NASHVILLE S01E05

You know, what's wrong with this series? Nothing ever happens there. It's been five episodes already and the writers are still chewing the same piece of gum. Rayna and Deacon are still in this complicated relationship. The story about Scarlett - Avery - Gunnar triangle is in some real stagnation. The conflict between Juliette and Rayna has died before reaching any critical point. Teddy's past is still haunting him without striking, and so on and so forth.

As I see some action in any of these story lines, I think to myself "Finally, it's resolved, they're moving on", - but in the end, to my great disappointment, everything goes back to where it's started. Painful, to say the least.  

I do love movies where people are locked in the room together and almost nothing happens there besides them talking (I madly, deeply love Sleuth, for instance), but the thing is: you can't make a series out of this, it has to remain very concentrated to be enjoyable. Yet here I am, watching Nashville.

Recap:

So, Rayna cancelled the tour and is now looking forward to the new record. I wouldn't know how appropriate that is to give up on the previous album and just move on, but that's what she's decided to do. In a meanwhile, to get some cash she's selling one of her songs for a beauty commercial and it didn't even occur to her that Deacon, a co-writer of the song wouldn't sign a release.Well, not until it happens.

Peggy still bothers Teddy and says she wants to tell the secret. So, to prevent that from happening, Teddy turns to Lamar for help. Teddy then admits that he basically floated his funds with Peggy's money, which is kind of illegal. Lamar promises to resolve this. Lamar also suggests to run a negative campaign on Coleman.

Hailey insists that their relationship with Gunnar should remain cool and as less complicated as possible. Gunnar disagrees (he should definitely talk to Rayna and Deacon about it, I'm sure they would support Hailey on this).

Rayna comes to Deacon to ask for a release personally. They argue about it and eventually he declines.

Juliette locks herself and her staff in the studio and tries to record a perfect album. Deacon hints that she's just avoiding spending time at home with her mother. He offers help in getting Juliette's mom to agree on being placed to a rehab, at first she rejects, but eventually has to accept his assistance. Together they manage to persuade Juliette's mom to go to a clinic. As she leaves, she drops some pills that Deacon picks up and keeps. The next morning he meets with his sponsor and confesses that he wanted to take those pills, but he did not.

Rayna writes a song on her own, because no other song writer is available. She has another boring conversation with Teddy about the whole Deacon situation.

Scarlett and Gunnar get to perform before of the producers to sell their song. Their manager suggest to get an additional guitar and Avery agrees to do it. However, he gets jealous and tries to steal the show, which results in a total failure: they don't get the deal.

Lamar makes the auditor go away. When Peggy thanks Teddy for it, some paparazzi takes photos of them holding hands and such.

Deacon gets to a fist fight with a couple of drunks outside of the Blue Bird. He gets arrested and calls Rayna, who declines the call as she hears it's from a detention facility. Juliette bails Deacon and they go for a ride. Deacon also tells his lawyer to sign a release on the song for the commercial.

Score 5/10

NASHVILLE S01E04: THE STORY'S LOST IN EMOTIONS

So the fourth episode of Nashville in my opinion was no good. The narration turned to a display of different characters' mental meltdowns; the subconscious, inner emotion dominated the story so much, that the feeling this episode left me with could be expressed with the phrase widely used in this very series, namely, "what the hell was that?"

For example, let's take the fight between Deacon and Teddy. I cannot believe this kind of thing never happened before, and more importantly, I think nothing extraordinary has been said, nothing to justify Rayna not wanting to come home after this. Or the scene where Juliette finds her baby photo in her mother's bag: did not seem like a trigger good enough to make her cry.

Neither am I convinced that shoplifting could actually cause that much damage to Juliette's career. And the PR specialist they hired did not look particularly professional. There's been only one instance of stealing caught on camera, so there was absolutely no need to come clean, and Juliette's explanation of the situation was completely plausible, so this is what they had to go with. And so that part of the story seemed quite idiotic to me.

I understand that the creators are going after a character centered  narration, maybe by eliminating logic and basic story integrity they want to build an emotional connection between the characters and the audience.  But sadly, it doesn't work on me.

Oh, and I suddenly realized that Charles Esten, the actor who impersonates Deacon, looks a lot like Mitt Romney.

This time I've decided to try to capture and transmit all this drama using a new format: a photo recap.

NASHVILLE (EPs 2&3): JAMES STILL NO ANGEL

The second episode of Nashville was extremely boring, the third seemed slightly better: though it still lacked any real action, at least the characters showed emotions that felt natural in given circumstances.

