Note: for FULL recaps & music/video links for Nashville Season 3, Episodes 8 and 9, click HERE. Thanks for bearing with me while I was away!
Welcome to the winter finale of Nashville! We start in Memphis, where Luke has Deacon and Will aboard for “Ball & Chain” and Jeff Fordham and Scarlett are among those watching from the side of the stage. Deacon is shaking his head that that’s the song they’re singing, considering it’s a Luke-Rayna duet, but don’t you think for a second that Luke is above sending a message with that choice. Will thanks the crowd for joining them on the last stop of this tour, and says the next time he’s in town, he’ll have his wife Rayna James on tour. Offstage, Will tells Deacon he’ll miss him on the next leg, but Deacon says if he never hears “Wheels up!” again, it’ll be too soon. Of course Luke Wheeler is standing right behind him when he says that, but Luke thanks Deacon for being on his tour and extends his hand for a handshake. Deacon shakes his hand, and Luke says he’s headed off because he’s got people waiting for him in Nashville. Luke really is the epitome of separating the business from the truly personal, for better or worse. Fair to say that is this show’s commentary on how mainstream country’s biggest stars became mainstream country’s biggest stars.
Rayna is trying on her wedding dress, different from the one she originally picked, and Maddie & Daphne are gushing about it when Tandy makes her return. Everybody’s thrilled to see her.
Meanwhile Deacon is fixing to avoid Nashville and stay in Memphis for a couple days. Scarlett makes plans to hang around with him.
Jeff shows Will a blog post from a gay-friendly site that is trafficking in wishful thinking/rumors that he’s gay. Will says they can sue for libel, but Jeff pointedly asks him if he’s willing to perjure himself. When Will asks what he should do, Jeff says he should make the rumors absurd, which is code for allowing himself to be groped by his adoring (female) public. Putting it more harshly, Jeff says, “Butch it up.”
Tandy and Rayna sit down for some sisterly catchup, and Tandy once again assures Rayna that she loves her dress. Rayna admits she picked something more modern at 1st but went with her current pick because Luke is a pretty traditional guy. Tandy asks if Rayna thinks Deacon will pull anything on her wedding day, and Rayna says she hasn’t spoken to Deacon in a couple weeks after he was upset over her Rolling Stone article. Tandy wonders aloud if Rayna is happy and Rayna unconvincingly says she is. Tandy sees that Rayna is going to keep up the front, so she goes for some amusing banter about the horrors of 90s fashion and how much better Rayna’s new wedding dress than the one she wore for her wedding with Teddy.
Avery and Juliette are going through adorable baby girl stuff as they start to address some of the thornier questions about what will happen with their baby girl arrives. Juliette suggests that Avery move into the guest room for a little while after the baby arrives, since they can hardly shuttle her back & forth, and Avery hesitates but agrees. He wonders what they’ll tell their baby girl about them, and Juliette says they’ll tell her that she came from a place of love and that her parents eventually became great friends. Juliette seems at peace with that, maybe because she senses Avery’s walls coming down. And you can see Avery’s uncertainty.
Rayna finishes up a call from Bucky, and we learn that her album went platinum. Tandy congratulates her, and Rayna really feels proud of what she was able to pull off. But now she’s not so thrilled with the “Luke & Rayna” show — apparently promoters want to extend their show for 6 months – all stadiums, 50k seats per night. And Rayna is not game for that. OK here’s the thing – if they are playing stadiums, they’re not playing every night – they’re playing weekend shows, and though there’s probably some promotion obligations, it’s not like they’re road warriors playing 200+ shows a year. Rayna promised herself that it would be back to life as usual after a year. Tandy points out that what “life as usual” is may have changed.
Micah is enjoying himself in the autumn leaves and trying to get out of school that day and of course Gunnar’s playfully having none of it. As they’re horsing around, Micah’s grandparents the Brenners arrive. Lynda Brenner thanks Gunnar for stepping up as Kylie flaked out, and promises to reimburse Gunnar for all expenses he incurred. Turns out they have a court order declaring them Micah’s legal guardians, and they plan to take Micah back to Texas.
