‘Nashville’ season 3, episode 18 recap: The new girl in town

Nashville season 3, episode 18, “Nobody Knows But Me,” introduced a pop diva who had ties to a familiar face. Read on below for the full recap.

With so much that went on last night we are going to go down the character line and see what happened. Let’s begin!

Rayna: Poor Rayna just can’t catch a break lately. It’s been three weeks since the last episode and things are still not good between Maddie and her parents. Rayna discovers that she has been officially dating Luke’s son Colt and that does not sit well with Mama Ray. She confronts Maddie about the relationship, Maddie fires back some MAJOR sass, so Rayna grounds her from her date with Colt to see Jade St. John.

How did Rayna get so much information about the couple? Well she ran into Luke at the recording studio. These two are actually navigating the post-engagement life much better these days. Rayna goes to the concert after a fight with Deacon and finds out that Layla is going to open for Jade because Jeff got her in. Ray is NOT happy and tells Jeff to enjoy it while it lasts.

Deacon gets Maddie to open up and this results in her apologizing to her mother. Deke brings her to the concert and Ray gives her blessing to the two young love birds. Deacon also takes this moment to have a heart-to-heart with Luke, who is giving off sad puppy dog vibes. Deke tells him that he has cancer and that he appreciates Maddie having some place to go during this rough time. Luke seems genuinely concerned about his one-time friend and the two make some sort of peace.

Juliette: Something is really wrong with Juliette, you guys. Is the show really going to do a post-partum depression storyline, because that sure seems what it looks like. To start, we finally learn the baby’s pretty perfect name, Cadence. And Baby Cadence doesn’t like to be soothed by anyone but Avery, who has to get to an interview for the band that he has put off trying to help Juliette. Juliette needs to get back to her career and that comes in the form of writing the closing credits song for the movie she was in way back when.

But Avery can’t help her write it because he is too busy struggling to be relevant in the band, not just Mr. Juliette Barnes. So he tells JuJu not to come to the party that night that is going to promote all three of the bandmates, not just Gunnar and Scarlett, whose magic performance is still catching everyone’s eyes. It goes really well, minus Gunnar being a giant weirdo to Caleb, who has firmly placed his arm around Scarlett. Mine, it says.

Juliette remembers that there are other song writers in town and calls Deke who is thrilled to see her and the baby. Juliette shows less and less concern for the baby as the episode goes along and she ends up causing Deacon to leave their session and hiring a live-in nanny — that she didn’t consult Avery about. Avery wakes up the next morning to the nanny and the baby but no Juliette. He goes to Gunnar and Scarlett and tells them he has to quit while Juliette boards a plane to L.A., telling Glenn and Emily that everything is great. Uh oh.

Jeff: Jeff, Jeff, Jeff. Why can’t you always do the right thing? Like this week where you suck up your pride and go talk to your super famous ex-fiance Jade St. John about having your only client open for her wildly popular concert. Which is exactly what Jeffy boy did and this included getting Luke there, as Jade’s only request. It was hard but it happens, and Layla seems happy so let’s just call this a win.

Teddy: And here’s Jeff’s other stupid half. Teddy, couldn’t you smell the set up like the rest of us? That’s right folks, the money and Natasha’s desperate need to get out of town were all a part of a sting set up by the Feds. Natasha will get immunity but Teddy will most definitely not. Who knows what our poor sad mayor will do when he finds this out.

Will: Saved this story beat for last because it’s always nice to end on a positive note and this is the best thing to happen. Will finally came out to another person and that person didn’t freak out! Plus he reciprocated his feels and kissed him back. That’s right, Kevin and Will kissed and we are one step closer to Will finding some inner peace with his sexuality. Hallelujah!