Nashville: "I Don't Wanna Talk About It Now" Review

If the writers of Nashville do one thing really well, it's set things up for catastrophe. And not just the inevitable part of the catastrophe, but all the lingering repercussions.  It's what they did at the end of the first season with Rayna and Deacon's accident. The immediate outcome of that cliffhanger was Rayna's coma and Deacon's incarceration. But the lingering result was Rayna's inability to sing and how that led her to further business conflict with Edgehill's new management, and Deacon's inability to play his guitar.

In last week's episode, "I Don't Wanna Talk About It Now," I noticed three things that just might be hinting at calamities we'll see this season.

1. Gunnar and Zoey leave the Edgehill Showcase... together. Did you notice Gunnar leave the Edgehill party with Scarlett's friend Zoey? I can't imagine that won't lead to something. Even if nothing ever happens between those two, their interactions will eventually bother either Scarlett or Will. Or somebody else entirely, who knows? And leaving together wasn't the start of this. It started the episode before that, when she inspired him to write again. (The song he wrote, by the way, was my favorite performed on the season so far. I cannot wait for the next "Music of Nashville" album to drop.)

Source: abc.com

2. Will's choice to leave Highway 65 for Edgehill. In deciding he was a performer and not a songwriter, not only did Will put himself in a position to feel justified in ripping off Gunnar's songs, but he effectively sold himself short and bought himself a world of trouble down the road. Gunnar and Will have a fragile friendship as it is. And if you think working so near to his old flame won't come back to haunt him, you haven't been paying close enough attention. And that little look Layla gave Will while he was performing? That wasn't nothing, either.

3. And of course, Juliette's adulterous dalliance with Charles Wentworth. There are so many layers to that mistake. For one thing, there was about a 15 second scene in the episode where Juliette looked longingly at Charles and his wife. It seemed to me she wasn't longing for him, but for the love they (supposedly) shared. Poor Juliette. Charles has now further confirmed her disillusionment with love. And talk about foreshadowing - like Avery told her, "Defiance is a drug. It can make you do stupid things." How is this any stupider than any of the other ones? The short answer is that he's married. But the long answer is that he's a media mogul who's influence is of extreme importance to Edgehill Records. This was not just a relationship mistake. This was a business mistake.

It's just brilliant! Nashville proves that good drama has a long fuse. It doesn't happen all at once. By the time we reach the end of season 2, Nashville will have surprised us again. I'm sure of it. Whether it was based on something I noticed, or something else I've totally missed, season 2 is about to get catastrophically good.