Welcome back to Nashville!
We pick up almost immediately where we left off, with Manager Bucky calling Rayna, who is still driving home. He already knows the wedding is off, because Luke’s manager already notified him after finding out from Luke. Manager Bucky isn’t confident Luke will go quietly into the night, but plans to get in touch with Luke’s team to see if they can get him to agree to a joint statement and to take the high road. Rayna does at least seem to regret hurting Luke. Over at his farm, Luke is pretty enraged, and grabs his car keys as he storms past a puzzled Colton and Sage. He drives his SUV into the wedding cake.
Meanwhile Layla has been taken to the hospital, where her condition is stable. The doctor informs Will that she had a high level of drugs and alcohol in her system, and they discuss the possibility that Layla was trying to kill herself. Will seems sincerely upset.
Over at Teddy the mayor’s office, he is in conversation with the police officer overseeing the case of Jeff’s party gone wrong. Teddy smoothly apologizes for getting involved in police business, but notes that his new music education initiative is in partnership with Edgehill Republic and that he doesn’t want that jeopardized because of Jeff Fordham’s poor decision-making. The police officer is happy to comply by overlooking lesser issues like drugs and alcohol served to minors, but says the wild card is Layla, and whether she wants to press charges.
Avery and Juliette are in honeymoonly bliss. When Avery goes to get up to work on moving his stuff over to Juliette’s, Juliette suggests they call P.A. Emily to arrange it all for them. Avery is happy to agree, because this week, he doesn’t mind freeriding.
Gunnar and Micah are singing “Roots & Wings,” cowritten by Kylie Sackley and Sarah Siskind together, as Gunnar has been teaching Micah to play the guitar. Micah doesn’t know that Gunnar is not his biological father, and Gunnar isn’t quite able to tell him. The custody battle with Micah’s grandparents are ongoing, and Gunnar tries to reason with Micah that they are just trying to make sure Micah is in the best possible living situation.
To DOWNLOAD “Roots & Wings,” cowritten by Kylie Sackley and Sarah Siskind and performed by Sam Palladio and Gunnar Sizemore, click HERE!
Jeff is on the phone getting an update from Teddy as he strolls into the hospital. Good ol’ Jeff, still in self-preservation mode, as Will points out. Will tells Jeff that Layla OD’s on the pills Jeff gave her. Jeff admits this, but says she didn’t take any pills while he was watching her, which was until she went upstairs. Will is startled by the revelation that Layla came upstairs, and right on cue, the doctor informs Will that Layla’s awake and wants to see him.
Rayna returns home, where Maddie, Daphne, and Tandy have been wondering Rayna was. They still don’t know. Tandy sees that something is wrong and is about to send the girls off when Rayna tells them that she and Luke decided together (heh) to call off the wedding. Maddie wants to know if this means Rayna will marry Deacon, and Rayna says it wasn’t an “either/or” situation. This upsets Maddie and she storms off. Meanwhile Daphne says she loves Luke and that Sage was going to be her new sister – she’s also upset, and storms off. That’s enough to send Rayna to tears, and Tandy tries to comfort her.
Luke storms into Deacon’s place, ranting as he looks for Rayna (why he went to Deacon’s instead of Rayna’s is beyond me, but I guess the writers wanted to have some fun). Deacon is amused as he figures out Rayna called off the wedding, and he’s not above showing it. He tells Luke that he hasn’t spoken to Rayna in weeks so it’s not about him. Luke says it’s always been about him and that he never should have “sniff[ed] around that bitch.” That’s enough to get Deacon to punch Luke out with his neighbors watching, and as Scarlett pulls him off Luke, he lays off with a “Wheels up, jackass.”
Sadie Stone is covered up as she goes to a gun store to ask for a gun that would fit into a purse. The store manager asks for ID, and Sadie simply takes her sunglasses off to reveal a black eye, while identifying herself as “Jane Smith.” The store manager immediately understands, and says she has just the thing “Ms. Smith” needs.
Over at Rayna’s, Manager Bucky says he can’t get anybody on Team Luke to return his calls, but they did send over a hefty packet with a bill for the wedding. Rayna huffs that Luke was always a good businessman.
Back at the hospital, Will tries to talk to Layla about understanding what it feels like to want to kill oneself. Layla tells Will that she saw him having sex with another woman, and says it’s not that he’s gay, it’s that he’s not into her. Will can’t explain himself, and Layla says she can’t do this anymore – his secret is killing her.
Now we’re in family court, Gunnar makes the case that Micah is doing really well in Nashville, that he’s settled down, made friends, and that he’s doing well in school. Micah’s grandmother says the fact that he’s doing so well is a credit to her 9 years as his primary caregiver. Micah’s grandparents’s lawyer wonders what they’re still doing here when the paternity test clearly showed that Gunnar is not Micah’s father. The judge thanks them all for their testimony, and puts the court in recess until 2.
