This episode opens with the aftermath of the Vita-potentially-a-thief revelation, after $500 went missing from the Beverly’s coffers. Frankie is dead set on it being Vita, although when she turns up to Rayna’s office for their meeting she swears she did not do it. Rayna relays this to Deacon who seems to accept it, although Frankie still isn’t convinced. When Vita comes into work that night he starts having a go at her, and as she storms out she admits she took the money, although she says she was going to pay it back. Deacon is devastated, and tells Rayna, who then tells Vita that she cannot work with someone who lies and steals like that. Vita, who it’s revealed has been in the foster care system, says that she needed the money to pay off some bad guys who were going to kill her sister, but Rayna says she still cannot work with her.
Frankie, meanwhile, is not having a good episode. Deacon books Luke’s new tour-mate Riff into a “practise” show at the Beverly, replacing Frankie’s performance slot. Frankie isn’t pleased, and even though Deacon apologises, things get worse when all the press at the show keep talking about how Deacon has really turned this place around, and that it was a dump before. Frankie feels completely edged out, and in an act of stress and desperation, goes out back to drink, thus breaking his sobriety. The next morning there is a crime scene at Vita’s car as it has been broken into, with her stuff (including her precious guitar) destroyed and lying around the vehicle. Rayna is shocked to see it although she’s told that no-one was in the car. Vita is nowhere to be found.
On the Riff side of things, there’s a spanner in the works when during rehearsal he starts yelling at Luke’s band saying they’re terrible and can’t play his songs. He storms off, yelling abuse at Luke too, but the band reveal that Riff has been pitchy and it sounds like he hasn’t played a guitar in 15 years. Luke debates over what to do, and decides to try and salvage his friendship with Riff. He goes to see him and they hash things out, with Riff backing down and admitting he needs practise, and Luke giving him an ‘out’ that he doesn’t actually take. Instead he practises like hell and ends up giving a great performance at the Beverly.
Meanwhile, Maddie is surprised by Colt when he turns up to her school unannounced, inspired by her demand for better treatment and respect. However, he quickly realizes that Maddie has filled the void with Cash, who seems to be occupying all her time with writes and hangs. Cash picks Maddie up from school but leaves Daphne and Colt, who both look extremely sidelined. Later that day Maddie and Colt go to watch Cash at the Bluebird, where she performs a song that Maddie wrote. Colt quickly realizes that it’s about their relationship and sex, and he’s not happy. He mentions to both of them that he hates performers and people who center their entire lives around music instead of something real, and it’s notable that Cash doesn’t seem to like Colt at all. It seems rather odd that she would try to keep hanging out with a 16 year old, especially when her boyfriend is in town, but hey, that’s just me. Anyway, the next day Maddie and Colt are finally alone, and things are going well until Colt airs his dislike of Maddie writing songs about him. Things gets heated, and they break up, with Maddie storming out. She calls Cash, and when Daphne tries to ask her what’s wrong, Maddie just pushes her aside and takes Cash for comfort. Daphne confides in her mother, who stays to hang out with her instead of going to the Beverly.
Elsewhere, Avery is trying to move on from Juliette, and he’s at the playground with Cadence when a single mother called Sienna strikes up a conversation. Things go well, and they end up having a date night at hers, where things progress to making out. However, when they do actually go out to eat, Avery finds himself talking non-stop about Juliette, and Sienna tells him she doesn’t think he’s ready to move on. She doesn’t shut him out, but says they need to slow things down to friends. This is good news for Layla, who clearly likes Avery and was really upset to hear that he was going on a date. This translates into Juliette-like behavior during a photoshoot, where Glenn takes her aside and reminds her that with loss, only time can heal it, not rebounds. She thanks him and sucks it up, but she can’t hide her smile when Avery tells her things with Sienna are no longer.
Will has gone to Atlanta, as he’s had a call from a ‘gay label’ there. The label head is really interested in him, but reveals they deal with all kinds of artists, and that Will would be the first country artist on the label. This is a red flag for Will, who goes back for a second meeting to ask more about what the label head thought of the music. It turns out the label want to market him as him rather than market his music, and Will makes the excellent point that he is not a gay country singer; he is a country singer, who happens to be gay. Well done Will!
And finally, Scarlett and Gunnar deliver their finished album to Highway 65, who think that it’s a career album. They pick a single, but things get weird as the single is one that Scarlett wrote herself and is mainly featured on. Gunnar swears he’s fine with it although she notices he’s agitated, and she asks Bucky if they can reconsider the single. Gunnar finds this out and flips at Scarlett, and then she reveals she’d rather it be equal because she owes all of her songwriting to Gunnar. They make the decision to have all writing credits officially 50/50 from now on, a smart decision that negates arguments further down the line.
Episode 14 airs next Wednesday, April 6 at 10/9c on ABC.
