It's one step forward and then three steps back this year. I don't know what it is exactly, but this season has more weak episodes than solid ones. Poor writing is definitely one of the problems and the characters are just boring as f*ck. They aren't do anything at all. Season 1 was a knock out punch. Season 2 held its own and this season has been flat. If the writers don't get their sh*t together, this is definitely going to be the final season. With that said, my prediction of Mykelti Williamson's character is starting to bear fruit. I know he would be the catalyst to get Scarlet back on stage and deal with her stage fright.

So, Nashville returned earlier this week from is mid-season hiatus and was looking forward to catching the episode. Only thing is that I realized that I hadn't seen the final two episodes leading into the break. I think this was around the time my TV crapped out and had to find a suitable TV as my replacement and that took a couple of weeks which meant that all my shows that I missed in that time were getting backed up. I thought I had gotten all the episodes for Nashville in the bag. I was wrong. So, I get another 2 episodes to watch. Kinda cool. As for this episode, I thought it was hilarious with Juliette stalking Avery with her sunglasses, hat and motorized wheelchair, as that was going to conceal her identity. Interesting turn of events for Layla. Was not expecting to see her hooking up with Ford. I liked the idea of Scarlet stepping into Gunner and Avery's band to save their audition. But it comes at the price of Zoey leaving. No idea if she is off the show now.

With Rayna calling off the wedding, I found myself gloating at Luke's meltdown. Can't stand the character or the actor and when Deacon pops him in the face, it was icing on the cake. With Deacon needing a liver transplant, it's clear that the only one that is going to be able to save him is Maddie. Just curious how they are going to play this. Will Teddy refuse to allow her to do so because he still hates Deacon? I dunno. Speaking of Teddy, when is that  h o o k e r  going to make a play and blackmail him? It's definitely coming. Just a question of when. As for the whole Micah/Gunner plot, I seriously hope we never see that kid again. He has to be at least 14-15 years old, but they were making him act like he was 9 and it showed. The whole story-line was a waste of time as it couldn't really go anywhere at all and it was only a byproduct of getting rid of his mother.

Meh. Kind of a boring episode. But there were a couple of good moments. I liked seeing Rayna high-jack the meeting to call out Ford and get him fired. I just wished that we had the chance to see it happen as it was done off-screen. They deprived us of a moment we had been waiting for a long time for. The cool moment was Avery getting props from the studio engineer. Everything else in the episode was just average. So, what's gonna become of Ford and Layla? He gonna mooch off her now, even if she is without work?

Not sure what I liked most about this one. I thought Daphne andMaddie's song was great. Rayna and Deacon's song was also good, but I hated the fact that the director turned it into a joke by having the audience members looking at their significant other with goo-goo eyes. It was stupid and it kind of wrecked what the scene should have been. I like the new name of Gunner's band: The Triple Exes. Very clever. Can we please kill of both Will and Luke already? Their character's are pointless. They usefulness ran out ages ago.

Another very average episode that played up Juliette's baby shower as the comedic centerpiece of everything. The jokes were too on-the-nose, especially her reaction to complaining about how Sadie chose now of all days to shoot and kill her Ex. Watching her fall off the rails was a bit too much. The show has never been about getting laughs and what they were trying to do here just stuck out like a sore thumb. With knowledge that Laura Benanti who plays Sadie has a new series of her own in the near future, I knew they were going to write her out. I just think they did a poor job of doing it. They should have had her go out with a bang rather than a "I need some time to deal with this on my own" cop out.

Article in our local "cool arts" paper The Nashville Scene bidding a fond farewell to the series.  I thought you might appreciate a local take on this.

I know the crew are rarin' to go.  And hey, Tracy knows I've never been on the show, maybe I'll get an invite or something.

I also imagine it would be easier for CMT to get the rerun rights than a streaming channel.  Given that Nashville is a sort of soap opera, you need that back catalog to go with it so people can catch up, streaming costs a lot of money, especially b/c of the music, but syndication on television is a different animal.  This is why I doubted that Netflix or Amazon would pick up the show, because they'd have to get that backlog as well.