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« Roush Dispatch
Finale Watch: Rescue Me Nods Off
Denis Leary in Rescue Me by Barbara Nitke/FX
After Wednesday’s formless, scattershot finale of Rescue Me, I’m with Charles Durning. Almost. Head down, eyes closed, taking a long, long nap. For me, this respite will last until next summer, when Rescue Me returns for its fifth and what we have to hope will be a more satisfying season.
For Durning, who played Tommy’s dad, there’s no waking up. Will he in retrospect be seen as the lucky one?
In a poignant though not entirely unpredictable moment, made more notable for a quiet tenderness one rarely sees on this raw and raucous show, Tommy’s dad slipped away into a final rest as he sat beside his son at a minor-league baseball game. He brushes something off his clothes and then he’s gone. Just like that. Sure beats the violent end that has come to most people Tommy has lost during the run of this series. And yet: sad. Denis Leary played the reaction beautifully. Poor Tommy.
I will try to resist using the most obvious baseball-as-life-metaphor analogy here: that much of this season was not ready for the majors. It started promisingly enough, and had plenty of hilarious and harrowing and tragic moments along the way. It’s not like Rescue Me stopped being watchable. But it rarely gelled into anything memorable: a few of those bizarre family group meetings, maybe, and Amy Sedaris as the new chief’s bipolar daughter, absolutely.
Still, there were few payoffs to anything, not even for pivotal events like Jerry’s suicide, Sean burning down ex-Probie’s house, the hiring of "Black Sean," Tommy’s latest bitter split with Janet, his hookup with a variety of sexually voracious and predatory women (Jennifer Esposito, then Gina Gershon), and most recently the bizarre subterfuge of fighting fires in dead Jimmy Keefe’s jacket (which did prompt one sensational meltdown in the finale from Callie Thorne, who as usual rose above one of the show’s most thanklessly shrewish roles).
This season’s romantic/sexual entanglements for New York’s horniest fictional firefighters played even worse, though none ended up being as controversial as last summer’s Tommy/Janet "reunion." This summer Rescue Me meandered, it often sputtered and it was undeniably upstaged by more provocative dramas like AMC’s brilliant Mad Men and FX’s new and twisted Damages. Where’s the fire?
Maybe the new chief filling out "Section 8" papers for Tommy means the entire season can be excused for reasons of insanity.
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Sep 13, 2007 11:07 AM
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I'm heading to the fridge. Anyone want some Vitamin Water?
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Sep 13, 2007 11:55 AM
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I myself loved this season and I loved the finale.
To me, this show is about Tommy Gavin's journey through life. This season wasn't about Tommy's sexual conquests, or his drunken binges, or his pill-popping escapades. It was more about how Tommy finally realized that he could not continue to live the life he was living!
This was a season of no drinking, very little sex (2 intervals at 10 seconds each) and a whole lot less tragedy. Tommy Gavin's journey could be seen last night through the eyes of his ex-wife Janet as Tommy did not allow her to kiss him!
Next season has all the makings of another great year what with Tommy's possible Section 8 filing by his vindictive Chief, his daughter's possible relationship with Black Shaun, and his continuous battle with alchohol addiction, let alone him dealing with the death of his father.
Last night's episode featured the only truly happy moment in the entire show as Tommy and his dad were reminiscing while watching baseball!
And how can a show be not be satisfying with a line like this from Sheila;
"I realize that he had a vagina on his neck but he was still hot"
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Sep 13, 2007 2:20 PM
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I'm with you Matt. I've ben talking this show up to all my firends for years now but this season was a major drag.
The whole ghost thing was just silly. Jerry's death was forgotten about 2 minutes after they left the funeral. Probie's sexuality has been abandoned. Susan Sarandon's return served no real purpose.
I thought Amy Sedaris rocked. And I did enjoy Franco letting Richie get married to spite Nat.
But the whole mess with Tommy and Colleen was grating to the tenth power. And Tommy's relationships with the Esposito and Gershon characters were more irksome than interesting. And Sean trying to prove he is an alcoholic was well below par compared to the comedy of years past.
Here's hoping next season can get back on track.
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Sep 13, 2007 2:22 PM
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Thank God! I knew I could count on Matt Roushe to say something sane. This season was disappointing from day 1. Denis Leary needs to get over himself - I know this isn't reality but really...a woman is going to make out with you DURING A FIRE? Franco, maybe 
The last 10 minutes were better than the entire season.
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Sep 13, 2007 5:23 PM
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I totally agree, Matt. The last 3 episodes of the season took me at least 3 tries to watch each, because I kept falling asleep from boredom. I'll have to hear some really good news about next season if I will be back watching it again.
