Nashville - Recap: Scarlett Fever

In the wake of Scarlett's onstage collapse, there's a lot of talk about blame and who's responsible for what has happened, and it's a circular kind of talk that leads nowhere, because so much of what happens rests with the individual. Yes, many things have happened to make Scarlett (Clare Bowen) into the fragile person she's become over the last several months, but it's only after she accepts that the direction her life takes is her responsibility, does she once again show the strength that we've only fleetingly seen since the fall. Save for a pair of positively groan-inducing subplots, "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" is a wonderful return to form for Nashville.

Credit: ABC

The episode keeps things lean and focused by keeping the narrative largely centered on Scarlett, and how her breakdown has created a ripple effect through the lives of everyone close to her. This allows Scarlett's breakdown and commitment to the hospital's psychiatric ward to feel like as big a deal, for us, as it feels for the characters in this world. And they all face this difficulty in interesting ways. Rayna (Connie Britton) does her best to shield Scarlett from the press, and do damage control, looking to protect her from the invasive media in ways she failed to protect Maddie. However, in her attempt at a motherly do-over, she offends Scarlett's actual mother, Beverly (Dana Wheeler-Nicolson), who tears into Rayna for her lousy parenting skills with her own daughter. Rayna shows far more restraint in her response to Beverly's rant than most people would have shown, but this is because Rayna is very much a public figure, still. Her life, nor the lives of her loved ones, are entirely their own. This becomes evident when she goes on a radio show and has to field questions from the DJ about Maddie and Deacon (Charles Esten), and also about Scarlett's future in the music industry. It's a scene that's notable not just for how subtly and skillfully Rayna is able to deflect the questions and return the topic to her forthcoming album (on which the entire lifeblood of Highway 65 depends), but also for how well Britton portrays Rayna as a public figure who's a wizened pro at diplomatic management of the media. She's as charming when she's refusing to answer questions as she is when she's actually answering them, and that's all Britton.

Credit: ABC

But this isn't really Britton's story, it's Scarlett's. Yet this isn't to say that there aren't interesting things happening around her, as a result of her meltdown. We get an interesting bit of background on why Deacon and Beverly don't really speak to one another anymore, and apparently, their personal animus goes beyond Beverly being a bitter, spiteful woman. As it turns out, Beverly never forgave Deacon for taking an opportunity to go on tour with a band -- an opportunity offered to both of them. Beverly tries to deflect her own culpability in her failure to become successful, saying that she was already pregnant with Scarlett when they received the offer. However, Deacon refutes this, saying she wasn't pregnant nor was she married to her abusive ex-husband. The only person she has to blame for not taking the chance to get out of their rut of a hometown is herself. But Beverly refuses to accept this, saying that it was Deacon's job, as her brother, to stick with her, since he was all she had. As she explains, they were "in the trenches" together, suffering under the thumb of their abusive and neglectful parents for all their lives, to where all they ever had was each other. And so she expected more loyalty. But it's yet another act of deflection, as Beverly once again blames Deacon for how her life turned out. Hell, she even goes as far as to blame genetics for Scarlett's break down, so that she won't have to face the reality that maybe she did this to her daughter. It's a harrowing portrayal, and the confrontation between Beverly and Deacon is the best scene of the episode, what with how powerful Esten and Wheeler-Nicolson are here.

Yet, once again, this is Scarlett's story, so to Scarlett we return. She's basically having a horrible time coping with the breakdown, and the episode seems to make it a bit of a mystery as to whether this was an isolated incident, whether it was caused by the mixture of alcohol and prescription pills, or whether Beverly's hypothesis is correct, and the family history of mental hardship is really the culprit. Scarlett gets to the heart of the matter by taking an introspective look at her own behavior, and her path in the music industry. She receives poignant hospital visits from Zoey (Chaley Rose) and, most touchingly, Avery (Jonathan Jackson), who sleeps by her bed the entire night. The next morning, they have a conversation about their history together, and Scarlett says that not only was Avery her first love, she can't imagine loving anyone more. Avery responds that a part of his heart will always belong to her, and it's so cloyingly sweet that you just know there's going to be a catch. And, of course, there is, as we pan to the doorway and reveal that Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) has heard the entire thing. Which wouldn't be so bad if she didn't already suspect that Avery cared more about Scarlett than about her.

