Nashville - Recap: Daddy Dearest

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In one of the most vigorously ridiculous twists this show has ever pulled, Tandy (Judith Hoag) obtains evidence from a private investigator that Lamar may have been responsible for arranging the murder of Rayna and Tandy's beloved mother. It's a completely galling reveal, and I suppose that's exactly what it's meant to be, with the bombshell contrasting with Lamar's seemingly sincere displays of mourning and affection on the occasion of his late wife's birthday. There's an ambiguity there as to the nature of Lamar's guilt, and I guess it's supposed to be a big mystery for the future, but I'm finding it hard to get all that invested in it, since it compromises one of the show's better characters. While Powers Boothe's performance is one of the key factors in what makes Lamar Wyatt compelling, it's also the fact that, from a certain point-of-view, one could view him as being in the right. Sure, it takes a bit of a leap in logic and morality to get there, but you can do it if you're committed enough. But by potentially making him a one-dimensional, duplicitous villain like this, the show is essentially stripping away all the complexity that had made the character so interesting. This revelation pretty much boils him down to easily-detestable traits, and it's disappointing that the show took it in this direction.

Credit: ABC

As the episode comes to a close, Tandy forks over all evidence of her father's corruption to the State Attorney, intent on seeing Lamar punished for what she believes he did. It's just such a weird way to close out the show, as it doesn't fit with the more down-to-Earth tone of the rest of the episode at all. Of course, this is all more than likely just a misdirect: the story isn't really about whether or not Lamar actually was involved in his wife's death, but rather about Tandy deciding to believe that he was. This is likely to cause insurmountable turmoil in their family, but even if that's the direction in which they're headed, why bother? I really can't imagine the resulting story would, in any way, be more compelling than a lot of the stuff they already have here...

Credit: ABC

Rayna (Connie Britton) remains devastated over the loss of her voice and her growing estrangement from Maddie (Lennon Stella). But Rayna's angst is nothing compared to Maddie's. At a public function, Maddie flips out on Rayna for dragging her along, and then flips her lid on Teddy (Eric Close) for flaunting his new fiance, Peggy (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), in front of the family. Of course, this wasn't Teddy's intention, as he'd told Peggy to keep their engagement under wraps until he could find a way to break it to his family himself. But Peggy has reached Fatal Attraction-levels of crazed possessiveness, and so she "accidentally" shows off her engagement ring (this ignores that Teddy only proposed to her out of an obligation to "do right by" her and their unborn child, which itself is a decision predicated on a lie, as Peggy isn't actually pregnant anymore). Maddie storms off, prompting a family-wide panic.

Credit: ABC

Since Maddie had been listening to Deacon's (Charles Esten) old albums nonstop in order to feel some connection with her biological father, Rayna rushes to Deacon's house, assuming that Maddie retreated there. But as we see, Deacon is busy getting his swerve on with the lawyer that secured his release from prison. As much as I like Charles Esten, I'm not sure I can be asked to give half a damn about Deacon's temporary hookups, so much of his interactions with the lawyer failed to land, for me. What worked was how he responded to Maddie being missing, immediately assuming a fatherly concern for the girl, wanting to go out searching for her. However, Rayna asks him to stay put, in the event that she comes looking for him. It's a small, understated moment in an episode packed with histrionics, but I appreciated the growth in Deacon's characterization all the same.

As for Maddie, we learn that she's called the one person she feels she can actually talk to, Juliette (Hayden Panettiere). Juliette has been going through some personal issues of her own, as Rayna reveals to her that she has to cancel the tour, a bombshell that devastates the young singer, as she really needs the tour to boost her album sales. Desperate to keep the tour from falling under, her manager suggests one of two possible solutions: playing smaller venues, or going back to her pop material to draw the tween crowd back in. Juliette doesn't want to do either of those things, nor does she want to open for Luke Bryan when the opportunity presents itself. Juliette Barnes plays arenas, and she always headlines (even if it's a co-headlining gig), so she must find an alternative solution. Thankfully, a solution arrives in the form of Layla Grant (Aubrey Peeples), the plucky young singer who came in second on a reality singing competition -- and did it while singing Juliette Barnes tracks. Juliette is already well over the whole "fresh off the farm" act, but she needs Layla so she can appeal to the tween demographic while still retaining her newer, more mature material.

Yet despite all the issues she's going through, Juliette is still able to find time to be there for Maddie, and it's a heartfelt characterization, as the friendship feels genuine. Juliette tells Maddie just how much Rayna loves her, and how she quit the tour to be with her family. This realization prompts Maddie to return home and make amends with her mother. She even gets a brief, fairly poignant moment when Deacon calls Rayna and Maddie answers the phone. It's one of the best scenes of the episode, with Deacon simply asking Maddie never to run away again, and Maddie promising she won't (and then calling him "Dad" after they've both hung up the phone). More often than not, the simplest scenes are the sweetest. Case in point: the scene in which Maddie and Daphne (Maisy Stella) get together in their room and sing a song Deacon wrote for Rayna one night at the Bluebird Cafe when they were young. Rayna listens from the door and fights back tears...then tries to sing along, only for her voice to fail her. It's a bittersweet scene that's devastating in its simplicity, and I loved it.

Credit: ABC

As for the rest of the storylines, Scarlett (Clare Bowen) is continuing to have trouble really acclimating to her newfound fame. She's awkward at her very first photo shoot, and is puzzled when a fan photographs her at the Bluebird and asks for an autograph. But at least she has Zoe (Chaley Rose), who is roughly a thousand times more free-spirited and fun than Scarlett has been in a long time. Much of the episode involves the girls spending time together (including a great scene in a church where Zoe sings the Americana standard, "Wayfaring Stranger," and a less-interesting scene in which they sing onstage together at the bar). It's a friendship that is contrasted with the developing bromance between, of all people, Gunnar (Sam Palladio) and Avery (Jonathan Jackson), who advises his former romantic rival not to sell his song, "What If I Was Willing," to Will (Chris Carmack). Avery recognizes just how much the song means to Gunnar, and also realizes the immense potential it has to be a hit. And so Gunnar tells Will that he's decided against allowing him to have the song, and an argument ensues, since Will already promised the Edgehill head that he would be able to secure the rights to the song. Gunnar simply tells his friend that he shouldn't have promised something he couldn't deliver, and vows that if anyone is going to record the song, it's going to be him. I'm slowly becoming more invested in the Gunnar/Will business, and it's largely due to the increased attention paid to the music industry side of things, which is eminently compelling, especially when contrasted with the less successful elements of the episode (such as anything involving Tandy, Teddy, Peggy or Lamar).

"You're No Angel Yourself" is pretty good for the majority of its runtime, but the bad parts of the episode make it difficult to remember anything else. I'm not sure where this Lamar Wyatt storyline is going, but I hope it gets there quickly, so we can move on to something more worthy of screentime. When the show is good, it's really good. But when Nashville is bad, it's ultimately more disappointing than anything else.

Thanks for reading my recap of Nashville - Season 2 Episode 4, "You're No Angel Yourself"!