Juliette sees all of Avery’s boxes and wonders if he needs all that stuff, especially that kind of tacky denim comforter…that it turns out Avery’s grandmother made for him. Oops! So I guess their storyline this week will be the travails of moving in together without having planned anything?
Rayna, Tandy, and Manager Bucky are still together when Manager Bucky sees online footage of Deacon and Luke fighting. Rayna asks Tandy to take the girls to Teddy’s so they’re away from this, and resolves to see Luke to handle this. It’s a terrible idea, but she acknowledges she created this mess and will have to figure it out.
Juliette and Avery are at the beginning stages of furniture wars, now over the presence and location of Avery’s mustard colored chair. It’s getting passive-aggressive.
Deacon goes over to Rayna’s where he’s greeted by Tandy, who is not having any of his hopeful interest. She shoos him away, telling him truthfully that Rayna is not there anyway.
Maddie and Daphne are wondering where Teddy is. He has a “work emergency,” leaving Maddie to watch video of Deacon and Luke fighting each other. Instead of calling Deacon, Maddie calls Colt, and they end up blaming each other’s parents for this mess.
Micah is waiting in a playroom when Gunnar goes to see him, and when she overhears Micah calling Gunnar “Dad,” Micah’s grandmother rhetoricaly asks, within earshot of the grandson whose welfare she is supposed to be so very concerned about, “You haven’t told him?” They leave Micah to stew over that while they have a conversation outside of the room. Micah’s grandmother accuses Gunnar of lying to Micah and that this makes him no different from his brother Jason. Gunnar says he’ll tell Micah that he’s not his father, that the news has to come from him.
Will talks to Jeff, and more or less tells him that he can’t keep up the marriage charade considering what it’s doing to Layla. He tells Jeff that he’ll need his help, and Jeff seems game.
At her home, Sadie is writing and singing “Sad Song,” cowritten in real life by Matraca Berg and Ashley Monroe. As she sings “I don’t want to be a sad song,” you see some resolve creeping into her eyes.
Rayna goes to see Luke, who is shooting $200 bottles of champagne. Pretty good shot. Rayna apologizes for blindsiding him and says she’s going to be apologizing to him for a very long time, but asks if they can handle this privately. Luke laughs about how that’s not possible considering their high profile. Rayna of course plays the kids card. Luke says he respects her right to call off the wedding but that she should respect his right to be extremely pissed off about it. Rayna tries to justify her actions, and not once does she tell him she loves him, which up until the last episode, we were expected to believe (not as much as she loves Deacon, of course, but still). Luke more or less accuses her of using him for business purposes. I don’t blame him for the bittercakes, really. Rayna understandably is not having it, and tells him if that’s how he feels then she dodged a bullet.
Deacon and Scarlett are at a medical appointment, and Deacon and Scarlett are both feeling pretty hopeful about his chances with Rayna now that she called off her wedding.
Back at Rayna’s, Rayna managed to get back into her home amid a swarm of media, and says the home is now surrounded. Manager Bucky tells Rayna he’ll support her no matter what but that as her manager he believes she needs to get ahead of this, to frame the conversation before Luke talks to the media. Rayna takes him up on that sooner than he expects, as in immediately. She goes out to her gate, and tells the press the wedding’s off, that she and Luke go way back, and that though their love story is over she’s confident, their friendship will continue. Sure, that’ll work (in the real world, it totally wouldn’t work).
Avery has moved the mustard chair into another room, and Juliette is not having it. They have a little spat about what it means to share space, and Juliette hilariously tries to claim sainthood for giving Avery 3 shelves in a 400 square foot closet.
Jeff finds Reality Show Producer Gina, and informs her that the Will/Layla reality show has been canceled by a network only too eager to cover itself after Layla tried to kill herself. He asks how many people have seen the footage Gina has been blackmailing Will and Layla with, and tells Gina that he’s fine with ruining her career (and possibly getting her charged with criminal activity) by revealing her extortion, but that really, they both have an interest in that footage going away permanently.
Luke and his PR person are watching Rayna’s video, and grousing over the move. Luke’s PR guy wants him to get his side of the story out there. Luke says anything he says after this will seem petty. He decides instead to open up his farm to the 1st 500 fans who show up to have a party instead of his wedding. His PR person loves the move. But Colton and Sage, who overhear the strategy session, are annoyed. So yea, neither parent has really talked to his or her kids about what happened, because they’re too busy managing the PR side of this. Colton and Sage go over to see Maddie & Tae. Colton and Maddie apologize to each other, and Colton hints that it may not be so bad not to be related anymore. Maddie’s thrilled to see Sage.
