Nashville - Recap: This Is the Voice!

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From the various different approaches to fame in the music industry, we mostly follow Rayna (Connie Britton), who must deal with the possibility that her career may be over due to the damage her intubation following the car accident has done to her voice. She's gone out of her way to conceal this possibility from everyone, and is trying to remain optimistic about her future, wanting to buy out her Edgehill contract and take her Highway 65 label with her, since she can't stand new Edgehill executive Jeff Fordham (Oliver Hudson), who plans to make serious bucks by capitalizing on rumors of her retirement and releasing Rayna's "final album". Because she can't afford to buy back the masters to the album she's already recorded with Liam, work she considers to be some of her best, she turns to Lamar (Powers Boothe) for the $20 million she needs to set herself free. She isn't asking for a handout, however; she insists it's merely an investment, which will be paid back in full once a profit is turned. And Lamar seems convinced that a profit will be turned, as he happily agrees to Rayna's plan, and if the show hadn't floated the possibility that he was responsible for the death of Rayna's mother, I'd think Lamar was turning over a new leaf.

But things never really seem to work out all that well for anyone on Nashville, as Rayna's good fortune with her father quickly sours, through no fault of her own...

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Rayna appears at a benefit held by country megastar Luke Wheeler (Will Chase) to surprise Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) and announce that she is the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry. Juliette's reaction is a total credit to Panettiere's performance, and is my favorite moment of the episode, since you can essentially see the protective, public wall surrounding the character come crashing down in a moment of pure, stunned joy. It's a beautiful little moment that shows how far Juliette has come as a character, and it's a harbinger of further growth to come in the episode. As for now, however, the big story is Rayna's voice, as Luke surprises Rayna by asking her to sing an impromptu song. Though Rayna has been working with a vocal coach to build her voice back up to its former strength, this is the first time she's had the chance to take it out for a test drive, so she's understandably reticent to perform. But what follows is one of the best moments of the season so far, as Rayna begins to sing one of her classics, only for her voice to break -- at which point, not only does Luke fill in and help out, but the entire crowd joins in as well, singing a song they all know by heart, and bailing their beloved icon out in the process, as if to say, "We never cared about the rumors. We're just glad you're back." It's such a beautiful moment that feels completely organic and reasonable, considering the magnitude of star Rayna is in this show's world.

Credit: ABC

However, as mentioned, things can't always be sunshine. No sooner does Rayna complete the song than she's given the news that her father has been arrested on federal charges. Tandy (Judith Hoag) made good on her threats to see Lamar prosecuted for what she believes to be his role in her mother's murder (I say "what she believes to be" because I'm still not entirely convinced Lamar is guilty, and I also shudder to think what it would mean for the show and its characters if he were). She has made a deal with the U.S. Attorney's office and has given them all the info they need on Lamar's extortion, racketeering, and other misdeeds. With Lamar's assets frozen, Rayna no longer has a financier to help her buy her way out of her deal with Edgehill. And that's not all, neither Rayna nor Lamar know that Tandy is the one responsible for turning all of the documents over to the authorities. Worse yet, Lamar is convinced that Teddy (Eric Close) is actually the one behind it all, which further complicates the already fraught relationship between the Wyatt family. I could stand to do with a little less of Lamar's legal troubles, but it actually makes sense here within the context of the larger narrative, as Lamar's assets being frozen has a direct effect on Rayna's career, and it could create a domino effect on what happens to everyone else's careers, particularly if, say, Juliette decides to become Rayna's new financier, or Scarlett (Clare Bowen) finds her contract in jeopardy because Rayna's label is no longer financially sound.

Credit: ABC

And on the subject of Scarlett, one of the more awkwardly endearing storylines is her continued struggles with fame. She's a talented singer/songwriter, but no one has really schooled her on how to be famous. She doesn't recognize that the actual story of her rise to fame (accidentally getting discovered after being talked into performing onstage) will cause fans to resent her success since her backstory implies that she never actually wanted fame nor intended to ever become famous. So the PR department decides to bend the truth to punch up her backstory, implying that this has long been Scarlett's dream, and is the only thing she's ever wanted out of life, working hard to get it the entire way.

