According to an article on Deadline, Nashville's final season premiere got off to a strong start, and the momentum continued into tonight's episode. With that being said, let's get down to what happened!

A daring date

As Deacon and Scarlett are at the market, the latter notices Gunnar and tries to avoid him. After they're done hiding, they immediately run into Jessie, and Scarlett makes herself scarce. They have a quick conversation that has Scarlett suggesting that he call her.

He does and asks her on a date, which, after some feelings of uncertainty on Jessie's part, she accepts. Maddie's all for Deacon and Jessie, and she vents to him about proper text etiquette and how Jonah's being hot and cold with her (this prompts Deacon to check his own text etiquette). Jessie tells Deacon that Jake's mood is causing her to stay home and put off the date --much to his disappointment. It was a pretty weak excuse for Jessie to blow off the date, but it shows she's got reservations still, which is why it's a pleasant surprise when Jessie calls back and admittedly says what the audience is thinking, and they schedule dinner for that night.

At a bar, Jessie and Deacon make very small and awkward talk (Jessie talks about giving up music to go back to school and pursue psychology).

She points out that this date is clearly messing with their friendship, but Deacon admits he's nervous and overwhelmed and so does Jessie. She asks to just be friends again (like they've ever been anything else), and Deacon agrees to do so. Despite the date being a hot mess, they end the night with a passionate kiss.

Exes and...oh

Gunnar tells Will that he's hurt that Scarlett avoided him at the store, and Will essentially tells him to get over it. He offers to play with Gunnar again because he enjoyed himself.

Meanwhile, Scarlett is performing on stage without Gunnar for the first time, and Deacon's gone out to support her. She does a good job but gets emotional after it's done. It hits Scarlett that without Gunnar, she's not entirely sure if she wants to even sing anymore since it was more Gunnar's dream than hers to begin with, but good ol' Uncle Deacon convinces her otherwise.

Elsewhere, Gunnar and Will perform with Avery watching from the audience. Avery admits that he was jealous watching them perform, and they insist that he join them next time, although he says fatherhood and being a husband/ex-husband/baby daddy is keeping him busy. So, in response, Avery is subsequently "abducted" by Gunnar and Will.

At the same time, Scarlett visits Nadine (from last season) at her art showing. She thanks her for being an inspiration to her, and says that it gives her the drive to keep making music after all! Meanwhile, Will, Gunnar, and Avery perform and it's so much fun to see the chemistry that these three friends have together. It's Scarlett's turn to perform...and she backs out at the last second. Maybe performing live isn't her thing after all? However, the boys enjoyed themselves and tempt Avery into making this a regular thing. Once again, Scarlett and Gunnar run into each other at the supermarket and actually have a conversation for once.

He tells Scarlett that he wants to help people in ways other than music right now. It's tough, and watching this scene between them is tough, but enjoyable.

The 'Self-help' movement

On the "Javery" side of things, Avery tells Juliette that he's found some therapists for her to talk to about her depression, but she insists that all she needs to see is Darius. Avery's skeptical (rightfully so), but lets her do things her way. Juliette's disappointed to not meet Darius in person but gets a tour of the facility. They explain that they have regular day jobs, but come back at night to spend time together as a family. Oh, and they give 30% of their income to the facility and do community service work too (I guess the latter was said to soften the blow of the obviously crazy first statement).

Juliette ultimately goes on to their Habitat for Humanity-like community work and is hilariously out of her element.

After a little tension, Juliette does well with building a home and accepts an offer to have dinner with them. She calls Avery to tell him that she's going to stay over there for the night because she enjoyed herself for the first time in a while. He reluctantly agrees to let her stay. Juliette finally meets Darius, and he admits he was testing her by not being there, and while she doesn't "appreciate mind games," she did learn something through this so-called test.

He implies that Juliette needs to distance herself (from her family) in order to turn over a new leaf. She comes home to Avery the following morning with a sullen look on her face.

Daphne and Jake

Daphne notices that Jake doesn't seem like himself, and they talk at lunch the following day about how awkward it'd be if their parents actually dated...yep. So awkward! Deacon drops Daphne off at school as he and Jessie run into each other for the "very first time." Does Daphne see through it? Either way, it seems as though she has an attitude when she gets out of the car.

Final thoughts

"Nashville's" second episode continued the season's strong start, and fans and stars are already having a hard time preparing to say goodbye for good.

An article from CMT says that Charles Esten (Deacon) loves the city so much that he plans to live there even after the show is over! Nonetheless, we've got 14 more episodes before we say goodbye, so let's enjoy them while they're here. Catch "Nashville" every Thursday night at 9 p.m. on CMT.
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