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Despite the fact that Juliette has no tour and her label hates her for shoplifting a three-dollar bottle of nail polish, she's back in the studio working hard... and by "working hard" I mean that she's acting like a slave driver to Deacon and the rest of the band members, forcing them to play until their fingers bleed so that she doesn't have to go home and deal with her mom. Why not kick MethMom to the curb and secure her bad girl reputation? Something about court-ordered conditions where MethMom either has to stay at Juliette's lush mansion for an appointed amount of time... or go to rehab. Tough choice she's got there.
But after Juliette finally goes home and finds some trashy dude drunk in MethMom's bed, she throws the guy out in his underpants (in front of her whole fancy neighborhood) and eventually turns to Deacon for help. See, having a father-figure as a boyfriend can help when you need someone to persuade your drug-addicted mother to go to rehab, since he's already been there. Doesn't hurt that MethMom thinks Deacon is totally hot and tries to hit on Deacon... in front of Juliette. But he ignores this awkward moment, gets her safely ensconced in rehab and doesn't even expect Juliette to fuck him in return. What a gentleman. Then Juliette gets a fresh start by ditching the plush mansion with the nosy neighbors and moving into an equally enormous place.
But while Deacon is good in a rehab-related crisis, he's unraveling post-breakup with Rayna. He refuses to sign off on changing the words of one of their songs so that she can sell out for some abhorrent commercial, and this is a decision I totally respect. Then his trip to the rehab facility brings back some fond drug memories and he almost takes some of MethMom's left over "prescription," but doesn't. In the end, he decides to go with getting in a fist-fight after a set at the Bluebird, because apparently that fine old institution has its fair share of hecklers. Who knew? Said heckler gets Deacon fired up by asking where Rayna is (even though it's been established that Deacon's been playing alone here for decades and Rayna came just that one time) and then saying he sings better with Rayna (like, obviously). So Deacon punches the dude repeatedly and ends up in jail. He makes Rayna his one call from prison, but she's a bitch and ignores it, and then Juliette bails him out. And after all this, he still decides to let Rayna make a mockery of their music with that dumbass cosmetics commercial.
For her part, Rayna just looks like she's got the whole damned world on her shoulders, when it's her fault she's not on tour, her fault that she fired Deacon because she couldn't keep it in her pants, her fault that she thinks she's too good for the easy money of a Greatest Hits album and her fault that she didn't pay more attention to her husband's financial misdeeds. After finding out there's not a single other songwriter in Nashville who is available to work with her (perhaps they're afraid of Deacon's fists of fury), she decides to write her own music, which she probably should have done a long time ago. So she gets to it writing, and then has another inscrutable conversation with Deacon about the non-state of their relationship (though after tonight's complicated Survivor tribal council, these two almost made more sense), which of course leads her to moping some more. Could we please see some interaction between her and Juliette at some point? We need some inter-generational smack-talk to get this show on the road.
In the I Don't Give a Hell department, Teddy's campaign is going shitty because people are on to the fact that he and Peggy... embezzled some money. It's not okay that they totally paid the two million dollars back, because it's still stealing. Anyway, he has to go to Lamar for help getting auditors off of Peggy's case, and of course Lamar does in his usual menacing way, which includes threatening Peggy. And then because Teddy's a fucking idiot, he and Peggy meet on a street corner IN PUBLIC to celebrate the fact that they got off scot-free. Naturally a PI captures their liaison on film. This will probably come into play along about the time I start fast-forwarding through scenes with Teddy that don't involve Rayna.