Watty White's idea was not to give a song by Scarlett and Gunnar to Rayna to safe her tour. He actually suggested her to tour with Deacon instead, to perform the old songs they wrote back in the times when they were dating. After singing with her ex at the Bluebird cafe, Rayna comes to realize that she still has some feelings she doesn't want out and that the idea of this duet could cost quite a lot for her personally. We learn that their romance lasted for eleven (!) years, right until the time when Deacon got to a rehab due to his drinking problem. So yes, a lot of painful memories that must bring. However, she doesn't say she doesn't want it, and when asked by Deacon why doesn't she pronounce that their relations and everything is over, she gives a weird speech about how she's trying to do the right thing and she can't. So, she neither wants to be with him, nor does she let him go.

Juliette throughout both episodes kept asking her manager, why Deacon is not on her band. There was very little use in that, because her manager doesn't seem to be particularly skilled, so she keeps screwing Mr. Clayborne (this time him exclusively), until they write and record a song together. But he does say "no" to going on tour with her instead of Rayna. On top of that she has to deal with her addicted mother, who came to Nashville, because she didn't have anywhere else to go. Juliette's manager advises to let mom stay at Juliette's manor, to minimize harm she can cause. In the end of a third episode, Barnes is caught on teenager's phone camera stealing a nail polish, which, I think she did on purpose. I imagine, she'll have to hold a press conference to explain how troubled her life was/is to get to Deacon. Or she's just a kleptomaniac.

The financial adviser of  Rayna and Teddy says they're pretty much broke. He suggests to take a loan on the house, which is no longer easy to get, or go on tour with Juliette Barnes, or borrow money from Lamar, Rayna's father. Lamar sends a loan offer of 500 000$, but he puts some clauses to the loan agreement that restrict Rayna's touring possibilities. When he appears at the school talent show to watch his granddaughters perform Juliette's song (this time their mother didn't seem to mind the low quality of this song), Rayna tells him to leave very rudely. She later learns from her sister that Lamar's attitude towards her career could have been caused by her mother's affair with some songwriter. Rayna comes to her dad with good intentions, but as she hears that he believes her to disregard her family like her mother used to (which is completely true), she insults him again, blaming him for her mother's affair.

Watty offers Gunnar and Scarlett to record some demos for them. Scarlett worries that her boyfriend Avery would be jealous, and he is, but he tells her to do it anyway. Then at the studio she screws up to the point where Watty offers to give the song to some other girl. Once again, Avery helps Scarlett overcome her insecurities and comes to support her in the studio. Because he's outlined as "bad" person, his secret motive could have been being introduced to Mr.White.

Teddy probably did some illegal stuff in the past, something that will obviously hunt him down in his campaign.  
So, to outline characters' traits: Rayna is a hypocrite, Juliette - sophisticated and evil, Deacon messed up, Scarlett - silly/naive, Gunnar - plain idiot, Avery - layered, Teddy - weak and cowardly, Lamar - excessively controlling.

Score:

S01E02: 5/10

S01E03: 7/10

NASHVILLE: TOO EARLY FOR A PERIOD DRAMA, TOO LATE FOR CONTEMPORARY

Recap:

This is Rayna James (Connie Britton), a country music star, whose upcoming tour doesn't seem to be successful.

Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere), a new sensation, who's trying to get all the best people from Rayna's entourage by sleeping with them all and essentially take Rayna's place. She also has a drug addicted mother.

Marshall Evans (Todd Truley) the new manager of the label Rayna and Juliette work for. He's got great idea to earn money: send both of them on tour to co-headline. James would be opening, the label would save money on production, a win-win! Great idea, but somehow Rayna doesn't like it (so proud).

Randy Roberts (Burgess Jenkins) Rayna's producer, who's doing Juliette, and she already got good songs from him for that instead of Rayna (to be fair, Rayna was offered these songs first, but she hesitated).

Deacon Clayborne (Charles Esten), Rayna's ex-lover, lead guitarist of her band and a songwriter, also doing Juliette (she wants him in her band).

Lamar Wyatt (Powers Boothe) Rayna's father and a very rich man. She likes to think she earned everything on her own, without his help. He claims he paid for her first record.

Teddy Conrad (Eric Close), Rayna's husband, who we learn was not her first choice for marriage. He's just a loser generally, but now Wyatt offers him to run for the mayor's office (because another candidate would interfere with his business plan and Wyatt needs a puppet). In a fight with Rayna, Wyatt also implies that Teddy is not the father of his older granddaughter (so she's Deacon's or?)

These are Scarlett O'Connor (Clare Bowen), Deacon's niece, and Gunnar Scott (Sam Palladio), they wrote a song together (Scarlett's lyrics, Gunnar's music).

 This is Watty White (J.D. Souther) a legendary country music producer and a friend of Rayna's. He hears the song by Scarlett and Gunnar, and I guess he wants this song for Rayna.

So these are the key characters and key events.

