Nashville - Recap: How High?
Recap and review of Nashville - Season 2 Episode 12 - Just For What I Am:
For the most part, I enjoy Nashville far more often than I don't. But something about the last two weeks has given me great pause about my investment in the storylines. While the show is making considerable strides in portraying all sides of the country music industry, its storytelling is often uneven, at best, and histrionic, at worst. "Just For What I Am" is half a good episode, while the other half had storyline that left me wondering why I was supposed to care. Luckily, the stuff I didn't like was easily outweighed by the stuff I did, so let's get to it.
Credit: ABC
One of the stronger elements of the episode is in the way it contrasts the history between Rayna (Connie Britton) and Deacon (Charles Esten) with the history between Gunnar (Sam Palladio) and Scarlett (Clare Bowen). The show has always had these two pairs serve as mirrors of one another, but it's something that's continued even after the respective couples have broken up. Here, Rayna and Deacon reunite to begin writing new music for Rayna's album, as she's eager to recapture the old hit-making magic. And everyone is cool with it, even Deacon's lawyer girlfriend, Megan (Christina Chang). But the same cannot be said for Gunnar and Scarlett. Both Gunnar and Scarlett's manager are hoping she'll will reconsider her decision not to write with her ex, as they have a certain magic together that just can't be replicated with anyone else. These two storylines continue on opposite trajectories, meeting in the middle when Scarlett runs into Gunnar at a party in celebration of the song he wrote, for Rayna and Luke Wheeler (Will Chase), hitting number one. Gunnar tries to convince her to get the old songwriting team back together, prompting Scarlett to admit that she can't work with Gunnar again because of what she feels between them whenever they sing together. However, when she insists Gunnar must feel it too, he basically tells her that, unfortunately, no. He doesn't.
This prompts Scarlett to have a bathroom breakdown that only worsens when Rayna tries to comfort her. Scarlett lashes out and says she can't have the kind of working relationship with Gunnar that Rayna has with Deacon, who would still do anything for her. "If you say jump, Deacon will always ask 'how high?'!" And this comment spurs a mutual realization, as Rayna recognizes it isn't really fair to herself or Deacon to continue their writing partnership. She breaks things off with Deacon, who agrees that they probably shouldn't be writing together (he comes to this decision as the result of his conversation with Luke at the party, in which the country megastar tells Deacon he deserves the second chance he's getting in the industry -- the chance to make it on his own, without Rayna).
Credit: ABC/Mark Levine
Of course, while Rayna and Deacon have made the decision to part as a writing team, they part on good terms; and, as a bonus, Rayna isn't even mad at Scarlett, who apologizes profusely for her outburst. The episode does a great job of slowly building up the tightening the figurative noose around Scarlett's neck, as more and more of her personal time is robbed from her due to her hectic touring, radio, and meet-and-greet schedule. We can see the effect it's having on Scarlett, as she begins to question whether this career is something she really wants. And so Rayna confronts her on the matter, saying that the only way she'll truly make it in the industry is if she accepts that, in order to be truly successful, she will have to deal with endless weeks on a tour bus and sleepless night after sleepless night. Rayna asks Scarlett if she's sure she really wants this career, adding that there would be no shame if she backed out of it now, and it leads to my favorite moment of the episode, as Scarlett admits that while singing was never a career she wanted ("It just happened to me"), she couldn't imagine her life without it now. This is a crucial, necessary scene, since we've rarely gotten any real sense of commitment out of Scarlett. It's hard to root for the "underdog girl who didn't know she was talented" when it's this difficult to tell whether or not a career in music is something she actually wants. Hell, within the show's world, it's why Jeff Fordham (Oliver Hudson) wanted to conceal Scarlett's backstory: resentment would quickly build up against her if people found out that she never really wanted a singing career, but still became famous without trying anyway. Ultimately, by having Scarlett declare her commitment to music, she instantly becomes that much easier to root for, as we now know she wants to succeed, so we shouldn't feel bad about wanting her to.
Credit: ABC
As for the rest of the episode, it doesn't really aspire to the heights of the above. Gunnar and Zoey (Chaley Rose) have a spat after he cancels on a date to meet her friends, in order to continue writing a new song with a top producer. In the argument, he inevitably compares her to Scarlett, whom he claims would have understood his choice to keep writing instead of going out. It's a gormless plot that ultimately ends with Gunnar and Zoey patching things up, with Zoey admitting that she'll be there for Gunnar even if his dream doesn't work out. I guess it helps further flesh out that relationship, but I'm not sure it was all that necessary here. There's also the stuff with Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) and Avery (Jonathan Jackson), as Juliette struggles with the continued media backlash.
