shallowness

For some reason, I was slightly flummoxed by the opening, beyond it giving us smoove!Will performing and confirming the divorce is public, but I suppose it framed his concerns about what he likes to call ‘his situation’ for the episode. So far so good from Layla around Jeff, but I wish she’d backed up her ‘this is weird’ with ‘weird bad’ and hustled him out of her house for him to continue his possible transformation into a human being elsewhere. Less dramatic, but healthier for her.

Scarlett hair watch: BRAIDS.

As Deacon got handed a horrible choice to make, Bucky got a promotion (on Rayna’s terms – she’d even opened the bottle before the job offer), Avery gently bitched about his missus while Sadie fretted. More comedy hormonal high maintenance from Juliette – come on, Emily, you should be able to handle her better by now (true of the photoshoot scene also).

And THEN a great twist for an opening – Edgehill’s gone, making Rayna’s win over Jeff all the more comprehensive. Of course, she took the moral high ground, and it was understandable she’d be sad, given her history with the company. More seriously, I was excited about this as a development in the grand scheme of things, as it reflects difficulties for the music recording industry, changed the playing ground for Highway 65 and shook things up for a lot of characters, mainly the males. Okay, as it turned out, it didn’t shake things up THAT much, but the potential charged the first half of the episode.

I called that Still Moping!Gunnar didn’t even know about the collapse of Edgehill.

Everybody wants Will when they should be wanting Layla, and it’s going to be tought for Jeff to make it right for her. There was so little drama over the question of whether Will would take his second chance careerwise or be an idiot, for all that they dragged it out.

I liked that Luke's conversation with Rayna in the lift was double-layered, and even though he makes bad calls and is often a hypocrite, it’s clear he’s hurting and regretting it the second he lashes out. (Doesn’t mean I’m going to forget the damage done to his children.) I’m less sympathetic to Teddy’s bad calls, although everything Mr Mayor did was in character.

Meanwhile, it was rather lovely to watch Rayna supporting Sadie as a person first. I have felt they’ve been forcing the burgeoning friendship (probably because there was a Tandy-sized hole to fill, and there hasn’t been THAT much Rayna-Juliette interaction) but it has got us here.

‘Wheelin-Dealin Records’ is a perfect name for Luke’s label.

I think they flubbed the scene where Gunnar walked in on a heartbroken Scarlett. It felt rushed, as if Gunnar accepted her lies too quickly, even for him, and it was more about setting up them singing together than the character offering helpful comfort.

The montage of meetings was eh, but the Layla and Will contrast was better managed, with Jeff’s better self insisting Layla stayed for Rayna and him and Luke offering Will the continuity of the tightrope he’s been walking.

And I LOVE Gunnar-Scarlett-Avery performing together, but we needed some time – AT LEAST for Avery to talk properly with Juliette (even if we were just getting her voice in a few scenes because of the actress’s pregnancy) – before they did it. Yes, the song was sprightly, and it was lovely to see them grinning together like fools, and I’ve given up on seeing them rehearse together, but still. Getting together that very night???

I would have preferred seeing Layla perform for Rayna and for her to have had that magic moment where she imagined what the track could sound like, although Layla got to make a great pitch.

So, the Gunnar-Scarlett-Avery singing together built up to trying to form a band, and I’m not against that, per se, I just think the way they’ve handled the journey was lazy in this episode, although on paper, the characters needed it right now for different reasons (but About To Have A Baby is bigger than not being able to go to the studio, Avery.) Have they magically resolved what Noah the manager was offering being unsuitable for them?

While it was nice that Will turned to Deacon for advice, all that stuff about decisions and control was clunky. I’d got it already, thanks. (I probably type that phrase every episode.)

It occurred to me that what WIll really needs is a manager. You’d think he’d have got one by now.

Rayna’s choice of words to deal with Sadie’s ex will come back to haunt her.

Hard to feel sorry for doubly sacked Jeff. And I’m sure he can get some kind of job. Walmart might be apt. (Doesn’t he have a house of his own?)

Fine, Scarlett, ask the doctor out. I’ll be looking forward to Gunnar’s face when he meets him.

When Rayna finally heard Layla sing, it wasn’t a great moment, but I’m hopeful this will be a good relationship for Layla. I liked that Ray and Bucky thrashed out some guiding principles for the future of the label and that some of the things Rayna said made it sound like she could be competent at the business side.

Surprising to see Juliette in the flesh after a couple of scenes with just her voice, but we had some nice Juliette/Avery moments. YAY!

Jeff as Layla’s manager is both a bad idea and tantalising in its dramatic possibility, e.g. how is he going to work with Rayna?

Oh, Teddy, of course your panicky attempts to cover things up made things so much worse. (I read that the actor isn’t returning for the next season, and I’m glad, because the music industry/creative/personal growth and romantic strands are far better handled than the political ones. We don’t much care about non-musical Nashville as shown on this show.)