Cristofle

Oh, they weren't on fire or anything, lol. But it was nice and solid and easy and comfortable, which yeah, speaks more to the possibility of a long-term relationship, but it made their scenes pleasant. Chip and Christina had nothing. It was a black hole. It was like Will and Connie, lol.

soapbubbles511

Chip and Connie have so much chemistry. And yet they managed to find and pair them both with people they have anti-chemistry with last season. -sigh- (And no Callie, no matter how many times you say it Connie and Will do not have chemistry. At all)

Cristofle

I'm not that invested in DR. I would say it if Will and Connie had chemistry, and if they had any to speak of, I feel like I would see it. It's just not there. And it ruins the possibility of me being invested in Rayna, which I would LIKE to be because I love Connie. That's actually my biggest problem with it, not DR. It keeps me from enjoying Connie's work.

soapbubbles511

Oh I need Rayna away from Luke so I can actually enjoy Rayna/Connie scenes way more than I actually need DR together. Watching Luke suck all the life and sense out of Rayna is painful to watch. Rayna scenes with Liam were good. Deacon with Stacey was fine. Them with Luke and Megan makes it impossible for me to enjoy their scenes.

Cristofle

Liam is another one, he had really solid chemistry with Connie (and was generally charismatic and appealing- it sucks they ruined Liam on Scarlett's altar). And that made sense to me. Luke does not.

Static Waves

forever sad about Liam tbh, I refuse to believe they actually killed his character for Scarlett. (I mean, I believe it but I don't want to)


Deacon needs a Liam. The closest he ever got to that was Juliette.

Cristofle

Yeah, but that was creepy- he's too old for her and she's much more vulnerable than she lets on. And now he comes off like a dad figure to her, lol.

Heart of Rhythm

Liam allowed us to see a really fun side of Rayna's personality. I think all the hate towards Luke is not primarily because he stands in the way of D/R but because he turns Rayna in such a horrible character.

soapbubbles511

Plus they were clear on what Rayna's relationship with Liam was. They weren't going to get married. He wasn't going to play house with her kids. They enjoyed each other and that's all either of them wanted out of it.

I have no idea what Luke and Rayna's relationship is supposed to be at this point. They spent most of last season making it really clear that she wasn't that into him but he was way into her. But after the last couple episodes I'm not sure if they want us to believe that she actually loves him. And for her to actually want to marry him it requires they throw most all of her characterization under the bus. Plus he's an ass.

Cristofle

I was so baffled by that ILY. Because there was no build-up to it- she seemed not that into him. BUT, it wasn't filmed like the Zoey/Gunnar ILY was (where he took like an 80 year pause and looked pretty blank- there were some clear indications in the direction that he was saying something he wasn't sure he meant). So I can't say that the intention in the writing was that she wasn't being sincere. So I'm just confused.

kittycats

Ahhh Liam

I loved the comment by one reviewer. It was basically , "Liam's not the guy you fall madly in love with and marry. He's the guy you have the smoking hot affair with, and for the rest of your days, when you think about it, you have a big grin on your face"

I also appreciated that he seemed to actually like and respect Deacon. He wasn't jealous of him, he knew the scoop!

soapbubbles511

Liam was never in direct competition with Deacon because he didn't want to be. He wasn't trying to get Rayna to fall in love with him. He wasn't trying to fill that part of her heart that has always belonged to Deacon. He wasn't trying to prove he was a better man more worthy of her love. He wasn't trying to fill some role that Deacon was already filling. The same can't be said for Luke (or Teddy for that matter).

Static Waves

I LOVE THIS

Cristofle

Honestly though, I think the biggest problem here- even with Luke- is Rayna. I've said it before, but Rayna is INCREDIBLY passive in her personal life (it's kind of interesting, because we have three very different approaches in the three ladies- Rayna is very passive, Scarlett is passive-aggressive, and Juliette is very aggressive). She just kind of drifts along and goes with whatever the person around her is suggesting. She is not telling Luke she's not that into him, that he can't replace Deacon. He may suspect it deep down, but that's not coming from anything she tells him. She parrots back what he says every time, and it's easy for me to imagine the same thing happening with Teddy. She lucked out with Liam because he happened to genuinely want no more from her than she could give him, but I can't entirely fault the men for taking at face value what she's saying. I have very little patience for people like Rayna in my own life, is probably part of the problem, lol. If you aren't being honest with me, I'm not going to dig deep under the surface for what your childhood damage is. I will assume you're being honest with me until proven otherwise. I'll do just about anything to help someone or compromise with someone who asks for it, but I won't look for what they're not saying.

barkleyandbarnes

This is very on point. I feel the same way about Rayna tbh. While I don't hate Luke, it was always very clear to me that Rayna doesn't love him the same way he loves her. I feel like Rayna wants to love him because he's the seemingly safe/healthy choice but her heart's not in it. She said so herself in 2.12, "I need my heart to catch up with my head" and honestly I don't think it ever did and I feel she's almost afraid to admit it to herself and Luke.