Nashville returned on ABC for its Season 3 premiere, and there was a huge question on everyone’s mind…who will Rayna choose? Will she go with Luke Wheeler, her past love Deacon Claybourne, or move to Texas and marry a high school football coach?! SPOILERS AHEAD!
The season premiere took on this uber weird timeline, so started off with Rayna analyzing both rings, then Juliette grabbing a pair of scissors, (maybe to recreate a Hitchcock film?), then Will about to go live for an NPR radio show from the Bluebird Café and for his reality show (Reminder, he revealed he was gay to his wife, Layla. That awkward moment when…). Back to Rayna, as she calls her choice without saying their name, then Juliette is cutting her hair, and we are off to our first live performance of the night.
They really made it very much like it was part of the show, not just a random performance, which was rather brilliant, since an entire scene was played out. Will’s song, “If It’s Love,” as an ode to his “wife” (still awkward) was a classic country diddy and the best Will song I’ve ever heard him sing. Great way to start the live portion.
Deacon gets punched backstage by Luke. ONWARD!
We then jump 12 hours earlier, to Rayna and Luke getting comfy and him declaring their proposal was “Damn near perfect!” Once again, #Awkward. Juliette storms in on Avery, who exclaims “Not trying to be mean, but I can’t stand the sight of you.” Well, you didn’t try that hard Avery, ‘cause that was a little rude…even if she did cheat on you with the devil himself, Jeff Fordham. He leaves (his own house, odd choice) and arrives at Scarlett’s (who is taking EVERYTHING that is hers when packing to leave Nashville, even the pens. She’s like a Chili’s waitress) sch-wasted and wanting to leave to. Quickly, I will explain this plot line from the evening, ‘cause it was the worst of the bunch. Gunnar pulls an “Ellen’s Energy Adventure” and jumps pops up behind them in the car and goes HEY! They head out of town (to which Gunnar goes “Once you cross state lines, this becomes kidnapping” to which I immediately thought of a Nashville/Orange is the New Black cross over), Avery ends up in a bar, that instead looks like a Joe’s Crab Shack, after the car stalls and Scarlett sits on the car bumper evoking Deana Carter in the Strawberry Wine video, Juliette is convinced to head back to Nashville (Um…duh?) and Avery almost gets in a bar fight. That was 15 minutes of the episode. NOW TO THE GOOD PARTS!
Juliette broke up with Avery (or the opposite way, let’s be honest with ourselves right now), yet remained in his house, which was an odd, illegal choice. She had to pull herself together, however, because she had an audition to play Patsy Cline in a biopic, so she went to the same studio where Patsy recorded “Crazy” to sing her rendition, in which she broke down in the midst of singing one of the best country songs of all-time. After embarrassing herself, she ran home, did the whole scissors search thing we saw previously, and started chopping off her hair…for no reason really, and never truly explained, so that was odd. However, she ended up being loved by the producers of the film, so receives a call-back, somewhat lifting her spirits. OH, by the way, she’s pregnant. Say WHAT now?! Moving on!
Will and Layla have so much awkward tension, you could bottle it and sell it for millions, because it’s country’s it couple! Or, in some eyes, Cousin It couple after this whole demise. They decide they will divorce and stop filming the reality show, but the female-dog that is reality television reared its head in the form of their producer after she reveals she has his coming out announcement on tape. In the words of Toby Keith, the fit just hit the shan. Thus pressured into doing more faking, which Will seems to be a professional at by now. Remember when he fake killed himself by the train? Oh, that was a doozy!
Now, Rayna and Deacon and Luke (Oh My!). After many talks between both couples, and some heated “This won’t work, we’ve tried” “I’ll be singing at the Bluebird. Let me sing for you” with Deacon (and an amazing montage of their past together, with Rayna looking like Reba circa this music video. God, I miss the early 2000s in country.) and some moping around a horse barn with Luke (which will be the title of my memoir), she finally decides on who’s proposal she will accept. And…it’s Luke. WHAT?! NO?! THIS CAN’T HAPPEN! That led into a stunning song co-written by Charles Esten (Deacon) and Deana Carter, sung by Deacon that stabbed my heart even more after the depressing events. Rayna reveals her choice by attending a red carpet event with Luke, but the last scene of the show revealed this facial expression.
Some other quick hits from the show: Maddie and Daphne seem to be getting along better with their real father after Teddy seems to have an epiphany and becomes okay with them being around Deacon, which is a step in the right direction GO TEDDY! The show ended with a live performance from Florida Georgia Line and their awful single “Dirt” which is literally about soil (I hate them with a passion, so more of my hatred here). I only continued watching for Charles Esten’s guitar playing, because he just got the cold shoulder from Rayna, I felt wrong giving it to him, too.
What did you think of the premiere? Are you as ready as I am to see Ms. Laura Benanti be on the show next week? Let me know your thoughts on the show and music in the comments below or on the discussion boards. See y’all later!