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Nashville’s Four Biggest Moments: Juliette’s Survivor Guilt, Maddie Surprises Deacon

Better late than never. On the Thursday, January 12, episode of Nashville, overdue words were finally said — though some went better than others. Still wheelchair-bound and very unhappy about it, Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) seemed to be spending most of her alone time cyber-stalking the woman who had saved her. Somehow, from Facebook, Juliette was able to track down the woman’s address, and decided it was a good idea to show up at her house.

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Juliette Calls Herself a Horrible Person

The woman, named Hallie Jordan, was actually happy to see Juliette, and told the star the only reason she hadn’t called was because she was nervous. They decided to get together at some point in the future, which sounded nice, and Hallie drove off in her clunker of a car. Trying to help, Juliette had a fancy SUV delivered to Hallie, which she refused to keep. Juliette showed up at her house (again) and broke down emotionally.

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“I’ve been a terrible person my entire life. I’ve never cared about anyone but me,” Juliette said through tears. “Why did I survive when everybody else didn’t? It just doesn’t make sense.” Hallie said she thought it made perfect sense, and Juliette had been given a chance to change. Hallie then suggested Juliette try praying. It was unclear whether Juliette was willing to try that or not — but at least she had finally put words to how guilty she was feeling over having survived the plane crash.

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Maddie Gets, and Loses, a Job

OK, well it wasn’t exactly a job. It was an internship. But still, it was important. Avery (Jonathan Jackson) had apparently helped Maddie (Lennon Stella) get a gig at Tracks Studio. Shortly after Maddie got settled in, however, YouTube star Ashley Willerman arrived. To say Ashley wasn’t the nicest would be quite the understatement. She was basically everything you’d expect a 21-year-old with 15 million social media followers to be (in other words: awful).

Avery was set to produce her first album, though, and was trying to do his best to make it solid. His vision was to strip her music down a bit, so people could actually hear her voice. Her vision was basically to do the opposite. Somewhere in between arriving at the studio and fighting with Avery, Ashley had sent Maddie out for coffee. Though Maddie made a mess of it, dropping coffee on the floor and not getting the order right in the first place, she did meet a super hot guy with a killer voice and found the time to sneak in a lunch date. (You go, girl!)

Back at the studio, the drama continued until Avery quit. The next day, Maddie kicked things off by handing Ashley a coffee, but Ashley told her it wasn’t right, and she couldn’t drink it. And that’s when Maddie couldn’t take it for one more minute. “Do you even realize how lucky you are?” she asked. “You should be having the time of your life right now instead of whining about everything and being a total bitch!”

Not surprisingly, Ashley told her to get out. “Gladly!” Maddie screamed before storming off. So she almost made it through two days of work — well, almost through one-and-a-half, at least.

Connie Britton
Connie Britton in Nashville.

Deacon Confronts Maddie

Deacon (Charles Esten), who had witnessed the whole interaction between Maddie and Ashley, reported back to Rayna (Connie Britton) about what went down and confessed that he was terrified of confronting Maddie for fear that she would run off again. “I don’t care how tough she thinks she is right now,” Rayna said. “She needs you.” It seemed that Rayna’s encouragement worked because he talked to Maddie … not that this meant she was going to listen.

“No one told me that I was playing slave girl to some brat who’s not half as talented as I am!” she screamed. Deacon tried to keep the conversation on point and calmly reiterated that Maddie had been out of line. She responded by snapping that Ashley had been mean to him, too, in case he hadn’t noticed. To that, he commented that Maddie herself didn’t exactly have a history of coming to his defense. (No kidding.) That comment was met with a stunned silence.

Deacon left it at that, simply noting that she could have her job back if she apologized to Ashley. When she said there was no way that was happening, he shrugged and said she wouldn’t get very far if people thought she couldn’t finish things she started. Rayna later dropped in to tell Maddie it was time for her to apologize to Deacon for what she’d said during the trial, but it was actually Daphne (Maisie Stella) who seemed to finally get through to her. Maddie asked Daphne if she was turning into a bitch, and Daphne quipped, “A little.”

Maddie Apologizes to Deacon

It was a long time coming, but it finally came. “At the trial, I never believed those things I said, and I said them anyway because I felt trapped, and I felt like that was my only way out,” Maddie admitted to Deacon as she broke down in tears. “Now I feel like we can never go back. There’s no way you can trust me after I lied like that. I’m just really sorry.”

Deacon thanked her for her apology and said that he regretted not being a better dad. They hugged and made up. He walked her to work the next day … where she apologized to Ashley. It was a small victory for Deacon, but a significant one.

In other news, Juliette seemed to be getting some feeling back in her legs, though she was still struggling with survivor guilt — and right before the episode ended, Rayna’s new social media genius/assistant stole a weird homemade box from her desk. Creep alert!

Tell Us: Do you think Maddie and Deacon can really move forward now?

Nashville airs on CMT Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET. 

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