‘Nashville’ Recap: Here’s the Story of the ‘Hurricane’

Warning: This recap for the “Hurricane” episode of Nashville contains spoilers.

Rayna and Deacon are preparing to tell their own love story through song in “Hurricane,” starting work on the team-up record that’s going to be a linchpin in Highway 65’s future. And based on their initial songwriting sessions, these tunes are going to give Deacon and Rayna all the feels, from happiness that they’re finally together to frustration with all the wasted years and short-term couplings with other people, whether those flings were with Luke Wheeler or Samantha Beeswax … er, Beasley.

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It’s funny — for a show filled with singer-songwriters, Nashville has often glossed over the hard work that goes into crafting a tune. We’ve seen the result countless times, but the painstaking process of turning a simple chord progression into a full-fledged melody or random phrases into a catchy chorus is something the series hasn’t made time for in the past. In “Hurricane,” though, Rayna and Deacon’s writing process takes center stage, as they go through a trial and error process (not to mention several fights and an aborted attempt at a date night — thanks, Maddie) on their way to recording the only new song we hear in the episode: “My Favorite Hurricane,” which encapsulates the messy whirlwind that is their decades-long romance. And bearing witness to the full arc of the song’s creation makes it sound even better when Deacon and Rayna step into the recording studio to lay down the finished track. Nashville can’t devote every episode to the birth of a single song, but getting to witness it once was music to our eyes and ears.

Best Storyline: Best Rayna and Deacon episode ever? It may very well be. “Hurricane” certainly provides the most insightful glimpse we’ve had into their relationship in quite some time, touching on where they’ve been as well as where they are now. There’s always a risk in calling an end to the “Will they or won’t they?” period of a long-running TV relationship and moving the characters into official coupledom. Episodes like this one demonstrate the rich dramatic benefits that can come with keeping a loving couple together instead of finding reasons to break them apart.

Worst Storyline: For a little while there, it seemed like Scarlett’s brief encounter with Damien George was going to avoid winning “Worst of Show” honors. It was entirely truthful to both the character and the situation that she would admit to Gunnar that Damien stirred feelings inside of her — feelings she’s not going to act upon because (a) She has every intention of making their relationship work, and (b) Damien’s not sticking around town anyway. It seemed like an honest, mature way to wrap up that storyline. But then the writers went and spoiled it with a text message revealing that — surprise! — Damien isn’t beyond the Nashville city limits after all, which means yet another artificial speed bump is being laid down in the Exes path.

Related: Nashville Stars Charles Esten and Hayden Panettiere Talk Juliette’s Recovery and Deacon’s Sex Scenes

Maddie Watch: Maddie’s attempts to be a better big sister this episode ended in a bit of a “one step forward, two steps back” situation. On the plus side, she shared some of her 17-year-old wisdom about boys with her little sister Daphne, who is currently being wooed by middle-school loverboy Flynn. But then she went and demonstrated her 17-year-old shortsightedness by inviting her much older boyfriend over when her parents were out of the house, and then nearly burned the place down by leaving a cake in the oven too long because she was distracted by said older boyfriend. This is one of those moments where you should practice selective listening, Daphne.

Best Bit of #RealTalk: Scarlett telling Gunnar to get over Damien — and himself — was a long overdue moment in their tortured relationship. “I need you to grow up; I’m with you. Does that mean anything to you?” Strong words … strong enough to hopefully withstand the unfortunate decision to keep Damien around.

New Character Alert: All hail, Gene, the poor videographer tasked with capturing footage of Deacon and Rayna in their natural element for a promotional video Zach Wells plans to use to hype their album. I’m telling you know: This guy is the next Catherine Meyer.

Standout Song: “My Favorite Hurricane.” Not only is it no contest — there’s also literally no other choice.

Nashville airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on CMT.

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