[soapbubbles511]

It's not quite the same thing because first Rayna didn't run away or take Lamar to court, he kicked her out. And second Lamar actually did have an issue with her pursuing music (largely due to his own issues with Watty). And from what has been mentioned before, Lamar kind of bailed after her mother died. Maddie has been given a record contract, parents who support her pursuing music, allowing her to perform (the girl just performed on stage at the Opry last week) and done nothing but love her. Plus Maddie is getting way more opportunities handed to her because of who her mother is

That said, I do wish that were an angle they'd explore more. That instead of them taking this nonsense to court, Rayna and Maddie had had an actual conversation about this. Rayna could tell her what it's actually like to be a 16 year old trying to make it without her parents.

Maddie doesn't really want to take care of herself. She just wants Cash to take care of her instead of Rayna because Cash is telling her what she wants to hear. She's going to be in for a rude awakening when she realizes what the real world is actually like and that Cash isn't really looking out for her.

[Telepath]

For Maddie, parents aren't people you love, they're replaceable convenience appliances.

[kittycats]

Originally Posted by DebBlue (View Post) What the show does not bring up with any substance is that Rayna essentially did just what Maddie is doing. It has only been briefly mentioned as an aside. While apparently Rayna didn't go the legal route, she did defy her father and leave as a teenager to follow her musical "dream". If the first season, the reason given for the decades long rift between Rayna and her Dad was his stopping her from being a professional musician. I would imagine, (if Rayna were real) she was every bit the young, hateful teen that Maddie is, maybe worse. Karma has big teeth and it's bitten Rayna in the neck. And I still say, anyone who would give Maddie a contract and think she could be "the next Taylor" is nuts. The looks and the voice just aren't there for that kind of fame. Lennon seems like a sweet girl with a sweet voice but one that needs her sister to fill out the song.

I'm just not a particular fan of Taylor Swift, and she certainly hasn't suffered for it!

Taylor has a great figure, but looks wise, I actually think Lennon is prettier. Lennon doesn't have her style, but, she's a 16 year old, not a multi multi million dollar artist. By the time she's 21 or so, I can imagine Lennon being quite stunning.

[fox24]

Well taylor was not rude to her parents she's very grateful towards them. I can handle Maddie being bratty in the past I wasent a very nice teenager either but her behavior right now is beyond her past brattiness. She is running away just because she wants what she believes is a better record deal that just extreme

[Heart of Rhythm]

Originally Posted by soapbubbles511 (View Post) That said, I do wish that were an angle they'd explore more. That instead of them taking this nonsense to court, Rayna and Maddie had had an actual conversation about this. Rayna could tell her what it's actually like to be a 16 year old trying to make it without her parents.

I think a good way of exploring the Rayna/Maddie's relationship could have been to have Maddie signed on H65 as a solo artist, we could have seen what it's really like for a 16 years old artist in the music business, there could have been (realistic) drama coming from Rayna trying to find the right balance between protecting her daughter and letting her express herself as an artist and Maddie trying to find the right balance between defending her choices as an artist and trusting her mother knows what she's talking about when it comes to music business. All this with NUANCE.

[soapbubbles511]

Originally Posted by Heart of Rhythm (View Post) I think a good way of exploring the Rayna/Maddie's relationship could have been to have Maddie signed on H65 as a solo artist, we could have seen what it's really like for a 16 years old artist in the music business, there could have been (realistic) drama coming from Rayna trying to find the right balance between protecting her daughter and letting her express herself as an artist and Maddie trying to find the right balance between defending her choices as an artist and trusting her mother knows what she's talking about when it comes to music business. All this with NUANCE.

Nuance is something clearly lost on the writers

Or even if they did that with both girls signed together. Maddie struggling between wanting to do her own thing and working with Daphne. What was even the point in signing them to H65 at all?

But they clearly want Maddie to find out in some dramatic way what the business is like. And that couldn't happen if Rayna were around. So instead of writing realistic drama they had to set up a future dramatic mess with this emancipation mess

[fox24]

Well they could have had Marcus or another one of Raynas artists try to take advantage of Maddie behind reynas back or something

[Lily2003]

Been down with the flu this week and in my sickness made a horrible mistake in watching Wednesday's episode which I will forever only refer to as the Abomination. That had to be the worst hour of television I've ever had the misfortune to watch. Seriously, I think I would actually give up a kidney to have someone erase that from my memory. For any of you who haven't seen it yet, I'm begging you not to do it.

