “of course I didn’t do anything wrong!” story.
While Teddy’s win isn’t a shock, there is a surprising development in the last few moments when Peggy (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) shows up at his suite to congratulate him. Who knew Teddy could have sexual tension?! This whole time I just thought that he was a bit asexual and dry, but it seems that the past few weeks Eric Close has been kicking it up a notch and I really feel something between him and Peggy. I should be more upset at his betrayal of Rayna, but by now we all know how I feel about that – anything that pushes her away from her husband and back to Deacon (Charles Esten) works for me!
Honestly, after last week’s episode, we knew that something would happen to push Deacon over the edge and quit the tour with the Revel Kings. He seemed to really be missing his old life (and hopefully his old boss/love Rayna, too!) so it was just a matter of seeing how the show would play it. As soon as Scarlett (Clare Bowen) shows up on the scene, it’s pretty clear what will happen. I won’t complain about the scene because watching Deacon stand up and fight for Scarlett is extremely attractive and made me root for him even more than I already do (if that’s possible… Frankly I’m not sure that it is! <sigh>). In addition, now Deacon is free to save Rayna from herself and jump right back in where they left off. See? Everyone could be happy! Teddy can get with Peggy, and Rayna and Deacon can reunite and all will be right in the world.
Or at least a girl can dream that that’s how the rest of the season will play out, right?
Courtesy of ABC
Meanwhile it also turns out that Liam McGuinnis (Michiel Huisman) is good for something: putting Juliette in her place. I’m not a huge fan of Liam’s, but tonight I actually really like his back and forth with Juliette. He won’t back down and she is forced to keep walking away from him. She never would’ve gone to see the judge and admitted wrong-doing in the marriage if Liam hadn’t made her feel like a spoiled bitch who never accepts responsibility. I am glad that she did that, because standing Sean (Tilky Jones) up at the altar like that was just weak and he deserved a lot better from her – especially considering the whole thing was HER idea! She’s the one who wanted it and she could’ve had the family that she wanted and Sean was actually good for her. But alas, she wouldn’t be the Juliette we know and love to hate if she had followed through with a marriage to a good guy from a good family.
I’ll admit it – back at the beginning of the season, I wasn’t sold on Hayden Panettiere or her character. But as the weeks go on, I am more fully on-board with Juliette and the actress who plays her (in fact, I’ve downloaded some of her solo songs from the soundtrack. Yes, that’s right, I’m even a fan of her music). I am even a little proud of her on Saturday mornings when I hear Hayden Panettiere’s song “Telescope” from earlier this season on Bob Kingsley’s Country Top 40 Countdown!
Other observations:
- This episode starts out strong with some amazing catty comments between Rayna and Juliette at the press conference. I got really excited because I’ve always felt that they’re leaving a lot of gold on the table by not including more of these scenes. I always figured that when they finally went on tour together, we would get more amazing Rayna and Juliette scenes, but we Just. Aren’t. There. Yet. A good zinger to start off tonight’s episode and nothing else is not enough! I’m still hoping for a lot more, especially considering how amazingly well these two actresses play off each other.
- Once again I’m only getting to Gunnar (Sam Palladio) now! This is unacceptable. But – again – he just doesn’t give me much to work with! We learn a bit about his tragic past but nothing that really moves his storyline ahead. It remains to be seen if anything from tonight and his family will come back to haunt him in future episodes.
- And again this week I find myself wondering why the heck does Avery (Jonathan Jackson) have his own storyline?!?! The only thing I can come up with is so that they can have a reason to keep bringing back Wyclef Jean. Because other than that, this snooze-worthy storyline leaves a lot to be desired. I could write this one myself and tell you exactly how it’s going to play out.
So what did you think of this week’s episode? Were you hoping for more Scarlett and Gunnar (like me)? Were you surprised that Rayna showed up at the election party at the last minute? Do you think Deacon will join Rayna on tour again (please please please!)?? Sound off in the comments below!
Nashville can be seen on Wednesdays nights at 10pm EST on ABC