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I’m Sorry For You, My Friend
Original Air Date: Jan 16, 2013
Kelly — TwoCents Reviewer
kelly@thetwocentscorp.com
Well, we might as well get this out in the open right away: it’s not the Rebel Kings. It’s the Revel Kings. Who else saw that coming? It’s going to take me a while to process this development—i.e. approximately the next thousand words, so strap in!
It’s actually pretty symbolic; (the internet and) I thought Deacon’s new band was one thing, but it turns out they’re something else entirely. I thought they were rebelling against the ‘sex, drugs, and rock and roll’ stereotype, but they’re actually still reveling in it. They haven’t faced up to their darker impulses; they’ve only hidden them. And so it goes with everyone on this show.
Avery isn’t trying very hard to hide his vices in Atlanta. He’s back in bed with his agent, who insists that Avery is better than the contract he’s being offered. Dominic is preying on his inexperience to get a bigger piece of the pie, and he wins him over with the key to a fast convertible. Personally, I think the most interesting part of this storyline is the idea that we’re supposed to believe anyone would fight over Avery’s talent.
Meanwhile, Gunnar is going to Austin for the weekend, and Scarlett wants in. She won’t take no for an answer, so her reluctant partner carts her to Texas with him, and together they finish three songs in one 15-hour drive. I wish I could be that productive. Once in Austin, Scarlett meets up with her uncle Deacon, and Gunnar darts off to meet his brother. At a prison gate.
Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen, our favorite clean-cut songwriter has a troubled past. His older brother Jason just did eight years for armed robbery, which a 16-year-old Gunnar witnessed; he panicked at the sight and drove off, leaving Jason to get arrested. This is interesting. Was Gunnar ever an accomplice? Gunnar’s brother basically raised him. They reminisce with a song—about life on the run, obviously—and Jason immediately secures his place on the list of Secondary Characters on Nashville Who Should Sing Instead of Avery (right behind Rayna’s daughters). Unfortunately, Jason seizes his first opportunity to hoc Gunnar’s guitar for a gun, wrap his brother in a hug, and leave. Does this mean we have to keep listening to Avery?
Backstage at the concert, Deacon’s creepy bandmate keeps putting the moves on Scarlett. He drags her into a glorified neon closet, where we literally see the writing on the wall: the band is officially the Revel Kings. Glad we’ve cleared that up. Then Revel King Bandmate #1 (name UNIMPORTANT) tries to force himself on Scarlett. That dirtbag. Scarlett has absolutely no creep-o-meter. She looks at the world through wide eyes and trusts everyone. As much as her doe-eyed innocence makes her a frustratingly passive character, I’m sad that she has to find her backbone like this. Luckily, Deacon realizes that something is wrong and shoves his way past a bodyguard in time to punch #1 Dirtbag and quit the band. Go Deacon! It’s about time.
Now he can join Rayna and Juliette’s “Red Lips White Lies” tour. Rayna’s already fired two guitarists because they aren’t Deacon, so she convinces Liam, her rocker friend, to fill in for the first few shows. Connie Britton has chemistry with everyone. She’s singlehandedly turning this show into a love quadrangle. In other news, I like Liam now: he sasses Juliette and clings to the stage like a sea star when she won’t give it to him. He sasses Rayna, too, which she needs. Her “I’m innocent and everyone else is crazy” face is starting to wear thin.
At least Rayna always tries to do right by her kids. She shows up for the mayoral election, which Teddy wins, but there’s a catch: Lamar bought this election for him, even after Teddy refused to play that game. I’m hoping that Lamar gets more depth soon, because he feels like a cartoonish villain right now. His moral opposite is Coleman, good and kind as always, who praises his wife in his concession speech. Win or lose, none of this would mean anything without her to come home to. In a brilliant bit of directing, that speech plays against a shot of Teddy and Rayna on the couch, inches apart but not touching, unable to look at each other. This family is on the brink.
To add to the tension, Peggy shows up at Teddy’s door to “congratulate” him, explain that the pills were an accident, and then practically dare him to kiss her. He doesn’t, but he wants to. It’s annoying that he and Rayna both have people they’d rather be with; it makes the idea of divorce so much less complicated. There’s no drama in this story if they both want it—except where their daughters are concerned.
Divorce is on Juliette’s mind, too. Since she became Nashville’s most notorious runaway bride, she’s been quietly trying to obtain a quickie divorce from Sean, but Sean wants an annulment. This hurts. I still think he could’ve been so good for her if his mom hadn’t ruined everything. Juliette she says she did him a favor, that she isn’t the wife Sean deserves, which I think demonstrates exactly the emotional maturity that would make her the wife he deserves, if only Sean would see that she means it. She just has to get past her fear of stability.
Do you all think Sean is out of Juliette’s life forever, Taylor Swift style, or might they eventually get back together? What do you think of Lamar as a villain? How will Scarlett and Deacon respond to what happened backstage? And will anyone on this show ever actually defeat their darker nature, or will they always just hide it away?
TheTwoCents 