Finally, in young people land, Scarlett and Gunnar try to sell their songs some more, and because she's a moron, Scarlett just happens to tell her controlling boyfriend Avery that they need a backup guitarist to accompany them. This leads to a strange public moment where she's singing a tender love song to Gunnar while Avery looks on over his shoulder likes he wants to stab someone. Instead of murdering Gunnar then and there, he spontaneously decides to start jazzing up the number with his own melodies, and generally ruining everything good that has ever happened to Scarlett. Then Avery accuses Gunnar of making eyes at his girlfriend, which he is, but Gunnar explains that he's banging Hailey (who wants to keep things uncomplicated) at the moment, and doesn't care. Then Scarlett tells Gunnar she's just not that into him, and he again explains about Hailey, so much so that Gunnar finally has to tell Hailey he wants to do more than just have casual sex with her. And Scarlett (who looks about ten years older in this final scene) continues to realize that Avery is about the least supportive boyfriend in the entire world... but does absolutely nothing about it.
-- Angel Cohn
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: Scarlett wanted Avery to be a halfway decent boyfriend, and all he could say was, "I'm trying," leaving the rest of the world to respond, "Not very hard." Rayna and Teddy discovered that they were under serious financial strain, but her planned intimate duo tour with Deacon looked to be off after their love triangle got a little too pointy. Meanwhile, Teddy burned official-looking papers and alluded to shifty dealings of some sort with a lady named Peggy. That's just the thing you want to deal with when you're running a losing mayoral campaign! And Juliette's MethMom cooked up some pink macaroni, making everyone really depressed about life.
We enter in the studio, where Deacon is laying down guitar tracks as Juliette whines her way through some lyrics. Her song is about yelling from the rooftops about how she's falling for someone, though musically it sounds a little sinister. Songwriter and former Juliette sexytimes partner Randy is in the soundbooth, rubbing his eyes and generally appearing not to be enjoying himself all that much. Just outside, publicist Makena brings manager Glenn some much-needed coffee. Apparently Juliette has been in the studio for a long time. Makena says this is a good thing since it's keeping her out of trouble, and suggests they put out a press release saying she's hard at work and not stealing travel-sized toothpaste from Walgreens. When Deacon walks out, Glenn asks if Juliette's called it, but sadly she's just finally giving the band a bathroom break. Although they've been there all night, there's no end in sight. Deacon and Glenn agree that Juliette just doesn't want to go home and deal with MethMom, who is likely making all sorts of culinary delights featuring Miracle Whip and Kool-Aid. Apparently MethMom has to stick around until her sentencing hearing, or go to rehab. To the latter, she said no, no, no, because you can only appreciate the finer culinary subtleties of pink macaroni when you are very, very high.
Back in the studio, Juliette complains about her chorus not being good enough as Randy says that the band is kicked. Juliette argues that she's paying them, but Randy says that they've reached the point of diminishing returns, just like when you are on your fourth pitcher of beer at the bowling alley. Better for everyone to just stop! Plus, Juliette has twenty takes that are perfect. The problem is that Juliette doesn't think that they're perfect. Well then maybe she should start singing instead of whining vaguely in tune. In private, Deacon confronts Juliette about her real issue -- MethMom. He guesses that Juliette has tried to get her in a bunch of programs, and tells her that she doesn't have to do that by herself. But Juliette doesn't want Deacon's help. She's figuring out exactly how many days she has to spend ignoring her mother before she can be shipped back to Alabama. Deacon doesn't think this is much of a plan, and gets a very concerned, fatherly look. This makes total sense, as he's actually old enough to BE her father. In good news, this uncomfortable conversation has the bonus side effect of getting Juliette to finally end the session so the band can get some sleep. Juliette leaves so she can wander the streets and hopefully not the aisles of CVS.
Meanwhile, Rayna shows up at Soundcheck Nashville and tries on a pretty red dress. She is quite enamored of it, and Bucky suggests that she might wear it on the cover of her new Greatest Hits album. She says that she already pushed over the dark side to do the commercial that must be featuring the red dress, and tells him not to push his luck. Rayna has apparently forgotten that she is old, or at least old enough to have a greatest hits album. Bucky calls it a peace offering from label head Marshall Evans, but Rayna is set on her album being new, original and great. That didn't seem to work out so well with her current album, did it? Rayna then gets a call from Teddy, who's prepping for a debate with Coleman. His poll numbers are still down, and Rayna tells him to go give 'em hell. Or heck at least. They say I love you and stuff, and sound like they actually mean it, more or less. As Bucky leaves, Rayna tells him that she needs a new collaborator AND a new guitar player. She seems happy enough about this, even though I think she knows deep down that you can't FIRE the LOVE OF YOUR LIFE.
We then cut back to Teddy, who's meeting with Peggy on a rooftop balcony of some sort. She's freaking out, and says that even though no one suspects anything now, they will, and she can't go to prison. Teddy assures her that no one is going to prison, but she's quite concerned because the auditors will be questioning her this week and going over all of her accounts. And then she gets down to the dirty deed that actually occurred: they "borrowed" over $2 million. Teddy says that they returned every penny of it, but apparently it's still embezzlement. What is Peggy's job, exactly, that she has access to all this cash? Embezzlement associate? In any case, she wants to go to the feds and try to cut a deal, and Teddy is all like, "Um, I am TRYING to be MAYOR here." He asks her for a day to work something out, and although she's scared he says he'll find a way to protect both of them. I'm guessing that way starts with an "L" and ends with "Amar," and booms, "Mwah ha ha!" up to the sky a lot.
We then cut back to Rayna shooting her commercial. She's swaying and turning on a podium and singing about lying down in a field of wildflowers and feeling dew and whatnot. The chorus has to do with remembering American beauty and freedom running through her. It's unclear exactly what product she's selling, though given my obsession with Connie Britton's hair I'd hope that it's shampoo. When she finishes a take, Bucky grabs her and says that they have a problem. She thinks that the producers don't like what she did, but in fact it's Deacon. Apparently, Deacon co-wrote this "American Beauty" song, and isn't happy with tweaks made to the first verse. What are these tweaks? Was the first verse the one we heard? What was the original verse? Probably something about sexytimes, and it wasn't just freedom that was running through her by the time she got to the chorus. It turns out Rayna wasn't too happy with the tweaks either, which was part of the reason why she didn't want to do this stupid commercial. However, she's broke, and Deacon agreed to it. Except, apparently, the exact changes were not approved and now there are lawyers involved. You can't really blame Deacon for having an ounce of credibility, here. Bucky's going to work on the situation, but also suggests that Rayna just call Deacon. She says, "That's just what he wants," and shakes her head. Is it me, or is she being kind of a bitch? Maybe that's what starring in a Pantene commercial does to you.
We then cut to the publishing house, where Hailey and Gunnar talk about their relationship, or lack thereof. She wants to keep their thing casual, saying that she's worked with a lot of writing teams and doesn't want to get in the middle of something. Gunnar says that she's not going to get in the middle of something between him and Scarlett, because there's no "something" to get in the middle of. Scarlett has a boyfriend, after all, and Gunnar has... well, whatever Hailey is. Sometimes Gunnar seems kind of... slow, right? Like, any time he talks about a thing? In any case, Hailey is worldly wise, and to avoid anyone getting hurt wants to keep things uncomplicated. Gunnar is okay with that if it's what she wants. So, no granola love messages in her yogurt or anything just yet. Scarlett comes bounding down the stairs and chipmunk-speaks that Jeanne, the head of the publishing house, is hosting a guitar pull for Lady Antebellum's producer and they get to sing for him. It's held at the publisher's office, and Hailey explains that the whole thing is like an incredibly exclusive writers' night that can lead to their song getting cut. Jeanne says that she wants to add one more guitarist to round out their sound a bit. Well I'm sure THAT won't lead to disaster or anything!
Elsewhere, Juliette finally returns home and finds her house suspiciously quiet. With no ketchup boiling in a saucepot or Maury paternity battles playing on the TV, one might surmise that MethMom has gotten herself into a bit of trouble. When Bo, who appears to be Juliette's security guy, suggests that Jolene might be sleeping, Juliette storms up to the bedroom. There she finds MethMom passed out on the bed in her underwear. A really grimy looking guy is there, too, along with some pills and empty booze bottles. So, I guess Juliette's plan to just ignore MethMom for six more weeks has been compromised. She says, "Dammit," I think because MethMom still appears to be breathing.