Credit: ABC/Mark Levine

For Juliette, it's bad enough that Avery isn't in the mood to sleep with her, but it's worse that he's spending so much of his energy on Scarlett. And to make things even rougher for her, she feels like all she did for Scarlett has been marginalized. It was her private doctor that got Scarlett sedated, it was her private jet that flew her to the hospital, and yet Rayna never thanks her, and Scarlett outright blames her for putting her out onstage in the first place. Granted, if you're truly a selfless person, you don't seek gratification or thanks for the things you do. But still, Juliette did do a selfless thing (although some might argue her actions weren't entirely separated from her own self-interests, given that Scarlett is an act on her tour). It's kind of strange that nobody seems to recognize that. It's this feeling of marginalization that leads her to (ugh, I can't even believe I'm typing this, but it's Juliette, so yes I can) sleep with Jeff Fordham (Oliver Hudson). In keeping with Juliette's characteristic of never meeting a bad decision she didn't like, she gets drunk and has comfort/revenge sex with him in the closet at an industry event, and I can only pray she made him wear a rubber, because the last thing this show needs is a Juliette pregnancy storyline. I mean, I can see why the show went in this direction, but it's just so bloody tiresome to have Juliette constantly defined by the men in her life. And not just by the men in her life, but by the very worst of the men in her life. Like, she couldn't have gone to Deacon? I get it, it wasn't planned, Jeff was just there. But still, even with her proclivity for horrible decisions, this feels like a major step back for the character, and that's a real shame, because they could be getting so much more out of Hayden Panettiere than they are with shallow developments like these.

Credit: ABC

And then, to make it even more of a groaner, Gunnar (Sam Palladio) spots Juliette and Jeff leaving the closet, and it doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to put two-and-two together. So now he knows the truth, which seems to trouble him, if not disgust him outright, since he spent the better part of the episode disgusted by Jeff, who tries to get Gunnar to sign with Edgehill only to blow it all by calling Scarlett "loony." Pretty much the only good thing to come out of the story was Gunnar's original song he wrote about Scarlett, which I can only hope finds its way onto the Nashville Season 2 Soundtrack. But other than that, it's just more of Jeff Fordham continuing to be a scumbag and getting absolutely no comeuppance for it. He tries to warn Will (Chris Carmack) against starring in a reality show by implying that his sexuality will end up being exposed, but Will decides he's going to go through with it anyway, and makes out with Layla (Aubrey Peeples) right in front of Jeff, because he's still got some kind of point to prove (although there are worse things in the world than making out with Jem herself). It's just so...blah. I guess a reality show storyline could be interesting, but not when there's only three episodes left. But at least the episode itself is able to come to a poignant conclusion, as Scarlett finally admits to Rayna that, no, she doesn't want this career after all. Rayna lets her out of her contract, and it's like a weight has been magically lifted off of Scarlett's shoulders. She checks out of the hospital, tacitly forgives her mother, and comes to terms with her own culpability in how her life has turned out, as well as where it goes from here. It's a huge moment for Scarlett, and Clare Bowen plays it with the maturity and clearheadedness it deserves. Of course, now even more is riding on Rayna's album, as Highway 65 could go under if it isn't a hit. But hey, at least Scarlett is sane! That's a win, right? I mean, I have no idea where Scarlett goes from here, but that's part of the excitement of the story. Maybe she could leave Nashville and seek her new life elsewhere? Reports that the show might actually be leaving the Nashville area suggests that this is a story we might be able to follow. Either way, it's an exciting time to be a fan of this show.

"Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" is as good as Nashville gets, outside of a groaner here or there. The show succeeds by having the big moments surrounded by smaller, character-centric moments, such as Gunnar buying a house or deciding not to visit Scarlett out of respect for her boundaries. There's a lot to like in the margins of any given Nashville episode, which is why it's so much more encouraging when an episode ends up knocking it out of the ballpark. Just look at a character like Avery, who is functionally unrecognizable from his Season 1 counterpart for how much he's grown as a character in the past year. It's still a primetime soap, yes, but Nashville can still carry itself like a mature drama when it wants to. Next week is a patriotic episode with Michelle Obama and Kellie Pickler dropping in (because eh, why the hell not?), and as we near the finale, I'm only hoping that the stunt appeal of guest stars and the trappings of big moments and bigger shockers won't drown out the smaller, eminently compelling character drama.