Rehearsal dinner and wedding preparations are well under way over at Luke’s farm – over 200 guests for the dinner, over 500 for the wedding. Luke & Rayna have sold exclusive rights for pictures to a magazine, and the magazine is angling for Tim & Faith to sit at Luke & Rayna’s table. Luke seems game, but Rayna is not so sure seeing as that would mean moving the kids. She takes Luke aside, and mentions her hesitation about the tour extension. Luke loves the idea, but says that if they are going to do it, he wants Rayna to want to do it. So he’s fine with her taking her time and talking to the girls (um, how about the two of them talking to the girls? I mean, I think we know this wedding isn’t happening but just for the sake of believable presentation…). Rayna is grateful, and they head off to figure out guest seating.
Gunnar has gone to see a lawyer, and the lawyer explains that they can set up an emergency family court hearing quickly to sort out custody and guardianship. The lawyer says they just need proof of paternity (finally!), and that Gunnar should make nice with the Brenners in the meantime, to avoid a potentially contentious hearing.
Teddy is on a “date” at home with Natasha. They “agree” that the CMA “freebie” was just a one-time thing, and get on with it. This is not going to end well.
Deacon and Scarlett are in line to see the Peabody ducks, and Scarlett doesn’t get why they’re worth waiting for. But Deacon loves seeing those marching ducks…they bring back fond family memories. We have the cliche dropping of newspaper with Luke & Rayna frontpage right in front of Deacon moment to temporarily spoil the fun, but all is forgotten with giggles and applause when the ducks come.
Sadie’s ex-husband Pete barrels into a studio where she is waiting, having finally found her after 5 years. We find out that his (extramarital) fling with Melody ended, and that he thinks “You Can’t Stop Me” sounds a lot like a song they cowrote when they were married. Sadie tells him off, and kicks him out as Avery arrives for their session. After a sinister laugh, Pete warns Sadie that this isn’t over, and walks out. Sadie puts on a smile for Avery, but you know she’s rattled.
Will comes home and catches up with Layla. Suddenly, since they are in a good place together, he wants Layla to join him on the road. But she’s too busy texting with Jeff. Although Layla half-heartedly denies it, Will picks up on the fact that she may have met somebody, hence her reluctance to leave Nashville right now.
Back at Casa James, Rayna breaks out Maddie & Daphne’s dresses for the night, and suddenly, Maddie and Daphne are excited to go to Australia, even though just last week, they were missing their annual Christmas traditions. Gah, the inconsistent characterizations on this show drive me nuts sometimes. So even more confusingly, when Rayna brings up the possibility of an extended tour, Maddie & Daphne are suddenly ALL about it, saying they could go off to boarding school like Colton and Sage. Daphne suggests they could visit Luke & Rayna via Luke’s private jet. Basically, they’re totally ready to be on their own because, as Maddie says, “nobody’s really been around.” Sure would’ve been nice if we’d seen the grounds for any of this startling evolution. Apparently the girls had a conversation with Luke about it last week and Luke failed to mention it to Rayna. Now she’s pissed off.
Gunnar is trying to make nice with and impress the Brenners as they make dinner, but as a pot boilers, Lynda Brenner takes over in the kitchen and gives Gunnar a lecture on junk food when he makes a passing comment about ordering pizza.
Sadie and Avery are doing a runthrough of a song called “Novocaine,” cowritten in real life by Cary Barlowe, Steven Lee Olsen & Caitlyn Smith. The song also appears on Caitlyn Smith’s debut album, Everything To You. You can stream Caitlyn’s excellent version of the song here, and stream Caitlyn Smith’s excellent debut album, which combines thoughtful lyrics with a range of contemporary country sounds here.
