911 Nashville Season 1 Finale Ending Explained: Blythe And Dixie Fight

It was the slap heard ’round Music City. “9-1-1: Nashville” ended its first season on Thursday with the long-awaited smackdown between Blythe and Dixie, whose primal screams will haunt our nightmares until the show returns for Season 2.

After Blythe refused to cave to Dixie’s demands last week, Don’s old flame came up with a new proposition just for him, offering to kill her next diss track if he agreed to spend one night with her. Despite literally having a sex dream about Dixie the night before, Don refused her offer… until he spotted Blythe with her ex-boyfriend Patrick (guest star Sam Page), unaware that she was only meeting him to find out who’s been spilling her secrets.

Spoiler alert: the mole ended up being the Raleighs’ personal P.I. Charlie, who was promptly fired to prevent further leakage. And that wasn’t Blythe’s only victory; she also bought out Dixie’s contract from the label, effectively killing her career momentum. Yes, Blythe was feeling mighty proud of herself… until Dixie revealed the text messages from Don confirming that he was coming over.

This perceived betrayal sent Blythe into a blind rage, and what began as a simple slap-off quickly escalated into a full-on brawl. The finale smashed to black just as Blythe was smashing Dixie’s head against a support beam in her new house. Ouch.

Elsewhere in the finale, Sam’s doctor discovered a potentially cancerous mass on one of her ovaries. Knowing that surgery could cost her the chance to have this or any future babies, Sam decided that she’s going to wait to give birth before starting any potential cancer treatments. Ryan initially fought against that, but after seeing a new mother in action during an emergency call, he agreed to stand by Sam’s side no matter what. Now we just have to wait for those test results. (Happy summer, guys!)

Below, “9-1-1: Nashville” showrunner Rashad Raisani speaks with TVLine about the finale’s biggest moments, then reveals what kind of trouble Ryan Phillippe will stir up when he joins the show as a series regular in Season 2:

TVLINE | “Dynasty” is one of my all-time favorites, so I’ve been waiting for a classic soapy brawl between Blythe and Dixie, and this did not disappoint. I have to imagine that Jessica Capshaw and LeAnn Rimes had a blast doing this.
Oh yeah. We started referring to it as the “Battle of the Blondes,” and we knew it was coming about five episodes out. We knew, one way or another, it was going to end with them doing something like this. It’s funny, because Jessica and LeAnn are really tight personally. They’re such good friends behind the camera, but they hate each other’s guts when they get on screen. They had so much fun with it, and it was a delight to watch them do it.

TVLINE | I loved the primal energy that Blythe was giving off there, and it’s a good reminder that anyone is capable of this behavior if they’re pushed to their limits.
Yeah, and I think that’s Dixie’s superpower. She gets under Blythe’s facade, under all that politeness, and she says, “I see what’s really under there.”

TVLINE | And it was those texts from Don that really set her off. A few weeks ago, if Dixie tried to show Blythe text messages from Don, she would have ignored them. But I feel like everything has changed.
Yeah. We wanted to show in these last few episodes that they aren’t as solid as they think they are in their relationships. One of the things, for better or for worse, about “9-1-1: Nashville” is that these characters are not as emotionally solid as some of the characters from the other two shows. No one was [cheating on their spouses] on “9-1-1” or “Lone Star,” and I don’t think anybody ever would. But on this show, well, these people are a little different. They’re in denial themselves. Blythe and Don in particular, are dealing with denial about what they’re actually feeling, what they’re going through, and what they’d be willing to do. So Dixie comes in and just exposes their hypocrisies and insecurities, creating this wedge that leads to an ending where anything is possible.

TVLINE | I mean, Don is having sex dreams about Dixie, so there’s at least a physical attraction. Is the question just whether he still feels that emotional pull?
Yeah, and that’s what Blythe feels so betrayed by is that. Of course there’s the physical thing — he was coming there to do it — but it started in the previous episodes. She can see that he feels this magnetism towards her, and I think an emotional one. As we get into Season 2 and we unpack a lot of the stuff that happens at the end of Season 1, that emotional betrayal is going to be the thing that really lingers.

