You would think that the writers of Nashville could only keep Avery and Juliette’s “will-they-or-won’t-they-get-back-together” story for so long, but here we are, five episodes into Season 4 and the question can still be asked — where do Avery and Juliette stand? Following the birth of her daughter, Cadence, Juliette has been suffering from severe postpartum depression. To combat her feelings, she’s taken to working excessively, doing any drug she can find, and drinking until she passes out. She also changed her phone number so that Avery could no longer contact her. Well, on this week's episode of Nashville, Avery reached his breaking point.
He had summoned divorce papers to end his and Juliette’s marriage a few episodes back. I don’t know if it was his really, really crappy producing experience with new Highway 65 act Markus Keen or he had just reached the end of his rope, but Avery finally got the steel to sign those papers and present them to Juliette on Wednesday night. She cried, apologized, and told him that she didn’t know Cadence was sick, but Avery is just over it. He’s done. At the end of “Stop The World (And Let Me Off),” Avery said he was filing for divorce in a different county using their middle names to keep it private, and in return for Juliette being allowed to announce the divorce however she wants, he gets full parental rights and Juliette forfeits them. Ouch.
This is such a difficult situation, and I really feel for both Avery and Juliette. She definitely has postpartum depression, and I don’t know why everyone didn’t try continuously to get her some help, instead of essentially giving up on her after one failed attempt at an intervention of sorts. And taking away Juliette's parental rights certainly won't help her get better. Yet at the same time, Avery has continuously tried reaching out and at this point, has to do what he feels is right for him and Cadence. Sometimes, love just ain’t enough.
Images: Mark Levine/ABC; Giphy
