Nashville- Season 1, Episodes 10-14

You guys, this show is finally getting good and trimming the plots that aren't working. It's moving things along and bringing everything we like about it, There is no more Scarlett/Gunnar/Avery love triangle. Avery is out; Gunnar is in. They didn't even annoy us with Gunnar's brother for long! Jason dies quickly, and thank the Lord for that. We thought Gunnar and Scarlett might get arrested for aiding and abetting. Wouldn't that have been a stupid waste of time?



Teddy and Rayna are getting a divorce, finally. Deacon finally grew a pair and kissed Rayna in the elevator, and he also got a dog. Juliette's mom is on the road to recovery, and Juliette is acting like a nicer person. We teared up when Juliette's mom told her daughter how proud she was of her kid.

Deacon is on Juliette's tour. Rayna and Juliette are really on tour together. Scarlett and Gunnar are getting signed and have hooked up with Avery's old band. Avery is already starting to regret his poor decisions. Rayna and Juliette are still bickering a little, and it's kind of dumb, but it's dying down a little. They need to have something real to fight about. The music has been consistently good. Leeard owns a good chunk of it.

We're starting to like both Deacon and Scarlett more. Scarlett has moved from a perfect, blonde damsel in distress to kind of an enthusiastic, driven girl. That might not seem like much, but we love to see her with ambition rather than stupidly being surprised when someone suggests she turn poems into songs. When she lives in Nashville. And works at the Bluebird Cafe. She has it together now. Now if only she could have some faults along with that gumption, she'd be a real character and not a Disney princess.

Now that Deacon is acting less pine-y, we've been more able to realize that he's the best person on the show. It's way easier to like him now that he isn't sleeping with a girl half his age anymore. We laughed at the Deacon masks at his birthday party. We like him so much better as a mentor/father figure to Juliette, as well as a coworker giving her sound advice and telling her when she's getting too histrionic and mean.

We didn't like the way the Tim Tebow plotline ended. Sean was truly vicious and unChristian in every way to Juliette, forcing her to bear the brunt of the blame for his hastily made decisions. We know he was hurt and ashamed, but you always want to leave things on a classy note on your end, especially when you know it's the last time you'll ever see someone. What a ween. Go cry about your virginity, Sean. The real Tim Tebow is probably gay, and even he wouldn't act that gay.

Teddy wins the election and hooks up with Cole to take on Rayna's dad. Nice. While this plot seems extraneous at this point, this group of people has started to come together so well and are so entangled in each other's lives that it works. We'll go with it, even though the Mayor plot isn't really our cup of tea and probably shouldn't have been in the show to begin with. Can't wait to see Lamar try to take him down. Does this spell more deaths?

You know what we like? Liam working with Rayna on a new album. What we don't care for? Liam and Rayna possibly hooking up in the future. Gross. They just don't work for us on any level, chemistry-wise. We much preferred Rayna realistically crying in the bathroom and backing away from the dumb choice. Peggy and Teddy are gross too. She is just despicable and weak in every way, and we're finding it hard to get her. Hopefully she goes the way of Jason.

We love Juliette writing her own material and taking the tween flash out of her show. She shouldn't have freaked out at her staff, obviously, but it's true that artists need to be allowed to grow. Just look at Christina Aguilera. She grew when she did Back to Basics. Then she went back to surly, slutty, stupid teenagehood again. But still. There's another lesson here: Don't look at the mean tweets. Look at any song on iTunes that's the least bit well-known. There are people who love it and people who trash it.

I'm Sorry for You, My Friend: B+, You Win Again: B+, I've Been Down that Road Before: A-, There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight: A-, Dear Brother: B-