Nashville recap: 'Beneath Still Waters'

It was a quiet time down in Nashville this week as a few feuds were ignited and others extinguished, and there was zero sign of Juliette. Let’s do some recappin’ (it’s like recapping, but in a country accent).

When we check back in with the gang, Daphne does not want to go art walking with Jake, Jessie, and Deacon. I kind of don’t blame her. Looking in the window of an art store, Jake spends the whole time on his phone while Jessie and Deacon gush over art and each other. Then Daph makes a snide comment and things wrap up fairly quickly. When they get home Deacon wants to talk to her, but she avoids him.

Not to worry: Deacon has a master plan! Get the whole gang together for dinner, of course. As you can imagine, it’s a disaster that ends in Daphne storming off to her room. Jessie decides she should be the one to go after her, and after delivering a heartfelt speech about her own fears and just wanting to be her friend, not replace her mom, a teary Daphne relents and they end up in a good place with a little hand holding. Well, that story arc didn’t take long to resolve!

One disagreement resolved, another one just getting started: The guys (a.k.a. the super group boy band) are getting a great reaction on Twitter for Alana’s guest spot with the band — we know because all those affectionate tweets are displayed on screen for us to see. I don’t know when this became a pet peeve of mine but it definitely is. Will walks in all cranky because he can’t find his vitamins/he’s reacting to all the steroids he’s injecting into his body, and Avery shows up as cranky as well-mannered Avery gets because Juliette ran off to South America in the night and hasn’t been in touch since. (You decide who has the greater issues here.) Anyway, Gunnar is just pumped that Alana is such a hit. In fact, he’s so happy that he goes off to see her, and (CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT?!) they hook up. She’s all, It’s not a big deal, let’s keep this fun and casual, and Gunnar agrees he’s not ready for anything more, but since we all know Gunnar’s not capable of just a fun relationship, we can probably expect a proposal by season’s end.

Later in rehearsal, it’s obvious to everyone that they’ve slept together. The other two guys are unimpressed, but luckily the show goes off without a hitch — if you don’t count Scarlett clearly deducing that Gunnar and Alana have hooked up and Jessie’s ex-husband trying to poach Alana for himself. Oh, and grumpy Will is still pissed about it all. (Recap continues on page 2)

Meanwhile down at the ranch, Scarlett finally has a breakthrough with some teens who are impressed by her quasi-celebrity status. She sings for them as they brush horses. It’s very quaint, but she’s more interested in the stable owner Gail’s troubled nephew, Sean. Scar learns that he used to be so talented “he could’ve given John Mayer a run for his money,” but he’s since been to war and suffers from severe PTSD.

Always one to meddle, Scar goes home and watches a Facebook video of Sean performing with his high school best friend at their graduation. Later that night, she spots him out on the streets of Nashville drunkenly wandering alone. She follows him into an alleyway (apparently she’s forgotten that time she and Gunnar got mugged) and ends up taking him home to sleep it off after he takes a tumble into a pile of garbage.

Back at her place, Scar brings up the Facebook video and Sean gets anxious remembering his best friend he shared the stage with back then. Turns out he watched his “jaw get shot off” when they enlisted together, and because of the trauma Sean no longer plays music. He tries to leave, but she convinces him to spend the night on the couch after asking him, “Who does it help if you give up what you love?” The next morning Scarlett drives Sean back to the farm, where an unimpressed Gail is waiting. She later softens when they overhear him playing guitar and singing — and hopefully doing some healing. So many breakthroughs for Scarlett this week!

And that’s it for this episode! Will Juliette make it back next week? Will Avery be able to forgive her? I’d say it’s likely. We’ll find out soon enough.