Nashville - Recap: The Fame Monster

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Front-and-center is Scarlett (Clare Bowen), who has a disastrous first performance opening for Luke Wheeler (Will Chase). Tech problems abound and she's unable to hear the music, leaving her incapable of performing, and causing the crowd to begin booing her vociferously, even going as far as to throw trash at the stage. Rayna (Connie Britton) steps in and deflects the situation with the smoothness of a true pro, winning the crowd back for Scarlett, but her confidence has already been shaken. She has a complete meltdown backstage, blowing off Gunnar (Sam Palladio) and lashing out at Deacon (Charles Esten) when he tries to comfort her with the truthful observation that a Luke Wheeler crowd is unlikely to cotton to any kind of song that isn't about trucks and beer. The spotlight is getting to Scarlett, and it's not entirely her fault, as Jeff Fordham (Oliver Hudson) seems to go out of his way to try and rattle her before she hit the stage. He tells Scarlett that Rayna hasn’t bought out her contract yet, which means she still answers to him. In essence, Scarlett wants fame but only as long as it adheres to her intrinsic comfort zone, as she's all but ready to quit at the prospect of having to work for Jeff instead of Rayna. But Rayna tells her she needs to believe in herself, adding that steel is forged in fire, and that she needs to make audiences see how talented she is. Rayna also assures her that she'll soon be able to buy Highway 65's freedom from Edgehill, so that Scarlett won't have to work for a "bully" like Jeff Fordham.

With this pep talk under her belt, Scarlett seems to regain a measure of confidence, boosted by added encouragement over-the-phone from Avery (Jonathan Jackson) and some kind words from Gunnar, who is trying to negotiate a showcase with Jeff in exchange for writing Luke Wheeler his next hit. It's this latter development that gives Scarlett her gusto back, as she helps Gunnar write the song, and even perform it. I've always been a proponent of just the kind of magic this show can create when putting Scarlett and Gunnar in a musical number together, and their duet here is no different, as Bowen and Palladio gel together beautifully. Rayna and Will, in the post-coital afterglow in their hotel room (because this is a relationship that's happening, and I actually kind of like it), overhear Scarlett and Gunnar singing, since they're stationed down below by the hotel pool. Both country superstars are impressed with the young duo, and it's clear that there's something there between them, at a creative level at least.

Credit: ABC

The next night onstage, Scarlett is bubbly and excited, and it shows onstage as she has a pro's command of the crowd, and nails her performance without a hitch. Yet she's still troubled that night, as she calls someone on the phone (Avery?) and leaves them a voicemail talking about how she feels she'll have to continue in the spotlight whether she wants to or not. She tearfully tells the other person she loves them, before laying down to sleep, alone in her bed, curled up like a beautifully broken thing. It can occasionally be hard to root for someone who comes into fame without trying, only to complain about being successful. But Scarlett is a peculiar case, as she's played with such a wounded sensibility by Clare Bowen that you just want to give her a hug. It's a difficult high-wire act to achieve, but I think Bowen is doing a great job in the role.

Credit: ABC

Connie Britton is also great as Rayna continues her war with Jeff Fordham. Jeff has issued a court order to obtain the masters of Rayna's album with Liam, which Rayna doesn't want to surrender, arguing that the album isn't ready. She has no choice but to fork them over, however, leaving her increasingly dejected, particularly once she finds out that Jeff plans to release the album with a tacky-as-hell cover/title combination: Rising from the Ashes, with Rayna against a fiery backdrop with flaming wings. It's gloriously stupid, and does more to make Jeff Fordham a villain than anything he's done so far, since the man apparently lacks all pretense of subtlety and taste. But Jeff's rationale is that the window to capitalize on the buzz surrounding Rayna's near-fatal accident is growing smaller by the day, hence the rush. In what turns out to be a fairly genius way around Jeff's greed, Rayna makes the suggestion to turn the song Gunnar wrote for Luke into a duet (inspired after having seen Gunnar and Scarlett singing the song poolside the night before). Rayna sings it onstage with Luke at the concert and then tells Jeff that if he's so desperate to put out a new Rayna James release, he can release the duet as a digital download. The level of Rayna's fame had made it difficult for her to truly make her own choices -- when you're that famous and you nearly die, your record label isn't going to want to wait to release new music from you, hence Rayna's troubles this week. But she was able to turn it around and make her fame work for her, instead of the other way around. It was great stuff all-around.

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Less interesting was Juliette's (Hayden Panettiere) continued troubles with the Wentworths, as Olivia (Brit Shaw) kissing her last week isn't really the focal point so much as Charlie's (Charlie Bewley) continued attempts to get back into Juliette's life. It's bad enough that she's dealing with the passive-aggressive snipes from Layla Grant (Aubrey Peeples), but she also has to deal with Charlie's desperate, needy calls. By episode's end, he shows up at her door, sick of being ignored. He then confesses that he thinks he's falling in love with her, since Juliette attracts all the sane ones, I guess. The storyline is a bit of a dud, but Panettiere is always great, as her bond with Avery deepens (they chill in her home and sing, drink wine, and recall first meeting at Watty White's tribute last year) and she exhibits some of the hubris of her fame, arguing to manager Glenn (Ed Amatrudo) that she can tell anyone off and get away with it. It's interesting enough to keep from feeling superfluous. Yet I'm not sure the same can be said for Peggy's (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) fake pregnancy, as she buys pig's blood and uses it to simulate a miscarriage. Teddy (Eric Close) is none the wiser, and comforts Peggy, assuring her that he didn't just marry her because she was pregnant. Of course, I'm not entirely sure Teddy isn't saying this to convince himself as much as Peggy. If nothing else, Peggy really has played a masterful little game of manipulation, and one of the undersold narratives of this show is that there's a borderline (if not full-on) sociopath among the characters here with the presence of Peggy. She's a wildcard whose future actions are going to be tough to predict.

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"Hanky Panky Woman" is a solid episode that keeps the narrative tight and well-paced. It's been a very good season for Nashville so far, as it's a lot more focused now than at the same point last year, even in its weaker moments. In my opinion, there's a lot more to like in Nashville than there is to find fault in, at least at this point in the season. And that's pretty encouraging, as it concerns what's to come.