To DOWNLOAD Caitlyn Smith’s album, “Everything To You,” click HERE!
Sadie’s excited about Avery’s ideas for the song’s sound and Avery compliments her on writing a great song. They commiserate a little (awkwardly) over their ex situations. Sadie married Pete when she was 19, and they divorced when she was 25, and she does not regret being through with him.
Will and Layla arrive at Jeff’s for a party at his home, which is crowded, full of young people and dance music. Layla asks Will to get them drinks so she can go say hi to some people. As he does, he is chatted up by an attractive female blogger, but he can’t keep his eyes off Jeff nuzzling Layla.
Luke apparently missed Rayna’s 4 calls before because he didn’t notice his phone ringing, but wonders what’s going on. Rayna doesn’t want him having conversations about the girls’ education without her. Luke says it came up randomly when they had dinner the previous week but he apologizes. Rayna accepts it, but you can see the wave of dread that her life is getting away from her is not subsiding.
Scarlett is dragging Deacon around looking for a karoake place that’ll take his mind off the Luke Wheeler tour. As they banter about Scarlett getting back on stage, Deacon asks about Gunnar. Scarlett says it’s not like they had their chance and missed it…which she suddenly realizes also applies to Deacon. Luckily, he doesn’t mind, and she conveniently spots a karoake place right at the moment.
Will is waiting for Jeff when he leaves his room, and immediately calls him out on his dalliance with Layla. Will wonders what Jeff’s angle is here, because his way of dealing with his own problem was to have Layla out on the road with him, but now it’s Jeff’s fault she doesn’t want to. Jeff actually says out loud that he thought he was doing Will a favor by giving Layla something she isn’t getting at home from somebody who won’t reveal Will’s secret. Will tells him to do what needs to be done to end things with Layla because she’s Will’s solution to his problems (only not really but let’s keep using her, right?).
Rayna is just not a happy camper at her production of a rehearsal dinner, and grouses a little to a sympathetic Sadie Stone. Sadie sweetly gifts her with a silver sixpence for good luck, and Luke steals Rayna away, not for an intimate moment, but for more showboating.
ANVIL time, because we cut straight to a scene of Deacon and Scarlett having a grand old time singing a song made famous by Elvis called “That’s Alright Mama,” written by Arthur Crudup, and it’s a reminder of the simpler, more authentic life.
To DOWNLOAD “That’s Alright Mama,” written by Arthur Crudup and performed by Charles Esten, click HERE!
Back at Jeff’s party, Layla sidles over to him wanting more, while Will watches from a balcony. Jeff’s heart doesn’t seem to be into this rejection, and he all but admits that he’s ending his dalliance with Layla because Will told him too. Layla’s comment that he doesn’t want her but she can’t be happy with anybody else is about as accurate a summary of her situation as you can get. Jeff slides her some prescription pills to get the edge off. Ruh roh. Meanwhile Will is greeted by a female partygoer who wants to interest him in an extramarital dalliance. He brushes her off until she mentions the rumors, at which point he decides to take her.
Deacon sits at the bar while local news reports on the Rayna/Luke wedding, and he signals to Scarlett that he’s headed back to hotel because he’s “not feeling so well.” He tells Scarlett to stay behind because she’s having a good time, and she agrees, so this is not going to end well.
Back at Gunnar’s, Micah is gushing about his time at the CMAs, and wants to show his grandparents his special big ticket. But as he goes off to get it, the Brenners and Gunnar get into an argument about Gunnar’s fitness to be a father. Lynda Brenner holds Gunnar’s teenage years against him, and doesn’t believe Gunnar when he says he’s not that confused kid anymore. She tells him to stop trying to impress them because it’s not going to work, and a frustrated Gunnar finally kicks the Brenners out of the house. A deflated Micah overheard enough of that conversation. See, here I was thinking that the story of Micah going missing at the CMA Awards was going to come up. Maybe it still will.
