'Nashville': Playing dirty

Still on spin control after the nail polish debacle, Juliette made an appearance at a zoo fundraiser. During the event, she struck a pose with "a rodent" and hunky pro football rookie Sean Butler. The adorably ridiculous pic got her trending in a positive way, for a change, and her publicist was sure a date with the quarterback would put her back over the top.

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At first, Juliette didn't play nice on her faux date. She reminded Sean it was a publicity stunt and insulted his football game. After trading jabs with the choir boy, Juliette suggested they bounce. "We're young, we're hot and I've got a jet." On the way to a hot club in South Beach, Sean played one of her songs on guitar. They were starting to have a good time. After their club outing, however, a paparazzo cornered them. Juliette told Sean to keep moving, but when the photog' asked about her druggy mom, Sean couldn't resist punching him.

The next day, her pub was pissed: The paparazzo snapped a shot of Sean that made him look hammered. She'd turned Sean into a bad boy instead of fixing her own rep. Juliette flew the paparazzo to town, bought the pics and sealed the deal by promising to let him know where she was going to be. Sean was touched she'd paid $25K for his picture and asked her "in" for an at-home date. She happily agreed.

Label head Marshall got a listen to Rayna's new song. He called it "different." Rayna was excited to write her last album with the label by herself and wanted a new producer on board. He told her to pick from the roster, but she was set on Liam McGuinnis, a wonderkin producer. Liam "took the consultation as a courtesy," but not so courteously told Rayne her music was about "moms and SUVs." He wasn't interested. The mom came back (in her SUV) to tell him his opinion was "a load of crap." She handed him her new track, sure it would speak for itself, and was ready to walk away. Intrigued, he invited her in. She told him she wanted to get real and re-find her voice. They were connecting, but then she said she had to get back to the kids. He balked at her mom schedule and insisted she stay to have a shot of whisky.

She was painfully hung over the next morning. She didn't even remember their night, which Liam called "magical." Luckily, he was referring to the song his friend recorded her singing, not sex. He told her she had to stop juggling her family and just let go and let the music flow. The song was a winner. Even Marshall loved it, but Liam wasn't on the list. Rayna told Marshall to either get over the time Liam showed him up or sell her contract; Either way, she was working with Liam. She insisted it wasn't about fighting or taking a stand. It was about playing music.

Lamar and Tandy told Teddy they wanted to delay Coleman's arrival to the Clean Campaign Pledge so that Teddy could insinuate that his opponent wasn't taking the Clean Campaign commitment seriously - talk about playing dirty! As promised, while Teddy smiled and signed, Coleman was hassled by a cop. Then he was arrested for having an unlabeled bottle of Oxy in his glove compartment. Teddy was not pleased with Lamar's game, but it didn't matter. He clearly was not the one in control of his own campaign.

Deacon felt guilty when he heard his sponsor Coleman got arrested for having the pills he'd given them. He wanted to set the record straight, but Coleman wanted to respect the "anonymous" in AA. He was tempted, however, to use the pics of Teddy and Peggy's recent late night meet, which looked like an affair. He worried it would ruin Rayna and destroy her marriage, but his wife told him to "do a greater wrong to do a greater good."

Avery apologized to Scarlett for not making his half of the rent, but he was feeling better after he heard Reed Olson was coming to check out his band. He was sure things were going to change for him. After The Avery Barkley Band's gig at 5 Spot, Avery introduced himself to Reed and asked about opening for the Lumineers. It was hard to tell what Reed thought of his band's performance, but Marilyn Rodes was definitely interested. The manager gave him her card and suggested she'd help him with Reed.

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When Deacon heard about it all, he told Avery he'd put in the call to Reed and warned him not to waste his money on a manager. Then he went to Marilyn and told her to back off. Her "fees" weren't worth her connections. That cost Avery the gig, but when he ran into Marilyn later, she promised he'd be on his way in a month with her and invited him to her house the next evening to "discuss." He got that it was a booty call and surprisingly, said no…. Less surprisingly, he then said, "Screw that," downed his beer and told her he'd be there.

When Scarlett let into Deacon for standing in Avery's way, her uncle revealed Marilyn only signs young hotties she's slept with. Avery looked like he'd be her next, but he stopped mid-makeout and left. When he got home, Scarlett called him on cheating to get a job. He didn't get why she was mad, since he'd walked away. Fed up - finally! - she packed her bag and moved in with Deacon. Avery went back to Marilyn.

"Nashville" airs on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.