Nashville 3.11 I’m Not that Good at Saying Goodbye

[shallowness]

Several aftermaths – it was telling that the Previouslies were all from the last episode. My one big quibble is that we could have done with the reactions of people like Teddy, Juliette and Sadie, even if they were all dealing with their own stuff, to the big ole wedding that wasn’t.

Bucky made a good case for being the best manager in Nashville from how supportive he was when he first heard the news, to how he tried to suggest Rayna should look like less of a hobo before going in front of the media scrum.

I wanted Juliette and Avery to stay in their newly wed bubble for their own sakes, but also becaue everyone else was going through the wringer.

Of course Micah can sing, and the song was rather touching in content and in watching Palladino hold back to work with the kid.

As Teddy smoothed things over for his new bezzie and the cop looked dismayingly okay with that, and Will seemed to act like he had some moral high ground over Jeff when they were both complicit, I was feeling really sorry for Layla (she needs someone else in her corner, badly). But at least she’s not fridged.

Although Rayna was shown up as better than Gunnar at parental communication (in as much as she couldn’t duck telling the girls the wedding was off), she could have copped to it being her decision not to go through with it, not a mutual one.

Clearly, it wasn’t enough for Luke to take it out on the wedding cake. It must be exhausting for Scarlett, being Deacon’s niece. How many fights has she had to break off, in general, this season already?

The moving-in shenanigans for Avery and Juliette were the fruits of a hasty wedding and going to have to make steep adjustments, both of them.

At least Layla recognised Will was toxic for her and stood up for herself. Metaphorically. As she was in a hospital bed.

A* to Tandie for how she dealt with Deacon. (Not so sure about her just leaving the girls at Teddy’s when he wasn’t there.)

Now that they won’t have to blend, Sage and Maddie have the potential to be epic...

Micah’s gran was easy to hiss at. Their version of events and Kiley running away with Micah, essentially, is something you could unpick. And Gunnar is in this spot because of Kiley’s lie. I don’t much care if Micah stays around, although the singing is a plus in his favour, but Gunnar’s right about him telling him the truth about not being his biological father, seeing as absent Kiley is absent.

Luke’s manager is the antiBucky, and he doesn’t have a Tandie to help him with his hurt. Got it. Sage and his sister (half-sister?) turning up at Maddie’s seemed a bit contrived, beyond setting up Maddie/Sage (don’t rush into it if you don’t want to, Maddie!) because surely one of their mothers or some other relative would have been in town for the wedding.

It would be the best thing for Layla to go away, instead of staying and being someone whom Jeff has his version of feelings for, but I want something to come of her singing career.

Having Gunnar talk to Avery about the day he lost his son, Avery gaining perspective about the chair (or three symbolic shelves), sharing his news and Gunnar’s response were delightful. Avery/Juliette really had to carry the light in this episode. I LOVED that Juliette had listened to Avery and made accommodations offscreen, though I hope she got someone else to carry the chair into the nursery. I want these two to work it out for keeps.

Granny Melinda was able to be gracious once she had things her own way. How admirable. (They went overboard in the way they wrote her.)

Did Luke even notice that his children were missing or know where they were buting his 'bachelor party' or when he was working on his song?

Yes, Sadie, a restraining order against the yucky ex is a better idea than your first one. (Deleted honest opinion about the American second amendment and US attitude towards guns would go here.) She sang a pretty and heartfelt song, though.

All that care the writer put in for Rayna’s request to Deacon to give her time (which he doesn’t have) didn’t go into thinking about how a doctor might professionally tell someone they have liver cancer – his delivery was shocking. Anyway, what came through was that he’s like a father figure to Scarlett, and after everything, including him lashing out at her, her reaching out to her momma – family – made sense.

There were lots of moments where I thought the lighting was beautiful in how it worked with faces in this episode.