We head over to the rehearsal dinner, where Maddie & Daphne have taken to the mic for a darling performance of a song Maddie wrote with Deacon (cue Luke grimace) called “We Got A Love.” As always, everyone in the room, except maybe the semi-intrusive photographer taking pictures who distracts Rayna, melts when they sing. Luke smiles proudly and tells Rayna that her girls are something special. She smiles, haltingly.
To DOWNLOAD “We Got A Love,” cowritten by Jill Andrews and Lori McKenna and performed by Lennon & Maisy Stella, click HERE!
Cut to Deacon, who is downing some kind of pills and washing it down with water, and he just can’t get away from Luke & Rayna publicity (there’s a magazine on his hotel room table). He starts throwing things, and then we see all the liquor available to him in the room. This again?
A drunken, crying Layla stumbles around Jeff’s house looking for Will, muttering about how he won’t let her be happy. She stumbles into a room where Will is having sex with the party girl. He does not look terribly happy about it, but that hardly matters. Layla is devastated.
Avery is chatting with his mom on the phone as he goes through some baby things that she sent over. When he says things are weird with Juliette, she says he doesn’t have to have a relationship with Juliette to have a relationship with his baby girl. But we know this is not a stable equilibrium.
Meanwhile Teddy is scrolling through pictures of the girls with him when Maddie accidentally texts him a message meant for Deacon about how their song went great. Natasha emerges from the shower, and suggests a more regular, amped up schedule. Teddy finally realizes that this is not a situation that is healthy for him. He says he had nobody to talk to about his ex-wife getting remarried but Natasha, and he’s paying her, and that’s messed up. Why do I have the feeling it’s not going to be as easy as just ending this financial arrangement?
With dance music blazing in the background, Layla downs a bunch of pills that she washes down with alcohol.
It’s a quieter scene at Gunnar’s, where he tries to reassure Micah that all will be well when he worries about Gunnar’s argument with his grandparents and about moving again. But Gunnar and Micah’s chat is interrupted by a phone call, and it’s from his lawyer, who delivers the news that nobody everybody saw coming….Micah is not Gunnar’s son. But wait…there’s more, and we’ll find out…after the break?
Back at Casa James, Rayna can barely muster a smile for Tandy, and when Tandy talks about how Rayna is everywhere, Rayna replies that she doesn’t recognize her life anymore. Tandy has a more upbeat spin, that there’s been a lot of changes but she’s built up the company, and Rayna isn’t even sure how much of this has to do with Highway 65. She just hates how far all this has taken her from the girls, and she just wants to make sure this is her life she’s living. Tandy tries to comfort her by saying this is just night-before-the-wedding jitters, and that Rayna should focus on the love, how he looks at her, how he talks to her. Rayna looks unconvinced.
Scarlett drops by Deacon’s hotel room only to discover Deacon passed out on the ground amidst a mess of liquor bottles. She’s afraid of what he’s done, and immediately calls 911.
A glum Rayna is looking at her wedding dress and her engagement ring, re-reading her Rolling Stone cover story, and contemplating her life.
Avery drops by Juliette with boxes, and he finally admits he can no longer do this. He says the friends thing, it just isn’t working. A tearful Juliette fears the worst, and asks him what he wants to do. Avery suddenly realizes she thinks he’s pulling further away, and says he wants Juliette to marry him. Juliette is, for once, speechless, but says yes after Avery kisses her. Awh!
Pete is waiting on Sadie’s porch when she returns home. He says he’s here to get what’s his. But Sadie stands up to him, inviting him to take her to court and warning him that she is no longer that scared little girl that she used to be. That show of strength is met with brute force as Pete punches Sadie’s face and walks off. Horrifying. Well, if this is going to be Sadie’s story, then I hope the writers tell it sensitively.
