‘Nashville’ Season 5 Spoilers: Is Deacon Ready To Make Music With Rayna Again? Episode 2 Recap

“Nashville” Season 5 officially kicked off Thursday with a two-hour premiere on CMT. Check out our recap of the first hour HERE, but you can find out what happened in the drama-filled second hour below. Rayna’s return to Nashville didn’t go as smoothly as she planned, and other couples dealt with jealousy issues.

The Concept Album: Episode 2 starts when Rayna (Connie Britton) returns home and tells Deacon (Charles Esten) that she realized what she wants to do next: a concept album about their story. It would be a raw, honest record made by just the two of them, but Deacon isn’t so excited about the idea.

Deacon wonders if that’s a good way to spend Highway 65’s limited funding. He isn’t very famous. Rayna tells him not to be afraid. Deacon isn’t scared, though. He doesn’t want to revisit their past. He’s finally out of his dark place, and he isn’t ready to go back. Rayna tells him they don’t have to do it, but then she backtracks and asks him to think about it.

Scarlett (Clare Bowen) tells Deacon that he should do it. He’s a songwriter, after all. He has to write about his life.

Deacon gets a gig playing on an album Avery (Jonathan Jackson) is producing for a YouTube sensation named Ashley Willerman. It’s just a few weeks playing guitar in the studio, but Rayna is unhappy that Deacon could so easily jump into another project while considering her proposal. He says that “thinking about it” actually means he has a day or two to wait until giving Rayna what she wants. Everything in their life is Rayna’s, and that isn’t always easy for him.

Rayna apologizes for getting over excited and pushy. She understands that he doesn’t want to revisit dark times, but Deacon has taken Scarlett’s advice. Deacon plays his wife a romantic song about their relationship and says that their past is valuable. He’s ready to jump into this album.

Scarlett’s Fears: Gunnar (Sam Palladio) wants to “leave the past in the past,” but Scarlett feels insecure about their relationship.

Rayna wants them to release another single, called “All of Me.” Scarlett doesn’t seem thrilled to release that single though. Scarlett later asks Gunnar who the song is about. He says “golden eyes” in the track, and Scarlett doesn’t know which ex it’s about. Gunnar says it wasn’t about anyone in particular.

Scarlett accuses Gunnar of dating women that would hurt her. Autumn, Erin and Zoe were all people that Scarlett could never avoid. Gunnar thinks she is overreacting, but his girlfriend makes her feelings clear. “Singing that song makes me want to slap the living hell out of you,” Scarlett tells him.

Scarlett tells Deacon that she’s mean, but he understands that she is hurting. Her feelings are valid, but that doesn’t mean Gunnar deserves to be treated this way. She kisses Gunnar as soon as she sees him and tells him that she is working on getting over her issues. They perform on a radio show together, and Gunnar changes the lyric to be about blue eyes instead.

Will’s Temptation: Will (Chris Carmack) and Kevin (Kyle Dean Massey) are out at dinner when Jakob Fine (Murray Bartlett) approaches. The fashion designer compliments Will on how he handled all the homophobia thrown his way last year. The designer barely acknowledges Kevin, and he offers to dress Will for events and invites him to a trunk show.

At Will’s concert later, Kevin notices how much attention Will is getting from other men. Still, he encourages Will to go to Jakob’s trunk show.

When Jakob puts Will in one of his suits, he tries to kiss the country singer. Jakob seems perfectly fine with an affair, but Will can’t cheat on Kevin. Jakob backs off but notes that it’s an open offer.

Gunnar tells Will to stop beating himself up and that he doesn’t have to tell Kevin. Will avoids the topic and tells Kevin that he doesn’t have to worry about any “temptations.” Will decides that they should move in together.

Juliette’s Search: Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) is getting frustrated with her injuries. She thinks Avery is going to get tired of taking care of her. She wants to look for the woman that saved her. She meets with the woman’s pastor, who doesn’t want to pass along Hallie’s (Rhiannon Giddens) personal information. She doesn’t want to disrupt the woman’s life, but her pastor agrees to pass along Juliette’s number.

Rayna’s Following: Zack (Cameron Scoggins) reaches out to Rayna to ask to pick her brain about the music business. She tells him to reach out when he gets to town.

Later, Rayna gets flowers delivered. “To the only woman I have ever loved,” the card reads. No one signed it, but Rayna clearly thinks they’re from Deacon. Deacon tells her he didn’t send any flowers, but she isn’t listening.

As episode 2 ends, someone watches her enter a building through a cracked windshield. Is it Zack? Or is it the new overexcited intern Rayna met? Or is it someone else who has taken a creepy interest in the singer?

“Nashville” Season 5 airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST on CMT.