SEASON GUIDE
4.04 "The Slender Threads That Bind Us Here"
4.05 "Stop The World (And Let Me Off)"
4.06 "Please Help Me I’m Fallin’"
4.07 "Can’t Get Used To Losing You"
4.08 "Unguarded Moments"
4.04 "The Slender Threads That Bind Us Here"
(Directed by Joanna Kerns, written by Monica Macer)
Rating: 7.5/10 (B)
The fourth season of Nashville has been overflowing with drama and everyone is pretty much miserable. "The Slender Threads" kicks off with Beverly’s funeral where a grief-stricken Deacon fails to deliver his eulogy. The rift between Scarlett and him has gotten so big that he doesn’t speak, let alone look at her. Deacon has been very adamant about keeping Beverly on life support even though the chances of her recovery were pretty much non-existent. If she had landed in that hospital bed through other circumstances, Deacon would've acted differently but in this case, he needed her to survive because he feels partially responsible for the entire situation.
And now that Beverly has passed, Deacon tucks that guilt away - temporarily, that is, I'm sure it'll come up again in an upcoming episode - to make room for anger (mis)directed at Scarlett, the person he thinks is to blame for his sister's death. It's painful watching Deacon and Scarlett like this given how much they've been through and how close they were but to have Deacon point the finger at Scarlett is just... heartbreaking.
We don’t get to see much of Scarlett. She said her goodbyes and accepted her mother’s death and is now trying to figure out what’s next for her. Zoey makes a short appearance as a gesture of support but doesn’t offer much other than the usual "You’re gonna get through this." shtick and in an effort to connect with Scarlett, Caleb reaches out to Gunnar to help him write a song for her. This was quite an unexpected turn of events given their recent hostile encounter but I’m glad it wasn’t taken further than that and they both seem to get along.
Now, I’ve never really liked Caleb and Scarlett as a couple, they’ve always felt mismatched and contrived and just like Scarlett, I can’t stop thinking of Caleb as a doctor because essentially, that is all he is: Deacon’s former doctor. Caleb was never developed beyond his profession, so it’s hard to be invested in a relationship when one of the characters barely feels like a character. I’m not sure how long Caleb is sticking around, I just hope that when he’s eventually out of the picture, Scarlett isn’t immediately paired up with Gunnar again.
On the music side, we have Markus’ surprise visit to Nashville and Layla’s debut at the Grand Ole Opry. Markus smells like trouble. He’s a douche, arrogant and egocentric and I just don’t really like him. He’s unpredictable and a wildcard, probably not exactly what Rayna was hoping for in a new artist but it’s what she’s stuck with and I hope for her sake that she can somehow make it work. The same goes for Avery as he is set to produce Markus’ new album. The last thing Avery needs is for his professional life to become as chaotic as his personal one.
Layla has her debut at the Opry and it was all smooth sailing until Markus decides to barge onto the stage. He literally stole the limelight from her and Layla standing completely in the dark was the best unintentionally funny moment I’ve seen in a while. I’ve never been a big fan of Layla because she can be somewhat of a pushover and is in a relationship with Jeff but she is growing on me, if only she would break up with Jeff. Them going public made me wary that this couple isn’t breaking up anytime soon.
And last but not least, we have Juliette. During the last three episodes, Juliette has been out on the road, away from her family, living the glamorous life of being a superstar. But inside that shiny facade lives a miserable, lonely and self-destructive soul. Many fans, myself included, have grown tired of Juliette’s behaviour.
But I think it’s important to remember that she is suffering from depression which can be extremely difficult to overcome, especially when the person affected hasn’t acknowledged yet that there is a problem that needs to be taken care of. In this episode, she shows more symptoms of depression than ever before: Lack of energy, intense anger, insomnia, apathy and she’s also reached the point where she resorts to substance abuse.
With all the stigmas surrounding depression and mental illness in general, it’s appreciable that the show doesn’t depict this disease as something Juliette can just snap out of. It’s not entertaining to watch, it’s not pretty to look at but that’s what depression is like; It can destroy you, it can change you so much your loved ones give up on you which in turn worsens your depression. Juliette is going down the spiral and there’s no easy way out. Let’s hope she hits rock bottom soon, so she can be on her way to becoming the mother Cadence needs and the wife Avery deserves.
Other thoughts/stuff/remarks/observations/whatever you wanna call this section:
- Hello there. Thank you for reading and checking out my first review for Nashville. I will be reviewing the show this season and will schedule the reviews to go up Sundays around 8/9 pm CEST.
- I’m not sure what exactly they plan on doing with Will. Ever since he came out, they haven’t done anything with him.
- It’s so weird that Maddie and Colt are dating. I mean, they were thisclose to being step siblings.
- I was surprised Scarlett didn’t join in when Gunnar sang Caleb’s song at the end. While I’m not too interested in a romantic reunion between them, I always welcome a duet between them.
- Gosh, I felt so bad for Emily. She’s probably too nice of a person to do this but I hope one of these days, she tells Juliette to stick it where the sun don’t shine for how shitty she has been treating her for pretty much the entirety of the show.
