Courtesy/ABC

If you were like us, you were preparing to see all the loose-ends of the storylines tied up, and to say one last goodbye to the characters you have loved over four seasons on the music city soap opera, Nashville, during Wednesday night’s series finale.  Earlier this month, ABC had previously announced they decided to cancel the series.  However, as viewers witnessed, the series creator Callie Khouri and lead studio Lionsgate TV decided to go with a shocking cliffhanger, instead of a finale happy ending fplanned or long-suffering lovebirds, Avery (Jonathan Jackson) and Juliette (Hayden Panettiere).

The reason is simple. They have high hopes that Nashville will live to see another day and have its fifth season, either on an online platform such as Hulu, or perhaps a basic cable and premium network that Lionsgate co-owns such as Pop or EPIX.  Following the conclusion of Nashville, Khouri revealed to Deadline: “Nashville fans are the absolute best, and support for the #BringBackNashville campaign has been amazing. We are so grateful for our extremely loyal following. We have stories left to tell and songs left to sing.”  Meanwhile following last night’s broadcast, Lionsgate tweeted out, “#Nashies What a cliffhanger! But we won’t leave you hanging. There’s more story to be told. #BringBackNashville” 

The studio has already funded a season five writers room, led by new showrunners, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, who succeed Dee Johnson.  But will they get the chance to show what they can do with the show?  Will this fan driven effort and that of the studios fall by the wayside as TNT’s Dallas did, despite its best efforts to find another home for several months after its cancellation?

Courtesy/ABC

As to the series finale recap of the action, here is what went down! The emancipation of Maddie (Lennon Stella) came to a happy conclusion following a Deacon (Charles Esten) rescue attempt that worked!  Maddie, who had defied her parents, signed a record deal and cannot be located or communicated with, and is headed for big trouble now that a certain record producer has taken over producing her first album.  When Rayna (Connie Britton) finds out who that is, she panics!  She tries to desperately get a hold of Maddie to warn her. Seems when Rayna was a young artist, saidproducer tried to have sex with her, and now she is concerned he is preying on her daughter.  When Maddie’s record level exec won’t help Rayna, she takes it upon herself to write an open letter on the guy and her past with him, and have it posted online via the Huffington Post, so Maddie might see it.  And just as Maddie is alone with the producer and he is pouring her drinks and ready to make his move on her, Maddie gets a text about her mom’s letter.  She reads it online  and panics.  Just then, Deacon busts in and saves his daughter.  Crises averted.  He brings her home to Rayna and the whole family is finally back together in one piece.

Courtesy/ABC

Finally, Scarlett (Claire Bowen) tells Gunnar (Sam Palladio) she loves him, but at the most inopportune time as Autumn (Alicia Witt) walks in and lets Scarlett know that she is now with the love of Scarlett’s life!  It takes the entire episode for Gunnar to finally come to his senses and in what would have been the final performance of the duo known as “The Exes”.  But right in the middle of their song, Gunnar plants a kiss on Scartlett.  Scott Reeves, who plays their manager is looking on from the wings next to Autumn.  He gloats:  “Looks like they are still a duo.”   To which an irate Autumn replies, “Yeah, but they are so fired!”

Will (Chris Carmack) makes it on to conservative talk show host, Cynthia Davis show, after Luke (Will Chase), Kevin (Kyle Dean Massey) and he organize a street rally/protest.  When Will sits on-air with Davis, he tells her she is scared and pushes back against her anti-gay agenda by noting: “People’s minds change when they stop being afraid. I’m a human being, I’m a good man, I’m a good son.”  After his victory on the show, he takes to the streets to perform his original song along with Luke Wheeler.  Kevin is in the audience watching.  Afterwards, Luke advises Will to grab love while he can and to try to make a go with Kevin, who is a good guy.  He is going to do the same and try to get back with his ex-wife.  Will goes into the crowd and Kevin and him kiss; deciding to try again at their relationship.

Courtesy/ABC

The vindictive Layla (Aubrey Peeples) is finally caught in her web of lies after she is the one who leaks the truth of Juliette’s involvement in Jeff Fordham’s death.   As Avery and Cadence are set to fly to LA, since Juliette wants to see her daughter and is heading to the Oscars, Layla sets her plan in motion. But Juliette decide to set the record straight.  Before going inside the Oscars, she decides to do a live TV interview where she admits Jeff saved her from committing suicide.  Avery is watching and is devastated because shortly before she tried to end her life, he served her with divorce papers.  Suddenly both Avery and Layla’s manager get a clue! It’s Layla who leaked this info on Juliette and she manipulated this situation with Avery  all along.  Avery is furious and tells Layla to go to hell.

Then in the final moments, following her TV reveal, Juliette decides to forego the Oscars and has her plane take her to Nasvhille instead stating: “I have somewhere more important to be!”   Meanwhile, Avery with Cadence is waiting at the airport for Juliette’s flight to arrive, only to have an airport representative tell him that Juliette’s plane sent out a distress signal and they have lost contact with her flight! Fade to black!

What did you think about the series finale?  What did you think about the cliffhanger?  Do you think Nashville will be picked up somewhere and air its fifth season?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below!