Arts: Nashville, Season 1

Now playing: Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V at www.slatev.com.
Tv Club Nashville, Season 1 Dante is the ultimate false counselor. By Katy Waldman Posted Thursday, Apr 18, 2013, at 02:45 PM ET  "I hate and I love," wrote the Roman poet Catullus more than two thousand years ago. That's how I feel about Dante, once Jolene's sober companion and now Juliette's manager and new flame. More precisely, I hate him, and I love it—hating him. He is appallingly sleazy and duplicitous, with a Svengali-like pull over Juliette and a velvety tenor voice that croons New Age affirmations about feelings and acceptance. I accept my feelings of loathing toward Dante—in fact, I savor them—because Nashville has long been in the market for a good villain. Avery was the bad guy for a while, but he's learned humility. Lamar tried his best, but he suffered a heart attack that led to the illumination of a sad back story, so we had to forgive him. Dante, though. Recall the scene in which he goes to Jolene after neglecting her all week and unctuously tells her she would not be better off at home, focusing on her therapy. She needs to stay on the tour, to work through her issues with Juliette; in other words, Dante wants to continue sleeping with Juliette, which he can't do babysitting Jolene in Nashville. And the fragile, recovering addict trusts him, trusts that he has her best interests at heart. In that way, at least, she resembles her daughter, who has thrown over Deacon (Deacon, for chrissakes!) to make Dante her go-to guy.   "I never meant to drive a wedge between ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Sanford and Sons Why Do We Use Explosive Fertilizer? Watch the Country Get Fatter in One Animated Map	Advertisement
Manage your newsletters subscription: Unsubscribe | Forward to a Friend | Advertising Information
Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to slatenewsletter@nl.slate.com. Copyright 2011 The Slate Group | Privacy Policy The Slate Group | c/o E-mail Customer Care | 1350 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 410 | Washington, D.C. 20036