Nashville - Recap: Big Hat Society
Recap and review of Nashville - Season 2 Episode 6 - It Must Be You:
Nashville is, first and foremost, an ensemble show. So an episode like "It Must Be You" has a tall order ahead of itself, as it must find a way to service every storyline without feeling jumbled. It's an incredibly difficult balancing act, but I feel the episode largely pulls it off, thanks to an event that brings every character roughly into the same orbit. And it's a polo match, of all things. Everyone is briefly at the same event, and their stories are off-shoots of their encounters at the event, making it all feel more vibrantly connected than the occasionally-disjointed feel of episodes past. "It Must Be You" is a big step forward for the season, and for the show's narrative structure.
So the episode is largely oriented around this polo match, and everyone has their own reasons for attending. Rayna (Connie Britton) attends with Tandy (Judith Hoag) to look for investors for her buyout from Edgehill, since Lamar's assets have been frozen due to his arrest, leaving her without the loan she needed to buy her own way out. They encounter equal parts adulation and hostility at the event: Rayna is fawned over by fans begging for her time and for her autograph, while Tandy is largely vilified by the high society people in attendance, because of the close business relationship she shared with her father. Everyone naturally assumes she had more to do with Lamar's wrongdoing than she's leading on, as evidenced by the fact that she cut business ties with him just before his arrest. Tandy's irritation with the accusations leads to her blowing up at a potential investor for Rayna, causing friction between the two sisters, particularly once Rayna asks Tandy if there's any truth to what people are saying. Offended, Tandy accuses Rayna of not appreciating the attempts she's made to change in order to be there for her and her girls. Rayna apologizes, and the sisters leave together, with Rayna hardly suspecting just how much validity there is to the rumors about her sister.
Credit: ABC
Of course, Rayna has added business to attend to, as she's trying to get Scarlett (Clare Bowen) a spot as an opening act on a tour, since she doesn't have a tour of her own for which Scarlett can open. And so she floats several possibilities, including getting her a spot on Juliette's (Hayden Panettiere) tour. But it all falls through...until she encounters Luke Wheeler (Will Chase) at the Bluebird Cafe. They'd previously run into one another at the polo event, and he was among the few friendly faces she encountered there. Teddy, who had to field invasive questions from reporters about his dealings with Lamar (Powers Boothe) and about his engagement to Peggy (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), was in absolutely no mood to really interact with his ex at the party, and so he chose simply to ignore Rayna. And although Deacon (Charles Esten) was a welcome presence at the party, having been dragged there by Luke, it's clear there's still a bittersweet longing between the two that makes their interactions a little uncomfortable. Deacon recognizes this, although thankfully, his new girlfriend Megan doesn't seem to be intimidated by Rayna, which seems to give Deacon confidence about the potential of the relationship. As for Rayna, there might be a new relationship on the horizon for her: Luke agrees to have Scarlett as his opening act, but first, he lays a kiss on Rayna out of nowhere, telling her that he looks forward to seeing her on the tour. I like Will Chase in this role and think he and Connie Britton have a more mature chemistry than we've seen from any Rayna relationship so far short of her marriage to Teddy.
Credit: ABC
Speaking of marriage, it looks like ol' rich, handsome, married Charlie isn't entirely over Juliette just yet. He sends her an invite to the polo match without actually revealing his identity as the sender. When Juliette arrives, awkwardness ensues, as he continually tries to win her favor despite his wife being only a few yards away at any given time. He tries to convince Juliette that Olivia isn't the woman he wants, that their marriage was one of inertia and perceived obligation. He goes even further, stating that these rich society types aren't his people. As Charlie explains, he's worked his entire life despite having enough money to not have to. Juliette, however, isn't buying it -- at least not until she gets to spend time in the stables with Charlie, drinking beer, grooming horses, and singing with the guitar-playing stable boys. It's an endearing little scene that's paired with an unsettling bit of drama, as the show seems to imply that Charlie is the subject of frequent abuse from Olivia. Juliette sees Olivia yelling at Charlie and slapping him across the face when he tries to stand up for himself, and it's this scene that further softens Juliette's opinion of the man -- so much so that she inevitably takes him up on his offer to work on Teddy's upcoming musical festival, since this will give them six weeks of time together. I'm not sure it really advances Juliette's story in any meaningful respect to have her continue making bad decisions, especially ones she knows are bad decisions. In this case, she decides to sleep with Charlie again, only for Olivia to catch them together. Neither Charlie nor Juliette know that Olivia saw them, but they're in deep water all the same. And I'm not sure a marital jealousy storyline is the best use of Juliette, or Hayden Panettiere, who's really been knocking it out of the ballpark this season.
Credit: ABC
Yet not every storyline was centered on the polo match. In one of the bigger developments of the episode, Scarlett and Avery (Jonathan Jackson) sleep together. They reconnect after Scarlett looks to him for advice on an upcoming performance at the Blue Bird. It's a fairly sweet storyline, and shows how far Jackson and Bowen have come, in terms of chemistry. They actually feel like a plausible couple now, and their romance feels like something worth possibly getting invested in. Avery, at the very least, is interested in things going farther, but Scarlett tells him, following a pretty captivating performance at the Blue Bird later that night, that they should take things slow. After all, Scarlett says, it's not like she'll be going anywhere, since she doesn't have a touring gig booked (little does she know...). But that isn't the only romance on the table this week, as Zoe (Chaley Rose) and Gunnar (Sam Palladio) are trying to work things out following their one night stand. Zoe rebuffs Gunnar's advances, saying she feels guilty for betraying the "girl code" about sleeping with a friend's ex. However, once Avery confesses to her that he slept with Scarlett, her opinion changes. She seeks out Gunnar and tells him to kiss her, and it seems their romance is back on track. This is a romance that's a little harder to get behind, but I do like that it's linked to the potential country music trio forming between Zoe, Gunnar, and Avery. That could be one of the more interesting groupings (from both a musical and narrative standpoint) the series has explored.
Credit: ABC
"It Must Be You" is a solid episode that represents the evolution of the show's narrative structure, as the polo match setting helped everything feel connected, purposeful, and engaging. It wasn't a perfect episode by any means, but I feel it's an episode that should inspire optimism about Nashville's trajectory, going forward.