Will finds Jeff and asks him where Layla is. Jeff says last he saw her, she was looking for Will. He also tells Will he did as Will asked, and that he thinks Layla heard him. Will suddenly sees the Santa hat Jeff had planted on Layla earlier, and as his eyes follow the trail to the pool, he suddenly spots Layla face down in Jeff’s pool. He immediately jumps in to pull her out and yells for Jeff to call 911. Others have noticed by now, and Jeff immediately makes a phone call. To whom? Not 911 but to his “friend,” Teddy. I guess this is how the blackmail is going to come into play, instead of the seemingly forgotten signing Maddie & Daphne plan?
When Deacon comes to in the hospital room, Scarlett is waiting. They talk, and Deacon swears he didn’t touch the minibar. The doctor shows up to confirm that his tox screen was clean, but “unfortunately we have something more serious to talk about.” Life threatening illness? Good, we don’t have enough cliches on this show.
It’s the morning of the wedding, and the chairs are set up at Luke’s farm. Rayna arrives at Luke’s, and her relatively dressed-down look is a harbinger of bad news for Luke. Luke laughs and says they’re not supposed to see each other on the day of the wedding before the wedding. It’s bad luck! Luke’s about to see how bad, because Rayna starts the talk. She sees herself making the same mistakes, she tells Luke, and she can’t marry Luke. Rayna says she has to take responsibility for herself before doing to Luke what she did to Teddy. Luke says he’s not Teddy, but he realizes he’s not Deacon either. The tears come for Luke, as he tells Rayna he loves her, and Rayna says she loves him too. She wanted to marry him, which is not going to make Luke feel any better. It’s Deacon, she says, but it’s also her. Luke says this would have been a hell of a lot easier if she’d gone through with the wedding and they’d dissolved it later. Now he’s angry, and asks Rayna to get off his property. Luke throws some chairs, and Rayna goes to her truck to cry. She takes off her engagement ring (I guess she’ll return it when the show returns? Or will the show forget?).
Back to Deacon, where Scarlett is insisting he make that appointment with the doctor to see what “cirrhosis of the liver with extremely high white blood cell count pointing to cancer” means. Scarlett says there’s still hope, and insists this won’t kill him. Deacon doesn’t want anybody to know (yeah, that’s totally going to work out on this show). Before Scarlett can cry this one out, Gunnar arrives in tears himself, and tells Scarlett about Micah and his grandparents. And what was the “more” teased earlier? It’s that Micah is Jason’s. Gee, who saw that coming? Correct answer: everybody. Gunnar and Scarlett embrace and cry together.
Meanwhile Juliette and Avery marry with 1 witness in a simple ceremony at the country clerk’s office (looks like Avery’s mom is the witness but we don’t get close enough to confirm – surprising it’s not Emily or Manager Glenn). This can’t possibly be the end of the drama with them, so here’s hoping for comedy rather than tragedy.
As Rayna drives off, she’s still sad but there’s relief in her eyes, and the focus on the sunshine outside tells us there are better days ahead. And we leave it there until 2015. Come back then for more Nashville, won’t you?
P.S. Do you think Layla is alive or dead? If alive, do you think she’ll have amnesia and will Will have to pretend he’s straight for her all over again? When answering these questions, please remember what show we’re watching ;) As for Deacon, since there’s a window being left open that he’s not facing cancer, my guess is that he’ll go a while assuming he has cancer but find out that he does not. Whether or not this coincides with a happy Rayna reunion will depend on whether Nashville is set to be renewed or not (but it probably will be because of syndication possibilities, right?).
To DOWNLOAD “Disappear,” cowritten by Jaida Dreyer, Cory Mayo, Steve Pasch, and Andrew Rollins and performed by Hayden Panettiere, click HERE!
Check out the “Nashville: On The Record” feature on “Disappear” featuring cowriters Jaida Dreyer, Cory Mayo, Steve Pasch, and Andrew Rollins here.
To DOWNLOAD “Most Beautiful Girl In The World,” written by David Poe and performed by Jonathan Jackson, Sam Palladio and Chaley Rose, click HERE!
