Nashville Review: 5.01 & 5.02

More than most shows, Nashville famously loves taking its viewers on a roller coaster ride of quality. For every episode focused on the main characters, the music, and storylines that actually have time to breathe, there’s another that feels like a bad soap opera wasting great actors. That being said, I was cautiously optimistic about this premiere, hoping that new showrunners plus a network change would allow for a reset of sorts, back to Nashville’s season one roots and the show Callie Khouri intended to make. After the first hour of the premiere aired in December, I was less cautiously optimistic and more just optimistic, even more so after watching the second hour this week.

The two episodes were pretty different tonally, but I don’t think in a bad way. The first was unapologetically a transition episode, wrapping up some loose ABC ends and changing the pace from last year’s frenetic, soapy style to one that’s earthier, more relaxed, and, as a result, more in line with the city the show represents. In contrast, the second hour was settled and had more room for levity than the first. Though it was billed as a two-part premiere, to me the first hour felt like the premiere and the second what a standard CMT episode of the show will be.

The slower pace allowed for my favorite aspects of the premiere: longer scenes, a focus on the central characters, and excellent communication between the show’s couples. In particular, consider the sheer amount of dialogue exchanged between Rayna and Deacon in these two episodes. If they’d talked that much in the first four years of the show, they would have gotten married ages ago. And, it’s worth noting, it was good dialogue; realistic and honest and completely representative of their relationship, particularly Deacon’s refreshingly honest “it’s your world” line in the second hour.

However, even in the midst of panic attacks, a career crisis, and an argument that could have easily turned into a rehashing of everything Rayna and Deacon resent about one another, impressively, there were still moments of lightness to be found: in the first hour, Deacon flying out to surprise Rayna; in the second, Rayna falling asleep on Deacon and trying to cajole his thoughts on the album out of him. Altogether, it pointed to a healthier and more mature version of their relationship where, hopefully, they will often meet in the middle as they did at the end of the premiere.

Scarlett and Gunnar also revealed maybe not more mature, but at least more self-aware versions of themselves, with Scarlett recognizing that she was being irrational about Gunnar’s song but not knowing what to do about it and Gunnar admitting to Will that he’s the last person who should give romantic advice. They felt very much like the tumultuous couple we’ve come to know and mostly love, but with signs that they’re headed for a steadier place, evidenced by Scarlett apologizing and Gunnar sweetly, smoothly changing a lyric on the fly.

The season five incarnation of Avery is much the same: steady, helpful, and eternally hopeful about Juliette, but Juliette herself feels more grounded post-plane crash (no pun intended). She’s still self-deprecating and believably frustrated by her injuries, but she’s also a little quieter and more introspective. For instance, she gladly handed over her phone number for Hallie instead of insisting on receiving hers. Juliette’s always had an aggressiveness about her, even when trying to do something nice, and, while I think that tenacity is still there, it felt a bit more measured in these first two episodes.

Other thoughts on the premiere:

Will’s storyline involved nearly cheating on Kevin and then characteristically overcompensating by asking his beau to move in with him. I do love his relationship with Kevin, but he and Jakob had great chemistry. Also, the unconventional spelling of Jakob’s name felt like an obvious attempt to show he’s a fancy Hollywood type and was comfortably reminiscent of the show’s cheesier side.

At the start of the first hour, Maddie and Daphne’s storyline had me concerned, but Maddie showed a nice maturity at the end that I would love to see more of.

Anyone else catch Avery’s cute, casual “love you guys” as he left Scarlett and Gunnar’s? One of my favorite aspects of this show is how unabashedly Scarlett, Gunnar, Avery, and Will care about one another, and I’m glad to see it made the move.

I liked that Rayna’s album storyline finally acknowledged that the “I’ve got a great idea, now everyone else get on board” part of her personality can be more obnoxious than it is charming; here, both Bucky and Deacon were understandably a little annoyed by it.

The in-the-making stalker storyline is the most overtly soapy new one, but it’s not bugging me yet. I actually like the way they’re introducing multiple suspects murder mystery style

What did everyone else think of the premiere? Let me know in comments!