Nashville MiniCap: I Can’t Help it if I’m Still in Love With You. PS: Is Juliette the hero in all this?

Hey all y’all. Are you ready for another dip into the waterin’ hole? So, do they all do their own singing?  I meant to get into last week’s recap but I got distracted by giggling with delight that GH’s Lucky Spencer – a boy I feel I watched grow up on television – appears to be playing the baddie in a nighttime drama. One that might win Emmys. Connie Britton, you deserve one. Hell, you deserve 10. And not just for FNL and American Horror Story. You’re awesome in this. And truly, I don’t see much Tami Taylor in Rayna Jaymes. So, yes, the actors DO do their own singing. I imagine it’s processed and refined in the editing suite but still, props to the cast! The music is so good, it sounds like real songs – hell, they sound better than half the crap played on the radio today (and you young punks, get the hell off my lawn!) – I actually found myself singing (droning) one of the songs whilst washing bottles the other night. Love can be a tragedy, indeed.

A lot happens before the first commercial break – Watty springs his big idea on Rayna and Deacon, that they do an intime, small venue tour as a duo, Watty tells Gunnar and Scarlet that if they write three songs together, he’ll record the demo for them and Avery is moping because his band is not getting any recognition.

Why they aren’t getting any attention is pretty obvious when we see Avery play. Avery gets his moment in the spotlight with his very own song. Written by Elvis Costello! He’s kind of a big deal. But this performance is merely meh, especially when viewed against Scarlet and Gunnar’s duet of last week. Sure, Avery’s sweaty and lanky and greasy-hot but his voice and playing are weak.

The B plot involves what hoops Teddy and famille must jump through to get elected. First hoop is a horribly invasive inquisition, sorry, “Vulnerability Assessment.” Teddy is first up on the hotseat. He faces his grand inquisitors. Has he ever cheated on his wife? Paid for sex? Asked in the most blasé tones possible. I kind of love it. Teddy explodes in righteous indignation over their questions regarding his resignation from his previous job. Yep, definitely some shady dealings there.

Lamar and Coleman have an interesting chat that reveals more about their past history together and exactly how much of an asshole Lamar really is. Any redeeming qualities in there, shitbag?

Juliette takes Deacon to some idyllic waterin’ hole and they write a song together before stripping down and skinny-dippin’. I think I just lost a tooth hill-billy styles just from typing that.

Juliette makes a rare wrong move by getting the vintage guitar delivered to Deacon as yet another lure to get him away from Rayna and onto her tour. It’s totally the wrong thing to do but I adore Juliette for it. She’s wooing him and it’s kind of sweet. I could think this because Rayna’s attitude is really pissing me off. Yes, I can see why she’s upset and why she loathes Juliette BUT she made her choices. She doesn’t own Deacon, she chose to marry Teddy and raise two children with him and she’s just being really selfish. And she hasn’t shown any sort of inkling of understanding why Deacon might be interested in touring with Juliette. I definitely see shades of her father in her personality, the crashing, crushing self-centeredness. The complete blindness to anything but her own needs and how other’s behaviour affects her. She doesn’t really seem like this with her kids though, so that’s a strong point in her favour.