Juliette wastes little time in throwing MethMom's grimy companion out of the house, and MethMom is so upset about the situation that she follows Juliette onto the street wearing only a tank top and her underwear and raving about how mean Juliette is being. Just at this point some neighbors are walking by, and they actually stop and gawk at the scene. Given that this is a gated community, you'd think they'd at least have the decency to just get real slow and pretend they're moving along while desperately straining to eavesdrop. Have manners! Juliette tells Jolene that she can't keep doing this over and over again, and has to get some help. Jolene in turn says that she doesn't have to do a damn thing, and that there's nothing wrong with her. Tough talk from an intoxicated woman with fried hair standing in her underwear with a belly full of pink macaroni in the midst of a gated community. Juliette calls Jolene embarrassing, and Jolene is all, "At least I didn't steal a bottle of nail polish!" She gets quite mean, and more neighbors start gathering around and whispering. I hope the grimy guy at least has the opportunity to rob their houses while they're just standing around like that.
Meanwhile, Teddy is debating Coleman. And... haven't we all had enough of real debates? Do we really need to torture ourselves with fictional ones, too? Teddy is going on about how Coleman is more of the same, whereas he represents an exciting new Nashville. Coleman points out that Teddy comes from a long line of old school country club politicians, but most closely resembles his father -- a man who failed repeatedly despite his advantages. This hits a little bit of a nerve with Teddy, and Coleman continues with an extended metaphor involving a silver spoon and a financial hole he'll never dig out of. And would YOU want this loser of a guy to start construction on a new baseball stadium with that silver spoon? I'm sorry, are you actually asleep? Yeah, me too. Coleman says that all Teddy has ever done is inherit money and lose it. Well, technically inherit money and lose it and then embezzle some other money.
Back at MethMom Manor, Juliette apologizes to Bo for having to witness such an awful scene. He's sympathetic, and she says that the more she ignores Jolene the more noise she makes, and all the attempts to get her into rehab haven't worked either. Bo suggests that part of the problem is that Jolene might not be able to hear it from Juliette anymore. Juliette of course calls Deacon, because he is the only phone-a-friend option she ever uses. On a separate note, it's a refreshing change to actually see Juliette be nice to people who work for her!
We cut to Scarlett and Avery's place. He's just getting home and hears the tail end of her conversation with her mother, which alludes to the forthcoming guitar pull appearance and the additional guitar player who will be added. As she takes her special recipe pink macaroni out of the oven, Avery notes that he does, in fact, play guitar. Apparently he's free the following night, and can come and play if she likes. Scarlett, because she's so dumb, is honored that he would even consider such a thing. She says that she's nervous as all get out, and having him there would mean the world. Then they hug, and because his false niceness and her true dumbness are attractive features to the other, they start to get busy. And by the looks of it, Scarlett follows the "Chipmunk in the streets, wildcat under the sheets" paradigm. I'm sure fairy dust poofs out of her chooch every time she has an orgasm, though.
Speaking of sexytimes (or frustrating lack thereof), Deacon pulls up to his house at night to find Rayna sitting on his stoop. He's just returning from a fishing trip, and she wonders if he caught anything. In response, Deacon gives a terse, "Nope." He can't even win at fishing, wah waaaaaaaah. Rayna of course wants to talk about the song for the commercial. She wants Deacon to help her make it happen, but he is not down with the lyric change. The change in the lyrics, however, is key to making the whole thing happen. Deacon says that it's a good song, and Rayna argues that it will still be a good song. She seems to think that he's doing this for personal reasons, which he very well may be, and adds that he knows it's killing her to do a commercial when she's said no to this type of thing for her whole career. And with that hair, there had to have been a lot of offers. She admits that she needs the money for her family (the "including my deadbeat embezzler husband who you want to deck" is implied). Deacon gets increasingly angry, and says that music is all he's got, and it's the only part of his life that he's been able to do halfway good. It means something to him. Well, that's kind of low. Obviously it means something to Rayna too, and that's why she's trying to figure out how to keep playing it.
