Nashville - Recap: And the Winner Is...

It's not as if this is Nashville's first go-round with the CMA Awards, but it's the most successful, from a narrative standpoint. The drama here extends naturally from the awards themselves, so that it doesn't feel like a desperate ploy to get Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood onscreen. It feels like a logical extension of this show's world. Of course this drama would happen here, and of course these characters would react this way! As much as I do love Deacon (Charles Esten), I've become really invested in the relationship between Luke (Will Chase) and Rayna (Connie Britton), so I found myself equally invested in the troubles they encounter this week, as Luke's egocentric bitterness comes back to the surface when Rayna starts winning one award after the other. It's the episode's centerpiece, and it works because it illustrates the challenges faced by two superstars joining their lives together. Stardom comes with a certain necessary ego, because it's that ego that protects your brand and your livelihood. Luke feels threatened by Rayna's success, and it's easy to imagine him viewing the long road ahead of him, as he goes from being Luke Wheeler to Mr. Rayna James.

Credit: ABC

We know it's silly of Luke to think this way, primarily since showbiz marriages featuring two successful stars rarely ever play out this way, as far as I can tell: Blake Shelton isn't Mr. Miranda Lambert any more than Tim McGraw is Mr. Faith Hill. Luke's childish reaction to Rayna's success, and her decision to thank Deacon for co-writing a song she ends up winning an award for, is simply his ego getting out of hand. Rayna is someone he can't control, and he naturally feels threatened by that (hence the prenup that starts all this marital drama between them in the first place). When Rayna wins Entertainer of the Year and dedicates the award to Luke by saying that what's hers is his, Luke is humbled. Rayna's ego is benevolent -- yes, she protects her brand and her own public image, but she doesn't do it at the expense of others. By having the mirror reflected back at him, Luke realizes he's been in the wrong. His eventual talk with Rayna after the show is a mature handling of a showbiz relationship, as they talk through the issues they're having with one another, and reaffirming that they're not in competition with one another. This was one of my favorite arcs of this season so far.

Credit: ABC

Also worthwhile was the drama between Avery (Jonathan Jackson) and his father, whom he introduces to Juliette (Hayden Panettiere). While Avery's mother is understanding and generally a delightful woman, Avery's father doesn't approve of Juliette one bit, and feels she'll be a terrible mother. This prompts Avery to defend Juliette at every turn, rediscovering his love for her in the process. Throughout, we get flashbacks to Juliette's traumatic childhood (which was a bit much, in my opinion, since Pantierre's facial expressions told the tale just fine), as Juliette begins to question whether she's even fit to be a mother, considering the example she had as a child. Ultimately, Avery condemns his father by angrily declaring that he's going to love his child unconditionally, whether or not he always understands the choices that child makes. He then calmly reassures Juliette by telling her they aren't their parents, and that they will be good to this child. It can be a bit sappy in places, but it's such an honest, heartfelt conflict that is among the realest of the episode. Juliette and Avery are one of the best parts of this series, to me, which I'm happy to say since, given the touch-and-go nature of the Jeff Fordham business, I wasn't sure they were going to stay that way.

Credit: ABC

Speaking of Luke's ego and a need to protect one's own image, Layla (Aubrey Peeples) still feels offended at how she was edited in the reality show, and that bitterness seeps over into the awards show. She not only gets snippy with a reporter on the red carpet, who asks if she finds it ironic to have left one reality show for another, but she also reiterates that she deferred Harvard after the teleprompter forces her to make a joke at her own expense. Layla is understandably on edge about her own image, although I doubt she has more cause to be nervous about it than Will (Chris Carmack), who is under constant threat of having a producer leak the dailies of his coming out to Layla. That said, they're both in a lousy situation. In a way, it's a mirror of the troubles between Gunnar (Sam Palladio) and Zoey (Chaley Rose), who actually are in a position to end it when things go south. In this case, Zoey ends up losing Micah (Gunnar Sizemore) after the kid wanders off during the awards show, prompting Gunnar to blame Zoey for everything. Although Micah is eventually found, Zoey realizes she can't be a stepmom. Although she loves Gunnar, she makes the difficult choice for him by leaving, showing up on Scarlett's doorstep in tears. I wish I cared more about this relationship, since I like both actors, but this Gunnar/Zoey pairing never really did it for me, unfortunately, so I wasn't as sad to see it end as I probably should have been.

Credit: ABC

The rest of the episode was of fairly middling interest. Sadie (Laura Benanti) gets a pep talk from Luke after her ex texts her about the song she's nominated for, asking for his cut (since it's about him). She ends up winning New Artist, which irks Will, although Sadie is so wonderfully likable onstage that I have no idea how anyone could stay mad at her. Meanwhile, Teddy (Eric Close) gets jealous when he sees his escort off with another man. They hook up again, and it's all well and good, but I doubt this is going to stay a secret for long. And once it comes out, Teddy is going to catch hell, even if this latest hookup was a freebie. I also imagine Rayna is going to catch hell if/when Luke finds out that Deacon texted her after the CMAs. With Rayna's wedding date approaching, Deacon really does have a terrible knack for bad timing. But that's love in show business, I guess.

"You're Lookin' At Country" is a damn fine episode of Nashville. It used its CMA Awards setting incredibly well, and managed to tell a compelling collection of stories that drive interest for what's to come. For me, this was the best episode of the season so far.