Gunnar goes into the courthouse playroom to see Micah, who has been playing with his grandparents. When Gunnar gently reveals the truth, an upset Micah rejects him and runs to his grandparents.
Rayna talks to Maddie by phone, which is progress, and asks her to take care of her sister. It’s not clear whether Maddie reveals that Colton & Sage are with them. Tandy tells Rayna about Deacon’s visit, and asks Rayna if loving Deacon is the reason she called off her wedding to Luke.
Avery has gone to see Gunnar, and Gunnar tells him family court resolved with Micah telling the judge that he wanted to stay with his grandparents. So that’s that, and Gunnar’s not going to appeal because Micah’s been through enough. Gunnar wants to hear about whatever has Avery down, but when Avery starts talking about a chair, he realizes how dumb it sounds. Gunnar notices his wedding ring, and Avery tells him he and Juliette got married. For a guy who saw Juliette cheating with Jeff Fordham just a few months ago, Gunnar is awfully thrilled about this news.
Abusive ex Pete goes to visit Sadie to apologize. She doesn’t open the door and finds her gun, which she points at the door, as he promises it’ll never happen again and offers dark chocolate pretzels with white stripes. He promises/threatens to be back, as Sadie weeps.
Over at the cancer center Deacon goes in for more information on his illness. Cancer is confirmed, and a liver transplant is apparently the only option. Scarlett volunteers immediately, but her AB- blood type won’t work for Deacon’s O. The doctor tells them they can afford only 1 more centimeter of tumor growth before Deacon is no longer eligible for a transplant, so donor watch is on. Lemme guess…Maddie? Or will we go super-soapy and have the donor be Luke in a redemption narrative?
Meanwhile Will is in Layla’s hospital room when she wakes up, and tells her they’re free. He tells her to tell the court that she found him in bed with another woman, which will serve both their purposes, and assures her that the Gina issue is taken care of. Layla has lots of questions about the video footage and how that’ll all be handled, but Will tells her she doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. He says that she may not believe him, but he genuinely is sorry for everything.
Micah’s grandparents have arrived to collect Micah’s things. Before they leave, Gunnar asks to speak to Micah’s grandmother. He tells her they’ve misjudged each other, that he understands their concerns based on what they saw of the Scott brothers as kids, but to please not shut him out. Micah’s grandmother admits part of her had been hoping Gunnar was like his brother still, but she also understands what Gunnar’s been through and sees that he loves Micah. She tells Gunnar to call Micah when they get home in a day and a half. Later, when Gunnar tries to give Micah the guitar he was learning to play and Micah rejects it, his grandmother reassures Gunnar that it’ll just take Micah a little time.
Teddy calls Jeff (who still appears to be in the hospital waiting on Layla) to tell him Layla took full responsibility for the pills, saying she brought them to the party. Well, Jeff owes her one now. Jeff is relieved, and tells Teddy he owes him one.
Rayna goes to see Deacon, and Scarlett excuses herself. Rayna tells Deacon that she called off the wedding for a lot of reasons. She admits she was trying to protect herself from the pain that loving Deacon has caused, but she still loves Deacon. Rayna says though that she might need a little bit of time. Deacon stops short of revealing to Rayna that he may not have that time (as if), and tells her to take as much time as she needs. Later, Scarlett really thinks Deacon needs to tell Rayna, because obviously. Deacon says Rayna’s spent so many years taking care of him, he doesn’t want her to have to do more of that now. He wants to take care of her, but can’t because he’s sick.
Luke is performing “It’s On Tonight” (cowritten by Brett Beavers/Dustin Lynch/David Lee Murphy) at his wedding replacement party, and fans are loving it. Luke is all smiles to the crowd, but obviously still hurting. He introduces a new song that he says he and the band rustled up today that reflects how he feels, “If I Drink This Beer.” It’s about how if he starts drinking away his pain, he won’t be able to stop, and that his post break-up behavior will be less than exemplary if that happens. It’s a pretty good sum up of how Luke’s feeling. As he performs, we see Jeff waiting in Layla’s room as she rests, Sadie taking a photo of herself as part of an application for a protective order against her abusive ex, and Avery walking into the nursery to see Juliette’s put his chair there, saying it’s the perfect spot. We also see a weepy Scarlett calling her mother, presumably hoping for a donor match there – oh, I didn’t see that coming! Our closing shot, after seeing Luke finish his song with pain in his face, is of Rayna lying down on her bed alone. And that’s a wrap for this week! Join us again next week, won’t you?
To DOWNLOAD “If I Drink This Beer,” cowritten by Jonathan Singleton and Brad Tursi and performed by Will Chase, click HERE!
