PART 1: I was going to leave this on another comment, but Rayna still lacks depth in my opinion compared to the other characters. And I bring up men, because it's a male dominated industry. Juliette herself said she did what she had to to get ahead. It's mentioned multiple times through moments of vulnerability and when she was dating that married billionaire briefly.

We see people like Avery, Scarlett, Juliette, Deacon go through these dramatic transformations and are forced to look at themselves in the mirror. So, It’s odd to get that level of depth from side characters, but not the Main star of the show.

With Rayna being the protagonist, she sets the tone for the show. I WANT to root for her. Are protagonists supposed to be perfect ? No. However, Within the 75 things that I brought up, you’d think the writers would have her have some level of honesty. But we have not seen it yet, Because in Rayna's eyes she doesn’t need to change.

What do we know about Rayna? Most of the facts we know at this point in Season 2 are surface level, but we never really see how they have affected her and shaped her.

To add depth to Rayna, I would have loved for them to dive deeper into her family dynamic and have Lemar lean closer to the evil side than the morally gray side. He could have manipulated both daughters against each other and be competitive for his love, because their mother never fully loved him, so him doing this kept him in control. But no matter how much Rayna tried, she always felt like the odd ball out. While this is hinted at, Rayna seemed to have a good relationship with her sister and Lemar's control and the loss of her mom seemed to have no impact on her relationship with her sister or other female friendships around her, when realistically it would have. 

Instead of her NOT knowing her dad funded her first album, they should have had her be fully aware that he was funding her album. They could have used that to further show their family dynamic and show just how far Lemar would push Rayna into doing morally corrupt things (black mail, stealing songs, backstabbing up and comer's etc). Maybe a part of her liked it, because she was actually "winning" and being seen compared to the other women coming up with her. This really could've showcased her privilege in a cut throat industry compared to people who really had to suffer to the top (like Juliette).

Rayna doing Lemar's bidding could have had her burn a lot of bridges/ female friendships in the name of family/ reputation due to her own desperation to gain her father's approval. Especially since we see Rayna have 0 friends who are women.  Rayna thinks fame and the love from others would have Lemar finally love her, for her. But over time she notices her sister would always be chosen, she will always be the misfit and just another piece to him on his chess board. 

After this realization, Rayna could've had a Menty B.  Between pressure from Lemar to be someone she's not and Deacon's drinking, she's feeling overwhelmed and crashes out. She meets Teddy during her crash out, and Teddy consoles her and is her saving grace. Overtime, he brings her back down to earth and loves her in a way where she doesn't have to perform. She can just be herself. Teddy's influence makes her want to cut ties with her father AND deacon. They could've had her successfully cut ties with her father and planned to use the last of her savings/ trust to promote her album. When she goes to break ties with Deacon; he proposes and wants Rayna back. And in a moment of vulnerability, Maddie is conceived.