Since we’re all mourning the end of the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale, let’s mosey over to a place just a little nicer than Gilead: fake Nashville.
Juliette talks to Darius about being held against her will in Bolivia and Darius believes his staff might have been overzealous, but he stands by his methods. NOW, Juliette has arrived. She goes off on him, insisting she have justice and justice for people like her who fell for their cult BS. Welcome back, Juliette. I liked you better when you were cray. The cult did have her sign a non-disclosure agreement the morning she left overseas. This should be fun. Crazy versus the crazies is always a good time.
Jonah is looking for a date for Twig. Get ready for this lame idea- it’s a pajama party. It’s obvious Jonah wants Maddie to wear something trashy. Can we be more obvious about the song Twig produced for Madds called “We Belong Together?” Barf. Deacon loves the work Twig has done on her music.
Alannah is once again having her doubts about a relationship with Avery. Speaking of everyone’s favorite hoochie, she goes to Brad’s office when she overhears the very pretty receptionist, Leah, talking about how she couldn’t leave Shiny New Records because Brad would ensure she never worked in fake Nashville again. I hear the plotlines are better in fake Dallas. Then, Brad walks in and gives the receptionist a weird, intimate nuzzle that makes everyone uncomfortable, including me. I thought I got rid of the barf bags when Jeff Fordham died. Never say never.
GLENN IS BACK! Juliette calls Glenn and tells him to call her publicist and get the word out about the cult. When her story makes it on the front page of what is supposed to be USA Today, Glenn has his concerns. It doesn’t seem to faze her she is at war with fake Nashville’s version of Scientology.
Deacon’s dad, Gideon, has been disappearing for long periods of time. When he does finally return, he brushes it off saying he ran into old friends. He promises Daph and Maddie it won’t happen again. Deacon follows him and he wasn’t lying. He’s been going to an old musician friend’s house to jam on the guitar. Deacon hangs around to hear them play and he is blown away. You can see his father’s disappointment, though, when Deacon won’t hang around to play with them.
When Alannah sits down with Brad, she wants to play hardball. He still wants to play along and invites her to dinner. Gross. Later, she gets flowers from him with a note saying she will be opening for Little Big Town Friday night. Looking further into Brad’s disturbing pattern of sexually harassing women, Alannah meets with Jessie. Jessie says he has a long history of legal issues with women he has hired or worked with.
Jonah is still talking to his ex, Mia, but it seems Mia has got a few issues of her own. She is mentally unstable and has been using it to keep Jonah on the hook. She is going to show up at the pajama jammy jam, ya’ll. Mark my words. Hanging out at Jonah’s place, Maddie asks Twig if she should go to Europe on tour with Jonah. Then, she asks him why he isn’t out there producing music on his own. Daphne thinks Maddie has a thing for Twig.
Avery has packed up and moved back in with Will and Gunnar. This is the only time we have seen Will this episode. I hate that we are wasting such a great character on one scene. It’s why this show isn’t continuing for another season.
An Inside Edition report comes out that Juliette was horrible to the cult staff in Bolivia and demanded special treatment. The cult claims she released her story first because she was trying to get ahead of the truth. Wow, nice move, Darius. While it’s a complete lie, it’s totally believable Juliette would act like that. Should have listened to Glenn.
Deacon is still having trouble with his father’s version of his upbringing. Pops tells Daph and Madds that he taught Deacon to play guitar, but Deacon’s flashbacks have his father antagonizing and abusing him as he tries to play. Gideon admits to pushing him too hard when it came to playing, but he did it out of love. It boils down to Deacon laying down the hammer insisting his pops couldn’t take credit for his successful career.
At dinner with skeezy Brad, he kicks things off by being a dick to the waiter. It’s like the Nashville writers gathered all of the gross things about a human being and came up with Brad. He even asks her about her relationship with her father. This is textbook predatory behavior. Alannah is playing along with him, which leads me to believe she is setting him up somehow.
Later, Gideon goes to Deacon and admits he probably remembers things differently. He loves Deacon and always has, but all he knew was from his own father who beat him. But, Deacon broke the cycle. He isn’t a demonized drunk beating his own children. So, instead of going to Deacon’s songwriting gig at the Bluebird later, he is staying home.
As predicted, Mia shows up to the pajama party in time for Twig to ditch his date and interrupt Maddie telling Jonah she was going to Europe with him. Jonah tries to fight Mia off as she comes on to him and corners him in the laundry room, convincing him to make out with her. Let’s see if I can guess what will happen next? Of course Maddie will walk in and catch them. I feel like I have mentioned predictability around 700 times before when it comes to this show. Anyway, Twig and Maddie are dancing and getting close when Twig slips and tells her where she can find Jonah.
Backstage before opening for Little Big Town, Alannah gets Brad alone and keeps toying with him. What is masterful about her approach is she never admits to anything or agrees to anything. She tells him she doesn’t like him and doesn’t want him around, but in a manner that still leads him on. This is why she has the PHD in hoochie, folks. Anyway, her performance kills it.
Of course, Gideon goes to the gig and it’s goody two shoes Sherpa Boo Boo herself, Scarlett, who gets him there. He arrives just in time for Deacon to play a song “My daddy taught it to me.” During the tune, we see flashbacks of Deacon and Gideon bonding over music, including pops buying him his first guitar. But, there is always trouble in paradise. Just as things are getting better between dad and son, Daphne finds a bottle of booze under grandpa’s bed. And I am a little pissed gramps didn’t share that with me. It will be needed for the rest of this season. And MORE GLENN PLEASE!
See also:
NASHVILLE recap: "I Don't Want to Lose You Yet" (Season 6, Episode 15)
NASHVILLE recap: "For the Sake of the Song" (Season 6, Episode 14)
NASHVILLE recap: "Strong Enough to Bend" (Season 6, Episode 13)