Maddie ditched her mother, but luckily for her, Rayna’s friends are good people. In “Nashville” Season 4, episode 19, other professionals, including Juliette, reached out to Maddie to give her a little help. However, Cash may have figured out how to take Maddie away from Rayna’s influence for good.

A lot has changed in the week since Deacon (Charles Esten) got arrested and Maddie (Lennon Stella) was emancipated on the ABC drama. Deacon moves out of Rayna’s (Connie Britton) house while the country star is on tour with Daphne (Maisy Stella). Rayna’s sister Tandy (Judith Hoag) returns to help watch Daphne. Maddie apologizes to Daphne via text, but her sister is still upset.

Deacon also apologizes to Rayna on the phone and asks what he should do. She doesn’t even know where to start and tells him that she’ll call him tomorrow. She has other concerns when Bucky (David Alford) tells her that Lennox Hill is going to attend Maddie’s showcase. Rayna has a bad history with the label.

Cash (Jessy Schram) is bossing Maddie around every second she can. She tells her to be more sexy in photoshoots and won’t give the teenager more rehearsal time before her label showcase. Cash says Rayna messed with Maddie’s head by making her perform with her sister all the time. Cash says Maddie is ready.

Rayna is discreetly trying to stop Maddie from signing with Lennox Hill. She asks another label to sign her daughter. If Maddie won’t sign with her mother’s company, she could at least end up somewhere that Rayna knows will take care of her.

Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) hears that Maddie is already doing a label showcase. She and Glenn (Ed Amatrudo) agree that someone is giving her some bad advice, so Juliette talks to the troubled teen. She tells Maddie that she can always go back home, but when Maddie refuses, Juliette decides to lend her a good luck charm — Glenn.

Rayna sneaks into Maddie’s showcase, where she is being promoted as Maddie Jaymes (Rayna’s last name). Cash tells Rayna that she is violating the restraining order Maddie has against her mother. After seeing Maddie sing a few bars of “Wild Card,” Rayna has seen enough anyway.

Cash is threatened by Glenn’s arrival, and she doesn’t like his advice. Glenn tells Maddie to go with the label Rayna told to sign her. He says they’re a good fit, but Cash wants Maddie to leave Nashville completely. She believes Rayna will interfere if they stay in town. Glenn questions taking Maddie away from her support system.

Yet, it seems Cash always gets her way. Rayna comes home and reveals that Maddie signed with the New York label.

Rayna lost her daughter, and her husband might be next. Deacon isn’t in a good place. Scarlett (Clare Bowen) tells Deacon to apologize to Frankie (Mark Collie). Deacon isn’t thrilled with that idea, but he goes to Frankie to say sorry anyway. Frankie isn’t very forgiving, though. He tells Deacon that he is buying him out. The bar’s name will be changed, and their business relationship is over.

Deacon goes to an AA meeting to vent his frustrations. After moving out and losing Maddie, he doesn’t know what to do. “I’ve tried like hell to be a good man, to walked the straight and narrow, and none of it mattered,” Deacon says. He thinks all of his work was for nothing and walks out of the meeting. Deacon sits in his house and stares at a bottle of alcohol. He goes to open it, but his phone rings. It’s Rayna. He chooses his love over the bottle … for now.

Meanwhile, his niece is having trouble in her love life too. Scarlett and Gunnar (Sam Palladio) are barely speaking, and their Rolling Stone article’s focus on Scarlett doesn’t help the stress. They also get an offer to endorse headphones, but only Scarlett is invited to be in the commercial. She isn’t so sure about doing it without Gunnar.

Autumn (Alicia Witt) seems a little too happy about the distance between the Exes and asks Gunnar to write with her. Later, she suddenly asks Gunnar onstage during her performance. Scarlett is surprised, but she tells him to get out there and sing. She decides to do the solo commercial as well. It looks like the two are going to be taking on more projects by themselves.

While Gunnar and Scarlett go in separate directions to further their band, Layla (Aubrey Peeples) needs a little help with her solo career. Her album isn’t predicted to do too well, so she takes matters into her own hands. She goes to Avery’s (Jonathan Jackson) gig and pulls him into the alley for a kiss. A random photographer snaps a few pictures.

The pictures hit the internet, and Avery freaks out. Layla is offended that he is so upset. She thinks he is embarrassed to be seen with her. Avery explains that he isn’t thrilled to be in the public eye. Layla says that she doesn’t like it either, but if they have to be in an unpleasant situation, they can at least do it together.

Glenn calls her and says that the photographer received an anonymous tip from a female voice to wait in that alley. He is receiving many more interview requests because of the pictures. “It’s almost like we planned it,” he says suspiciously. It doesn’t look like Glenn approves of Layla’s sneaky ways, but the starlet looks proud of herself.

Meanwhile, Juliette knows she needs a date for her next event after she sees the photos of Avery with his new girlfriend. She attends an event with a bored blind date. She runs into her friend Kesha (who is playing herself in episode 19) and co-star Noah West (Derek Hough) at the event.

Noah tells Juliette that Kesha is only a friend. He asks Juliette to dance and reveals that he paid her blind date to leave. He says he still has a big crush on her, so Juliette invites him up to her room.

The next day, the two are in bed and see photos of them dancing together on the Internet. Noah says they don’t have to deny a romance. They could jump into a relationship. Juliette is surprised, but seems happy. Avery, on the other hand, looks a little upset when he sees an article about the new couple.

Elsewhere, Luke’s (Will Chase) office constantly has protesters outside, but Luke is committed to supporting Will (Chris Carmack). It’s starting to affect his own career, though. Ken (Michael Lowry) tells Luke to cut Will loose, but Luke decides to fire Ken instead. Luke wants to “be on the right side of history.”

Will cannot worry about his career this week. His aunt reveals that his mother died. His father Bill (Rex Linn) blames his son and thinks she died of a broken heart because Will is gay. He doesn’t want Will at the funeral.

Will shows up anyway and goes up to the podium to say he loves his mother before bursting into tears. His father still blames him, but Will says he found a photo that his mother kept of the two of them. He says that his mother loved him, and his father might be the one who broke her heart.

When someone calls Will a “homo” at the end of the night, Will’s father defends him and gets an apology from the man. “Glad you came,” Bill tells Will. It looks like the death of his mother may have helped Will’s relationship with his father.

“Nashville” Season 4 airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EDT on ABC.

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