Nashville struggled for identity through its First Season, but eventually decided upon echoing 80s super-soap Dallas, the differences being the substitution of country music for oil as the commodity in dispute, and the relegation of the faux-JR villain to a secondary role, with reigning ‘Queen of Country’ (QoC) Rayna James (Connie Britton) and bubblegum country upstart Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) taking star-billing for the show.
However, since Rayna ended the First Season in a car-crash, ‘I Fall To Pieces’ opens with her in a coma, meaning Juliette takes centre-stage. Her characterisation was all over the place last season, but since she variously underwent a shop-lifting scandal, a marriage short enough to raise even Kim Kardashian’s heavily botoxed eyebrows and her mother’s suicide, we’ll forgive her. In the premiere her personality is set to default Juliette: pissed off, largely because Rayna’s inconsiderately gone and gotten herself in a coma at the same time as Awards Season and Juliette’s new album release. The cheek of it!
To add insult to her injury, she can’t yell at anyone because a conglomerate has just subsumed the label and there’s no one to move her album date (sad face). Don’t worry though, Juliette has a cunning and predictably insensitive plan: exploit Rayna’s coma to her own advantage. With a cover of one of Rayna’s song and a supremely distasteful slideshow of Juliette and the QoC, everyone will love her and buy her album. Fortunately this gets a particularly acidic reaction from Avery (Jonathan Jackson): “Interestingly enough, you were in most of the pictures.”
The men of Nashville took a backseat. Teddy Conrad (Eric Close), Rayna’s ex-husband and all around bastard, starts out making very Dallas style comments about ensuring Deacon gets sent down since he’s Mayor and he’s ‘talked to the judge.’ Karma’s a bitch though, and his bat-shit ex-girlfriend Peggy, tells him she’s having a baby with him, even after being told she’s miscarried. Lamar Wyatt (Powers Boothe), Rayna’s Dad and the JR of the piece is in the shit too, since daughter and sister to Rayna, Tandy (Judith Hoag)’s found out he had a hand in the tragic car-crash that killed their Mom while he was out of town ‘on business’.
‘I Fall To Pieces’ had a lot to deliver. If it had been as inconsistent as much of the First Season, then Nashville could have been written off there and then as destined for cancellation. Fortunately there’s a clear message from the Nashville team: this is Dallas for the 21st Century (if you ignore the truly awful TNT revival…). There are bombastic soapy plot twists, but more importantly for Nashville asserted its identity and the central storylines for the upcoming season. This show was always about the women of the show and that’s been affirmed. The central rivalry between Rayna and Juliette might fall into personal remarks, most commonly Rayna bashing Juliette’s musical style and diva-isms, but it isn’t petty. It’s about their music and the nature of their character more than anything else. It’s a long way from the high school bitchiness similar shows have displayed in the past. Fabulously written, confidently delivered and fundamentally entertaining, ‘I Fall To Pieces’ has teed Nashville up for an even more successful second Season.