I’ve come to expect somewhat big things to happen on the season finale of Rescue Me: Janet leaves suddenly with the kids; the Gavins seek revenge for Connor’s death; Sheila accidentally burns a house down. I kept waiting throughout this episode, expecting things to build. And then, at the very end, Tommy’s dad died. Which was unexpected (the man wasn’t ill), but not exactly shocking (he was kind of frail and elderly). The whole episode, including this death, was rather... calm. It really was quite a peaceful exit: He fell asleep at a baseball game — a game he really wanted to attend — with his son by his side, soon after singing with him. And then he never woke up. If you have to go, that seems like a pretty ideal way to do it. The image of Tommy putting his arm around him at the end was bittersweet. Also touching: the earlier fake closed-captioning cracking the code of Tommy and his dad’s dialogue.Maybe Lou’s whole metaphor about baseball and...
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When I saw the title of this week’s episode I got excited: I thought maybe Jimmy would finally get some quality screentime. He’s made so few appearances this season, and although he said goodbye to Tommy a few weeks ago, I didn’t expect that exit to be so permanent. I didn’t even realize that his name was missing from the opening credits until I read a comment on this blog. How can he leave when he’s such an important part of this show? He’s a reminder of 9/11; he’s Tommy best friend (and cousin); and he often gives voice to Tommy’s conscious.Unfortunately, we were treated to no such ghostly visits last night. But that didn’t mean the ghost of Jimmy Keefe was completely absent: He was there, in the form of Tommy. That “I was never here” rescue Tommy performed last week to cover for the drunk firefighters turned out to be more than a one-time stunt. Instead of borrowing one of the drunk guys’ jackets, Tommy now puts on Jimmy...
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So sorry I was unable to blog with you all last week, but I was relaxing on vacation, sipping something like those Long Island iced teas that Sean is downing in his unsuccessful and misguided attempt at becoming an alcoholic. But now I’m all caught up on the most recent Gavin family AA meetings and all the other Rescue Me subplots, as well as your insightful comments.How can an episode involving a bipolar woman and drunken, on-duty firefighters be funny? It seems so wrong, but there was so much hilarity in those scenes. Amy Sedaris graced us with a much-welcomed return as the chief’s daughter Beth. Tommy pointed out that she wasn’t as upbeat or funny as she was on their first date, but if he could have viewed things from our perspective, he would have seen just how much of a riot she was ("Like Joe Pesci funny? Like Buddy Hackett funny?"). She admitted to having a mood disorder and nonchalantly mentioned how her parents fear for their lives if she goes off her meds: "...
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"The Gavins attend their first AA meeting.... Tommy turns to Colleen for information about Janet.... Richie tells Franco the truth about Natalie.... And Lou mulls revenge on his cousin."So goes the preview for this week's episode of FX's Rescue Me. Alas, due to unforeseen circumstances, Jennifer could not blog with us this week. But please, feel free to use this posting to share your thoughts on the latest episode. — TV Guide Staff
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Baby No-name finally got a name! Well, a couple of names actually. There’s Elvis (as in the King), courtesy of Sheila. Then there’s Wyatt (as in Earp), thanks to Kevin Costner fan Janet. Can I vote for Tommy’s suggestion of not being subtle and just going with the name Kevin?Even for people who didn’t watch last week’s previews, I’m sure it was no shock that Janet was going to try to get the baby back. Her method? "She used one kid to steal the other," as Tommy discovered. A plan that seemed all too simple, yet was successful because Sheila is... naive? Or is stupid a better word? Leaving Katy alone with the baby... come on! How did she not see that coming? No way is this baby issue resolved yet, and if Sheila hadn’t been outwitted so easily, I may have felt bad for her as she went chasing down the street on foot after Janet’s car.Now I did feel bad for Lou as he had to be restrained from going into a fire after daredevil Tommy didn’t fol...
