9-1-1: Nashville Season 1 Episode 18 “Love to Death” has made me realize that as much as I love Dixie, she’s the danger in this equation. But the show is still playing a little bit safe with her and I wish that the show would actually take the risk in making her the unequivocal bad guy.
Besides Dixie, this episode also made me realize that I really like Cammie and hope that she gets that second chance romance with that agent from her grief group. Also just the women in general. They’re not being forgotten just because Blue’s problems seem to be driving Nashville forward. But that doesn’t mean everything is perfect.
Read on for our review of 9-1-1: Nashville Season 1 Episode 18 “Love to Death”!
MORE: Need a refresher of last week’s episode? Read our review for 9-1-1: Nashville Season 1 Episode 15 here!
Cammie is Trying
Cammie is never going to get over her husband or the pain that comes with losing someone so close to her heart. But I do like how Nashville is creating space for Cammie to begin healing and maybe find another great love. That possible love interest just so happens to be Detective Nick Turner. And I think that the chemistry between them is tender while they’re blossoming relationship isn’t being rushed. All signs of good things coming.
I did want to point out a comparison between Cammie and Dixie. I know that their losses are completely different. So are there pains. But it does go to show you how isolating yourself like Dixie has, continues perpetuating the pain that you’re feeling. Cammie isn’t doing that. She’s spending time with her husband’s sister Blythe, who is basically family forever and ever. And she’s also going to this grief group. She’s taking the steps to heal and do something different with her life. Basically, she’s trying when Dixie isn’t.
That doesn’t mean that everything was perfect for me when it came to Cammie in “Love to Death.”
I love that she’s stepping out of her comfort zone when it comes to romance. But I don’t think she should step out of her comfort zone when it comes to the people that she helps on calls. It reminds me of Maddie when she got obsessed with that lady who was possibly being abused by her husband. She crossed the line there into stalking. And I think that Cammie crossed the line by going to the funeral of someone from a call.
It all ended well, as far as we know. But there is a concerning amount of overreach in her going to the funeral that just feels like it was done to be convenient and to further the plot for the rest of the characters. But I guess that’s TV because 9-1-1 has done convenient things for reasons even though the character probably wouldn’t do that.
MORE: Don’t forget to catch up and read our review for 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 16 “Where There’s Smoke”!
Then There’s Everything with Blue
First and foremost, even though I feel like Blue and Taylor have gone from 0 to 100 like nothing, I do like what I’m seeing with them. Taylor going to speak with Dixie wasn’t a power play. That was done because Taylor cares for Blue and she stepped in to support him during a really tumultuous time. There’s no messy jealous subplot between the new girlfriend and the mom. It’s just people who love Blue supporting him in different ways while also calling out bad behavior.
Independent of everyone around him, I do like that Blue is standing up for himself a little bit more.
Blue has been a really wooden character that has been defined by what he could do for other people or the limitations put upon him by his mom. And now it’s time for 9-1-1: Nashville to let him shine on his own. If he needs to be sad in a corner, let him be sad. If he needs to call people out and stop that bad behavior just like Taylor did, make that happen. I want to see Blue do things for himself that define his character because I’ve liked the little sparks that I’ve seen when the show takes the time to give them to me.
On the extended family side of things, because I do consider Blythe Blue’s family too, I do like that Nashville continues to go in unexpected directions when it comes to Blythe being in Blue’s life. Blythe is not asking Don to pick her over his son. And she’s not making Blue’s life difficult because that’s her husband’s kid with his ex. You could see this in real-time when Blythe tells Blue the phones go both ways. That’s giving Dixie the benefit of the doubt when I don’t think that Dixie deserves it at all. But it’s not about what Dixie deserves. It’s about Blythe being a supportive parental figure in Blue’s life and prioritizing his happiness on his birthday.
Then There’s the Real Villain of Nashville
The entirety of 9-1-1: Nashville Season 1 I’ve been looking for the point of it all. Nashville hasn’t had this overarching season journey. Or at least I didn’t think it did. And at the heart of this storyline that has been present in almost all the episodes, is Dixie. Because her anger, jealousy, and distrust is not only rotting her from the inside out, it’s destroying all her relationships, including the one with her son.
Keeping all of that in mind, I do think that for being the real villain of Nashville Season 1, I need a little bit more about her motivations. Because sometimes she comes off just as wooden and cardboard cutout as Blue. And she oscillates between being really cruel and then appearing at Taylor’s apartment to try to make it up to Blue. And I know that’s how a narcissist works sometimes. I really do. But this is TV. So it has different parameters and I should be able to understand your character’s motivations easier.
I’m also really curious as to why Dixie is going to do what she does in the April 30th episode when Nashville comes back. The teaser trailer builds this narrative of someone exposing secrets and it being Dixie. But all she’s doing is hurting her son. And if she doesn’t care that this is the cost of destroying Don and especially Blythe, I need her to say it. I need her to commit to it. No half measures. If you’re going to let your jealousy destroy you because of a perceived slight, commit.
That’s what 9-1-1: Nashville is missing. Commitment. Commitment to Dixie and why she’s doing what she’s doing. But also commitment to telling us more about these characters besides throwing them in a relationship like they’re doing with Blue, Taylor, Roxie, Ryan, and now Cammie. That’s how you’ll get people to lock in and come back for season 2. Commit.
