Nashville recap: 'Back in the Saddle Again'

Nashville fans! It’s been a lengthy spring break hiatus, but we’re finally back and slipping into the second half of season 5 as smoothly as stepping into a pair of broken-in cowboy boots. (Okay, I’ll stop.) It has been a minute though, so if it feels like that spring break we took from our favorite country crooners was laden with mint juleps and your memory’s a li’l hazy, here’s a brief synopsis to bring you up to speed:

— Rayna died. No, not a sick joke, just a brutal blow that we (and the show) will never recover from. R.I.P. Ray.

— Deacon was, understandably, distraught, but he rallied long enough to finish recording a collaborative album with his late wife.

— Juliette is on the cusp of releasing a gospel album — again, not a sick joke.

— Scarlett is pregnant and doesn’t know if on again/off again beau Gunnar or that newcomer English director boy is the father. Fun!

— Will and billionaire Zach are getting closer.

— And, yes, Maddie’s still that teenager your parents are so glad you never were.

Now that we’re all singing the same harmony, let’s get right into the midseason premiere.

Juliette’s album is a flop. The pop — sorry, country diva is throwing a little release party, which mostly just consists of all her gospel pals hanging out at her home while Glenn tries to skirt around reading the worst parts of the terrible reviews. Some choice remarks include: “treacly mess,” “culturally tone deaf,” “sanctimonious and saccharine,” and “strange and inappropriate.” Turns out her fans don’t much like it either. Oh, dear. Juliette needs a distraction…

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Maddie is recording a new song. It’s a little on the boring side, so luckily Juliette steps in to “pop the chorus up to a higher note” and rewrite the hook — remember she came on board as Maddie’s manager in the midseason finale? BAM. Now it sounds like a hit, but of course Maddie hates it and even throws a “Why didn’t your album work?” in Juliette’s face when the more seasoned singer tries to tell her she knows what’s best. The teen has been waiting “so long” to make her music her way — isn’t she 16? — and she just doesn’t want to compromise now. Eventually though, she realizes Juliette’s version is more of a single and hers is just an album track — it probably helps that her cutie BF Clay prefers J’s version.

Over at Highway 65, Zach is cooking up some newfangled strategies for the label (something to do with following the success of Uber; tech guys, amirite?) when Deacon gets a call from Daphne’s principal sharing concerns over his daughter’s academic performance; she’s in danger of repeating the seventh grade. Later, Deacon catches up with Daphne at home, and she’s totally unconcerned by her less-than-satisfactory homework submission. “It’s physically impossible to turn in homework every day,” she tells her (kinda) dad. Amen, sister. Deacon wants her to come to him with her problems, and they get to work on her history project: It’s a re-creation of Amelia Earhart’s airplane. It actually turns out pretty well, despite Daphne’s bad attitude, but on the way into school the next day, some eager-to-get-to-class kid bumps her and she drops it. Realizing it’s broken, Daphne throws up her hands and decides not to bother with school for the day.
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Instead of going to boring old school, Daph goes for a wander in downtown Nashville, where she befriends Liv, a palm reader/homeless teen with a rebellious streak –she throws a soda can at some passing dudes. The girls run off and hang out in Liv’s squatting spot with some other homeless kids and a baby. There’s lots of plaid and fingerless gloves. Hey, it makes Daphne smile, so it can’t be all bad. Plus, they — of course — all have crazy music skills and get into a group sing-along of the Daria theme.

Deacon soon finds out Daphne hasn’t been in school all day and rushes out to search for her. That little cutie sure is making Maddie look like the good sister these days. When Deacon catches up to her, she’s not exactly apologetic about going AWOL and doesn’t see an issue with failing the year and retaking. She delivers some scathing comments to her step-dad and runs off. And so the next day, Daphne starts therapy, where she’s diagnosed with depression and advised to attend sessions twice weekly.

Even “silly noodle casserole” can’t help Daphne, as she refuses to eat and lashes out at Deacon once again. Remembering that the therapist told him to be there for her even when she pushes him away, he comforts her by being honest about how much the situation sucks for them all right now. They group hug.

Elsewhere, Scarlett goes for her paternity test, armed with a cheek swab from Gunnar. Damien texts that he misses her, and she ignores it, as well as his later follow-up call. She actually goes so far as to turn off her phone. Say what?!

Right before the results come in, Gunnar’s all, “It doesn’t change anything between us,” but then it turns out he’s excluded as biological father. We’ll see how long those promises last. He goes home and talks things over Avery, who’s weathered his share of relationship drama. Gunnar’s worried Scar still has feelings for Damien, — who, by the way, is totally making a reappearance — but Avery advises him to keep trying with her and “fail better.” Solid advice.

So Gunnar LITERALLY runs over to Scar’s place to tell her he’s all in, regardless of paternity. He guarantees that he’ll mess up, but he still wants to try. Scarlett looks as thrilled at that proposal as you’d expect but hugs him anyway. Yay?

And now a quick check-in with a less troubled couple: Zach comes to Will’s show as his “boyfriend,” where he awkwardly claps along (all brains, no rhythm, that one) and buys a T-shirt with Luke’s face on it. Cringe. It’s big steps for the new couple. I miss Kevin.

In other “disturbing things Zach’s doing” news, it turns out part of his big plan for HW65 is to phase out Bucky. Apparently Bucky “is less than receptive to new ideas” and is so protective of Rayna’s legacy that it’s clouding his judgement and preventing the label from evolving. Zach doesn’t beat around the bush; his only suggestion is to let the Buckster go. Deacon is not on board. Why do I feel like that “too good to be true” contract is about to come back to haunt us all? Guess we’ll find out next week!