The never endless feeling of being stuck is being felt by everyone in Nashville this week. Some are looking ahead at the worst, some can only see as far as denial, but all are forced to face their problems head on.
Rayna has a horrible fight on her hands once she finds out that Teddy legally bound Maddie to an Edgehill contract with Jeff. Unable to reverse the contract, she feels the only choice she has is to legally recognize Deacon as Maddie’s father, stripping Teddy of all legal rights, thereby nullifying the contract. Hearing this finally forces Teddy to come clean to Rayna about everything, and Rayna in turn tells everything to Jeff’s boss when she crashes his board meeting the next day. So Maddie may be off the hook, but Teddy certainly isn’t. Rayna tells Teddy she is taking the girls for awhile so that Teddy can pull himself together since his actions could have seriously harmed their children.
Maddie seems to be dodging several bad situations that she doesn’t even know about. Her father Deacon only sees the worst ahead as his doctor cannot give him a definitive answer as to how long he has if he doesn’t get a liver transplant. Deacon goes so far as to start setting his affairs in order, until he can no longer avoid living in the present and spending time with Maddie. Luckily Maddie doesn’t notice anything wrong with her Dad (though seriously, he looks too terrible not to notice). Spending time with his daughter reminds Deacon that he has something very important to keep fighting for, and that he has reason to hope.
Scarlett is doing what Deacon’s doctor calls being a “happiness bully”. She is the positive antithesis to Deacon’s doomsday attitude. The problem is, her way of dealing with Deacon’s health doesn’t deal much in the way of the reality of the situation. So after a talk with Deacon’s doctor, Scarlett meets Deacon in the middle by hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.
Some other passengers on the denial train are Luke, Will, and Gunnar, who each try to forget their scars with alcohol and some out of character partying. None of them are as into it as they appear though, and the next morning while recovering at Gunnar’s place they all realize they can’t forget their problems as easily as they wish they could. Gunnar and Luke write a song with as much heart as they have left to give, and it’s probably one of their best to date. Finally with his head out of the sand, Luke recommends that Gunnar start writing for himself again, since being cheated on by your girlfriend with your brother “doesn’t get any more country than that”.
After Will moves out, Layla tries to look forward to a new life on her own. Jeff even drops by and offers his sincere support with an offer for her to come back and record at Edgehill. The consequences of Jeff’s management of the Maddie situation however get him fired and Layla stranded as a result.
Finally, Avery is desperately trying to get at least one song on Sadie’s album recorded. His extremely pregnant and restless wife keeps him from getting his work done on time. (Full disclosure: I would laugh at this, except I have a relative past her due date in the same “baby get out of me already” phase, and we are all restless now.) Though it’s not just Avery who can’t get the song together, because an unwelcome visit from her ex puts Sadie in a bad way so she can’t record. Sadie finally comes clean to Avery about everything, and when Avery is about to go off on Sadie’s ex Pete, Sadie steps up and threatens Pete with everything in her to stay away. Sadie finally regains her inspiration to pour her heart out into her song, and Avery gets a huge compliment for producing such a great performance.
What did you think of everyone being forced to face their futures this week?
[Photo via ABC]
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