or how she moves. Whenever she “dances” she looks like she’s having a spasm. It takes away from the stage presence that all the characters act like they think that she has. Plus the weak little girl thing - basically, that character annoys the hell out of me.
But pretty much everything else is working, even the incredibly overblown soapy stuff (car crash? really?) even the political crap may finally have found a place on the show. Looking forward to next season.
As a recovering alcoholic, I really wish they hadn’t gone there with Deacon. And then the car crash? Puh-leeze. (Whaddya bet there’s some confusion about who was driving when they’re both thrown from the car?)
That said – so glad that was the season finale and not the series finale, because I’m really looking forward to what happens next. (Including, maybe, Juliette reconciling with her manager – so sweet to see him be there for her.)
What I like about this show is the lead actors are really capable of finding the truth in the scenes- I find them very believable, and not melodramatic or soapy. I thought Deacon’s scene when they confront him in his house was very realistic. I bought it. And Connie Britton always delivers.
The car crash was obvious as soon as she got behind the wheel, but that’s not really on the actors. They had to have a cliffhanger-y moment for the season ender. But I thought it was a good last episode of the season, overall.
I wound up liking this show far more than I thought I would. I mean, I started watching it because I like Connie Britton and I figured there would be some good music, but I must admit the story lines and the acting drew me in (I wouldn’t be surprised to see Emmy nominations).
Some random thoughts on the season/finale:[ul][]Very good job by the writers and Hayden Panettiere in Juliette’s story. She began the season as an overbearing entitled little bitch, but she’s almost completely humanized at this point. Agree the scene where her manager hugs her was heartwarming (reminiscent of the Robin Williams/Matt Damon scene in Good Will Hunting).[]Similarly, good job making Lamar into more than a mustache-twirling villain (though Powers Boothe can make even the cartoon fun to watch sometimes).[]The Scarlett/Gunnar/Avery story line is becoming somewhat cliché; I hope they pursue the Avery/Juliette hookup and kill the triangle.[]Deacon’s backslide made me cringe, too. I’m not an addict, but I have one in the family, and I can’t imagine how devastating that would be. That said, Charles Esten was all too believable in those scenes.The car crash finale was another soap opera cliché, but I hope it will serve as Deacon’s wake-up call and not a drawn-out false drama regarding whose fault it was. (First thing I thought was actually “Well, that’s a pretty good bargaining chip for the producers should Connie Britton or Charles Esten make demands on new contracts!”)[/ul]So, yeah – definitely looking forward to next season, and I think they’ve set themselves up for some good story lines. We have Deacon’s backslide and of course the crash, and we’ll have to see whether or not he gets himself back, how he manages to deal with being Maddie’s biological father, and how all of that will affect the newly rekindled relationship with Rayna. Teddy will be dealing with a full-blown investigation and concomitant scandal involving his past. Juliette will be fighting through the crushing defeat of having gained what she wanted (the CMA award and “respect” that embodies) and realizing it means nothing, while trying to figure out how to proceed as a real person. Scarlett has a big decision to make, and Gunnar will have to deal with her possibly being more successful than him regardless of her answer. And of course, Rayna has a number of minefields in her relationships with Teddy, Deacon, and Maddie. Should be interesting.
Wrapped up like any daytime soap opera on a Friday, to make you want to tune in again on Monday.
They are burning through the cliches pretty quickly…they have to be careful not to run out of them or they might have to include a terrorist plot next season and spies and a serial killer.
Both the car crash and the marriage proposal felt incredibly tacked on and soapy, even for this show.
It was nice that Rayna attended the burial and the memorial service. More scenes with her and Juliette together, please.
I like Downward Spiral Deacon. He is clearly not a high-functioning alcoholic, but it would be interesting to see if he could hide his drinking while still attending AA.
According to this, T-Bone Burnett is leaving as music director for the show. Now, he is married to the show’s creator, Callie Khouri, and the person stepping in is Buddy Miller, T-Bone’s partner in crime (sideman, producing partner, etc. - when Robert Plant made that successful album with Alison Krause and T-Bone, Plant’s next, similar album was made with Buddy Miller).
So - not sure if this is a high-drama change, or a logical transition, i.e., T-Bone has a big career - he got the music started on the show to support his wife, but wasn’t planning on a long-term run. We’ll see…
I keep seeing T-Bone everywhere with John Mellencamp and Stephen King promoting their new ghost story/musical. So it may be that T-Bone has other new projects to work on, and Nashville has established itself enough that it doesn’t need his name anymore.
Miller is good - (I remember seeing him with his wife Julie Miller in concert back in the '90s!) I also think Miller has stronger roots in the city of Nashville than T-Bone does, but I don’t know much about where T-Bone spends most of his time.
That makes sense. I suspect at this point songwriters are seeing the benefits of getting their work in front of millions of non-country fans every week.