And then they edge closer and closer toward inscrutability, per their usual pattern. Deacon says that he's not the one who canceled the tour, and she says he knows why she cancelled the tour. Because they both want to bang each other so much and now it's obvious to everyone else? Is that why? Deacon says that doesn't mean that they have to sell their songs to the highest bidder. And now Rayna is pissed, and brings up the fact that he's too principled to have one of their songs in a commercial but playing with Juliette Barnes doesn't seem to offend his delicate sensibilities. I mean, excellent point. He says that he doesn't want the song in a commercial for beauty products, she asks him to just sign the release, he says no. And oh my God, the song rhymes "American beauty" with "freedom running through me." It's not quite on the same level as using "Revolution" for a Nike ad, you know? As Deacon turns away, Rayna follows him and asks, "Is this how you want to do this?" I guess the first "this" is dickinshness and conflict, and the second "this" is breaking up. Um, welcome to the world. He is silent, and then they trade "nice to see yous," even though none of that was nice and they didn't make out AT ALL, AGAIN. Gah. If this show gets cancelled before Rayna and Deacon get it on, I am writing so many protest letters.
Rayna recovers enough to meet with Bucky in the daytime for food truck lunch, and he delivers the sad news that writers all over town are dying to work with her, but none of the good ones will be available for a while. Then a little light bulb goes off above Rayna's head and she notes that maybe it's time for her to try writing by herself. She's a little stuck, ready for a change, and tired of being beholden to other people. Fly, little bird! Bucky thinks that it's an idea worth trying.
Meanwhile, Teddy meets with Lamar to confess his financial transgressions. Lamar practically has to wipe drool from his chin as he offers his help in exchange for Teddy telling him everything. It turns out that Teddy ran out of capital when he was waiting for permits to come through on his busted real estate deal. Then the market crashed, taxes were due, and accounts payable came up. He did what he had to do, which is something called "floating funds." Teddy did it so the project wouldn't fold, and to protect his investors. Peggy was one of his partners -- a strictly business partner, he would like to add -- who found the money. Teddy didn't ask any questions. Lamar wonders why Peggy would defraud a credit union for his benefit, and the answer appears to be, "Because she had a crush on Teddy, probably." So, she's another dumb one. Peggy buried the giant, gaping hole where $2 million used to be until they were able to pay the money back, which they did. But now there's the audit, and Peggy's freaking out. Lamar says that he'll make sure Peggy feels safe, probably by putting her in a coma or something, and Teddy should keep his head in the campaign. As Teddy thanks him, Lamar says that Teddy is not going to be his father. Probably because his father was a man with at least one small bit of moral integrity and principle who was not hoodwinked by a wealthy evil guy.
Meanwhile, Deacon visits with Jolene. It turns out she's quite a fan, which should help Deacon's efforts enormously. When Deacon says he hears she's been having some troubles, Jolene is all, "HAHA TROUBLES WHAT I ALWAYS STUMBLE OUTSIDE IN MY UNDERWEAR THEY WERE FLINTSTONE VITAMINS I SWEAR!" Juliette is like, "Mama, please," and Deacon says he's hoping they can talk a little bit. Jolene knows an intervention when she sees one, and is none too thrilled about the whole thing.
And then it's time for Scarlett and Gunnar to perform at the guitar pull, with Avery playing lead. Their song is called, "Loving You Is the Only Way to Fly," and I have to say it's my least favorite of theirs so far. But Lady Antebellum's producer seems to be digging it, and Scarlett and Gunnar are doing their locked eyes/sweet harmony thing. And theeeeeeen apparently it's time for Avery's closeup. He goes into a solo, and it's clear from the looks flying around the room between Scarlett, Gunnar, Jeanne and Hailey that this is not planned. And then he totally showboats while they're singing their final chorus, noodling all around busily and generally trying to steal the show. When they end, Gunnar and Scarlett look completely crestfallen. The producer points at Avery and says, "Nice guitar work." The "you giant dickwad" is implied.
