Nashville – The Wayfaring Stranger

By starrymag | January 15, 2017

By: Julie Mante

 

Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) is traveling and stops for gas. She hears someone singing and follows the sound. An old, blind man (Jesse McReynolds) is playing a tune that Rayna knows well. He senses her presence and stops playing. She encourages him to continue and he tells her that his voice is too weak to keep singing. He wants her to sing the song (“The Wayfaring Stranger”) instead, but she wants him to continue singing.

 

Three weeks before Rayna met the old man, Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) was fighting for her life when her plane crashed. A woman is calling for help and lamenting over the horror and destruction around her. She sees Juliette struggling to breathe and she tries to calm her down. She assures the young singer that help is on the way. She pleads with Juliette to hang on and starts singing an old hymn (“God Shall Wipe All Tears Away”) to her as they wait for the ambulance. Juliette is the only survivor.

 

Avery (Jonathan Jackson) wakes up Scarlett (Clare Bowen) and Gunnar (Sam Palladio) to tell them that he found out that Juliette’s plane crashed and he is going to find out more information. Will (Chris Carmack) gets a call as well. The girls wake up Deacon (Charles Esten) and Rayna and tell them about the crash. Quickly the family turns on the TV to find out more info about the crash.

 

Three weeks later, Juliette is in a wheelchair. Her manager Glenn (Ed Amatrudo) has been getting calls from the media who are eager to interview Juliette to learn more about her recovery. When the doctor walks in, Juliette is feeling despondent because her recovery is not happening fast enough. While her leg is healing, she only has feeling in her toe. As the doctor tests more areas on her leg, Juliette still cannot feel anything and her frustration grows.

 

As Rayna is in a rush to go to work, her husband Deacon tries to get her to slow down. She tells him that she is going to visit Juliette today. She is not looking forward to traveling to Silicon Valley to perform for the tech titans. When Rayna stops by, Juliette is doing her physical therapy. Rayna says that Juliette can feel free to lean on her in this difficult time. While Juliette appreciates Rayna’s words, she feels so much pressure to be better and she blames herself for the accident. She feels that ending up in the wheelchair was always going to happen to her and Rayna reminds her that everyone makes mistakes in life and this is not a punishment for past mistakes Juliette made. Juliette tells her about the angel who sang to her and kept her alive. Rayna points out that if Juliette was doomed, an angel would not save her life. Juliette concedes that point.

 

After she leaves Juliette, Rayna goes back to her label Highway 65 Records and gets some news from her business partner Bucky (David Alford). She is relieved to hear that her eldest daughter Maddie (Lennon Stella) is finally out of her Lennox Hill Records contract. The downside is that it cost the label $275,000 to void the contract. After The Exes (Scarlett & Gunnar) got kicked off Autumn Chase’s (Alicia Witt) tour, the duo group has lost all hopes of sponsorships so Rayna has to find another way to advertise The Exes’ album without spending money because the label is broke. Later that night, Rayna is looking at potential clients she could sign for Highway 65. Deacon tries to remind her that as long as they have each other and the girls, the rest of it does not matter. Rayna says she does not want to be a failure, but Deacon knows her. He knows that if the label does end up crashing, she will find something else to do.

 

The next day, as Rayna is packing for her Silicon Valley performance, Maddie is trying to get her mother to listen to a song she has been working on. Maddie is struggling to figure out her chorus and she wants her mother’s input. As Rayna packs and listens to her daughter play, she tells Maddie to get help from Deacon. Maddie’s sister Daphne (Maisy Stella) is eager to help, but Maddie wants to figure out her song on her own. Rayna says her goodbyes and leaves. While on the plane, Rayna does some research on Zach Welles (Cameron Scoggins) who is a successful app developer who invited her to California. The plane experiences some turbulence and it freaks out Rayna.

 

When she arrives in California, Deacon calls to check on her. She describes to Deacon about how she felt on the plane. After hearing her describe her feelings, Deacon tells her that he thinks she had a panic attack. He reminds her that she is probably feeling this way because of Juliette’s accident. Rayna tries to calm herself down before her performance and Deacon assures her that everything will be fine.

 

When she is released from the hospital, the media is camped outside Juliette’s house. Back in California, Rayna receives a warm welcome from Zach Welles, tech billionaire. A Rayna Jaymes fanboy. Avery tells Juliette that he is happy that she is home, but she has doubts about how long he will stay with her. When Rayna plays her classic hit Already Gone, only Zach is playing attention. Nobody in the room realizes they are in the midst of country music royalty.

 

Maddie plays her song for Deacon. When he offers suggestions, she does not like the changes he made to her song. Daphne comes into the room excited to show her older sister what she has come up with for Maddie’s song, but Maddie is not interested. She tells her to go away. Deacon says she was too harsh on her younger sister.

 

When Rayna finishes her set, Zach is apologetic about the lack of interest in the room. Rayna tells him that she was not offended. Juliette has flashbacks of the accident. When she wakes up, she tells Avery she wants to go back to the site of the crash. Daphne came up with a chorus to Maddie’s song and she plays it for Deacon, Scarlett and Gunnar. When Maddie hears Daphne playing her song, she is livid and storms off.

 

Zach tells Rayna about his life story and his love for country music, especially her songs. He wonders why she has not recorded any music lately. She admits to him that she does not feel that she has anything to say. He does not believe that. As she reveals to him that listening to Bill Monroe’s “Wayfaring Stranger” as an eleven-year-old girl made her shivering from the words and the emotion there, she realizes that she needs to feel inspired to do another album.

 

Scarlett comes to check on an angry Maddie. Maddie knows she was mean to her sister, but she feels that Daphne had no right to tweak her song. Scarlett tells her that is okay to get help sometimes. It does not make one a failure or it negates the contribution put into a song, it can only make a song better.

 

Avery and Juliette arrive at the crash site. Juliette wants to see the place where she was found again. Back in the hotel, Rayna calls Deacon to tell him about her performance and her reluctance to fly home tomorrow. Deacon says that she has to force herself to fly home and tells her to get some rest and things will be better in the morning. Avery struggles moving Juliette’s wheelchair in the grass so he decides to carry her. Rayna cries as she listens to “Wayfaring Stranger.” Juliette is devastated that she did not find what she was looking for. She breaks down and wonders why she survived.

 

In the morning, Rayna is surprised to see Deacon knocking on her hotel door. He knows that she is afraid of flying so he will be a shoulder to lean on in her time of need. Outside the crash site, Avery is asleep in the car while Juliette is still thinking. When he wakes up, she apologizes for making him take her there, but he tells her that he understands why she would want to come. She tells him that she wants to go home. He kisses her.

 

In bed, Rayna tells Deacon that she does not plan on flying today. Rayna feels it is important to have some time to think about her life and what she wants to do. Juliette’s accident reminded her that life is short and a person should not have regrets. She decides to rent a car and drive home alone and Deacon understands.

 

Back home, Maddie invites Daphne to sing her song with her. Avery and Juliette stop for a snack and it is across from a church. Juliette hears singing and decides to investigate. When Avery realizes that she is gone, he runs after her. Inside the church, Juliette finally sees her angel again. She is a member of the church choir. Back at the gas station, the musician tells her to keep on singing. As he sings, Rayna starts to hum along.