The title refers to the infamous Patsy Cline song “Crazy” about love and desire. This episode of Nashville, however, is about our beloved musicians teetering on the edge of insanity. We start off the episode revisiting Deacon who had just learned about Megan’s brief night with Teddy “Bear.” The audience is supposed to fear that Deacon is going to go off the wagon but they’ve played that card too many times.
Deacon’s crazy sister Beverly shows up to help us understand why Scarlett is such a fragile little bird. Scarlett’s behavior has always irritated me because she looks like a leaf could blow her over but finally we get a little of the back story to help us out. Beverly wishes she would have “made it” in Nashville but got pregnant with Scarlett. She blames Scarlett and Deacon for enjoying success while she had to raise a child. She’s manipulative and hungry for celebrity which makes a nice juxtaposition to Scarlett. Scarlett has always been reluctant to be a musician and had to have God and country push her on stage. She has asked everyone over and over again to see if she can take a break from live performance but no one listens to her.
Luke Wheeler is the only one who is truly Patsy Cline “Crazy”; he divulges a touching story about how he was stuck with Rayna at the top of a Ferris wheel at a George Strait concert. He had wanted to make an impression on her but she was completely focused on her issues with Deacon. Luke had thought “this is the one night she finally sees me.” Luke insists on marking his territory on Rayna by accompanying her to see Deacon. Luke claims he doesn’t trust Deacon when he’s drunk but he’s deeply afraid that Rayna will go back to him. And while it may seem paranoid, the past has shown that Rayna always goes back to Deacon against her better judgment.
In crazy implausible plot lines, Gunnar receives a surprise $400,000 royalty check for the song he wrote for Luke Wheeler. He briefly considers flying to Paris with his girlfriend but her doe eyes convince him he should spend the money on her career. Their relationship this season has been the least interesting on the show. Sure, Zoe is likely going to have to move to Los Angeles to try to kick start her back up singing career. But do we care even a little if that move breaks them up? I’m not saying she’s a step down from Scarlett, but neither of them has enough personality for me to care. Gunnar is seen pulling up to a house that’s for sale at the end of the episode, foreshadowing that he may try to buy property to keep Zoe there. Gunnar and Zoe — stay put in Nashville, as a Los Angeles resident I cannot overstate how expensive housing will be once you move there. I repeat, stay in Nashville.
Charlie Wentworth makes an appearance to stir the pot. He still has feelings (or at least hormones) forJuliette and tries to make a pass at her when they meet up. “I missed us,” Charlie proclaims and then he shoves his tongue down her throat. Juliette paused a little too long in telling him to stop. She later confesses to Avery about what happened because why wouldn’t you be honest with a man in a bath tub? Avery, in his moment of Zen, totally understands. He’s not as understanding when Charlie makes a pass at drunken Scarlett. She’s used pills before to steady her mood but after getting denied a night off from Juliette she learns the family tradition of using alcohol to hide her feelings. She, of course, does a horrible job of not looking completely blitzed. Scarlett ends up having a nervous breakdown on stage after she sees her mother in the audience. At this point who can really blame Scarlett? She has legitimately asked everyone she can think of to help her get off of this tour. She was going to have to go down in flames for people to see that she desperately needs help. The irony is that Scarlett and Juliette have such similar paths but have chosen two separate paths to deal with the emotional turmoil. Juliette became tough as nails and is suspicious of everyone around her. Scarlett clings to people like a barnacle and gets run over by their personal agendas. I hope Juliette can connect with Scarlett and the two can learn from each other (by the way that’s the cheesiest line I’ve ever written).
Rayna must deal with her personal demons in this episode as well. She has lingering guilt for not telling Deacon that he was Maddie’s father years ago. She wonders if it would have saved Deacon from his alcoholism to which Tandy points out “it doesn’t work like that.” After Teddy, Rayna and Deacon announce on Good Morning America that Deacon is the father; Rayna goes back to his house to confront him. They’re both literally stuck in the past. Deacon is pissed that he was lied to and Rayna is pissed that she was even put in this situation. After both of them let it off their chest it’s clear that whatever barrier was between the two of them is now gone. I assume that the Rayna/Deacon love machine will turn back on shortly.
Bulleted observations:
– Scarlett apparently has a never ending bottle of pills.
– Anyone else have a sneaking suspicion that it was Luke Wheeler who leaked the Maddie video?
– Maddie and Daphne singing Lumineers: it was super charming the first time, the second time not so much.
– Gunnar’s $400,000 check? Why didn’t I get into the song writing business?
– Deacon (again) with the best sarcastic line about Teddy, “the hero, the pillar of society.”
– Those flashback scenes of Scarlett and her mom are Days of Our Lives level cheesy.
– Best worst insult by Scarlett’s mom Beverly, “shut up you little girl.”
– So the band had no issue with a random woman (Beverly) getting up on stage and rehearsing with them?
– Maddie appears perfectly happy despite the fact that she’s the center of a media hell storm.
– Saddest line (possibly ever) goes to Daphne, “don’t you want to be my sister anymore?”
– Okay scratch that, the even sadder lines goes to Deacon when he confronts Rayna, “why didn’t you give me a little more time to be her daddy?”
– Juliette is perpetually jealous of Avery’s relationship with Scarlett but she didn’t have the benefit of hearing him tell Charlie off, “you can’t buy Juliette.”
[Photo via Mark Levine/ABC]
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