To celebrate Nashville Winter Finale (Tonight, 10/9c) we asked fellow fans to share their favorite moments from season 3 so far. This is another editor’s pick, meaning mine (@ZmanShira), and the moment I chose this time is the dance scene between Luke and Rayna at the end of episode 3.07 – ‘I’m Coming Home to You’

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In every tragedy there’s a defining moment that determines the destiny of the hero. It’s a “too late” moment. The moment that after it there’s no turning back because what was done can’t be fixed or undone and so a tragedy must occur.

Nashville: The Rolling Stone-Christmas Drama: Rayna, Deacon and The Truth

In Nashville’s romantic love triangle, the moment when Rayna sold the story of her and Deacon to Rolling Stone is such a moment and it doesn’t matter that she did it to save Maddie.

When Rayna returned home she said that all she wants to do is take a shower- she was very much aware of what she just did.

Luke tried to comfort her but there was really nothing he could do – she was too far gone. That darkness in her soul and sadness in her eyes were there to stay. It was a combination of guilt, shame, regret and the opening of the VERY big Deacon box.

Up until that moment Rayna chose Luke over Deacon. After that interview, Luke was all she got left and she tried to hold on to him as much as possible but we could sense it didn’t bring her any relief. What it did is bring her grief and inform her that she will never get that clean slate she so desperately wanted, not really.

So they danced.

I want to use the word ‘sad’ to describe that moment because there was a lot of sadness there but I think there’s a better word for it – melancholia.

It was a subtle intimate melancholic moment.

I didn’t expect this scene and I certainly didn’t expect to be moved by it since I’m not a fan of this coupling in any way, but I did. It wasn’t because I suddenly fell in love with Luke and Rayna together (not even close). I didn’t even consider this as a romantic scene.

It was because there was something in the minimalism and subtlety of this scene that made it almost poetic and very, very human.

Nashville: Rayna and Deacon: You Gave Them Us 

The strong performances and especially Connie Britton’s (fantastic) nuanced and subtle acting brought so much honesty and emotional depth to this scene that together with all the other elements turned this scene into one of the most poignant moments I’ve seen in a long time.

I could feel Rayna just by listening to the tone of her voice, the way she moved her body and the look in her eyes. She was technically at her home but she looked restless, as if she was somewhere else, as if she doesn’t have a home anymore. She looked like someone who’s holding on to dream they know is gone.

As I watched Rayna and Luke slow dance and reciting their wedding vows all I could hear in my head was the haunting words of Leonard Cohen:

“Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on

Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long

We’re both of us beneath our love, we’re both of us above

Dance me to the end of love”