Nashville recap: 'I'll Fly Away'

Whenever a major character is killed off on a television show, it’s easy to assume the series will suffer in consequence — see McDreamy on Grey’s Anatomy and Marissa Cooper on The O.C. — but sometimes the show goes on without too much upheaval. Will that be the case for Nashville after Rayna’s untimely death last week? Let’s find out. P.S.A.: Tissues required.

It’s a rainy day at Rayna’s funeral — as Scarlett so poetically points out, even the sky is crying — but pretty much all of the cast, past and present, has turned out pay tribute to the city’s fallen star. Ex-hubby and current jailbird Teddy is there, as is Ray’s big sis, Tandy. Oddly, almost-husband Luke Wheeler isn’t. I’m a little disappointed; he’s so much less annoying to deal with than Teddy. Deacon reads a passage aloud, and some ravens take flight overhead — there’s so much symbolism going on in this opening scene.

Everyone convenes back at the Jaymes household for the wake. No one really knows how to act or deal, and Deacon just heads off to his and Rayna’s bedroom to sit in the dark and clutch a plectrum with his dead wife’s name on it. Charles Esten’s subtle approach to playing the grieving widower is heartbreaking. This is where the tears start, and don’t expect to have a dry face from here on out.

Maddie and Daphne are staying close to one another while Clay is just feeling awkward and wants to get out of there. He soon dips, and when Maddie catches up to him outside, he makes an excuse and leaves. Meanwhile, Scarlett is trying to keep an eye on everyone to distract herself from her own pain, until she finds herself completely overwhelmed and breaks down in the hallway. Luckily, Gunnar passes by at that exact moment and, on her request, holds her.

Juliette is looking fierce. Funeral chic suits her – she’s crutch-less with dark lips and braided side buns à la Princess Leia. Glenn catches up to her and shares that CMT wants Faith Hill to replace Rayna and sing a tribute at the award show, but Juliette says she’s the only person who should be doing it since she was closest to Rayna. In typical Juliette style, she’s pretty angrily adamant about it all, so it’s a relief when Glenn circles back with a yes from CMT in no time. Sorry, Faith.

Downstairs, Zach whips out a video he’s put together of at-home moments of Rayna with her family. It’s all too much for Bucky, who has to leave the room. (I’m really concerned for what will come of Bucky now his raison d’être is gone.) Zach feels bad for being insensitive, but Will’s on hand to offer comfort and then flirt a little later. I’d say that’s pretty inappropriate at a funeral, but hey, to each their own. Most of the young people gather with Zach and Will, and they raise a whiskey toast to the reason they all have careers: Miss Rayna Jaymes. Zach tries to make a speech, sharing how he always felt a deep connection with her even though didn’t know her that well, then quickly realizes he should just shut up. They all toast to living every day of your life.

Later, once everyone has left, Teddy (who’s out of jail on bereavement leave for three days) is reminiscing about the good years he and Ray had together. With her help, Tandy wants Teddy to be the one to take care of all the legal matters concerning Highway 65 and the girls. Such a sensitive pair.

Upstairs, Maddie goes to see Deacon. He tells her he doesn’t know who he is without Rayna, and Maddie replies, “You’re my dad.” It’s her best moment to date. She puts her dad to bed, wraps a blanket around him, and sits down on the bed to stay with him for a while. The rest of the sleeping arrangements (in a rather full mansion) are as follows: Scarlett snuggles up with Daphne; Bucky cries alone one couch; Teddy enjoys the luxury of a non-prison bed by sleeping on another couch. There have to be numerous guest rooms in this mansion, but grief does weird things to people’s reasoning, I suppose.

NEXT: Who doesn’t love a custody battle?

The next day, Deacon, Scarlett, Teddy, and Tandy (let’s call them the Terrible Ts from here on out) gather at the lawyers’ office. They soon discover that Rayna hadn’t appointed guardianship for the children or the estate, which includes Highway 65, and this needs to be established ASAP. Of course, Teddy steps up, brandishing his fatherhood and adopted fatherhood over Deacon, believing he should be the one to safeguard the girls and the business. Deacon remains quiet mostly, but the lawyer points out that Teddy’s claim can be contested in court, and the kids can testify on whom they’d like to live with.

Tandy is totally on team Teddy – he’ll conveniently be out of prison in three months to step into the role. Mostly, it seems that Tandy wants to protect the millions of dollars she invested in Highway 65 at its inception. Maddie overhears their plotting conversation and freaks out. She runs to Deacon to fill him in and tells him she’s scared and that they’re planning to do something behind his back. He assures her he’ll figure it out and goes to confront the Terrible Ts. He informs them that Rayna ran all her business decisions by him, so he was very involved in the running of Highway 65. Teddy just tells him that they’ll have to wait and see what the judge has to say. With a “looking forward to it,” Deacon walks out.

Later, Maddie calls Clay but he doesn’t pick up, so she gets into bed with Daphne and they agree that everything pretty much sucks. Maddie fills her little sister in on the guardianship battle. They’ve both been dreaming about their mom and even heard her singing in the night. I’m guessing that it’ll later transpire somebody has been listening to Rayna records while everyone’s sleeping, but maybe it is her heavenly presence. Haley might not be the only angel on this show. Daphne’s dilemma is serious: She doesn’t want to have to choose who her dad’s going to be. Maddie says she won’t let them be split up, but Daph points out that they might not get that chance.

