A Star is Mourned: Rayna's Reign Rains Down on Nashville

 Wild West Wynonna Necklace

Top: Bongo, Sears

Skirt (a dress!): Kohl's

Boots: 2 Lips Too, DSW

Bag: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney

Belt: Sheplers

Sunglasses: Relic, Kohl's

Fabulous Felt Cowgirl Cutie Necklace

Top (another dress!): Bisou Bisou, JCPenney

Skirt: ROSS Dress for Less

Boots: Charles Albert, Alloy

Bag: Nine West, ROSS Dress for Less

Belt: Gifted

Sunglasses: Relic, Kohl's

"Give boredom the boot with this Fabulous Felt Cowgirl Cutie Necklace and her sassy sidekick, Wild West Wynonna . . ." is what I'd say if I were listing these necklaces on Etsy instead of keeping them for myself.  But these days I want to hold on to every little bit of country I can.  I'm referring, of course, to the recent bombshell dropped on beloved TV drama "Nashville."  

The last time I blogged about "Nashville," ABC had cancelled it, and the last episode featured everyone living happily ever after except for Juliette (Hayden Panettiere), who may or may not have been killed in a plane crash.  Although I was sad to see the series, which was one of my favorites, go, I was comforted that no more havoc could be wreaked on the lives and loves of Music City's brightest.  Then, in a plot twist that no one (okay, everyone) saw coming, "Nashville" got picked up by CMT.  Naturally, I was elated, scrambling to see if my cable plan included Country Music Television.  It didn't, and one argument with the Comcast lady later, I was happily signed up for Hulu, where I could watch my old pals plus plenty of new ones for a mere $7.99 a month.  Come January, I eagerly tuned in to Season 5.  And discovered that, land sakes, Juliette was alive!  Paralyzed from the waist down and touched by an angel and all of that jazz (or maybe I should say bluegrass), but back to driving everyone crazy.  As for the rest of the show, it seemed folksier and lighter than before, with an unmistakably fresh, down-home feel.

Or so I thought.  Before long it reverted to its red alert, hot mess roots, with Scarlett (Clare Bowen) forsaking Gunnar (Sam Palladio) to hop into bed with her edgy but verbally abusive new music video director, the aptly named Damien, and Rayna (Connie Britton) being held at knifepoint by a stalker only to (MAJOR SPOILER ALERTS FROM HERE ON OUT) fall victim to yet another major car accident.  One second she's on the phone with Deacon (Charles Esten), then smash! -- the next, something plows into her.  It was so abrupt, so jarring, I jumped.

Rayna spends the next episode in the hospital.  At first, recovery seems in the cards.  Deacon asks her what she wants, and she glibly says, "A cheeseburger."  Ever the knight in shining armor, Deacon obliges, soon returning with the tasty treat.  But Rayna's fate is sealed when her dead mother appears in her hospital room and gently tells her to stop struggling with her new song because "maybe the song is finished."  Deacon is visibly shaken, pulling Rayna's doc aside to ask if it's normal for her to be seeing visions.  "Perfectly," she assures him, "it's just a side effect of the medication."  But Deacon knows different, and, it seems, so does Rayna.

For the rest of the hour, Rayna focuses on imparting wisdom to her nearest and dearest and saying goodbye, not only to them, but to us.  Rayna is the soul of "Nashville," and her life has touched the life of every other character, as evidenced by her full hospital room.  All too soon it's just Deacon, Maddie (Lennon Stella), and Daphne (Maisy Stella), singing the sweetly heartbreaking "A Life That's Good."  Rayna flutters her eyes . . . then closes them forever.

As character deaths go, this one was as sad as any country song worth its margarita.  A Google search confirmed the rumors that Connie Britton wanted to leave "Nashville," and that Rayna dying was the only way to make that happen and do Rayna justice.  Although it's perhaps unfair to attribute symbolism to a character's death when you know that said death was motivated by the actress's plans to leave the show, I couldn't help but think that Rayna James and Juliette Barnes traded places.  As in, Rayna's life was sacrificed so that Juliette's life could be saved.  And that Juliette, with all her Phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes insights, would one day flower into a full-fledged (albeit snarkier) Rayna.  

