Skeptics and fans alike wondered how Nashville was going to pull in viewers and still afford its big stars when the prime-time drama switched over to CMT last year. Turns out, both problems had the same solution. Not even halfway through Season 5, Nashville shocked anyone still watching by killing off Connie Britton’s character Rayna Jaymes. After complications from a car accident, characters Deacon, Maddie and the little sister whose name I don’t care about enough to Google gathered around the edge of Rayna’s hospital bed to do what they always do when faced with overwhelming emotions — sing. They wept and they sang, and just when it looked like Rayna was regaining consciousness, her eyelids fluttered and … boom. She flatlined. Even as someone who hadn’t watched the show in more than a year, I sobbed a 10-gallon bucket of tears. MEGAN SELING
Best Death Scene
Rayna Jaymes on Nashville