A question: do they seriously choose a hypocritical, judgmental, arrogant b**** without any self reflection practice as a main (read: good) character? I'm talking about Rayna James here. Who can possibly like this not-so-long-ago-the-future-of-country-music, who even being close to hitting rock bottom throws a diva at her own rehearsal? She's the one that "settled" for the man she married, but now she doesn't want "to lie" (by co-headlining) that she likes Juliette's music (uuu, principles!). She's the one that's treating her husband like crap despite the fact that he's apparently raising somebody else's daughter. And I can't not to comment on her performance in the beginning of the episode: it was stiff and awkward, her voice was weak-ish and boring, and the song was so-so. I'm obviously not in any way objective since my youth was marked by the ascension of Britney Spears (and actually, I think "the new market" they are referring to in Nashville was that of the time of Britney, so early 2000s; it's a lot different now; for example the song that Scarlett and Gunnar sung would come from youtube now, not from the bar singing contest/karaoke, whatever that was), but I've gotta say I'm not surprised Rayna's tour not going that well. She kind of sucks.

By adding so many layers to the character of Rayna James, the creators of the show made her, as I said, a little bit of a hypocrite. So what did they do to fix that? They created an antagonist that would seem even more immoral than Rayna, Juliette Barnes. But wait... did they really?

OK, what do we have on Juliette? She's using her looks, which is fine for any performer. She's ego-centric, but so is Rayna. Her voice isn't perfect, but they actually had to articulate that ("thank God for the auto tune"), otherwise I did not see any flaws. Her mother is a drug addict, but that's not her fault (though this is supposed to explain why she turned to be a bad girl). And then, Callie Khouri (the scriptwriter and producer of the show) shows her pocket Aces: Juliette is sleeping with every man standing, to get her way. It was already two guys in the first episode and we can only guess, how many men she did before she became popular.

Wow. Explain to me one thing: why a female character from "the dark side" must necessarily be a slut? Maybe it's just hard to accept for a female writer from another generation that younger girls can generally achieve more not only because of their looks and high demand for them on a sex market (that too, of course), but because they can generally better adapt to the modern time, I think, they understand intuitively what are the trends and where to head to get somewhere. Besides, sex in show biz? I don't know about country music, of course, but there hardly is enough straight men to light up all these new little stars that appear every month.

Anyway, I think it was a bit low to make Juliette sleeping around, but at least she really "achieved" everything she has on her own, whereas Rayna wouldn't be a star without her father (secretly) paying for her first record. 

Rayna and Juliette seem to be very much alike, only the latter lives the life the former sort of wishes of (she's young, famous and with Deacon).
 
In general, the dialogues are great, that's what the creators of The Mob Doctor must listen to on repeat, until they get it; musical parts are very well integrated to the narration, it is perfectly directed, the actors are amazing and the characters are rather interesting (not necessarily likable, though). I liked Rayna's father and Juliette the most so far. Plus, the main characters are female and this season women really dominate. Yet I think this show is late for 5-10 years (where is Internet and social networks, mm?). But it'll definitely get many awards next year, critics seem to looooove it.

Score: 8/10

CITIES OF MUSIC AND SIN

Vegas or Nashville? A cowboy or a country music star? Murders, fights and tough guys or intrigues, betrayal and tough girls?We can now have both.

Vegas, a new drama on CBS, is said to be based on the true story of a Las Vegas Sheriff in the1960's. I believe the show is following a declining now trend, set by Mad Men, a trend of portraying America's recent past (others of the same sort are Pan Am, Magic City, The Playboy Club).

The story rolls around an antagonism between a rancher Ralph Lamb (Dennis Quaid, The Day after Tomorrow) and a Chicago gangster Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis, The Shield). If you missed a direct, honest old guy with big fists, this series might be just what you want. Though I'll watch it for lulz.

Dennis Quaid as Ralph Lamb

Geeks might also be excited to see how Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) is playing Assistant District Attorney, Katherine O'Connell.

The show was written by Nicholas Pileggi (Casino, City Hall) and Greg Walker (The X-Files, Smallville), and directed by James Mangold (Knight and Day, NYC 22). It premiers on the 28th of September.

The story of Nashville (ABC) is happening in our time and it's about a fading star of country music, Rayna James (Connie Britton, American Horror Story) and a young and ambitious singer Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere, Heroes). Naturally, Juliette will try to overthrow Rayna from her Olympus, and Rayna will do what she can to hold her reign. Must be a good soap, unless they fill it with clichés up to the point when every turn is predictable.

Connie Britton as Rayna James

The show was created by Callie Khouri (Thelma and Louise), who actually lived in Nashville for some time. Besides Khouri, executive producers of the show are R.J. Cutler (also directed the pilot), James D. Parriott (Sons of Anarchy, Grey’s Anatomy) and Steve Buchanan (was involved in production of various country music specials and TV movies).