In the "Nashville" episode "I'm Sorry for You, My Friend," the touring duo, Juliette and Rayna, both try to dodge questions about their marriages, Teddy faces the mayoral election results, and Deacon runs into more trouble with his new band.
At a press conference for their "Red Lips, White Lies" tour, Rayna and Juliette try to smile their way through their faux friendship but the iciness is obvious. Juliette also faces questions about her flight from the altar, but she sticks with the "no comment" route.
Rayna has another cool conversation later, when she talks to Teddy on the phone. He wants her to come home for what he hopes will be a victory party after the election, but he gets frustrated when he realizes she probably won't. He ends the call quickly, and an annoyed Rayna lets her manager know that the ticket they're holding for her flight home should be canceled.
Rayna then argues with and loses the second guitarist in a row they've hired, even though the tour's barely begun. She talks Liam into taking the gig temporarily, but when she buys him cowboy boots, he has a heart-to-heart with her. He lets her know that he's never going to be Deacon -- that no one will -- and she should stop being so afraid of change. She protests but eventually starts to see that he's right.
The added bonus of having Liam around is that he's not afraid to stand up to Juliette. When she runs over her rehearsal time, he sprawls across the stage and says she'll have to perform around him. Angry, Juliette stalks off and demands her personal plane, so she can once again escape any kind of confrontation.
She finds herself with a big dilemma, however, when she's served with papers for an annulment. She wants a quickie divorce but is furious that he wants to pretend the marriage didn't exist. When she arranges to run into him so they can talk, he's cold and distant. When she says she won't admit to fraud, he tells her he only wants to get married once, and she wasn't the one.
Meanwhile, Scarlett asks Gunnar along on a trip to Texas to see her Uncle Deacon play live. He goes along but tells her he can't do the concert because he has family stuff. She realizes she doesn't know anything about his family, and it takes him a while to tell her. It turns out he only has an older brother, who's just been released from prison after eight years for armed robbery. Gunnar's brother is happy to see him and happy he's turned out better than he has. But it's soon clear that the ex-con is just going to go right back to his criminal ways.
Backstage at the concert, Scarlett is excited about meeting the band and seeing all the perks of being a rock star. She's not so excited when lead singer Cy starts hitting on her, and then tries to have his way with her. One of his other bandmates lets Deacon know where his niece is, and he rushes past the security guard in time to see Scarlett doing her best to fight Cy off. He throws the singer into a table, and it's officially the end of Deacon's time in the band. Scarlett later apologizes for costing him the gig, but Deacon tells her it was just the right excuse for him to leave.
Learning nothing from alienating his friends back home, Avery starts freezing out his manager. Convinced that Dominic, a record exec, has his best interests at heart, he goes around Marilyn to sign a contract -- a contract she told him would prevent him from making royalties for a long time. But Dominic gave him a car, so Avery tells Marilyn to get on board or get out of his way.
Back at the night's show, Juliette runs into Liam again. She's furious when he refuses to apologize for earlier, going further with his insistence that she never accepts fault or takes responsibility for anything that happens around her. Despite her anger, his words start to seep in. When she goes to the annulment hearing, she actually apologizes to Sean and agrees to his wishes. He's verbally cruel to her, but she's hurt him and shamed his family, so it's something she finally has to face.
Rayna realizes, after all, that she should be home for her husband's election. Teddy is surprised and pleased when she arrives just in time to see him win the mayoral election. In the background at the victory party, Tandy asks Lamar if he bought the election. He insists he didn't, but we're not sure if we should believe him.
When everyone has left the celebration at the hotel, Teddy answers the door and gets an unexpected visit from Peggy. She claims the pills were an accident and that she's fine now; she just wanted to congratulate him in person. Teddy is nervous about having her there, but he's feeling vulnerable and suddenly there's a lot of sexual tension. Peggy wisely breaks the spell, however, and leaves the room.
More from this contributor:
'Nashville' recap: Avery learns to 'Be Careful of Stones That You Throw'
'Nashville' recap: Juliette ready to go 'Where He Leads Me'
'Nashville' recap: Scarlett finally tells Avery 'You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)'