Back at Juliette's, Jolene is saying that she wants to get back on track and Deacon agrees that she can, with a little help. Because everyone needs a little help now and then, right? Except that Jolene needs a lot of help. She tries to deflect the conversation momentarily by telling Deacon how she used to go see him at the Whistle Stop ages ago, before Juliette was even born. Juliette adds a nasty, "Before she was using," and Deacon asks her to go get him some water. She is not so helpful to have around during an intervention, it turns out. Deacon gets real with Jolene, saying that he can't tell her what will happen if she gets clean, but he can tell her what will happen if she doesn't. Jolene doesn't mean to be the hot druggie mess that she is, but also says that "those places" don't work for her. Deacon thought the same thing, until he found one that did. Jolene halfheartedly tries to leave, but Deacon stops her by guilt tripping her about her lapsed maternal duties. He says that Juliette is hurting and needs her, and not the MethMom version of her that runs out on the street in her underwear. Jolene cries, and finally acquiesces to the idea of rehab.
Meanwhile, it's time for the Gunnar and Avery showdown that we've all been waiting for, or at least expecting. Avery is packing up his guitar, and feels like Gunnar owes him a thank you. In turn, Gunnar asks Avery what's wrong with him and his spotlight-stealing ways. It turns out that Avery, in addition to being a selfish jerk as usual, did not appreciate how Gunnar and Scarlett were making eyes at each other. I mean, fair point, actually. Gunnar says, "It's acting, you idiot, we were trying to sell a love song." It wasn't 100 percent acting, though, and everyone knows it. Hailey shows up at the door and encourages Gunnar to get out of there. And then Scarlett is standing there in the stairwell, and has also apparently heard the whole thing. Avery just walks right by her as she looks sad.
And then it's rehab drop-off time! A delight per usual, Jolene accidentally drops a bottle of pills on her way out of the car, then freaks out and yells that Juliette can't make her do this. Juliette does and says nothing, and then MethMom races toward her and gives her a really vigorous slap across the face. Uncalled for! If only Juliette had a casserole dish of pink macaroni with which to knock MethMom unconscious. Counterintuitively, the slap seems to knock some sense into Jolene, and she turns around and silently walks into the building, with Deacon halfheartedly escorting. Juliette stays outside, looking... complicated.
Juliette and Deacon sit outside of his house, and Deacon asks if Jolene has always been abusive. Juliette's answer is, "Once in a while," and Deacon puts his hand on hers. She takes that as an invitation to lean in for a kiss, "to say thank you," but Deacon puts a stop to her advances. Between friends, he says, sometimes a verbal thanks is enough. Because it's one thing to bang the young hottie when she's just bitchy and fun, but a whole other thing when her issues are as visible and viscous as a dish of hot macaroni engulfed in cream cheese and off-brand condiments. Turns out Juliette has a very loose concept of what a "friend" is and has never experienced one -- everybody she knows just wants something from her. Deacon thinks that's a sad way to live, even though technically it's kind of how he's lived the last ten years with Rayna. He tells Juliette that not everybody wants something from her, which is his way of reinforcing that he no longer wants to sex her up. And then he tells her that maybe she needs to spend some time by herself, and put all of her issues -- with MethMom and the video and generally being a hot mess -- in her rear view mirror. She doesn't get on his case for using bad metaphors, but we do learn that she went to a shrink exactly one time. Once was all she needed, as you can see. Juliette thanks Deacon and heads out, saying she'll see him when she sees him. He wants her to let him know if she needs anything, but she says she'll be fine. I mean, obviously, given how good she is at being fine.
