There’s one episode left for the Nashville winter mid season finale and so this episode was mostly just a segway for that. Nonetheless, it had its strong parts!
The episode centered around Luke and Rayna’s at home Christmas special and the winterfest.
Rayna’s home is filled with cameras and crewmen and it’s evident that she’s changed now that she’s with Luke. She was known for her deep sense of privacy which seems to vanish more and more. Her interview for the cover of Rolling Stone is proof. She completely outed Deacon and their relationship and he is rightly upset.
About “10 levels of angry” to be exact. Yes, he understands that she had to give the reporter something in order to save Maddie’s reputation but it became quite clear that she also had a lot of things on her chest that she needed to get off.
Rayna’s getting married in two weeks and according to her she’s moved on so naturally she thinks that Deacon should too. The thing is I don’t totally believe she’s moved on. She just continues to shut off any part of herself that loves Deacon. He has been a source of chaos for her life but denying her love for him and getting married again might not be the answer. I don’t know guys, but this is just a bomb waiting to go off.
Deacon could care less about what Rayna thinks. He will always loves her and she’s going to have to deal with it. But, will he be able to deal with her moving on? If we know Deacon well enough—he won’t. So thanks to next week’s preview, I’m pretty scared for his life.
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But on to brighter aspects of this week’s episode!
Will and Layla headed to the Winterfest in East Nashville in order to avoid being recognized. Their disguises were pretty lame but whatever let’s pretend they were “unrecognizable”.
Layla is playing her new material to a small crowd that’s gathered around her. Jeff Fordham is drawn by the sound of her voice and he’s in awe of what she’s capable of creating. He sees a side to Layla he’s never seen before and I think in this moment we got to see Jeff’s human side. We also got to see him play guitar! Which was pretty cool and I’m hoping we’ll be able to see him sing maybe. Fun fact: Oliver Hudson is Kate Hudson’s older brother and Goldie Hawn’s son—so he definitely could be musically talented!
Anyways, Jeff and Layla really click on a deeper level. They end up spending the night together and it’s unclear where this storyline could go. Will Jeff just pretend it never happened or will he actually catch real feelings for Layla? If he did, it would surely complicated things since Will and Layla are still technically married! Ahh, I can’t wait! I haven’t been a fan of Jeff but it would nice to see him not be so ice cold. It was also evident that spending the night with Layla finally gave her that sense of love and appreciation she had been missing since she found out about Will.
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Other artists were at the Winterfest.
Sadie Stone gets Gunnar and the band a chance to impress her famous manager and so Zoey, Avery and Gunnar are set to play a gig together. It gets more than awkward since Zoey and Gunnar’s breakup is still fresh. The manager offers them the chance to begin touring immediately but Gunnar isn’t down for it since he’s a father now. This totally conflicts with Zoey since she’s all about chasing the dream.
Gunnar and Zoey have a blowout where she tells him she’s not selfish for following her dreams. Zoey bails on the gig and ends up leaving town completely, heading to LA. Will Zoey leave the show completely? We’ll have to wait and see. I won’t miss her terribly but she was extremely talented.
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Scarlett steps in to help Gunnar and Avery out with the gig. She does it mostly because her ex-homeless friend, Terry that she’s trying to help out calls her a coward. Scarlett has been running away from the passion she has for music because of her severe stage fright. She’s only been fooling herself into thinking being behind the scenes would fulfill her.
Anyways, she performs with Gunnar and they kill it! Scarlett’s back y’all!
But really let’s talk about what really stole this week’s episode: Juliette’s jealousy.
Sadie Stone is interested in having Avery produce her album and Juliette overhears Avery setting up a meeting with her. She assumed that Avery was going on a date with a new girl and instantly became jealous.
Juliette’s jealousy combined with her hormonal pregnant state made for some laugh out loud worthy moments. Hayden Panettiere is actually very good at pulling off the funny moments just as much as the dramatic ones!
So she forces her assistant Emily to help her stalk Avery’s every move to find out who this girl is. She arrives to the fair and because of her pregnant state decides to ride a motorized scooter. In her attempt to be discreet as she spies on Avery she ends up making a scene at the winterfest knocking down vendors’ tents. But it was actually incredibly funny to watch! However, it did kill Avery’s chances at being Sadie Stone’s producer since she’s not really into the ex-drama. Avery in his frustration remind Juliette that they are just friends.
And even though it hurt, it seems that she finally got it. She even went as far as meeting up with Sadie to explain the situation and put in a good word for Avery. It worked because Avery got the gig.
Avery showed up to thank Juliette and it continues to be evident that these two can’t be in a room together without the feelings overflowing. I mean, the way they were flirting was too cute! I almost thought they were going to kiss! But—they didn’t.
If there isn’t a kiss in the winter mid season finale I will be highly upset! As I’m sure that thousands of shippers will be too! All in all I just feel they were the highlight of this episode.
It seems that Juliette is really trying to mature and Avery is taking notice as well. Could a reunion be in store?!
We’ll have to wait until next week to find out.
What are your predictions for the mid season finale? Let us know below!
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