‘Nashville’ Recap: He’s Seen Fire, He’s Seen Rain
Warning: This recap contains spoilers for the “Fire and Rain” episode of Nashville.
Rayna James was buried in last week’s episode of Nashville, but she’s truly laid to rest in the closing moments of the show’s spring finale, “Fire and Rain.” That’s when the entire main cast assembles to help Deacon finally complete the duet-centric album that he and his dearly departed wife embarked on with the intention of celebrating their happy marriage. Now, though, that record has become something more: the lynchpin to the future of Highway 65, which is awash in red ink after making a deal to purchase Luke Wheeler’s old label. That’s Luke for ya: still causing headaches for Rayna even though he isn’t a character on the show anymore.
So what we’ve got here is an old-fashioned stand-off between art vs. commerce. Taking the “art” side is Deacon, who sees no creative value in singing along to Rayna’s solo scratch tracks. (He’s got a good point; remember back in the ’90s when the surviving Beatles “reunited” with John Lennon for “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love“? Admit it: You always hit “Skip” when those songs pop up in your Beatles playlist.) Meanwhile, billionaire Zach Wells — who is spending an awful lot of time in Nashville for someone who manages a Silicon Valley tech empire — suits up as the “commerce” heavyweight, pointing out that he’s well within his rights to want this business enterprise he has a sizeable stake in to be successful. (Again, a good point! After all, while “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” were creatively dubious accomplishments, they did replenish the coffers at BeatlesCorp, aka Apple Records and its many off-shoots.)
Related: Ken Tucker on What Rayna’s Death Means for ‘Nashville’
What’s so painful for Deacon, beyond the thought of finishing this album without his professional and personal partner, is the fact that so many of his fellow artists initially seem swayed to the commerce side. Will, Juliette, and Gunnar all have livelihoods to consider, and that makes them susceptible to Zach’s pitch, which can essentially be boiled down to: “Yo Deacon, I’m really sorry for you, and I’ma let you finish crying about Rayna, but hurry up and finish the album!” It’s up to Avery to talk some sense into all of them, strolling in to the James/Claybourne abode and laying down a good, old-fashioned guilt trip. “We all write about heartbreak for a living, and now that it’s staring us in the face, it’s like we’re afraid of it. We judge it like it’s strange or weird.”
Properly chagrined, the musicians go to the recording studio and create proper tracks that Deacon can accompany without feeling like he’s singing to a ghost. (And Connie Britton did become a bit of a ghost in this episode — beyond those snippets of audio tracks, she’s heard murmuring the thoughts that Rayna scribbled into her diary, in addition to appearing on-camera in the footage that heroic Cameraman Gene shot a few episodes ago.) Finishing that last song gives Deacon the fortitude to hand the tracks over to Zach, narrowly preventing the power struggle from blowing up in everyone’s face. Of course, Deacon’s artistic tantrums are bound to clash with Zach’s business snobbery when the show returns and does a three-month time jump. That’s just enough time for the record to be released, and for everyone to be settled in to their post-Rayna lives, before our favorite dramatic hurricane kicks up again.
Best Storyline: Chip Esten reconfirmed his status as Nashville‘s best crier when Deacon experienced a complete and total breakdown while he’s sequestered in the bedroom he once shared with Rayna. Since he’ll presumably be the center of the show going forward, the poor guy had to shatter into pieces so that he could rebuild and move forward. In that respect, keeping the album from Zach wasn’t as much about holding onto his artistic purity as it was holding onto his wife. Watching Esten’s sensitive portrayal of his deep grief provided the perfect final chapter to this whole “Death of Rayna” arc. Now, let’s allow the guy to flash some vintage Deacon grins when the show returns, ‘mmmkay?
Related: ‘Nashville’ Stars Charles Esten and Hayden Panettiere Play ‘Know Your Co-Star’
Worst Storyline: In a plot thread so unpromising, they saved it for the final moments of the episode, Scarlett reveals that she’s pregnant and doesn’t know whether the father is Gunnar… or Damien. Can we just fast-forward to the part when she figures it out? This isn’t a mystery that needs to be belabored.
Maddie Watch: It’s taken a little while, but Maddie has finally experienced the consequences of making everything all about yourself. Acting on Juliette’s well-intentioned (and, as with last week, completely misjudged) advice to seize the spotlight while she’s in its glare, the teen books a round of talk show interviews. And, on one of them, she makes the casual suggestion that maybe some good things — like a reboot of her stalled music career — can come from tragedy. The online reaction to that from places like Vulture is swift and vehement, and sends Maddie directly back to Nashville nursing her wounds and thinking of others (like Deacon) for a change. At least she gets a new manager out of the trip: In a partnership that could very well backfire in spectacular fashion, Juliette is going to oversee Maddie’s next professional steps as a way to repay Rayna for all of her guidance. Pray for Mojo (and Maddie).
Best Bit of #RealTalk: Connie Britton’s final spoken words on Nashville (barring any yet-to-air flashbacks) are pretty great: “The best part about it is that I know he’s never going to give up on me or on my girls — or on our record or on any other damn thing I drag him into. He’s going to be there. Pretty lucky.”
Cameo Alert: Here’s a clear sign that Nashville has left the ABC ecosystem behind for the Viacom family: Trevor Noah enjoys a sizeable guest appearance that, in the past, probably would have gone to Robin Roberts. Too bad that the Nashville-verse Noah is rather inappropriately pushy, all but strong-arming a reluctant Maddie into a singing a cappella at an after-party.
Standout Song: Hard to top the all-star jam session at the end. That should tide you over until the summer.
Nashville airs Thursday at 9 p.m. on CMT.
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