No. No she didn’t. You’re forcing me to quote myself:
I think it’s obvious at this point she did not know she was being recorded at that point.
I think Just Ed is right. My first impression when I watched was that she was trying to be seen stealing the nail polish, but I think she was looking at the girls to make sure they weren’t looking. She was just being stupid.
And… pretty much no discussion of the shoplifting incident this week.
I love me a good complicated soap, but I think this episode makes it clear that they’ve got one plot line too many that they’re trying to keep going, and the one that is breaking the camel’s back is the husband-and-father/campaign for mayor.
I hope they drop it – I’m really rooting for this show, but last night’s ep was seriously meh for me.
To be fair, the consequences of the shoplifting incident are still evident, what with Juliette going back into the studio to record again (Hello Randy!) instead of going on tour and her manager and publicist (?) discussing a press release about her being hard at work.
But no argument they’re juggling a lot of storylines:[ul][li]Triangle #1: Rayna/Teddy/Deacon. Looks like Deacon is still unsure how to proceed and vacillating between stubbornness and conciliation. Rayna is sincerely trying to move forward (although I find it a little hard to believe she never tried to write a song on her own before). And it was stone cold hanging up on Deacon calling from prison. Teddy spent this episode far too wrapped up in his own campaign and problematic history to even notice (kudos to those of you who guessed the Peggy connection was business-scandal related and not personal).[]Triangle #2: Scarlett/Avery/Gunnar. Looks like Gunnar wants to get serious with Hailey just as Scarlett may be beginning to question her relationship with Avery. Real jerk move by Avery highjacking the demo to show off, and pretty good reaction from Scarlett realizing Avery likes her better when she’s not trying to be successful herself.[]Triangle #3: Teddy/Cole/Lamar. Cole seems quite willing to go for the jugular with Teddy, but also knows full well he is actually facing Lamar’s machine, not just Teddy. Meanwhile, Lamar seems quite capable of smoothing over Teddy’s audit problems while digging up dirt on Cole. Teddy sells his soul and agrees to go dirty against Cole.Juliette’s Mom. I wonder how much she’ll figure into future story lines now that she’s in rehab. I suppose she could always leave voluntarily and come back to haunt Juliette, but Juliette has moved, so will Mom even know where to find her?[/ul][/li]
I thought Esten did a very good job in this one, from his approach to Juliette’s mom, his temptation with her pills, and his exasperated fistfight at the end. He brings a real lived-in quality to the character that rings true.
I admit that I’m far from a connoiseur of country music, but I find it weird that I’m rarely able to tell the difference between any of the songs on this show. We’ve heard several times that Juliette’s music is disposable crap that’s just a watered-down version of real country music, but most of the time, it sounds barely distinguishable from the Rayna/Deacon or Scarlett/Gunnar music. The only thing that ever seems to change is the tempo; it seems like R/D and S/G sing a lot more ballads, while Juliette’s stuff is mostly upbeat.
Maybe that’s why I’m having a hard time identifying with Rayna. She seems like a Faith Hill type singer, which is fine and good, but presenting her as a contrast to Juliette’s “commercial” music just doesn’t make any sense to me.
I’m no connoisseur either, but I think tempo is actually part of it - a snappy, poppy beat combined with facile lyrics specifically; the more serious artists are supposed to have deeper lyrics and more serious sounding music (I guess). Which is not to say that serious music can’t be upbeat, but it’s an easier distinction to draw in a broad melodrama.
That’s a good point about the music being a sort of dramatic shorthand. I don’t love it, but if that’s what they’re trying to do, I can see the point. Now I’d like to see Gunnar and Scarlett try something more uptempo. A lot of their ballads all blend together for me as well, but I can chalk that up to me not knowing much about the genre’s finer points.
I was wondering what happened at that recording session. At one point in the show (during the Teddy/Lamar discussion over whiskey in Lamar’s office), we lost the satellite feed because of the snowstorm and I had to go out and brush snow off the dish. I was hoping we hadn’t missed anything important, but we were puzzled what had gone down between Scarlett and Avery when she smacked him down for screwing up her chance at recording.
And Juliette’s mom has got it goin’ on.
There was a little more to it, as well - during the session, Gunnar and Scarlett are singing to each other (of course) and Avery is doing a slow burn as he watches. His playing gets more and more expressive and he essentially does a little bit of a solo in the middle of their demo. Gunnar calls him out on it afterwards, and Avery lashes out at Gunnar for making eyes at his girl - all of which Scarlett overhears from the hallway outside.
And then they didn’t sell the song, with the potential buyer referring to the “song hijacked by the other guitarist” (paraphrase).
Overall impressions. Not too enamored with this episode. Rayna really came off as a cold bitch between trying to coerce Deacon into giving in on using their song on a commercial and hanging up when he called from prison. Not her best.
Couldn’t figure out why after being hung up on by Rayna he suddenly gives in on the song. And, they have him recording w/Juliette with no lead in. Didn’t he just tell her he couldn’t be there for her?
Music: not a fan of G & S’s song at the studio this week. The Fade Into You was much better. This week I really liked Deacon’s “Side Show”. The lyrics are definitely being used to further clarify the character’s innermost feelings I think. Side Show was particularly telling and spot on.
Deacon deserves better. I have a feeling that when Rayna discovers hubby’s true dealings she’s going to go running to Deacon but it will be too late.
In the pilot, they also complained about having to autotune her and I think the line they’re going with is that she’s more produced. I don’t think it’s just the songs- it’s the delivery.
Here’s Juliette singing Telescope
and here are Rayna’s girls with the same song.
I think that’s the contrast we’re supposed to be making.
As far as last night’s episode, I want to know what the words that changed for the commercial were and what they changed to. It would have showed whether Deacon was just being snippy or whether he really wouldn’t have wanted those words changed because they might have been meaningful.
Also, hanging up on him from jail was just wrong for anyone you don’t want to completely write out of your life forever. Even if you’re kind of distanced from someone at the moment, if you ever want to speak with them on cordial terms again, you pick up when they call from jail.
The song that ends episode 3 “Fade into You” is pretty damn good… and this is coming from a guy that despises country music and considers In Flames to be amazing.
Are you saying the actors are really singing that song? Or are they musicians playing actors?
Either way, great song.
The actors definitely do their own singing. They may or may not also be musicians. Britton and Penetierre are not but I don’t know about the others.
Charles Esten used to appear on “Whose Line Is It Anyway” as Chip Esten (see page 1 for my freakout about this) – he used to do song improvs with Wayne Brady.
And the girls doing a “country” version kicked the snot out of Juliette’s.
Yikes, of all the changes I’d experience in my dotage, I didn’t expect liking country music to be one of them. (Other evidence: Andrew Bird doing “If I Needed You.”)
From the AV club links to Charles “Chip” Esten on “Whose Line”
Good! Now if they’ll just ditch the political plot the show will be better and might make it past one season.
If it can keep its 18-49 demos (that seems like an awfully broad segment to be very useful) and create enough iTunes traffic, it might do okay. I think you’re right that they have one plot too many.