TVLINE | The sound of Dixie’s scream when her head hit that support beam will haunt me all summer. What made this the perfect final shot of the season for you?
The way we choreographed and shot it, the fight actually went on much longer. It was a little bit more Hollywood. It was great, but you definitely felt the artistry of the stunt design and all that. What I liked about just cutting it off sooner was that it’s just so much more primal. Blythe is in full kill mode, and she looks nothing like the Blythe that we’ve seen all season. It was better to just leave it at this peak moment and let the audience wonder, “What the hell just happened?”

TVLINE | That was a hard smack to the head. I don’t think you’re killing Dixie off, but there is that unofficial 9-1-1 curse — we lost Connie Britton after Season 1 of “9-1-1,” then we lost Liv Tyler after Season 1 of “Lone Star.” Might the curse continue?
[Laughs] You know what, I’ll just spoil it and tell you, don’t worry, the curse is not carrying over. She’s all right.

TVLINE | Speaking of casting, I was very happy to see Sam Page show up as Patrick. Do you think he’ll remain in Blythe’s orbit in some way?
I think so. He was great, and I think he has the perfect energy. He’s sympathetic but also slightly slimy, which is exactly the sweet spot of what we were hoping for that character. He’s a really delightful person as well, so yes, I would love to keep bringing Sam Page back.

TVLINE | And then there’s Sam’s test results. That’s already such a heartbreaking story, so what can you say to those worried that it could become even more heartbreaking?
I think it’s going to be tough. We’re going to show who they really are by putting them through some pretty tough circumstances, and I think it will show the depth of their commitment to each other. There will be beauty in the pain, but I think it is probably going to get rough.

TVLINE | At least they’re a united front. They’ve done a real 180 from the beginning of the season. They’re like a reverse Don and Blythe.
Yeah, and that’s the big lesson for Ryan. He’s afraid for Sam and wants to protect her, but he has to learn in this episode that it’s her body and her choice. He isn’t going to back off of that realization, even as they go through it. He’s going to stick by her and support her, and that’s what makes their relationship, hopefully, really start to sparkle — that even in the midst of great suffering, they’re there for each other.

TVLINE | On a happier note, Blue and Taylor are officially cohabitating. Are you already crafting fresh shenanigans for that apartment?
Oh yes. Because the season ends with most of the storylines being either tumultuous or sad, we wanted to give some warmth and delight in there. And that’s what Blue and Taylor delivered on a lot this year. They gave us the heart and the warmth and the joy, so we wanted to go to that at the end since we weren’t going there for the other characters.

TVLINE | Lastly, I have to ask about Ryan Phillippe joining the show in Season 2. We don’t know much about his character, other than him being a “bad boy” detective from New York. What is he going to bring to the show?
From a practical standpoint, he’s going to represent the law enforcement leg of the show. We’ve never had a dedicated cop, so that will give us the ability to tell more of those kinds of stories. We’re also going to have a mysterious new antagonist come to Nashville and create these pretty incredible calamities for reasons that we will discover. [Phillippe’s character] is going to be the tip of the spear, trying to figure out what’s going on. On a personal level, he’s going to play spoiler in many ways. We played the Blythe/Don/Dixie love triangle, and I think we squeezed a lot of juice out of it, but it’s time to turn our attention to other dynamics.

Since this show started with a different sort of love triangle between a father and his two sons, Ryan Murphy had the inspiration to do [Phillippe’s character] as another almost love triangle. This new flashy guy comes to town, he maybe starts to take Don’s son Ryan under his wing. Maybe Ryan starts to look over it, maybe the law enforcement side of things. We’ll play with a little bit of a two-fathers-one-son triangle. He’ll have fun with everybody else on the show too, and Blythe will have a very specific dynamic with him. We’re just looking to mess up everybody’s hair again.

OK, let’s talk: Did you expect things to escalate between Blythe and Dixie like that? Did your heart break for Ryan and Sam? And are you excited for Phillippe’s arrival next season? Weigh in via our polls below, then drop a comment with your thoughts below.