Struggles With Music and Relationships Arise on ‘Nashville’

Nashville took an interesting turn on Thursday night’s (Feb. 9) episode, with relationship struggles and the emotional side of making music coming to light.

Rayna (Connie Britton) and Deacon (Charles Esten) started to make headway on the duets album Rayna was eager to record about their history and love story. They’re uncomfortable with the new cameraman in their house, who’s been tasked to film their daily life as a behind-the-scenes look at making the album, which interrupts the creative experience for them both. Rayna finds the writing process to be more difficult than she expected, not realizing the pain that comes with reliving her and Deacon’s troubled past as they attempt to turn it into music.

Rayna finds the writing process to be more difficult than she expected, not realizing the pain that comes with reliving her and Deacon’s troubled past as they attempt to turn it into music.

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Their writing sessions together fall flat, and flashbacks come to Rayna’s mind about her darker memories with Deacon. An argument ensues when Deacon suggests they write separately and see what they come up with, making Rayna think that he’s scared to take on the project, while she's unsure of how to deal with the emotions of reliving their past. After a fight that leaves them not speaking, and a night apart, they find their chemistry again when they discover that they both wrote songs about each other that are a perfect complement to one another. They create a new song that draws from both, and take it to the recording studio.

Meanwhile, tension grows between Gunnar (Sam Palladio) and Scarlett (Clare Bowen) after their new music video gets over a million views and a TV appearance that leaves Gunnar confused by the shift in Scarlett’s attitude toward the video director, Damien. Scarlett and Damien go out for a celebratory dinner, at Gunnar’s insistence, when a spark forms between the two. Their feelings are confirmed when Damien bumps into Scarlett outside Rayna’s office as he's about to leave Nashville and tells her she has a bright future ahead, before taking her by surprise with a kiss. Scarlett is honest with Gunnar and tells him that she briefly had feelings for Damien, but she’s over it now that he’s gone, which Gunnar finds hard to believe.

But things may be far from over when Scarlett receives several texts from Damien saying that he’s still in Nashville -- and isn’t done with Scarlett.

Nashville airs every Thursday at 9PM EST on CMT.

Cast of Nashville Perform in New York City