'Nashville' Review - 1.07 Lovesick Blues

        On the newest episode of ABC's Nashville, Marshall Evans continues to pressure Rayna and Juliette to collaborate at an event at the Ryman theater; Teddy is forced to reveal the truth to Rayna when Peggy's desperation hits its peak; and Scarlett grows closer to Gunnar in an attempt to move past her failed relationship with Avery.

        Nashville is a show about country music. When the show remembers that fact and lets its main players interact and butt heads in that area, the resulting scenes are phenomenal. The past few weeks have strayed away from this idea and have thusly been very lackluster. The foundation the pilot set for this series was the inevitability of Rayna and Juliette being forced to work together. As the show has progressed, it has become exhausting because it refused to advance this plot forward in a meaningful and timely fashion. Rayna and Juliette kept going their separate ways in terms of various stories that were interesting but not particularly exciting. Nothing on this show really compares to the scenes where Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere can sit across from each other and continuously throw passive aggressive lines at each other. This episode made it painfully obvious that this is what the show is building to. So why not just bring them all together and do that story now? It would really make this show a whole lot better as soon as they reach that destination.
        The entire Avery-Scarlett-Gunnar plots and subplots have just grown to be so superfluous to everything else happening on the series. It hasn't been particularly exciting to see these characters interacting with one another. It seems like they are on a different series altogether. Sure, there is the occasional scene were Scarlett talks to Charles Esten's character but that's it in terms of crossover with the rest of the show. I bet Rayna and Scarlett could have this fabulous mentor-mentee relationship but the show needs to put them together. As it stands now, the sum of all the individual parts is not adding up to one coherent series.
        Earlier this week, it was announced that Kimberly Williams-Paisley would be promoted to series regular if the show was renewed for a second season and will appear in at least nine episodes of this season. This worries me because her character has proven to be so unnecessary and is only a plot device to throw some "action" into the terribly tangential political story. If the show could delve more into her personality and actually give her a voice and better connect her to the main drama, then I could appreciate her addition. But as it stands now, she seems like a waste here.

So what did everyone think of the episode? Do you care about Juliette's new boyfriend or the type of relationship the show is trying to build between the two? Thoughts on Wyclef Jean's brief introduction? Share your thoughts in the comments.