And so Scarlett prepares for an important press conference with a set of PR-prepared note cards detailing what to say in the interview, but before she gets up to conduct the interview, Layla Grant (Aubrey Peeples) sabotages Scarlett by playfully ripping up her note cards and telling her to just be herself. Scarlett naively believes Layla is just being friendly, and goes up onto the podium to practice what Layla preaches -- at which point, she proceeds to bomb during the interview, going off the script and embarrassing Jeff, who tells her she needs to do only what the label tells her to do. Layla snickers from offstage, but Will (Chris Carmack) is on to Layla's little innocent, doe-eyed, "fresh off the bus" act, and gives her a stern talking-to. Yet he doesn't realize that things are about to change for him as well. Although he's secured his spot as an opening act on Juliette's tour alongside Layla, the label execs float the idea of a sham relationship for the cameras, with Will dating Layla in order to up both their profiles. Will is hesitant, but doesn't really have much of a choice, although the show continues to build on his conflicting attraction to Jeff's assistant, the man with whom Will has a complicated romantic history. I imagine Will's secret might come out of the closet soon enough, and not necessarily of his own accord.

Credit: ABC

The storyline of the country's young & famous doesn't end with Scarlett and Will, however -- Juliette is facing a bit of a dilemma herself, as she needs to get her new tour off the ground. Juliette's press conference serves as a fine contrast with Scarlett's, and Hayden Panettiere does every bit as remarkable a job with the scene, illustrating just how seasoned a pro Juliette is at being famous, easily fielding all of the journalists' questions and tamping down their invasive queries about Rayna's damaged voice. Her tour issues inevitably get ironed out, as Will and Layla will open for her new show, and the news that she's set to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry is simply the icing on the cake. But things quickly fall to pieces when she overhears Luke Wheeler calling her a "flash in the pan" who doesn't deserve to be inducted into the hallowed hall, and so Juliette is right back to feeling as uncertain of her own abilities and credibility as ever. In seeking comfort, she finds Avery (Jonathan Jackson) at the Bluebird and apologizes for how she acted. She affirms how much she cares about him and about their friendship, and even offers him a spot on her new tour as guitarist. But he politely declines, as he realizes now that he wants the chance to be able to work on his own music on his own time. This is a plotline that continues in the gradual maturation of Avery, as he's made nice with Gunnar (Sam Palladio) and even started writing/playing music with him, along with Scarlett's best friend Zoey (Chaley Rose). In a similar show of maturity on Juliette's part, she doesn't pitch a hissy fit about not getting what she wants. Instead, she offers him the keys to her private Nashville studio, and tells him it's free for him to use whenever he wants.

Credit: ABC

Basically, 80-90% of the storylines here work. I suppose I'm not that big a fan of Gunnar and Zoey hooking up after he confesses to having written a song about her (one which it wouldn't surprise me to learn was actually written for Scarlett), and I also guess I'm kind of over the weekly pity party we get from Deacon (Charles Esten). But at least in the latter scenario, we get an awesome duet between him and Scarlett, in addition to a fairly poignant scene with Rayna in which he wants to know if her voice really has been lost for good. We even get a scene between Deacon and Juliette, in which she tries to convince him to come out on tour with her, and it's all a very fitting and occasionally interesting summation of a career that is functionally over, at least in the mind of the musician. It's just not as strong as everything else in the episode. But hey, there's nothing wrong with being less than the best material in an episode this good. Nashville is clearly back on the right track, and "Don't Open That Door" is one of the biggest examples of just how right it can be.

Thanks for reading my recap and review of Nashville - Season 2 Episode 5, "Don't Open That Door"! What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!