Primetime "Nashville": Episode 103

Episode 103: “Someday You’ll Call My Name” (a Hank Williams song)
Directed by Michael Engler

Family drama fueled last night’s (10/24) episode of Nashville. Juliette’s junkie mom showed up in town, and Rayna continued to battle with her father Lamar. Meanwhile, musician Deacon balanced the tightrope between the two women before finally making a decision about who to tour with. Ratings stayed steady compared to last week with about 6.6 million viewers, according to Zap2it.com.

But before we get to the recap, let’s talk about the new music. Scarlett and Gunnar debuted the songs “Fade Into You” (writers: Matt Jenkins, Trevor Rosen, Shane McAnally) and “I Will Fall” (Kate York, Tyler James). Scarlett—played by Australian Clare Bowen and sporting the show’s least convincing Southern accent—choked during her demo session with co-writer/potential love interest Gunnar. Watty White was producing the session at Ben’s Studio, previously known as RCA Studio A. Scarlett finally rallied with the help of alt-country boyfriend Avery and was a studio success. But supporting Scarlett isn’t his only intention, with songwriter ambitions of his own he’s making sure Watty knows his name. On a side note, last week Rayna referred to him as “Uncle Watty” but we still don’t know that relationship, perhaps her late mother’s brother?

Juliette, who is on a mission to be taken more seriously as an artist, enticed Deacon to join her at Starstruck Studios to record their co-write “Undermine.” She reserves her softer side for him—manager Glenn isn’t so lucky—and she confides to Deacon that part of the song is about her mom.

Then the mama drama begins. Juliette’s mom Jolene-The-Junkie showed up at the record label, then tracked down her daughter on Demonbreun, and then found her the way to the gates of Juliette’s neighborhood, Hill Place. Try as she might, Juliette couldn’t get mom to go back to ‘Bama, so she reluctantly took her in following an arrest at the bus station to avoid public humiliation. As the episode closed, we saw Juliette shoplifting a bottle of nail polish (likely named Ironic Red) while teenagers caught the act on cell phone video. Looks like this will come back to bite her next week.

While both have parental issues, the contrast between Juliette’s and Rayna’s upbringings becomes more clear each week. Rayna and husband Teddy are still “cash poor” so Daddy Lamar sent over a $500,000 check, but the “loan” is saddled with stipulations designed to halt her music career.

It’s hard to believe $500K would make a dent in the debt that Rayna seems to be facing. Check out the real-life listing for the $19.5 million estate which is used for Rayna’s residence. (It’s the Page Rd. home of Sylvia Roberts. After shooting on location, the Nashville crew re-created the kitchen and master suite on a soundstage.) Rayna turned down the money and had her requisite weekly fight with her dad. Then her sister Tandy revealed that Lamar hates Rayna’s singing career because their mother was having an affair with a musician before she died.

Because Teddy is largely to blame for their financial ruin, he sucked up his pride and headed to the Music City Credit Union (aka the Roundabout Building) for a line of credit. While there, he found out the Feds are auditing the bank. This could be a major problem for Teds, whose shady dealings might be discovered just as his mayoral campaign gears up.

And Rayna’s own daughters unknowingly stirred up drama by singing Juliette’s hit “Telescope” at the school talent show. Mom cheered through the tears for her girls, played by real-life sisters Lennon & Maisy Stella, ages 13 and 8.

Torn between Juliette’s rocking arena tour and Rayna’s smaller bus-sharing tour, Deacon decided to stay loyal to Rayna. Their scenes are often the most honest, such as the one at Percy Warner Park, when she told him, “You and music—there’s no difference. I feel like I’m holding these hearts in my hands, and I’m trying real hard not break ‘em, but my heart’s in pieces.”

In future episodes, look for appearances by Wyclef Jean and Kimberly Williams Paisley.