I'm not going to dignify this atrocity with a review. Suffice it to say that every single main character was thrown under the bus (and that is a rainbow and puppies analogy for the carnage that actually happened). Nobody was unscathed. Many of you have stated that you believe that the writers are purposely trying to get the show canceled. I was always under the view that the writers were a bunch of lemmings with piss poor leadership. I've been converted. If that wasn't a malicious attempt at putting the nails in this show's coffin, I don't know what could be. I just don't see how this show can be redeemed after that debacle.

For me the writers have sunk to a level that I have real issues with. AA takes anonymity and confidentiality seriously. You do not undermine an organization that has helped millions. What Frankie did was base and heinous and completely unnecessary. And I didn't think they could take gay bashing to a higher level than they already had but I was wrong.

The Nashville creative team should be very, very ashamed.

[soup333]

I actually feel sorry for the writer of that episode. It was her first Nashville episode, wasn't it? She must have drawn the short stick. Pretty crappy for them to give her the episode that they themselves described as brutal.

The Abomination is an apt title.

[jbshmdfb]

Originally Posted by soup333 (View Post) I actually feel sorry for the writer of that episode. It was her first Nashville episode, wasn't it? She must have drawn the short stick. Pretty crappy for them to give her the episode that they themselves described as brutal. The Abomination is an apt title.

yeah it was. It's kinda crappy to give her that instead of a filler that people wouldn't hate as much. But instead that poor writer if she goes on twitter, Facebook or any forums really, all she is going to see people saying how much they hated it. I have yet to see a positive spin on it.

[22 Umbrellas]

I also think it was rotten of them to dump this episode on a new writer. Clearly no one else wanted to taint their reputation by touching it. Can't really blame them, of course.

Originally Posted by Lily2003 (View Post) Many of you have stated that you believe that the writers are purposely trying to get the show canceled. I was always under the view that the writers were a bunch of lemmings with piss poor leadership. I've been converted. If that wasn't a malicious attempt at putting the nails in this show's coffin, I don't know what could be.

I have seriously been convinced in the past few weeks that someone behind the scenes must be tanking the season on purpose. I just refuse to believe that any show could assemble a whole room of writers that could be so oblivious, especially when they know the show might be canceled any day now. There was some talk in another thread about Dee being forced out long before the new showrunners were announced. Is it possible she decided to leave the show in total disarray out of spite? As I recall, Amy Sherman Palladino did something similar before she left Gilmore Girls after s6, though that wasn't half as bad as this. IIRC, Dee also gave that interview after the winter finale where she promised that the back half of the season would be less of a downer. Obviously that was a flat-out lie.

[Truthisbeauty]

I've never posted on this thread so please don't yell at me, but I actually thought it was one of the best episodes I've seen of this show for a while. It was heartbreaking like in Season 1. I didn't like seeing the characters ripped apart, it ripped me apart seeing Rayna and Deacon go through that, and I was also heartbroken that Scarlett and Gunnar have already broken up (again!) Still, at least they were talking about why they broke up in the first place, and we got some insight into that (Gunnar still thinks Scarlett isn't good enough for him). Deacon is still going to have behavior issues due to his alcoholism, and it's good they are exploring that. If he drinks again, I'll throw up my hands in the air, but it was good that he didn't strike Frankie, but was trying to defend himself. However, Rayna is right that Deacon should never have gone over there in the first place. I understand why Frankie is acting this way too, because he is an alcoholic and feels regret over his loss of career and jealous of Deacon, however much he may not want to feel that way. I am beginning to understand why Cash has been so devoted to Maddie, other than kindness: she is also doing this in order to live vicariously because she didn't get the career she wanted because of her dad. And mad as I am at Maddie for being such a brat, at least she wasn't whining the whole time, and has made her bed and now will have to lie in it. Rayna has been somewhat overprotective of her, but now Maddie will have to learn the hard way. I saw some real growth in Juliette, which was good, instead of it just being all soap opera and Juliette rationalizing her actions. Take heart, I think Avery just needs a break from her but still loves her.

[Telepath]

<>

[nashville fan]

There were several things that have stayed with me this week after watching 418. I could write about how cute Will was when he jumped out of the shower after hearing his song being played on the radio. Or Scarlett and Gunnar assuring each other that it wasn't "Just the scotch" that caused what happened last night.

But the interactions between Juliette/Avery/Layla are uppermost on my mind.
1) Like when Juliette heard she had been nominated for an Oscar, the 1st person she wanted to tell was Avery. She always thinks of telling Avery when good things happen to her.