After all, the show must go on, even without its leading lady.  As showrunner Marshall Herskovitz pointed out in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, "Nashville" is, at its core, an ensemble story:

". . . the show of Nashville is a world, it's not about one person.  As great as Connie is and Rayna was, it was never just one person.  What people will find as they process their feelings -- and maybe fans will be angry at us or at her for this happening -- but they'll find the fabric of the show more than holds.  It's still this vibrant passionate creative world of people who live their lives in a way that has a fire beneath it."

Well put.  Nevertheless, "Nashville" won't be the same without Rayna's unique brand of guts, class, and grace.  

I'm just glad she got that cheeseburger.

Movie Moment: The Dilemma

Martin Luther King Day found my mom and I shopping and going to the movies, as per usual. We settled on The Dilemma, which had opened that weekend, the only competition having come in the (weak) form of Country Strong.

The movie began promisingly enough. Two couples, Ronny and Beth (Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Connelly) and Nick and Geneva (Kevin James, Winona Ryder) are hanging out in a bar when Ronny asks, "How long does it take to really get to know someone?" (Ronny and Beth aren't married, Nick and Geneva are, and they've all known each other a long time). Nick says ten minutes because that's how long it took him to realize he wanted to marry Geneva. But Ronny disagrees, insisting that you can know someone for years and think you've got him or her figured out only to learn something new that changes everything. It's a compelling question. Nick and Geneva hit the dance floor, spurring Beth to ask Ronny to dance. He points out that great men don't dance, then recites a list that includes Martin Luther King in a well-timed holiday shout-out.

Unfortunately, the whole thing goes downhill once Ronny sees Geneva kissing a tattoo-riddled young punk named Zip (Channing Tatum) and begins obsessing over whether or not to tell Nick. Ronny is also trying to get up the nerve to propose to Beth but is confronted by commitment issues that are compounded by what he learns about his best friend, a scenario that made me think of that "Family Guy" episode where Stewie pokes fun at Vince Vaughn: "Oh, Vince Vaughn is on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. Here's my summary of every Vince Vaughn movie: Oh, I'm incapable of loving another person. Oh wait, no I'm not. The end."

For some reason, Ronny decides to spy on Geneva and Zip, which leads to a string of gratuitously violent events. (At one point, Zip brandishes a gun, all the while insisting that he's the "sensitive type." To be fair, he is pretty broken up when Ronny shatters his fish tank.) Clearly, this wasn't the light, romantic comedy I'd been expecting. It was dark. And not in the good, indie-flick kind of way, but in the potentially funny story gone horribly wrong kind of way. For a movie about honesty, it was awfully dishonest in its marketing. At some points I was so bored that my mind wandered to the metallic pink chain-strapped Guess handbag and metallic bow-adorned Paris Hilton pumps I'd left behind in Marshalls. (After the movie, I went back for the bag, but not the shoes. I just couldn't own something being peddled by Paris.)

The plot finally culminates in Beth staging an intervention for Ronny. Apparently, all his covert activity has made her think he's gambling again (He's a gambling addict; I forgot to mention that). The scene is nail-bitingly awful. (To give you an idea, Zip shows up as Ronny's presumed bookie.) As you'd predict, all hell eventually breaks loose and all the secrets come tumbling out. Despite some gloomy aftermath, Ronny finally proposes to Beth, rather inelegantly by hiding the ring in a takeout bag.

Nick and Geneva, however, don't make it.

In the final scene, Ronny, Beth, and Nick are at a hockey game, the bookend to a scene from the beginning of the movie. Nick is chosen from the audience to shoot a goal and makes it, winning a dream vacation. As my mom put it, you just know he's taking Ronny as his guest in a perfect end to this fraternity-esque who-needs-women-anyway bromance. Not that she used the phrase fraternity-esque who-needs-women-anyway bromance, but the sentiment was there.

All in all, I don't regret seeing The Dilemma, if only because I like to collect movie-going experiences the way I like to collect shoes. Because even when your shoes pinch, you're (mostly) still glad you made the journey. Which reminds me, I'd better hop to it and get the Jack Handey quote of the week up here . . .