'Nashville' Ends Series on Major Cliffhanger

By Aprille Hanson
Just like the changing tide of the country music genre, ABC’s “Nashville” has evolved over its four-season run, but the rock of the show has always been the drama. Much like a country song, heartache tore the characters apart, backstabbing is the norm, new love has blossomed and the thrill of the limelight has often been overshadowed by the dark side of fame -- drugs, alcohol, mental break-downs, etc.

The show has also tackled political corruption, struggles of the homosexual community in the South, divorce, death, homelessness and conditions like postpartum depression and alcoholism.

Essentially, the show has been a big dramatic message, with a backdrop of the country music industry in Nashville.

On May 25, the show aired its series finale after being canceled. While it’s not the biggest surprise that the show was axed, as it’s been on the bubble for a few seasons now, what was hard to swallow was the idea that the show’s writers did not write a suitable end to characters that fans have grown to love.

But “Maybe You’ll Appreciate Me Someday” was a surprisingly satisfying series finale, tying up almost all the major loose ends … until the last 30 seconds.

Country star Rayna Jaymes and her husband (lesser known, but immensely talented country artist) Deacon Claybourne (Connie Britton and Charles Esten) are working on a fundraiser concert for foster families in New York, coincidentally where their daughter Maddie (Lennon Stella) is working with a new label after emancipating from her parents. When the couple find out on social media that Maddie will be working with a high-powered music producer Vince Pearce (Vincent Ventresca), Rayna shares with Deacon how Vince made unwanted sexual advances on when she was a young artist, explaining that’s how she would be able to get ahead in the music industry. Reaching Maddie via phone or social media is fruitless, so Rayna instead writes and open letter to Maddie, shared on Huffington Post. As he did throughout the season, Deacon tried to right the wrong on his own, racing to Vince’s house to confront him and get Maddie back. Though fans expected him to basically punch him until he bled out -- Deacon is a bit of a “wild card,” as his daughter would sing -- but no punches were thrown. It was a nice wrap-up to see his character exhibit some restraint, especially since he broke up Vince already trying to push himself on a terrified Maddie, who had read her mother’s letter while Vince was mixing up more drinks. Instead of staying with her friend Cash (Jessy Schram), the catalyst to Maddie’s emancipation, Maddie left with Deacon and reunited with her mother and sister. It was an ending to their story that I honestly didn’t expect, instead thinking they’d draw out that story line for many more seasons.

The show caught up with The Exes, country duo Scarlett O’Connor (Clare Bowen) and Gunner Scott (Sam Palladio) who from the very beginning of the show have been the darlings of the series. Their love story often overshadowed other maybe bigger love affairs on the show. Their immense talent coupled with all the twists and turns in their romance was endearing. It was their little moment -- Gunners, glances at Scarlett, Scarlett’s cute little drawl teasing Gunner in some way -- that often times made the show worth watching. The two are touring with superstar Autumn Chase (Alicia Witt) and have just arrived back from a break when Scarlett finally relents, admitting to Gunner she’s still in love with him. Unfortunately, he’s just been vacationing in Aruba with Autumn. By the end though, their story wrapped up in the most perfect fashion, Gunner kissing Scarlett mid-song on stage to a cheering audience, both onscreen and no doubt at home.

For several episodes, country superstar and label-head Luke Wheeler (Will Chase) has been on a crusade to stand up against the homophobic naysayers in the country music world and across the country who are trying to bring down his artist, Will Lexington (Chris Carmack) just for being gay. Fans have seen Will progress from a heartthrob country artist on the way to the top with slew of female fans and even seeing him get married to Layla Grant (Aubrey Peeples) to now, a man who has finally excepted and embraced the fact that he is gay and as such, a spokesman for others in the gay community. In this final episode, Will finally steps into the spotlight, confronting newscaster Cynthia Davis (Mandy June Turpin) who has been railing against Will and Luke for “pushing their homosexual agenda.” It was a perfect way to leave this character, who in his final scene kisses ex-boyfriend/first true love Kevin Bicks (Kyle Dean Massey). Let’s not forget, Will early on tried to kill himself because he is gay, making this final scene something fans should celebrate.

If Rayna is the lead character in “Nashville,” Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) is not too far behind. Juliette has been one of the most out-of-control, deceitful and flat-out horrible characters on television. Whether she’s sleeping with people to get what she wants, screaming and often firing her poor manager Glenn Goodman (Ed Amatrudo) walking out on husband Avery Barkley (Jonathan Jackson) who is the one man to truly love her or leaving him to raise their first baby, Cadence, while she’s touring and partying, getting messed up on drugs and alcohol. But last season, it all boiled over for her when she was served divorce papers and tried to jump off a roof in a completely drunken haze. Her manager Jeff Fordam (Oliver Hudson) spots her and pulls her off the ledge only to fall to his death. It was then she entered rehab and was out for a few seasons. After rehab, though still not an angel, Juliette was finally responsible for her actions and willing to rebuild her life with her daughter and Avery. Panettiere did such an amazing job turning a once volatile character into one you can’t help but root for in the end. After Layla Grant tries to take down Juliette to avenge her boyfriend Jeff’s death by leaking the story to the press about how he died and dating Avery, Juliette instead of attending the Oscars as planned for her role as Patsy Cline, she holds a press conference at the awards telling the world what really happened that night on the roof. It’s at that moment that Avery, who realized Layla was a loon and dumped her, finally is willing to give it another shot with Juliette. The two have a beautiful phone conversation and though he doesn’t say he’s willing to take her back, the last scene is Avery and Cadence waiting at the private airstrip for Juliette’s plane to touch down.

For those who haven’t actually watched the finale, do yourself a favor -- stop it right there and allow the series to end that way. And in fact, stop reading this because the final 30 seconds ruined the series finale.

As Avery and Cadence are waiting, a man from the airport tells them to come inside because there was a distress call and communications have been lost with Juliette’s airplane … meaning likely that it has crashed … not so coincidentally like Patsy Cline. So the scene cuts off after Avery’s completely distraught face.

The show literally wrapped up every major storyline in a way that fans can smile about, but leaves everyone thinking that Juliette is dead. The fact that the last scene was not cut by just a few seconds after it was canceled, to leave the two standing at the airstrip is mind blowing and so unfortunate.

As fans will continue to plead with another network or online streaming service to pick it up or I’m sure TV movie buzz will begin, they can at least take to heart that the series finale did bring endings (some too permanent) to these beloved characters. 

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