Nashville “I’ve Got Reasons to Hate You” and “I’m Lost Between Right and Wrong” 

The last two episodes of Nashville – so great. The writers are killing me with the drama and I LOVE IT. There’s just so much going on that I think we are going to have to take it storyline by storyline.

The only situation with any real happiness is Juliette and Avery. Juliette is huge pregnant and going stir crazy at home. She tried to finish her album but quickly discovered a baby sitting on your bladder makes it difficult to belt out those high notes. Avery finally convinced her to take it easy and she really embraced that this week. I think these two kids are going to make it.

With Juliette off her feet, Avery heads out to produce Sadie Stone’s album. Sadie’s got a secret past that’s crept up on her and even a restraining order won’t keep it away. She bought a gun a few episodes back and she may have to use it. Her ex shows up just inches outside his restraining order radius, threatening her on a burner phone and taunting her while she’s supposed to be cutting her album. One of the best moments of the night was when Avery found out what was going on and steps outside to confront him. And that’s when Sadie finds her own voice. Watch for yourself—it’s just too good for me to describe:

Across town, things aren’t going as well for Gunnar. Micah, his son-turned-nephew, left with his maternal grandparents and the child still won’t talk to Gunnar because he feels betrayed. Well, welcome to the club, Micah! It’s not Gunnar’s fault Mommy slept with his brother and then pretended Gunnar was the daddy 10 years later! But I guess you can’t say that to a kid. So, Gunnar heads to Texas to talk to Micah face to face, finds out he’s been fighting with kids at school and is taking the fact that his real daddy was a criminal pretty hard. Gunnar gets Micah to open up and it looks like maybe he’s going to be okay. But will Gunnar be okay? Not likely. Micah’s grandma gives Gunnar a box of memorabilia from Kiley’s room (who apparently is completely AWOL #motheroftheyear). So, when Gunnar gets back to Nashville, he has a huge pity party. The kind that includes whiskey and the burning the memories in the fireplace. And that’s when Luke Wheeler shows up. WHAT? Yes. Oh, and so does Will Lexington who moved out of Layla’s place since they are getting a divorce.

So Luke, who’s been out partying away his grief of being jilted by Rayna, shows up to write a song with Gunnar. He wants to write something to replace the “Good Woman” track that he wrote about Rayna. The whiskey starts flowing, then Will shows up and Luke decides they need to all go chase some tail. So they do, which of course is super uncomfortable for Will since he’s secretly not into the ladies. But all is well that ends well—2/3’s of the boys saw a little action, then Gunnar and Luke wrote a great song and Will managed to remain in the closet one more day.

Over at Deacon’s, he and Scarlett are still trying to deal with liver cancer/cirrhosis thing. Remember, he’s not told Rayna or anyone else. Deacon’s best hope for survival is a transplant and Scarlett isn’t a match. So, Scarlett, unbeknownst to Deacon, calls her mother (Deke’s sister) and in blows that crazy b-word Beverly. And, of course, it’s immediately ALL ABOUT HER. She flips the freak out when she finds out Deacon is sick. Not worried about him, mind you, but pissed off like she was lured there for her liver. Never mind that Deacon didn’t even know Scarlett called her, never mind that her brother is dying. But anyway, she comes around, agrees to get tested, and is feeling good, singing in the kitchen with everyone—when the phone rings. It’s the lab with her results. She answers the call and tells Scarlett and Deacon that sadly, she is not a match. And I yell, “LIAR!” at my TV.

And she IS A LIAR! A few scenes later, my suspicions are confirmed. Like I said, Beverly is the WORST. So, she leaves town, thank God, and Deacon takes a nose dive emotionally. Scarlett takes him to see the doctor (who is very cute, by the way, and I hope he and Scarlett hook up) and when the doc won’t tell Deacon how much time he’s got left, Deacon goes home and does the one thing you should never do when you’re sick: look up your disease on the interwebs. Cuz guess what? Every time you do that, it says you’re going to die. Dr. Internet gave him six months.

Thank goodness for the persistent Maddie. Deacon’s been avoiding her for weeks and she has had enough. Deacon still hasn’t told anyone about his illness, but by the end of the episode, he’s feeling more optimistic. You guys, we have got to find him a liver. Maybe Maddie is a match, I don’t know. But someone has got to tell Rayna what’s going on. I’m looking at you, Scarlett!

Over at Highway 65, things are really shaping up. Last time we were there, it was just an empty space. Now, it’s bustling with employees and it looks awesome. But what Rayna doesn’t know is that while she’s busting her butt trying to keep it together personally and professionally, her rival, Edgehill’s awful Jeff Fordham, is about to poke the bear. And by that I mean he’s blackmailed Mayor Teddy Conrad into signing daughter Maddie to Edgehill without Rayna’s (or Maddie’s!) knowledge or permission. Friends, I think we all saw this coming with the whole hooker debacle, but for some reason Teddy didn’t. Teddy, bless his heart, is like the biggest drip in Music City. And Jeff just can’t do anything without taking it to the n^th degree of douchery. That’s a French word, y’all!

Instead of just laying low, Jeff has a diamond necklace couriered to Maddie care of Rayna at Highway 65 with a sweet note enclosed saying “Welcome to Edgehill.” And that’s when I started yelling timber!

Immediately, Rayna heads over to City Hall to find out just what the F-chord Teddy was thinking, and of course, Teddy starts grandstanding about how Rayna’s been on tour and he’s just helping Maddie with her dreams. Ugh. Shut up, dude. You just don’t want the world to find out about Natasha. But of course he keeps on with the grandstanding, that he’s her father, blah blah blah, and Rayna is all, “We’ll see about that!”

Next, Rayna marches into Jeff’s office, demanding he release Maddie from this bogus contract. He oh-so-smugly refuses and informs Rayna that if Maddie isn’t there at the board meeting at 10 am the next day, then she will be in breach of contract. And Jeff doesn’t seem to understand that the rage he’s seeing in Rayna’s eyes is that of a Mama Bear who has been pushed too far. Too. FAR.

Rayna finally gets the pathetic truth from Teddy, and, like we women have to do so many times, tells him not to do anything else— she’ll take care of it.

The next morning, Jeff pitches Maddie Conrad to the Edgehill Board, in just as smug a fashion as you can imagine. At the climax of his pitch, Jeff asks his assistant to bring Maddie in, but guess who breezes in instead? Mama Bear. And she basically tells Jeff’s boss that he blackmailed her ex into signing Maddie, and oh by the way, Jeff had a near life-less underage drunk and drugged Layla Grant lying face-down in his pool recently as well. Mic drop, you’re fired!

Look, I know that Nashville is just a television show and these aren’t real people, but I am so wrapped up in it, I almost prayed for these folks. And they need it. Edgehill looks like it’s about to fall apart, Deacon’s looking for a donor or a miracle, Sadie’s got a gun, and Layla let that fired jag Jeff into her house even after all that’s gone down. And Teddy? He needs counseling, STD testing and probably a really good PR guy.

Nashville airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC.