Nashville - Season 2 Finale - Recap: It Ain't Yours To Throw Away

Credit: ABC

But beyond those parameters, the episode is still damn good television, as good as last week's compelling hour. This is mostly because the episode took a more confident storytelling approach. This was an episode that knew where it was going, and didn't feel the need to rush through every story beat to get there. The episode also benefited from not making some of the choices I feared it would. I can't possibly tell you how thrilled I am to have been proven utterly and hilariously wrong about my nightmarish prediction last week that Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) would turn out to be pregnant by Jeff (Oliver Hudson). Nope, the vomiting we saw her doing in the preview last week is the result of another one of Juliette's famous benders (showing up wasted to a recovery benefit, no less!), since she must always be in a constant state of downward spiraling. Thankfully, it's not as tiresome a development here as it was in week's past, in that Juliette's long meltdown is all in service of moving her forward as a character, and forcing her to come to a realization about the destructive way in which she lives her life. Of course, I say all this, but I was pretty sure she came to this same conclusion in last season's finale, and given how this season played out, it was a change that obviously didn't stick. I can only hope, for the integrity of the character, that this leads to a permanent change in Juliette. Because I get the feeling audiences can only watch a woman be defined solely by her mistakes for so long before giving up entirely. To put it mildly, thank God Nashville got renewed for Season 3, because I would have hated for Juliette to end like this.

Credit: ABC

Yes, Avery (Jonathan Jackson) discovers that Juliette slept with Jeff after confronting Gunnar (Sam Palladio) and Zoey (Chaley Rose) about what they've been keeping from him. He confronts Juliette about it, and it leads to what is Jonathan Jackson's pinnacle on this show, as Avery absolutely tears into Juliette. He tearfully declares that she clearly has no idea what love is, since loving someone means you'd rather die than hurt them. Now, obviously, recounting it here isn't going to have the same effect as actually watching it, which is why I'd recommend anyone to go out of their way to see this scene, because Jackson is operating on a whole other level of intensity than what we're used to with Avery. There's genuine hurt in every word, and a tinge of vindictiveness in how he buries his condemnations into Juliette like swords. It's a scene that's enhanced by Panettiere, who sells Juliette's heartbreak every bit as much as if it were her own. If I'm gushing, it's only because this is one of those rare scenes that left me completely stunned. It was raw and sincere, and bitingly introspective for a primetime soap.

And it's a scene that was matched in the followup, as Avery later returns to Juliette's and admits he actually does believe her when she says she loves him, but he just can't understand why she'd do what she did. In a heartbreaking monologue, Juliette recounts how she was always told by older men how beautiful she was, and she came to believe this meant they loved her. But she eventually came to learn that they didn't really love her at all; but by then, she'd already learned her trainwreck behavior. As she declares to Avery, Juliette believes herself to be nothing more than "trailer trash in rhinestones." Avery looks at Juliette slightly aghast, as if truly seeing, for the first time, just how deeply and how intensely she hates herself, and just how broken she's been. Juliette pleads with Avery not to let her be alone, even while admitting that she deserves nothing and nobody. And...that's basically where we leave things for these two. With nothing solved nor anything gained for the characters. But hey, we viewers got a pair of stunningly compelling scenes that were among the best-acted moments of the series, full-stop. So I'd count this as being in the win column, even if it means the end of one of the show's best pairings in Juliette and Avery.

Credit: ABC

As with Juliette and Avery, romantic problems abound with Rayna (Connie Britton), although hers are a bit more complicated, and are indelibly linked with her career success. Basically, she's doing her damndest to outsell Will (Chris Carmack), whose album is projected to debut at #1. In trying to one-up Jeff, she stages a stadium show packed with Highway 65 talent and other friends, including Luke (Will Chase), in addition to making backroom deals with megastore chain owner Sam Boone. In short, she hustles like no country artist has ever hustled before in this fictional version of Nashville, and it pays off, as Will's album quickly loses its standing while Rayna's climbs. And, in the midst of all this, she still manages to find time to help Juliette with her Avery problem by offering some thoughtful advice on coming clean, while also standing up to Jeff with Juliette's help (Juliette and Rayna as friends/teammates needs to happen way more often in Season 3, because Britton and Panettiere play off of one another extremely well. Besides, it's much more compelling when they're on the same side, particularly because their mentor/student relationship borders on a mother/daughter kinship, and it's really touching). But things ultimately get complicated for Rayna when, following their show-closing performance of "Ball and Chain," Luke drops to one knee and proposes to her. Rayna is stunned, but not nearly as much as Teddy (Eric Close), Deacon (Charles Esten), or Maddie (Lennon Stella). In fact, Maddie seems particularly devastated, especially after Rayna accepts Luke's proposal. All of a sudden, all the unspoken hope she had for her mother and biological father getting back together and forming a family has gone soaring out the window.

But Deacon, at the very least, won't stand for it. He storms into Rayna's and says he wishes he could congratulate her on finding a guy as great as Luke, and wish her all the happiness in the world, but he admits he just can't bring himself to do it. Deacon basically goes on to declare that what they have is a once-in-a-lifetime connection, and that the two of them belong together, in a family with Maddie and Daphne (Maisy Stella), the latter of whom is totally not his daughter, but whatever, let's just roll with it. He pulls Rayna in for a big kiss, and she resists a little before kissing him back and then turning away. At this point, Deacon presses something into her hand and says he doesn't expect an answer right away, but he wants her to think about it: it's the engagement ring she returned to him earlier in the season, after their relationship ended for good. Except Deacon is hoping that end wasn't really the end. I mean, I get what the show is going for here, in that Rayna and Deacon have very much been the central romantic couple that the series has been built around, in many ways. And it's a pairing I've always liked, yet it's a pairing I'm feeling conflicted about since Luke has been built to be everything Deacon isn't: he's never been the trainwreck Deacon has been, and while he does go home and have a few beers when he gets upset, Rayna doesn't have to worry about him tearing his entire house apart any time he hears something upsetting.

Credit: ABC

Sure, Deacon may insist that he knows how to love Rayna better now, and that he's now the man she needs him to be. But much like I didn't have all that much sympathy for Juliette after she slept with Jeff, I have even less sympathy for Deacon, given that he's done nothing but blow every chance he's ever had with Rayna, and continually reappearing just in time to mess up any chance she might have with someone else. If Deacon weren't so damn likable, I'd probably hate the guy for how selfish he is. But I'd be lying if I said that Deacon wasn't one of my favorite characters. He's complex in a way that not a lot of characters on a primetime soap ever are. He's unquestionably a good man, but he's deeply flawed and prone to bursts of selfishness and weakness. You can like Deacon and feel uneasy about him in equal measure, and I don't think anyone would blame you for it. It's a delicate portrayal to master, and Charles Esten does a terrific job with it. And the show does succeed in making me feel conflicted about which suitor Rayna should choose, since Luke and Rayna just feel like a really solid match that shouldn't be broken up. Yet it's Deacon, and they're every bit the match, no matter how toxic they might be for each other. It's honestly not the worst cliff to hang on the season finale.

The rest of the episode is notable mostly for some stellar moments than for the stories surrounding those moments. Scarlett (Clare Bowen) is leaving Nashville to return to school in Ole Miss, and she spends most of the episode trying to see Gunnar one last time before she leaves. After Zoey gives her an envelope from Gunnar, Scarlett tracks him down at The Blue Bird. Apparently, the envelope contained the music and lyrics for the song he wrote about her, "It Ain't Yours To Throw Away" (which I bought off of iTunes the minute I first heard it on the show a few weeks back. SUCH a great song). She asks him to play it for her, and as he does, she starts singing it along with him. Now, maybe it's just because I've grown to love the song in the weeks since I first downloaded it, and so this moment was always going to speak to me just a little bit more than someone for whom the song isn't as ingrained, but I absolutely adored this. It was a moment that came close to matching the magic of that first Scarlett and Gunnar duet ("If I Didn't Know Better") or the subdued poignancy of another one of their first duets, "Change Your Mind". But more than just Scarlett's tears or Gunnar's earnest expression throughout the song, what makes this special is that Scarlett's vocals add something to this track I didn't even know was missing. They just sound right together, and on this song especially. It's a heartbreakingly gorgeous moment, and Gunnar's final words ("I don't think you should go") are the punctuation mark on one of my favorite scenes this season.

Credit: ABC

Come to think of it, this was an excellent episode overall for Sam Palladio, who also gets a terrific scene with Chris Carmack in which Gunnar tries to talk Will out of lying to himself (and everyone else) about who he really is. Will's storyline had long been a dark horse for my favorite of the back half of season two, and here, the show smartly ties Will's and Rayna's fates, so that we feel conflicted about the outcome. As the fortunes of one rises, the fortunes of the other falls: as Rayna's album succeeds, Will's tanks, leading him to wonder what this all was for. He's continuing to deny who he really is, all in service of a career he might not have for much longer. Will can barely keep it together at Gunnar's, until Gunnar intimates that he should come clean. And so he does, taking Layla (Aubrey Peeples) into a room away from the reality show cameras, and tearfully confessing, "I'm gay." He begins sobbing uncontrollably, and I almost wish the camera hadn't panned to Layla's confused, bug-eyed expression, as it made comical a moment that was incredibly heartfelt and devastating. It also added a typical soap opera twist, as we see that one of the reality show cameras was still hidden in a clock above the door frame, meaning Will's confession is all on film. I'm rolling my eyes already; but hey, as long as Will isn't trying to kill himself, I count my blessings.

"On the Other Hand" is a pretty terrific finale when you consider the generally uneven nature of most of the season. The show has had a few stumbles here and there, but this is a Nashville that is markedly different from the Nashville of last season, or even from the Nashville of early Season 2. The storytelling is far more confident now, and the characters more fully realized. In short, I'm confident about where the show will be headed in Season 3.