Tom R. - Sr. Staff Writertom@thetwocents.com
Rescue Me is another great example of the FX Network’s sense of balance. Damages is set among the skyscrapers of New York; Rescue Me covers the city streets and blue-collar firehouses. Nip/Tuck shows people trying to be beautiful; Rescue Me doesn’t seem to mind the fat, goofy and out of shape. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia deals with crude, politically incorrect morons; On Rescue Me…well…ok, but at least they try to be a little better.
In the show’s opening scenes in 2004, Leary’s celebrated NYC firefighter Tommy Gavin makes it cleat to a group of new recruits that he’s not a hero. He celebrates his fallen brothers, including his cousin, Jimmy Keefe, who lost their lives at Ground Zero. In the next scene, we find him literally haunted by Jimmy, as well as an ever-increasing group of people he was not able to save. Tommy continues to battle his alcoholism as he bounces between the women in his life.
Continue Reading...
Posts
Tom R. - Sr. Staff Writer
ReplyDeletetom@thetwocents.com
Rescue Me is another great example of the FX Network’s sense of balance. Damages is set among the skyscrapers of New York; Rescue Me covers the city streets and blue-collar firehouses. Nip/Tuck shows people trying to be beautiful; Rescue Me doesn’t seem to mind the fat, goofy and out of shape. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia deals with crude, politically incorrect morons; On Rescue Me…well…ok, but at least they try to be a little better.
In the show’s opening scenes in 2004, Leary’s celebrated NYC firefighter Tommy Gavin makes it cleat to a group of new recruits that he’s not a hero. He celebrates his fallen brothers, including his cousin, Jimmy Keefe, who lost their lives at Ground Zero. In the next scene, we find him literally haunted by Jimmy, as well as an ever-increasing group of people he was not able to save. Tommy continues to battle his alcoholism as he bounces between the women in his life.
For the first season, Tommy lived across the street from his ex-wife Janet so that he could spy on her personal life. At the same time, however, Tommy broke an unwritten rule by starting a relationship with Jimmy’s widow, the emotionally volatile Sheila. As the first season closed, this relationship led to Tommy losing both his family and his job with Ladder 62.
In season two, Tommy had been transferred to the suburbs, where the fires were rare and he had to curb his language. After regaining the trust of his crew, they petitioned the chief to bring Tommy back. He continued dating Sheila, until she hid a miscarriage from him. He managed to reconcile briefly with Janet, until a drunk driver ran down their son Connor and Janet blamed Tommy for not keeping a close enough watch.
By the end of season three, the crew was in shambles as Chief Jerry Reilly had a heart attack, Lieutenant (“Lou”) Kenny Shea looked into retirement on a fishing boat, Sean Garrity married Tommy’s train wreck of a sister, house stud Franco Rivera prepared to take the Lieutenant’s examination, the sexually confused Mike Silletti wanted a new house, where he could be something other than the new kid on the block, and Tommy was pressured by Sheila to marry her and retire to a house on the beach. The crew remained together after a touching pilgrimage to Ground Zero. When Tommy broke the news to Sheila, she drugged him and accidentally set the house on fire.
In season four, Tommy looked for answers about the fire. Janet had given birth, but it was unclear whether the baby belonged to Tommy or his brother Johnny. As Janet battled with post-partum depression, Sheila arranged to buy the baby from Tommy. Chief Reilly was deemed unfit for duty. After contemplating a desk job, he took his own life. Things were turned further upside down when Kenny and Franco leveraged a black recruit for the basketball team, while a new Chief took the helm at the firehouse. By the end of the season, the entire Gavin clan was in AA, and Tommy had taken to sneaking into fires in Jimmy’s gear, prompting rumors of the FDNY being haunted.
Like other FX shows, the TV-MA rating is a must. The sexual scenes are a step below Nip/Tuck, but still not for everyone. While the ensemble plays off each other effortlessly, the language and subject matter of the brilliantly written firehouse scenes are politically incorrect, from racial, sexual, scatological and just about every other perspective. While the quality has slipped in each subsequent season, the show has more than its share of brilliance. Especially deserving of note are the sudden jolts, from fantasy to reality and from comedy to tragedy. Sometimes the word “drama” isn’t enough for this show.
So there’s my two cents as we head into the extended 22 episode season. Keep me posted on how you think it’s progressing. Drop in your comments or send me a note at: tom@thetwocentscorp.com
Official Site: http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/rescueme
Principal Cast: Denis Leary (Tommy Gavin), John Scurti (Lieutenant Kenny Shea), Steven Pasquale (Sean Garrity), Daniel Sunjata (Franco Rivera), Mike Lombardi (Mike Silletti), Andrea Roth (Janet Gavin), Natalie Distler (Colleen Gavin), Callie Thorne (Sheila Keefe), Tatum O’Neal (Maggie Gavin), Lenny Clarke (Uncle Teddy), Robert John Burke (Mickey Gavin), Adam Ferrara (Chief “Needles” Nelson), Larenz Tate (Bart, aka Black Shawn), and Jerry Adler (Chief Feinberg).