2) Of course, Layla knew who Avery was talking to on the phone. How many people does he question about Cadence? Juliette and maybe Emily. So Layla knew that if it had been Emily on the phone, she would have gone to Juliette with the news or if it had been Juliette on the phone, she would have heard Layla's voice and recognized it (which is exactly what happened and exactly why Layla asked Avery "What's going on?")

3) No wonder Emily questioned Avery about his decision to sleep with Layla. Emily probably remembered how Layla was the one who ruined Juliette's career when Layla leaked the story about Charlie Wentworth's divorce to the press. I love how Emily is the only person Avery will listen to. She puts things in a sensible perspective and gives Avery something wise and full of common sense to think about when he calms down.

4) IMO I thought Aubrey Peeples' acting during what should have been THE MOST dramatic scenes of A/L/J (when Avery wanted to try to make a go of their relationship because Layla was so not complicated and how that was such a beautiful thing, while Juliette's standing outside Layla's door listening to the whole conversation and later especially in the scene when Juliette was confessing to Layla about how Jeff died).....Well, I thought A.P.'s acting was very wooden and choppy like a puppet or something. What should have been edge-of-your-seat-action-what's-going-to-happen-next-where's-my-Emmy scene was just Ho Hum!! (Hayden rocked it though especially in the second scene when a single tear fell down her cheek after her confession.)

5) The last scene between Avery and Juliette when she asked him if he was happy was heart breaking, and yet liberating. I was actually glad she was able to "let him go," because he was so unbelievably happy. (Yeah, we'll see about that in future episodes after he has been with Layla awhile. Avery doesn't want uncomplicated. The very things he thinks he hates, he actually loves and thrives on; like burning your tapes, or turning down 6-figure checks, or playing roof-top concerts with helicopters, or having mile-high sex)

6) The last scene with all three of them and Luke was my favorite. Juliette and Luke singing on stage, really rockin' that song BoomTown. Juliette didn't seem to be thinking about Avery at all. She was just into the song. And while she and Luke singing together was very sexy, I don't think she was trying to be sexy. She was just being the performer, the thing she was so good at and loved to do. Loved how Avery could not keep his eyes off Juliette as he walked up to Layla. He stole glances at her several times before that jealous glare at the end before leaving. There again the true professional can convey a hundred different emotions just by a single look.

[slbcwrites]

Originally Posted by nashville fan (View Post) 4) IMO I thought Aubrey Peeples' acting during what should have been THE MOST dramatic scenes of A/L/J (when Avery wanted to try to make a go of their relationship because Layla was so not complicated and how that was such a beautiful thing, while Juliette's standing outside Layla's door listening to the whole conversation and later especially in the scene when Juliette was confessing to Layla about how Jeff died).....Well, I thought A.P.'s acting was very wooden and choppy like a puppet or something. What should have been edge-of-your-seat-action-what's-going-to-happen-next-where's-my-Emmy scene was just Ho Hum!! (Hayden rocked it though especially in the second scene when a single tear fell down her cheek after her confession.

Besides the tears during Juliette's confession, Layla just seemed dead inside the entire episode. I really don't know what Aubrey is going for, and maybe she doesn't really know either - the writing hasn't been strong enough to tell us what Layla's motivations are, and even a stronger actor would probably be a little confused as to what they are supposed to be playing. Judging by AP's tweets, she says Layla started out with revenge in mind but really cares for Avery now (and she reallllly wants fans to be rooting for her pairing, so apparently she was playing it like a love story and not as the obstacle/antagonist for the actual rooting couple the majority of the audience wants to be together.)

But what are we as an audience really supposed to think about Layla? At the end of 411 she clearly wanted to go after Avery in relation to finding out the truth about Jeff. She manipulates the situation to get Avery into her life, then uses the information about Jeff to manipulate Luke. Somewhere along the way she starts having real feelings for Avery. But what has she been doing with Juliette? Was she just waiting for an opportunity to use the truth about Juliette, and now that Juliette has confessed, she's dropping her revenge plan? It was notable that Layla did *not* tell Juliette that she already knew the truth about Jeff this whole time. What are we to make of that? Juliette was right in her assertion that Layla in some ways had been going after her life, and Layla has not admitted that.

I just think the writing for this has been really sloppy, and AP's acting has not helped, but then again, it's possible that there was not strong direction as to what Layla is supposed to be thinking, because they just don't seem to really care enough to define that. There are these connected threads of career jealousy, and the Jeff angle, and the love triangle with Avery, and I guess we're just supposed to embrace the "drama" and ignore all the stuff that doesn't add up.