Nashville isn’t a show to shy away from the tough stuff. In it’s ambitious first season it touched on strife including: drug addiction, divorce proceedings, rekindled romance, requited and unrequited love on the rocks, the misery of celebrity, the heartbreak of starving artists, virgin quarterbacks, family secrets, political corruption, country music, sex tapes and murder-suicide…just the basics!
The finale had a lot to tie up staring with some loose ends with Juliette. Detectives brief her on Jolene’s suicide and Dante’s murder; it’s emotional to say the least. In other parts, Gunnar comes clean to Jack about stealing his dead brother’s song lyrics; Scarlett and Avery reconnect over a lunch date; Teddy finds out the feds are investigating him; and Maddie shows up at Deacon’s doorstep to tell him he’s her father. All this happens in the first 10 minutes of the show and all is coming to a head on the eve of the CMA’s. The horror!
This night was supposed to be a happy one for a (FINALLY) reunited Rayna and Deacon, who were all set to come out as a couple … Things did NOT go that way. Deacon, understandably shaken from learning about Maddie’s paternity, stands Rayna up. He arrives in time to hear her star turn on “Bitter Memory” with Brad Paisley (country song and real life husband of Peggy aka Kimberly Williams).
Meanwhile, Juliette is determined not to let her mother’s death shake her and has a single-minded focus on winning Female Vocalist of the Year. After having a backstage meltdown talking to Marshall, however, she decides to skip the show and heads to the funeral parlor to grieve. Juliet ends up winning and the next morning Glenn delivers her the trophy. Tears abound.
At the awards, Rayna and Deacon head offstage into a huge fight. She basically confirms what the audience has known all along, right before she needs to head back out onstage. More tears. Rayna finally has to rely on Teddy (which has never been her strong suit). She calls him and tells him the secret’s out. Coleman, Deacon’s sponsor, has known all along and encouraged Rayna to keep it from Deacon in order to help his sobriety. As for Deacon, he heads to the bar and proceeds to flush over a decade of sobriety down the toilet. We see him drowning his sorrows until he finally wakes up drunk the next morning, still at the bar to the bartender telling him “You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here” (classic!).
So far off the wagon he can’t see it anymore, Deacon tries to assault Teddy on the steps of City Hall, but he’s drunk to really fight and Teddy shames him. Deacon heads home and Gunnar – looking for relationship advice – swings by to find him hammered on the front porch unable to get into his house. Gunnar calls Scarlett, Scarlett calls Coleman and soon an intervention forms in Deacon’s interview, complete with Deacon refusing to get help. Long story short, Deacon hits rock bottom and convinces Coleman that he is going to head to a meeting after a few minutes of freshening up. He goes into the bathroom and continues to drink from a bottle on the top of the toilet tank then heads to the Bluebird where Juliette is holding a musical memorial service for her mom. As Juliette sings Deacon runs out and Rayna runs after him. They get into his car (she drives) and they start fighting.
During this montage, we see Gunnar get down on bended knee after trying to win Scarlett back for the whole episode. Will they get married? We have yet to find out. At the same time, Rayna runs a stop sign, swerves and loses control of the truck, which we watch flip through the intersection and into a ditch in glorious slow motion. Are they OKAY? My bets are on Rayna. Poor Deacon. Finally, if that wasn’t enough, Teddy gets some cliffhanger news of his own: Peggy’s pregnant. Not for nothing, but Nashville is one of the soapiest shows on television. Fans will have to wait a torturous few months to find out who lives or dies, who sings or cries.
Check out Juliet singing a memorial tribute for her mother in the Bluebird Café “Nothing In This World”