At the Bluebird, Scarlett stops by to get her check and runs into Gunnar. She says that she heard him fighting with Avery, and wants to clear something up. The thing that she wants to clear up is not that she is an idiot for ever inviting Avery to play with them. Instead, she wants Gunnar to know for serious that there is nothing going on between the two of them. They're friends and songwriting partners, and that's it. Well, nice to tell him NOW after he got you a publishing deal. Scarlett says that she's with Avery, and Gunnar in turn says that he knows, and that he's with Hailey. Scarlett seems a little surprised that Hailey/Gunnar are actually a thing, and says that she just wanted to be clear about all this. And speaking of Hailey, Gunnar gets a text from her saying that Jeanne heard back from the Lady Antebellum manager. Dun dunnnnnnnnnnn!
We then cut to Rayna, who's at home on her couch, writing. It's 2:30 AM, and Teddy's just getting home, probably after a shady clandestine meeting with someone. He says he's trying to turn things around, and adds that the debate didn't help much. She asks if he wants to talk about it, but he doesn't. Then Teddy asks what Rayna is working on, and she says it's a song -- about herself, for a change. What does she write about normally? World peace? Or, more likely, Deacon. Teddy starts to walk off, but pauses, asking Rayna what exactly happened between "you two," and why she canceled the tour. Dude, it was because you said you couldn't take it anymore after Deacon stared you down! You were there! Rayna gets a little shifty eyed, and Teddy asks directly if she slept with him. Rayna says no, adding, "Do you really think I would do that?" Um, yes, duh. Teddy then looks her right in the eye, asking, "Did you want to?" And okay, a word to the wise: NEVER ask that question. If you have to ask, then the answer is probably yes. Whatever! People want to sleep with people. Just be glad she kept it in her pants. Rayna looks uncomfortable and kind of shakes her head halfheartedly as she tells Teddy that they have to put the past behind them. He says that he's trying. When he's not busy trying to cover up his history of embezzlement, that is.
Meanwhile, Deacon meets with Cole, whom you may remember is his sponsor. It turns out taking crazy crackhead Jolene to rehab brought up some stuff for him. You know how it is, with smelling the rehab sweat and thinking about drugs. Deacon apologizes to Cole for having to drag him into that place, and Cole tells him that it was Rayna who saved his life. Cole also knows that Deacon is holding onto something. It turns out that something is the bottle of pills that Jolene dropped. It sounds like he was awfully tempted to take them, but didn't. He hands them to Cole and walks out, looking antsy.
Oh dear, and then Lamar and Peggy are meeting in a car on an abandoned street in the middle of the night. Clearly that's the best way to make a girl feel safe and secure! Lamar says that Teddy is like a son to him, and he can help both of them by making sure that Peggy never gets questioned for the audit. Peggy is relieved, saying that she doesn't want to go to jail for doing someone a favor. Lamar tells her that she'll have to do only one thing: keep her damn mouth shut and act like everything is just fine. If she does that, he says, nothing bad will happen. She asks how he knows that, and he says if she has to ask the question, she wasn't listening (to the sound of fingers tapping against one another in a spectacularly evil fashion). Lamar gives her a final, "Just do what I say. Do you understand?" She finally looks appropriately scared.
We cut to Deacon at the Bluebird, playing a song called "Sideshow." It is clearly about Rayna -- or maybe a little about Juliette -- and is not the most flattering. The lyric, "If you know what's good for you, you'll just let her go / Or you'll end up to me in her sideshow," is particularly cutting. Meanwhile, Juliette is moving out of her house, today. She hates everything her mother has touched, and tells her assistant to leave it -- she's putting it all in her rear view mirror. Back at the Bluebird, Deacon has a heckler who asks where Rayna is. She came, like, one time in fifteen years. Chill out, dude. Deacon says that Rayna is not there, and this is just his regular Thursday night gig. The heckler likes it better when Rayna sings. Deacon responds that most people do, which given the circumstances of Rayna's actual voice, may be a bit of an overstatement.
