9-1-1: Nashville Season 1 Episode 11 “Don Begins” had loads of potential but somehow failed to actually ground its lead character of Don Hart.
I haven’t been shy about the fact that Don is my least favorite character on Nashville. He thinks he’s above the law, doesn’t treat his wife with the respect that she deserves, and is giving a little bit too Hallmark in a world that isn’t. Getting flashbacks of who Don used to be back in the day and how he met Dixie and Blythe, it did ground him a smidge. You got to see where he came from, how he first connected with both women, and how he became a firefighter. Basically, we got to see some sort of foundation.
MORE: Need a refresher of where we left off? Read our review for 9-1-1: Nashville Season 1 Episode 10 “Let It R.I.P.”
But this foundation failed because they missed the mark on Don’s anger. He lost his entire family and I couldn’t connect that anger with how he was acting on the show. It was giving “bad boy just to be bad boy.” It should have given “lost young man who is angry at the world.” But instead I saw Blue in Don. Younger Don was going on and on about how people like him are overlooked and oh look at poor ol’ me who has never seen a nice house. He’s just a stereotype of a country guy. And that didn’t work for Blue and that’s not going to work for Young Don.
The more that I watch 9-1-1: Nashville the more I wonder if it’s just Don’s character that is terrible. Because despite that one moment where Dixie came back and called Blythe a whore, I liked what I saw of Young Dixie. She had this charismatic swagger about her and she had dreams that she was willing to fight for. Even Blythe, the way that she told her ex-boyfriend to watch it and how she never treated Don differently because they were from different socioeconomic backgrounds. And this basically proves that I don’t have a 9-1-1: Nashville problem. I have a Don problem.
Then there’s everything that was happening in the present with Don. Because “Don Begins” is supposed to ground Don as a character and make me feel sympathy for him, what happened to his family, and the apparent pain that he still carries with him. A pain that I really haven’t seen because he’s been very Hallmark since the show started. Well besides a couple times where he was treating Blythe like she was an afterthought and not like his partner in life.
Then the worst part of “Don Begins” happens.
9-1-1: Nashville decided to solve Don’s pain about the death of his family by killing someone else. And then to add insult to injury, the show had Don go to the hearing for his family’s killer and say that the young man who caused the accident was “suffering more than she [the woman dying] was.” Are you kidding me, Nashville?
Her body was pinned against a tree, she couldn’t feel her legs, she was bleeding out, and she was thinking about how she’s never going to see her children or husband again. But 9-1-1: Nashville wants me to believe that this woman would’ve forgiven that young man and then Don would forgive the person who killed his family? Maybe I’m too cynical, but no. I would not forgive the person that killed my family or that killed me. And no that young man was not suffering more than the woman who was literally being held together by the car he rammed into her.
So why am I still watching 9-1-1: Nashville?
Because outside of Don, there are things that I like about this show. I like the women, even though I think that we need to see more of Roxie and Taylor. Also, I need to know what character wardrobe decision went into making Taylor the only one wearing a leopard print low-cut top to court while everyone else was buttoned up to the nines. But back to things that I like. I also like Ryan, even though we haven’t seen as much of him lately. I even started liking Blue when he abandoned that “I’m so poor and just handy with everything cuz I have had no luxury in my life.”
Also, I’m still watching because Blythe and Dixie have more chemistry than Blythe and Don do or Dixie and Don do. Blythe and Dixie challenge each other, keep the other one on their toes, and could be absolutely diabolical if they put their differences aside and work together. But 9-1-1: Nashville is fashioning itself to being a soap more than anything. And classic soaps love to pit women against each other for a mediocre man. And that’s what Don is. He’s a mediocre character who fails to inspire his team or viewers at home.
9-1-1: Nashville airs new episodes Thursdays at 9 pm ET on ABC.