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Sep 13, 2007 6:27 PM
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I stopped watching this show after the episode directly following the Chief's death. The only lingering effect it seemed to have on any of the characters was allowing Leary to have an extended monologue. They killed off the show's most compelling character in a ridiculous fashion for at best silly shock value, and at worst to get rid of an actor they didn't like.
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Sep 13, 2007 7:24 PM
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I liked this season despite its less-focused nature and abbreviated emotional moments. The overall tone was lighter, which was fine because it allowed us to see Tommy mellow out and become the sane one of the lot (relatively speaking, mind you).
Aside from a slight shift in tone, Leary and Co. also used some cinematographic approaches that I hadn't noticed in previous seasons such a long takes and eye-popping set ups, e.g., Tommy and Lou's walk 'n' talk through the furniture store and Tommy's window washer rescue. Is this pure eye candy with no substance? Maybe, but I don't mind a little of that given that it is a television show.
If season 5 maintains the feel of season 4, it won't be the worst thing, but I wouldn't mind seeing some things wrapped up in classic Rescue Me fashion like Sheila's season 3 betrayal and the whole will they/won't they Tommy/Janet runner.
Shows that run for a while will have seasons that don't quite do it for some fans. But that's OK--they don't all have to be home runs.
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Sep 13, 2007 9:37 PM
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I loved this season. There I said it! I was entertained, I laughed, I cried. Rescue Me is one of the 5 best shows on TV. Now that summer is over and all the cable shows will be gone we are left with the network crap. I know I'll be going thru withdrawl for the next several Wednesday nights.
Thank you Denis and Peter for another great season of Rescue Me.
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Sep 14, 2007 8:53 AM
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Matt, has Rescue Me been renewed? I thought, to date, FX hadn't made their final decision. Keeping fingers crossed for a fifth season of one of my favorite shows!
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Sep 14, 2007 10:07 AM
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I think the previous seasons have created high expectations from the viewers. But I still think that this season was a great season, with Rescue Me still proving itself to be one of the best series on television.
Leary gave some great performances this season; his rooftop chat with Mike, his firehouse rant of why probies are probies, and most certainly in the finale, with the passing of his father.
I'll agree that this season wasn't as action-packed as previous seasons, but I disagree with the notion that this season was less than memorable. I look forward to next season, which won't come soon enough.
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Sep 14, 2007 10:12 AM
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I usually agree with you Matt but I loved this season for the most part. I do think there were some very disjointed parts. They never explained why Lou and Sean were all of a sudden working w/the other crew all the time, for example. But, overall, I think this season did a great job of showing Tommy growing and learning to overcome all the horrible things that have happened in his life and be an adult. I cried at the end when his dad died even though I knew it was coming. That was a beautiful scene and the speech by Lou about life vs baseball was awesome. Callie Thorne did an incredible job also in redeeming her character almost completely in just 2 scenes in this one episode. I never really considered that it was her grief that was the cause of all her crazy behavior because she wanted so badly for Tommy to be the substitute for her dead husband.
I also have to totally disagree w/the poster who thinks that women would not throw themselves at Tommy. For one, girls always throw themselves at firefighters. Secondly, Tommy is hot! I never really thought of Denis Leary that way until this show. But he's a sexy mess of a man and I've always had a thing for bad boys. A lot of women do, so that's totally believable to me.
I can't wait for next season!
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Sep 14, 2007 11:45 AM
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I have loved this show (as I did the early effort--The Job) but this season was hard to bear. Jennifer Espisito was odd and what a waste of Gina Gershon. None of the women are that admirable, well I take that back, neither are the guys. But it was fun, this season it was off. .i still stuck with it but it was hard. The Charles Durning send off was quite understated and good. + I did love the family AA meetings--I watched for them alone
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Sep 14, 2007 12:14 PM
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I agree with a lot of what Matt and others have said on this blog, although despite its unevenness, it's still one of my favorite shows. I hope they find the writing groove again. I love the characters. Like others, I wasn't fond of losing the chief, though.
And I also have to wholeheartedly agree with dolphinwmn - Tommy is HOT! Like her, I didn't recognize it until this show, but yes, he is!!
I hope they keep Artie Lange as Mike, Lou's cousin, as a recurring character. He and Lou are so funny together. The scene with them in the bar with Sean (and the morphing woman) a couple weeks ago was understatedly hilarious with brilliantly funny dialogue!
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Sep 14, 2007 1:51 PM
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Why do finales have to be dramatic? The finale was dramatic in a quiet way and this show always has plenty of drama. Charles Durning's death was a good death for him and his son.
I can't decide if I have the attraction for Denis Leary or Tommy Gavin or are they one in the same? Yes, women love bad boys, I have been married to one for almost 30 years. I loved the hell right out of him.
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Sep 14, 2007 1:55 PM
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