The there's Scarlett and Avery, at their house. Avery starts to make out like nothing's the matter, but when Scarlett glares at him he asks if she's still mad. She says that she and Gunnar didn't sell the song, and in fact the producer said that the backup guitarist hijacked it. Well, also the song was a little bit dumb. At the very least, it was not their best effort. Scarlett tells Avery that this wasn't his big shot. It was her big shot, and Gunnar's, and Avery screwed it up because of his jealousy. She thinks he's jealous of Gunnar, which Avery says is ridiculous. I believe him, because clearly he's jealous of anyone else's success. I don't even think he likes Scarlett all that much. Scarlett tells Avery what she told Gunnar -- she chooses Avery, always. And she chooses idiocy, always. Avery says that he's sorry, and actually seems like he means it a little. Scarlett doesn't want to be a couple that fights all the time, and Avery says he wants them to be the couple that they've always been. She says, looking more like an actual mouse than ever, "You mean me writing poems and keeping them to myself." He should hand her a small piece of cheese to nibble on to calm her nerves. But yes, it's obvious that Avery needs a sycophantic girlfriend to admire him, and Scarlett's talent and potential success in the same field in which he considers himself an undiscovered genius does not fit happily into that narrative.
Back at the Bluebird, Deacon finishes his set and walks outside to find the heckler and friend. The heckler apologizes, saying that he was just messing with Deacon. And you know how Deacon's been needing to blow off a little steam? He decks the guy. Unfortunately, the guy is rather large, and when you add the friend into the equation, you get a big 'ole Tennessee fistfight. Cut to Rayna in bed, being woken up by a phone call. She answers, and learns it's a collect call from Deacon, who is being held in prison. She can press one to accept the call, or two to decline. And she DECLINES! Oh, girrrrrrrllllllll. Teddy wakes up and asks who it was, and Rayna says, "Nobody." And on the one hand it's kind of a jerk move for her not to at least answer, but on the other hand it's also a jerk move for him to call her given the current state of their relationship or lack thereof. Either way, it seems to indicate that it's going to be a really long time before these two finally make out.
At the publishing house, Gunnar does his flirting thing with Hailey and the upshot of it is that he asks her to go steady. And then they have sex in one of the writers' rooms. As it should be. We then cut to the jail, where Deacon has been released. He's got a few bruises on his face and a cut on his lip, and sees Juliette waiting for him. It's actually nice to see her be the one swooping in to save him, for a change. Deacon thanks her, and she says that friends bail each other out. And really, does he have not one guy friend who he could call? Like any of his bandmates? Anyway, it turns out that Deacon and Juliette are both pretty good at getting into trouble, which may be why they get along so well.
In the Palace of Evildoing, Lamar and Teddy are strategizing. It turns out Lamar wants to go negative on Coleman. Teddy tells him that Rayna is going to flip and Cole will release the hounds of hell. If they don't do it, Lamar argues, they'll definitely lose. He asks if Teddy wants to win or not. Teddy does want to win, which is probably not a positive development for his own well-being. Meanwhile, Rayna has just recorded her solo-written song. Bucky really loves it, and Rayna tells him to call Marshall Evans and let him know they just cut the first track for her record. It's called "Buried Under," and plays as a few things happen. First, Deacon -- who appears to be on a break from his AA meeting -- calls Bucky and says to go ahead and use "American Beauty" in the commercial. He's going to let it go -- I guess it's in his rear view mirror. Then we see Juliette entering her new giant house, a modern mansion out in the woods with a really spectacular pool. Wouldn't it be great to just buy a new awesome mansion every time you were sad, even if it did kind of look like it was straight out of a '70s office park? And then dumb-ass Teddy meets Peggy right by the highway late at night. She tells him that Lamar is a genius and that the auditors just packed up and left, adding that he's going to be the best mayor Nashville has ever seen. We pan over to a photographer in a car, taking pictures of Teddy and Peggy that look awfully incriminating, in an extramarital affair type way. I hope you enjoyed your five minutes of being happy, Rayna Jaymes!
week: Juliette goes a little wild with a hot new dude. Meanwhile, Avery meets a woman who wants to represent his band, and also get in his pants. For him, that seems like a win-win.
Potes doesn't even want to think of all the incriminating photos of her, given her penchant for clandestine meet-ups in public places. Tweet her @traciepotes, or email potesypotes@gmail.com.