Primetime ‘Nashville’: Why Don’t You Love Me

Rayna greets Scarlett and Will at Edgehill Republic’s CMA nominations party on the General Jackson showboat.

Episode 119: Why Don’t You Love Me

Rayna and Deacon’s romance continued to heat up on last night’s (May 8) new episode of Nashville. But she’s holding back a huge secret that could destroy their relationship: Maddie is his biological daughter. In the meantime, they settled in to their rekindled romance. Snuggling at home, Deacon strummed guitar and they quietly sang “The End of the Day,” a song written by Madi Diaz and Sarah Siskind, which made its Nashville premiere.

Rayna, Juliette and their teams gathered at a party on the General Jackson riverboat to celebrate the stars’ CMA nominations. Still nursing a heart broken by scheming Dante, Juliette was on a self-medicating binge, and showed up at the party drunk. Rayna slyly complimented Juliette’s “80 proof” perfume. Just before Juliette was to take the stage, Deacon quit her band. So she recruited her new roadie Avery to fill in. Given the circumstances, she switched the set and debuted the song “Used” (written by Ross Copperman and Heather Morgan).

Scarlett scored an invitation to the party thanks to her new record deal with Rayna’s imprint on Edgehill Republic. Watching in the audience, she was shocked to see her ex Avery onstage with Juliette—especially when the star planted a kiss on him.

Avery also debuted a song on the episode, “The Morning of the Rain,” penned by actor Jonathan Jackson, who plays Avery.

Meanwhile, Scarlett’s current beau Gunnar missed the boat show because he was in the studio cutting a demo. Problem is, the producer isn’t interested in Gunnar’s ballads, instead he goes for the darker material that Gunnar skimmed from his dead brother’s journal and passed off as his own.

Downtown at the Mayor’s office, Coleman resigned his post as Deputy Mayor and is secretly waiting for Rayna’s ex, Teddy, to lose his job as Mayor—probably at the hands of Rayna’s sister Tandy or her father Lamar.

Cliff hangers: At the end of the episode, Dante called Juliette and threatened to leak a damaging tape. Also, E! is reporting that two characters will die during the show’s season finale on May 22. My totally uncorroborated prediction is that we will say adios to Peggy, Teddy’s ex girlfriend played by Kimberly Williams Paisley.

Nashville has yet to be renewed by ABC, but TV insiders expect a greenlight when the network reveals its 2013-14 primetime lineup on Tuesday, May 14. As always, new music from the show is available on iTunes.