Threats have caused Juliette's concerts in the area to be canceled, and now Fordham is threatening her to stay in line by telling her she's never really been all that talented in the first place. Depressed, Juliette gets black-out drunk, giving Avery a scare when he and Juliette's bodyguard find her blacked out the next morning on her bed (and thank GOD they didn't go the "suicide attempt" route there like the promos made it seem. That would have been too damn much). To cheer Juliette up and prove that she made it based on her talent, he dresses her in a disguise and takes her out busking in the streets, where they perform for passersby, who really seem to enjoy the music (and who don't appear to recognize Juliette visually or aurally whatsoever, which I'd argue is more a mark against her than anything else; say what you will about Taylor Swift, but if she wore a brunette wig and sang on the corner of 7th and Albany, I'd know her voice). Afterwards, Avery tells Juliette that people respond based on her talent, not due to her looks, her marketing, or her name. And while it seems as though Juliette might actually stop being so down on herself, she eventually leaves Avery hanging, although she clearly appreciates everything he's tried to do for her. Of all the relationships on Nashville, this is my favorite one, and it isn't even a proper relationship yet (and frankly, I'm not even sure if I want it to be. They work so well as a platonic unit).
Credit: ABC/Mark Levine
But even an encouraging handful of moments between Juliette and Avery can't save the episode from its nadir: the storyline involving Teddy (Eric Close) and the conspiracy surrounding Peggy's murder. Look, I can get that the show doesn't really want to let go of the political storylines, although why that is, I have no idea. But if the show is going to stick to the Teddy side of things, I would hope they'd at least make it feel like more of a piece with the show than it feels now, since this storyline feels like something out an entirely different series. Basically, Teddy learns that the family of the man who shot Peggy are taking the case to court, as they don't believe he committed suicide. They also don't feel he killed Peggy of his own volition, claiming that Peggy's murder was a hit gone awry (with Teddy as the intended target). Teddy is understandably incensed, but his opinion changes once he speaks with opposing counsel, who turns out to be Megan, Deacon's girlfriend. Megan tells Teddy that the shooter once worked for a company controlled by Lamar Wyatt (Powers Boothe), and with that, the wheels start turning in Teddy's head, particularly after he meets with one of Wyatt's associates, who is evasive to all of Teddy's questions. Teddy comes to the conclusion that Lamar attempted to have him killed due to his belief that Teddy testified against him in the grand jury proceedings. It's a thoroughly ridiculous theory, and I'll laugh my abs into a six-pack if it turns out to be true, since that's exactly the kind of crazy this show does well. But that's in the future. For now, there's no crazy here, just boredom.
Credit: ABC
Seriously, this storyline would have been exponentially more effective if we'd ever been given any reason to care about Peggy. But I don't think you could have paid me to care about that character, and Teddy is nearing the edge of the cliff of apathy right there with her. So why should I care about Teddy's mission to avenge her murder? It's just questionable writing, all-around. Of course, it's not as though this storyline can't be turned around if the writers find some way to integrate it into everything else that's going on. But I just can't get invested in this story, at the moment. Not for the life of me. Hell, I find Rayna's decision to pursue a public relationship with Luke Wheeler -- a plot development that closes the episode, despite not really being a strong enough plot point to serve as a cliffhanger -- to be far more interesting, if only for the possibility of how it would explore a relationship between two megastars in the spotlight. It would be Nashville's take on Blake and Miranda, or Faith and Tim. And I'd be interested to see that. But Murder Mystery Theater Starring Teddy Conrad? Not so much.
"Just For What I Am" is far from the worst episode Nashville has ever done. Hell, it's hardly even the worst this season. But it's just such an uneven affair that I couldn't entirely get behind it. Yet, as with any show I love, I don't imagine I'll be giving up on Nashville any time soon. I really feel like this show is just one good storyline away from turning the whole thing around. I may not be confident in the show's direction, at the moment, or in the storylines the series chooses to prioritize, but I do have confidence in the eventual endgame, as Nashville has rarely let me down in the conclusions. For sheer drama's sake, it's still a damn fine soap. But on a week-to-week, substantive level, I often find it lacking, these days. With any luck, that'll change in the coming weeks.