Nashville 1.10: "I'm Sorry for You, My Friend"

“You’re scared of being on that stage and having it feel different than it did for the past twenty years.”
-Liam

This was another high drama episode of Nashville, with most of the drama centering around family. Rayna’s trying to figure out her future with Teddy, Juliette’s dealing with the fallout from leaving Sean at the altar, Gunnar’s spending time with his recently released from prison brother, and Scarlett gets into trouble while hanging with her Uncle Deacon after a Revel Kings show. I guess the only sub-plot not literally family related was Avery’s, although you could still say that he’s dealing with the fall-out of his stupid move to abandon his band family. Something that felt different about this episode was how little of it actually took place in Nashville. Most of the main characters are out on tour right now, so the show is wherever they are. I think it might have been a little too soon for that. The show had been working diligently to build a sense of place and really give viewers a feel for the city of Nashville, and to switch things up so soon was kind of jarring.

The Red Lips, White Lies tour is about to roll out, and Rayna and Juliette are caught up in a flurry of press conferences. Of course the reporters all want to know about Juliette’s abandoned marriage and what Rayna’s show will be like without Deacon. They try to be as evasive about the personal stuff as possible, of course, because both their personal lives are a mess. Their messy personal lives come dangerously close to ruining the tour, actually. Despite her management bringing in good guitar players, Rayna’s just not clicking with anyone. She drives off one perfectly good guitarist by being too hyper-critical after a rehearsal. I don’t think she was really rude or anything, but the guitarist sure did take it badly. Before storming out, he points out that nobody is going to be able to replace Deacon. Juliette, meanwhile, is in the process of trying to divorce Sean. Sean is refusing to sign the divorce papers, and Juliette’s manager, Glenn, suggests that if she reaches out and apologizes, she might get what she wants.

Meanwhile, Gunnar is planning a trip down to Austin to see his brother. The Revel Kings are playing there and Scarlett has backstage passes thanks to Deacon, so she wants to tag along. Gunnar tries to make all kinds of excuses for them to drive separately, but Scarlett’s not having any of them. At first I thought this was because he was still feeling uncomfortable about being around Scarlett too much, but we later find out it’s something much different. Gunnar’s brother, J.C. is getting out of prison, and that’s why Gunnar has gone to Austin to see him. While Gunnar’s trying to reconcile with his estranged brother, Scarlett’s hanging out with Deacon and the Revel Kings. Band leader Cy, who is already kind of sore that the reporter chick from the last episode was much more interested in Deacon than him, starts hitting on Scarlett, and he doesn’t stop even when Deacon says that Scarlett is his niece.

Let’s just get Avery’s little sub plot over with here and now because he’s a chump. While post-coital, Avery and his manager, Marilyn, start talking about Avery’s potential contract with producer Domenic. Because that will end well. Avery is surprised to learn that a contract has even been offered, and Marilyn says her legal team is still reviewing it. She warns Avery that on first blush, it doesn’t look like a very good contract, and she and her team are going to work to make sure Avery gets all the money he deserves. Avery’s impatient, though, so goes and talks to Domenic. Domenic tells Avery that Marilyn is just out to get more money for herself and that the contract he’s offering is good. Of course Avery believes him, mostly because of the impatience, I think. To seal the deal, Domenic lets Avery drive his really sweet car. Marilyn, of course, is really pissed of when she finds out that Avery signed the contract against her advice, and she tells Avery that Domenic giving him a car instead of a six figure advance means he got played. Avery responds that Marilyn works for him, so she’d better get on board.

Juliette’s and Rayna’s personal drama continues to escalate, and it continues to jeopardize the success of their tour. While signing autographs, Juliette gets served with papers from Sean. He wants an annulment based on fraud despite Juliette’s apology. Rayna is preoccupied trying to decide if she’s going to go home to Nashville to support Teddy on election night. Juliette’s acting especially emo about the whole thing, refusing to include “Love Like Mine” on her set list and going overtime with her sound check. Rayna ends up recruiting Liam to be her bandleader for at least the first few shows on the tour (over Liam’s protest), and Liam ends up throwing Juliette off the stage so that Rayna can get some rehearsal time.

Both Gunnar and Scarlett find themselves in rather precarious positions in Austin. Gunnar and J.C. check into a motel, an Gunnar starts going on about how he’s got a half-way house all lined up for J.C., and in time, J.C. can come live in Nashville. J.C. seems a bit resentful that Gunnar never visited him in prison, but the two bond over a song that J.C. plays on Gunnar’s guitar. The warm fuzzies don’t last long, though. The next day, Gunnar returns to the motel to find that J.C. has sold his prized guitar for a gun. The two have an argument about Gunnar’s role in the robbery that led J.C. to jail and Gunnar’s abandonment of J.C., but the two eventually reach an understanding. Gunnar still doesn’t get his guitar back, though. Backstage after the Revel Kings concert, Cy separates Scarlett from Deacon and basically tries to rape her. Deacon saves the day just in time, and obviously he quits the Revel Kings. The next day, Scarlett apologizes to Deacon for how things went down, but Deacon says he needed a reason to quit the band. On the drive home, Scarlett actually bothers to start asking Gunnar questions about his family, and he tells her the truth about J.C.

Juliette quick flies to meet up with Sean, where he tells her that he basically wants an annulment because he only wants to get married once. Back on the tour, Juliette runs into Liam, who apologizes to Juliette for the sound check scene, but he also makes a crack about her never being wrong. Juliette gets especially emo before the big show, looking at her engagement ring pensively as she finishes getting ready. Juliette ends up singing “Love Like Mine” after all, and Rayna rather stupidly makes the decision to go home the next day to be with Teddy on election night. After the concert, Juliette meets up with Sean and the lawyers, and she agrees to the annulment. When she tells Sean that she agreed because he deserves better, he just responds with some venomous crack about not liking her very much. Rayna goes home for election night, and Teddy wins the election. On a balcony overlooking the celebration, Tandy insinuates to Lamar that Lamar must have bought votes over Teddy’s protest. Lamar insists he didn’t, but who would trust Lamar. At the very end of the episode, Peggy stops by Teddy’s hotel room to congratulate him, and they have a tender moment before he throws her out.