Episode Report Card Potes: A- | 56 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Daddy Dearest
By Potes | Season 2 | Episode 14 | Aired on 02.05.2014
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Lamar is getting out of prison! Celebrate good times! Or don't, as the case may be. While Rayna and the girls plan to throw a party for him, Tandy gets really twitchy and tries to uninvite herself. She's forced to see Lamar momentarily and he notices that she can't look him in the eye. To make matters worse, Teddy visits Rayna and not only tells her that he's responsible for Peggy's death, but spills the beans about Tandy being a federal informant. Rayna thus confronts Tandy, who further tells her that Lamar probably killed their mom and gives her a folder of evidence from the private investigator. Rayna thus confronts Lamar, who says that while he did follow their mother when she left him, he didn't run her off the road. But he also didn't call an ambulance when her car crashed. And then she asks if he tried to kill the father of her children, and he doesn't deny it to her satisfaction. Rayna thus decides to take a break from her family. Apparently it's going to be permanent in one direction, as Lamar visits Teddy's office to ask why he's poisoning Rayna against him, learns that Tandy was the informant and then has another heart attack. He moans for help, and Teddy just stands there and looks at him. Yeesh. Teddy is likely feeling particularly on edge since Megan recused herself from the Stoffel case (due to Deacon walking in on them holding hands) and she has somehow become his one and only friend.
Deacon, meanwhile, has asked Avery to engineer his Live at the Bluebird album (while Juliette hides quite awkwardly in Avery's bedroom). After he freaks out about seeing Megan with Teddy he calls her a tragedy junkie, and decides to cut a killer love song opener from his set. Then Avery life-coaches him back to sense, Megan assures him that she's left the Teddy-adjacent case and also that she loves him, and the recording is a success.
Juliette, who has nothing to do while hiding out in Avery's house other than order him all new furniture that he hates and discover foreign film, turns out to be very bad (and annoying if you're her boyfriend) at laying low. Avery life-coaches her that just because you close your eyes doesn't mean you're invisible, and so she shows up at Deacon's Bluebird show. Deacon gives his blessing to Juliette and Avery as a couple, and she decides it's time to go back to the studio with Avery as her engineer.
Scarlett is also at Deacon's show, and everyone notices that she's unusually pleasant. It's because she's a pillhead now. And if her drug addiction has this much positive effect on her personality, I say keep at it! She's even nice to Zoey, which arouses high suspicion. She has just come from shooting Rayna's video, at which Bucky and the director agree that her energy is "off the charts." Scarlett on drugs is her best self! Just say yes!
And then there's Will. It's his album that will be coming out on May 1 against Rayna's, and apparently he's just now going into the studio with no songs other than the one that Gunnar wrote. Brent sends over demos, which he hates, and then pays a visit to him in the studio at which Will gets another chance to be mean. Gunnar tells Will that he's not fooling anyone by acting needlessly harsh to Brent, so Will tells Jeff that he and Brent aren't "connecting." (Except those two times, I guess.) Jeff, who adds "vaguely homophobic" to his list of unredeeming qualities, tells Brent that he makes the talent uncomfortable and then fires him. He's going to handle Will himself. Brent shows up at Will's place to basically say, "Good luck with that," and peace out. Will then plays a sensitive ballad that Gunnar wrote for him, which is amazing but not enough "pray the gay away" for his taste. He insists that Gunnar will be the only one who will hear him sing it. In other news, Zoey is now also a singer too, I guess. Just what we needed!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: Will set a new standard in self-loathing; Deacon planned to record a live album at the Bluebird; Liam casually turned Scarlett into a pill head; Tandy was the star witness in Lamar's trial, but after realizing he'd probably try to kill her, recanted her testimony; and Juliette and Avery finally admitted their feelings for one another without interruption. Huzzah!
We begin under the covers, where Juliette and Avery's sleeping and/or sexy-timing is interrupted by yet another call from Emily and an urgent text from Juliette's publicist. The urgent text begins, "Country music titans express outrage..." at which point Juliette wants to hear no more. The world has made a sport of hating her, and now she's going off the grid. Avery seems a little disconcerted that his apartment is considered "off the grid," but because he's the new, improved Zen Avery that we all love, he's going with it. There's a knock at the door, which Juliette begs Avery not to answer. He ignores her pleas, and opens the door to find Deacon. Avery's apartment has an open floor plan, which is awkward since Juliette is trying to hide. Deacon has come to ask Avery if he'll engineer the Live at the Bluebird EP. Avery, of course, would love to. Deacon says he has a shoestring budget, then sits down on the couch because obviously he wants to stay a while and talk about this. And apparently he hates phones, or loves awkward situations. Juliette crouches on the floor under a cover as Avery says they can record the whole thing on analog, and suggests that they meet up later for a dry run. As Deacon is leaving, he asks if Avery has been in touch with Juliette. Avery says she's all right but lying low (literally), and Deacon remarks that she stirred up a hornet's nest with the Opry performance and is a "hard-headed little thing". Once Deacon's out, Juliette surfaces for air. And, I mean…it's not like he's never seen her naked before.
Then we're on set at Rayna's new music video. It involves her in a red lace mock-turtleneck dress, and couples in black and white dancing, and overall it is fairly terrible. Connie Britton looks like she is being forced to sway her hips from side to side under threat of the most tortuous torture. The director seems happy enough, though. And then Tandy's there! It's a surprise, and she says she wanted to see how the shoot was going. It's going expensively. But Tandy agrees that it's the first single on the label and needs to make a big splash. Rayna and the girls all missed Tandy a bunch, and Tandy says that the "spa" was really nice. At least when she wasn't getting threatening texts from the U.S. Attorney's Office! Luke, meanwhile, is on tour for another week, which Rayna says is probably a blessing since Lamar is getting released. And introducing your boyfriend to your dad just as he's getting released from jail is awkward, I guess. Rayna still doesn't understand what happened with Lamar's release, but optimistically attempts to think that maybe he's actually innocent. She will be disabused of that notion before long! The girls are planning a welcome home party for Lamar that afternoon, and Tandy tries to beg off, saying she has meetings. For her job with Rayna, I guess? What meetings? Rayna refuses to allow excuses, saying that she doesn't know what's happening with the two of them, but their father is getting out of prison and they're going to be a family. Not a happy family, but a family nonetheless!