The “Nashville” Season 4 premiere on ABC brought the back the music and the drama. After Juliette abandoned her family for her career, she is doing everything she can to stay focused on her work. Meanwhile, Scarlett avoided Gunnar after their near-kiss. First, however, the show had to deal with last year’s biggest cliffhanger: Did Deacon die in surgery?

Who Flatlined? – Rayna (Connie Britton) takes her kids to the hospital to see Beverly (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson). It looks like Deacon (Charles Esten) is gone … until he shows up holding a cup of coffee. Deacon is completely fine, but Beverly is comatose. She was the one who flatlined in the finale. She had an aneurysm while she was donating part of her liver to Deacon, and her brother is feeling massively guilty. Even though she’d been unconscious for a month, Beverly starts to squeeze Deacon’s hand at the end of the premiere episode. She is finally waking up.

Juliette’s Double-Life – Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) is on TV talking about how much she loves her daughter and husband Avery (Jonathan Jackson), but Avery is actually in Ohio with his parents. He hasn’t seen her since she left a month ago, and Juliette is out partying in Los Angeles while promoting her new movie. During a drunken breakdown, she calls Rayna. She quickly hangs up, but it’s enough to make Rayna fly to California.

Rayna goes to Los Angeles to see Juliette perform with guest star Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Rayna is really there to comfort Juliette, who doesn’t even remember making that phone call. Juliette is in a bad mood after receiving a text from Avery that said, “We’re still here.” She tells Rayna that nothing is wrong. When Rayna tries to address her serious issues, Juliette says that the country veteran just wants to fix her “vanity label.” Rayna quickly gives up trying to talk any sense into the young star.

Scarlett’s Love Triangle – Scarlett (Clare Bowen) is avoiding Gunnar (Sam Palladio) after their near-kiss in last year’s finale. She and Caleb (Nick Jandl) have been living together for a month, but they are still having trouble saying, “I love you.” That might be because she still has feelings for her songwriting partner.

When she and Gunnar finally rehearse, he asks her about their almost-kiss. Scarlett brushes off the incident initially, but after they kiss during band practice, she says that Gunnar is taking advantage of her vulnerable position. Gunnar claims he knows she had feelings for him, and Scarlett says she doesn’t want anything to happen between them because she likes her boyfriend.

“You make me feel like I’m out of control,” Scarlett explains. “You make me feel like someone I do not want to be. He makes me feel safe.” She admits to Gunnar that she isn't in love with her new boyfriend yet but she wants to be. Scarlett goes back to Caleb and tells him she loves him at the end of the "Nashville" Season 4 premiere.

Will’s Hibernation – Will (Chris Carmack) isn’t allowed to tour or record, so he decides to stay in bed and grow a beard. Kevin (Kyle Dean Massey) decides that they have to go out. They go to a restaurant where one of Will’s ex-girlfriends confronts him and all of the patrons are staring. Kevin opts to bring his boyfriend to a gay bar, but Will doesn’t feel comfortable there either. He ends up leaving early.

Also in this episode:

  • Teddy (Eric Close) is in jail after trying to pay off a prostitute, and Maddie (Lennon Stella) and Daphne (Maisy Stella) are having trouble dealing with it. Daphne seems to resent that Maddie’s father Deacon is still around.
  • Rayna Googled herself and realized that her label is in serious trouble after losing Juliette.
  • Avery has an offer to move to Ohio with his parents, but he still wants to go after his dreams. He decides to move back to Nashville with the baby. He and Cadence are moving in with Gunnar and Will.

“Nashville” Season 4 airs at 10 p.m. EDT Wednesdays on ABC. Were you happy that Deacon and Beverly survived? Sound off in the comments section below!

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