Nashville recap: 'Where the Night Goes'

After Juliette’s big reveal on last week’s episode of Nashville, it’s not surprising she’s not in the best headspace in this week’s installment. Fortunately, she has told Avery of her her childhood rape, though it’s a conversation had off screen. She’s now worried that every choice she’s ever made was affected by the trauma she experienced and that her life would have and should have been a lot different had it never happened. Avery worries she’s including their relationship in that, and Juliette does nothing to quell his worries when she doesn’t immediately shut down his questions.

To make Avery feel even less significant, she later informs him of her plans to be part of an outreach program working with young people who have endured trauma in Bolivia, on the recommendation of Darius, of course. (“The time to act is now, before your daily life dilutes your awakening,” Darius tells her. Okay, I’m on board to a point with Darius’ therapy, but I’m still a little skeptical.) Avery is not on board at all. He still doesn’t trust Darius (I’m in good company) and thinks he’s controlling Jules. Avery tells her he has to think about the Bolivia thing, but when she presses him for an answer the next day, they end up getting into a fight. Avery calls her out for being obsessed with the church and accuses her of not needing him and Cadence anymore. Juliette walks away with an “I’m saved,” so good luck getting her to back down, Avery.

Over to some slightly less serious relationship drama: Deacon and Jessie are having fun eating fries on a date, which pretty quickly turns into having even more fun hooking up in the car, until that pesky problem of no contraception comes up. They decide to rain-check and literally schedule the sex for another night — the perks of being a parent, eh? But before the magic can happen, Deacon has to head to the pharmacy to buy some condoms (and a bunch of other miscellaneous items to disguise his true purchase — good to know that unique embarrassment doesn’t fade with age!).

When they finally get down to the pre-arranged copulation, it’s all going as it should until Deacon bursts into tears. He admits to Jessie that he breaks down over Rayna every day and just doesn’t ever know if he’s going to be whole again. I’m always happy when Nashville keeps it real and shows Deacon’s pain and grief, but it’s heartbreaking to see him so sad. Charles Esten, ladies and gentlemen: the man most likely to make me cry on this planet. In the end, they cozy up on the floor and eat ice cream while talking about their childhoods. So, better than sex?

The next morning when they wake up (still on the floor), Deacon goes to make a swift exit. Jessie is hurt, thinking he’s giving up and going to end things with her. She tells him she knows that Rayna is too great an act to follow, but Deacon assures her it’s actually the opposite: He wants her not to give up on him. (Recap continues on page 2)

It’s all about the boys and girls tonight — even the dream team boy band need a lady. They are gelling better than last week (thanks to *NSYNC), but they’re having trouble with the high notes. Gunnar’s drawn the short straw, and he’s starting to feel the pitch in his throat. They decide to bring a girl into the fold, à la Little Big Town and The Band Perry, so they start hitting up shows to try to scout a female member. After seeing a few horrors, they stumble upon a pink-haired girl named Alana performing in a bar and sit her down for a chat. It doesn’t take long for the guys to recruit her and Gunnar to hit on her. It takes even less time for her to join them on stage. Really, they have next to zero rehearsal time before they’re performing that same night.

Elsewhere, Maddie’s having trouble with her new beau after his ex-girlfriend Mia Forster releases a cheaply shot music video for a truly awful song she’s recorded that accuses Maddie of stealing her man. Initially, Maddie’s mad at Jonah, assuming that he’s still with his ex, but he explains the situation and she backs down. She should probably be more worried about the fact that her BF has constant anxiety, feels like he’s living a lie, and can easily convince her to change her plans with just a splash of emotional manipulation (“I neeeeeeed you”). Anyway, they go to his EP launch later that night, and Jonah pisses off his female fans by leaving early with Maddie to get doughnuts instead of snapping pics for their Instagram stories. I’ll bet that’ll come back to bite them!

Back in the Juliette/Avery household, J wakes up in the middle of the night and realizes Avery’s not beside her — probably because of that dramatic post-fight exit, J. She goes to find him on the couch (because they don’t have even one guest bedroom in their mansion) and tells him she does need him; she needs him more than anyone in the world. They get intimate (at least someone does), but when Avery wakes the next morning, Juliette is gone, and not just from the couch but from the whole house — maybe even from the country?

Guess we’ll find out next week!