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So he didn’t do it: Tommy thankfully didn’t kill the baby. But he did give the baby to Sheila. Sheila?! I think Colleen would have been a better temporary option, but... oh well. To say Janet reacted badly to this news is putting it mildly. There were slaps, an attack with a frying pan and a broken table. Then the culmination of her anger: Janet ran Tommy over with her car. (Tommy and Janet are people who prefer to work out their problems on their own: If she’s not going to call the police about kidnapping, he’s not going to call them and file assault charges.) And Tommy is very resilient — he literally just bounced back after all of this abuse. He called in sick for like half a day, and the guys were surprised to see him back so quickly, considering they heard that Janet stabbed him. Or hit him with a baseball bat, gun or tea kettle.Regardless of what Janet did to Tommy, it was nowhere near as awful as the mental turmoil he put himself through that night. A...
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Images of Michael Jackson came to mind during that final scene in which Tommy was holding Baby No-name over a railing. What the hell was Tommy thinking? He’s now surpassed Sheila as being the craziest person on this show, and that’s no small feat. What led him to this?! He’s not suffering from depression like Janet; he’s not off the wagon. Let me back up — I can understand his frustration with his family, which has been building for weeks now, culminating in the post-fire phone call. He came back from the disheartening “baby fire,” and after seeing the deaths of seven children, he wanted to connect with his family. Instead, all he got was a bunch of crap on the phone, with Janet and Katy yelling and cursing at one another. Add to that Colleen’s occasional phone call just for money. Still, to get to the point where he was considering ending Baby No-name’s life... that was beyond drastic. This episode took the show’s overarching theme,...
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What’s in a name? Oftentimes, a lot. For example, the nickname Probie that firefighters use for new recruits. As Tommy explained last night, they’re called this lowly name and made to do grunt work for a reason: so that they can earn the trust and respect of their senior coworkers, in a profession in which trust is everything. And Shawn (aka Black Shawn; New Shawn; Bart) is missing out on this experience because of the basketball deal he made with Lou and Franco. Whether this will influence any trust issues during a fire remains to be seen. For now, it’s only negatively affecting his relationship with Tommy (aka Stretch; T).Sean was most affected by the name game last night, as he learned there’s a new Shawn in the firehouse. None of the various nicknames proposed for him really worked out well: White Sean; Old Sean; Garrity; Killer; Nine; Big G; G Money; Leslie (his favorite). Actually, I think Franco’s new nickname for Mikey — Stupid — would have...
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I feel a little bit like a traitor for saying this, but I like the new, easygoing chief (Jerry Adler, last seen on The Sopranos). Chief Syd invites the guys out for barbecued food and spouts amusing Yiddish expressions (I have no idea what he’s saying, but it still comes out funny). Oh, and he’s rumored to be very well endowed. This last bit of info provided for some fun glances as the guys tried to check him out. They also had some fun inspecting the old chief’s ashes (Sean: “It’s like the bottom of my dust buster”). The guys still haven’t decided what to do with Jerry’s ashes — I don’t understand why they don’t just give them to his son Peter. But I’m so glad they decided not to flush them because, like Lou said, that would be disrespectful.Likewise, it seems inappropriate to vomit through a marriage proposal, but that’s exactly what Franco did. I’m guessing this tactic wouldn’t make the cut on one of those...
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Last night’s opening scene is one of the reasons that I love this show. First, there was nice intercutting between the two post-death scenes: Mike trying on his mom’s necklace, etc., and Needles discovering Jerry’s body. Then they take a divisive topic like suicide and have characters with opposing views on the topic get into a heated debate. Tommy tearing into Franco and Sean for dismissing Jerry simply as a coward and giving a heart-wrenching recap of Jerry’s heroics on the job was great: “Working up in the Bronx used up all the g--damn brave he had.”So it looks like Jerry died of coronary failure after all — well, at least according to the coroner’s report. Interesting how easy that was to fix thanks to Johnny’s old partner. Likewise, Tommy and Sheila’s legal troubles seem to have gone away rather easily: Sheila said the insurance company settled, and Jerry’s few clicks on his computer seemed to effectively do the trick in ge...
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