On any given day, I cannot decide if 9-1-1: Nashville is the most ridiculously fun series out there, or the most frustratingly absurd.
It’s a roll of the dice, really.
But after a full season of this love triangle foolishness, it really shouldn’t have been a surprise that the finale cuts off right in the middle of a Dynasty-level catfight. And yet… it is.
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What I like most about 9-1-1: Nashville is just how committed the cast is to everything that’s happening on that wildly outlandish series.
Toddlers getting blown away by balloons? Sold. College students growing vegetation out of their hoo-ha? Covered.
The human equivalent of an overeager beagle going from a stripping firefighter to a real one? My friends, you ain’t seen nothing.
All season long, 9-1-1: Nashville has prompted people to do vibe checks because, if you went in expecting it to be a replica of the flagship or our dearly departed 9-1-1: Lone Star spinoff, Nashville went out of its way to prove you wrong.
It’s me, I’m that person.
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How so? They’ve committed to the bit.
The show is intentionally, outlandishly out there, and it’s without apology. And part of what makes it so endearing is that the actors genuinely seem to be having fun on this pure, unadulterated primetime soap.
So, when I say that I’ve come to appreciate the series for precisely what it is, I’m not lying. It’s the type of mindless series you watch just for kicks and giggles.
It’s also a series that stacked itself with familiar faces and TV veterans like Jessica Capshaw, Chris O’Donnell, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley. And also a Country icon, LeAnn Rimes.
And the show loves to take full advantage of that, which is where we start bumping into some issues. Cammie is a delightful, grounded character who brings a bit of softness to the other zany things happening.
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If anything, I’d take more of Cammie rather than less.
But this Blythe, Don, and Dixie love triangle? My goodness, have they gone off the rails with it!
The season finale was mostly fun.
We at least got some sprinkled-in storylines where we got to check up on the supporting characters, and frankly, that’s what the kids are feeling like these days.
It’s unfortunate, and I hope the second season rectifies this.
We got to revisit an arc I almost forgot about with Ryan and his wife, and it was handled well and left me wanting a bit more, especially as Ryan got a bit more support from his family.
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And Blue finally getting his own place is a significant milestone for the character, given how he was stuck under Dixie’s thumb for so much of his life.
This bit of independence, finally, his family, his purpose, and even love have resulted in strong growth for him.
While Roxie and Taylor are still underdeveloped, even in the finale, we’ve made some strides, and there’s a hope that they can evolve more in the sophomore season.
And the finale delivered some of my favorite Cammie content to date, as she got to realize in real time just how resilient she is, yes, but also happy even after her loss when she helped a woman who wanted to commit suicide because the grief of losing her husband was too much for her.
Amid the chaos and the kooky, 9-1-1: Nashville does sneak in those powerful moments of evolution that are satisfying when you take on the full picture.
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But that’s why the Dixie, Don, and Blythe stuff is doing a bit too much right now. It dominates everything, which can be frustrating when you see that, underneath and beyond it, there’s real promise.
Also, the beef is ridiculous! At this stage in the game, I want both of these ladies to “STAND UP” when it comes to Don Hart. I promise you that man isn’t worth all of this drama.
Rimes fully commits to Dixie in ways I genuinely respect.
Still, after a full season of diabolical Dixie and her never-ending saga of trying to steal Blythe’s man and undermine the Hart family at every opportunity, I wonder if there’s a lot of life left in rehashing this storyline.
The finale actually felt like we were making some forward movement, even if it was utterly ridiculous to have two middle-aged ladies beefing over a man via social media and music lyrics.
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But then Blythe had this amazing scene with her father, played by the incredibly generous legend that is Tim Matheson, and he was giving her all that Mufasa “REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE” energy that had me hype.
Because when someone threatens to expose all of your secrets, the best method is to make like Eminem in the final rap battle of 8 Mile and remove all their ammunition.
Tell your own damn story!
But then, that’s also the move you make when you’re poor, regular folk. Blythe, however, is a rich b*tch, and she pulled that card brilliantly by buying out Dixie’s little contract with a record label, so SHE could actually have control over her.
Now, that’s my kind of payback, and I had hoped it would mean they would finally put an end to this battle. Blythe wins. Checkmate.
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I was willing to ignore all the stupidity of the Hart couple for not talking directly to each other and instead seeking out their exes for various ways to resolve this beef.
Because, of course, that opened the door to some misunderstandings.
Although, in Blythe’s defense, she was genuinely trying to get some help.
Don, on the other hand, was totally going to dip his Pixie Stick in Dixie for “a greater good,” and this is exactly why neither of these women needs to be fighting over this damn man.
But I digress.
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Blythe pulling out the paperwork, flaunting her power move with her millions of dollars, and walking out should’ve been the final moment.
Instead, we sank to new levels of Nashville’s soapy ridiculousness with these two women getting into a catfight.
Now, I may be one of the few who didn’t want to see things come to this because Dixie feels like such a nuisance that I’d rather they just flick her away like the annoying gnat that she is and move on.
But, fine, if we must resort to this, make it worth my while. Kudos to Blythe for being scrappy because sometimes you do have to lower yourself to the pits of hell to get through to a certain ilk, and Dixie has had an ass beating coming since the premiere.
However, then the finale does what it always does: it allows this Gen-X love triangle from hee-haw hell to consume everything!
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Our final moments can’t be a shocking emergency since this is technically still a first-responder show. Nor is it something that teases a full-fledged storyline for any of the other characters. It’s not even a Hart Family bombshell that could switch things up.
No, it’s Blythe and Dixie, duking it out, with the credits rolling mid-fight before that even gets juicy enough.
Our cliffhanger is a Bougie Baddie and a Manipulative MILF fighting over Don-Don.
And even when you lean into it, as you often have to do to really embrace what 9-1-1: Nashville serves up, we can’t even say they dangled the possibility of Blythe flat-out murdering Dixie.
Nope. Because Dixie Bennings has the resilience of a cockroach during an apocalypse. The series would never fix its Dixie problem because it doesn’t feel she’s a problem at all.
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Nothing 9-1-1: Nashville does actually follow any of the line of thinking you’d expect.
They zig when you want them to zag. It’s all soap when you’re looking for action, and all Hart when you’re looking for found family.
But hell, it’s working, I guess! Maybe that weird cliffhanger will, too.
Over to you, 9-1-1: Nashville Fanatics. Let’s discuss this crazy season!
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From early disappointment to must-watch TV, 9-1-1: Nashville has become more entertaining than 9-1-1. Let’s discuss!
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Cammie may be slowly dipping her toe back into the dating pool, and we chatted with 9-1-1: Nashville star Kimberly Williams-Paisley about the latest development! Check it out!
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We have a full week of characters who put us in all the feels from High Potential and RJ Decker to Virgin River and Doc, dive in now!
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We all love a good love triangle, but 9-1-1: Nashville hasn’t delivered. It’s focused so much on it that it’s forgotten the other characters.
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The 9-1-1 Universe had a big night as Buck and Eddie left Los Angeles for Nashville, and we caught up with star Oliver Stark to discuss it all!
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