‘Nashville’ Recap: “Speed Trap Town”

It has been a long time since an episode of Nashville has focused on Gunnar’s past but on Thursday, episode 20, “Speed Trap Town,” took us to his hometown for a walk down memory lane.

During last week's episode, Gunnar joined Avery on tour in Texas and since he was so close to his hometown, it only made sense for him to visit.

Upon visiting Gunnar’s hometown of Aurora, Texas, we meet two important people in the unfolding of his past: his grandma, Jill Scott, and an old friend, Kelly.

Gunnar’s first stop is to see his grandma, who is a mean old lady in a nursing home who does not act at all enthused by Gunnar’s visit. Why is she so mean toward her grandson? Well, we do not find that out until later.

After seeing his grandma, Gunnar remembers why he has not visited until now. He calls Scarlett to vent (as if she has not had a hard enough time lately) but Scarlett says she has to call him back.

When getting gas to head out of town, Gunnar just so happens to run into Kelly, an old friend from his high school. Talk about a tiny town! After flirting with him a little, she tells him the city plans on tearing down their old high school and suggests that pay a visit for old times’ sake. Could this be a date? C’mon, he was just dumped by Scarlett and does not need any more crazy ladies in his life. However, Kelly seems nice enough and he agrees to stay in town long enough to see her that night.

Scarlett calls Gunnar back before his date and he basically tells her not to call him because it makes things "too confusing" to talk all of the time. Wait, what? Do you not realize you are the one who called her, Gunnar?

Kelly and Gunnar meet up later at their high school and discuss their memories and current lives—well, Gunnar’s current life. When Gunnar asks Kelly what she has been up to, she quickly dodges the question by saying she is going to break into the school. Mysterious much? Gunnar joins her and while exploring his old classrooms, he starts having flashbacks of his childhood.

During these flashbacks, we see a young Gunnar be pulled out of class along with his brother, the principal tell him his parents have died and their grandma shows up to retrieve the grandchildren she is now forced to raise. Maybe, that is why she is so bitter toward Gunnar.

The following day, Gunnar drives past his old house and a phone call with Avery convinces him to knock and introduce himself to the current owners. Weird but whatever. The family that now lives in the house invites him in and upon seeing his old room, Gunnar has another flashback. This time we see a young Gunnar and his brother playing guitar and singing together as his grandma walks in, and scolds them by telling them to keep the racket down. Apparently, she has never supported his dreams because she never wanted to raise two more boys in the first place.

All of the flashbacks really start to hit him hard and later that night Kelly shows up to hang out with Gunnar again but he tells her he is not in the mood. She tells him to invite her in and they talk about his past until she thinks he is just vulnerable enough to kiss him. Gunnar pulls away and then she reveals she probably should not kiss him either considering she is married to her high school boyfriend (Ah! We knew there was something off about her!). She tells him she is not the solution to anyone's problems, she is just a girl with her own.

Gunnar's visit concludes with him going to see his grandma one last time and telling her he understands why she acted the way she did while raising him and his brother. All she says is she did the best she can. It may seem Gunnar has let it go but then he tells her he now has a successful music career and he is going to play her a song whether she likes it or not.

Meanwhile, Scarlett does not quite feel at home either. While washing dishes, she hears a strange noise and gets so scared she goes and stays with Deacon and the girls. When she admits to them why she is really there, Maddie suggests she take a self-defense class, an idea that Scarlett jumps on.

As Scarlett attends self-defense classes, she is too timid to really take her aggression out as is instructed. The instructor gives her a hard time because she is too nice but once they discuss why she is there and that she and Gunnar got assaulted, she gradually finds the power she needs to succeed in the class. Overall, self-defense seems like a great way for Scarlett to not only overcome her fears but also help her get over her grief especially since she told Deacon she still cries throughout the day over losing her daughter.

Deacon tells Scarlett that sometimes the opposite of being with someone is not being by yourself but leaning on a bunch of different people. Wow, Deacon seems to have so much more wisdom this season.

Scarlett is not the only person with whom Deacon shares his wisdom. Jessie asks Deacon for advice on a new song. Her songs are always so full of heartbreak. Of course, how could they not be? Fans may not be for sure how they feel about Jessie's role in Deacon's life but a few things are for certain: she is a good mom, her ex-husband is horrible and her past is just sad. This is reiterated when we watch Jessie's ex-husband tell her she can have extra time with her son only to take the invitation back for what seems like no other reason than just to hurt her. The saddest part is she admits to Deacon this is something she goes through all of the time.

Deacon must be drawn to the baggage because, by the end of the episode, he is working with Jessie on her new song. While giving her helpful tips, Jessie freaks out on him and accuses him of controlling her. Then when Deacon points out what is actually happening, Jessie apologizes and admits to taking out her frustration on Deacon because she is so used to how her ex-husband controls her. Deacon apologizes too (although he has not done anything wrong) and tells Jessie he is so used to having to lean on people himself that he got wrapped up in being on the other side of things and was just trying to help her. Poor Deacon, he really does not deserve a crazy relationship right now.

Juliette and Maddie are still on the rocks as well and we learn to further complicated things between them, they are both nominated for the same American Music Award. (Isn't it weird that in a show about country music two of the characters are nominated in the pop/rock category alongside Katy Perry? Fans are noticing things, CMT.)

The nominations only make things tenser as Maddie is still upset with Juliette for stealing the song "Water Rising" from her. Juliette's manager, Glenn, thinks Juliette should just be nice and that Maddie would have ended up passing on the song anyway. After all, Maddie's other hit already talks about tidal waves and "how much water can one girl sing about?"

Juliette sends out a congratulatory tweet to Maddie that says, "Congrats @maddiejaymesmusic on your first nomination! So well deserved." While Maddie, trying to be nice and respond but also trying to get her point across simply responds with, "Thanks @juliettebarnes I wrote it myself." Ooh, cat fight!

(Side note: Why does Maddie go by Maddie Jaymes when she was born Conrad and she is a Claybourne? Especially considering there was an episode early on in the series where she posted a video online with the name Maddie Claybourne? Is this in honor of Rayna or are we missing something?)

Juliette acts as if she wants Maddie to just fight with her and get it over with as she asks Glenn why Maddie has yet to say anything publicly about her stealing the song. Juliette seems to think Maddie's going to throw her under the bus eventually and is "just trying to prolong the pain" while Glenn thinks Maddie is trying to protect her. After all, Juliette did say herself she has known Maddie since she was a "tater tot." Maddie may end up being the bigger person and never telling the press.

Since this episode had enough drama, CMT saved the Juliette and Maddie award battle for next week. We will just have to tune in and see what happens!

If you missed last week's episode as well, you can find my recap on that HERE and if you do not like the direction the storylines are going, check out my other article HERE.