Downstairs, Tandy wants to talk, but Deacon’s not about to have a conversation about giving up his girls. So Tandy gets super patronizing and tells him that he’s a musician but couldn’t run Highway 65, and of course he loves the girls, but he isn’t ready to raise them alone. Grr, she’s so tactless. She thinks the judge will agree and asks if he wants to put the girls through that. What about what Rayna would want, Tandy?!

Teddy tries to talk to Maddie. He wants her to know that he’s there for her and thinks it’s best if he takes care of her and her sister. Just then, Deacon walks in, accuses Teddy of manipulating Maddie, and tells him to get the heck out. Teddy replies that he was there for Maddie for 17 years, and on top of that, he’s never been declared a threat to his daughter in a court of law. Low blow, Ted. Deacon looks like he’s going to hit Teddy (totally don’t blame him) but sees Maddie crying and walks away instead, taking Maddie with him.

The next day, Clay comes by to see Maddie. He’s been thinking about her and remembering when his own mom died and how he never really dealt with it. He’s now realizing how alone he felt then, and he’s sorry that he made Maddie feel a similar way when he left the wake. She forgives him and tells him she just wants him by her side because what she’s going through really hurts. Well, something had to make Maddie grow up; it’s just such a shame it had to be the death of her mother.

NEXT: The show must go on (literally)

Moving on rapidly from the death of his all-time inspiration, Zach is having a business meeting/date with Will at an art museum. When Zach throws around the idea of jetting Will overseas to visit more art galleries, Will scoffs that Zach really is something else. Zach feels like Will is judging him on his surface, but Will points out that he doesn’t enjoy the imbalance of power and asks why Zach always has to give people something. Zach replies that he just wants people to like him, uses the word “dweeb”, and kisses Will. R.I.P., Kevin. He then makes a morbid proclamation to Will, making the point that every single one of us knows that we’re going to die, but we’re supposed to go on living, and that’s why we go though life in pairs. Cute?

Poor Daphne is having a tough time. She can’t understand why her mom had to die, but Scarlett (as is her sole purpose these days) is there to offer comfort and advice. She tells the tween that life can be so beautiful and then really cruel. Daphne wants to know why we’re even alive if we have to die, and Scarlett responds that we’re all here for a reason — that we have lights inside of us, we’ve got to let them shine with the time we’ve got, and the brightest part of Rayna’s life was Daphne and Maddie. Okay, fine, I forgive Scarlett for dumping Gunnar. Deacon overhears this exchange, including the part where Daphne says that she doesn’t want to have to choose who her dad is going to be because someone will end up hating her, and either way, she’ll lose. Sob. I love that smart kid.

Elsewhere Juliette is practicing for her CMT comeback tribute with more fancy braids in her hair. She’s feeling weird, though. It’s not that she’s rusty; she just can’t feel the performance inside. She feels like she’s watching herself from across the room rather than actually living it. Later, when she listens back to her session, she feels strange hearing herself sing Rayna’s song and is afraid of letting everyone down.

Just like that, it’s showtime. That night at the CMT Awards, Deacon pulls Teddy aside to tell him that the girls are going through hell and they don’t need to put them through any other crap. He tells Teddy he can go ahead and be their guardian. Deacon is clearly the better man here — he’s the good mother from that King Solomon Bible story.

And so everyone takes their seats, and the tribute begins. Will opens the show accompanied by footage of Ray in the background, which seems like way too much way too soon for any grieving party, let alone kids. Just then, an assistant comes to retrieve Maddie; Juliette is asking to see her backstage. Jules doesn’t think she should be the one singing Rayna’s song — she thinks Maddie should. Juliette confesses that she thought it was about her return to the game, but now she realizes it’s not. It’s about Rayna, and she would want Maddie to do it. Maddie is reluctant and scared of what people will think, but J tells her to listen to how she feels. Before Maddie can decide, Juliette is ushered onstage.

She begins by making a speech about growing up and listing to Rayna on the radio — she’ll never forget hearing her sing for the first time. She felt like Ray was singing to her and nobody else, and that taught her how to dream. Then, noticing that Maddie is up for singing, Juliette makes an introduction and leaves the stage to the elder Jaymes daughter. I have no idea how Maddie keeps it together for as long as she does — I’m sobbing, and I’m only watching from home. She gets through a couple of verses, then breaks down in tears. Deacon and Daphne rush on to the stage and, like the Von Trapp family, huddle together for a joint performance. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking, and even if you’re sitting there still pissed that they killed off Rayna, I dare you not to ugly cry. They receive a standing ovation, and afterwards, Teddy approaches Deacon to tell him he’d be obliged if Deacon would be their guardian for now. They can work something out together when Teddy gets back.

The trio returns to the stage for more applause while Rayna smiles down on them from a video. Sometimes, I guess, the show does go on. We’ll soon see how long it lasts.