08.02.07
Rescue Who?
Guys, as a rule, like to watch certain things on the television. Basically, if you can gross us out, make us laugh or get us on the edge of our seat (one way or another, are you listening Jessica Alba?), then we’ll accept and embrace what we’re seeing. There are exceptions to this rule. They are the following: Baseball (the real sweet science), Jeopardy (especially Teen Week so we can pretend we’re smart, plus the obvious, Nerdy Chicks) and anything with a character modeled after, or played by, Wayne Brady.
That is all. That’s it. No more.
These three exceptions, though, do not take into account what happens when a girl enters the picture. With a girl comes reality TV, “E! True Entertainment Access Hollywood Story Tonight,” the View, Dr. Phil and, if you’re REALLY lucky, LC from Laguna Beach.
There are definite exceptions made to the remote control rule when you have a girlfriend, boys, and this will be the first in a series of posts about some of the places your television channel switching may stop if you are blessed with a significant other.
Every Tuesday night last summer and every Wednesday night so far this Summer, my television has been stuck on FX from 10:00 to 11:00 PM (EDT). I’ve been observing the tale of a middle aged fireman named Tommy Gavin, portrayed by Denis Leary, whose dysfunctional family causes him more grief than Cleveland Cavaliers fans after the selection of Luke Jackson in the first round a few years back. Let me just catch you up to speed real quick:
Tommy lives with his ex-wife Janet and 10ish month old baby boy who has no name and his pre-pubescent daughter Katy. His 18 year old daughter Colleen has recently moved out of the house, choosing instead to live in a studio apartment with her destitute rocker boyfriend. His other small child was killed off by a drunk driver at the end of Season 1 (or 2, I don’t know). He has recently been involved in a massive house fire accidentally started by his ex-girlfriend (Sheila, who happened to the be widow of his cousin) and is fresh off a relationship with his slain brother’s ex-wife Angie who he was dating out of spite because his brother was at the time living with his ex-wife Janet (who Tommy now lives with) but in reality Tommy was sneaking around having an affair with Janet that neither Johnnie (the brother) nor Angie knew about. Oh, and did I mention that the nameless baby boy from earlier in this paragraph may or may not really be Johnnie’s kid or that Sheila has offered a half million dollars (that she got when her husband was killed in 9/11) to Tommy for custody of the (one way or another) bastard child?
Did you catch all that?
Welcome to one of the thousands of storylines going on in the FX Original Series “Rescue Me.” This is only part of Tommy’s life and doesn’t scratch the surface of his problems (that include alcoholism, anger issues and lately, ED), let alone the problems of all the other characters. Let me try to sum up in list form:
In The Firehouse:
1 - Lt. Kenneth Shea or “Lou” - Recently broke up with a nymphomaniacal ex-Nun because he wants more than just a physical relationship.
2 - Franco - Engaged to a hot mid 20’s chick (Natalie) who’s brother (Richie) has a rare form of Tourette’s that makes him exclaim the “N” word randomly for no apparent reason AND Franco has a daughter (Keela) who was basically kidnapped by 61 year old Susan Sarandon after her relationship with Franco ended (yeah Franco is 30ish and they dated, ewww) but Franco’s cool with it because she takes better care of Keela anyway, but now they want to be back in Franco’s life.
3 - Garrity - Married to Tommy’s alcoholic sister, Maggie, but getting a divorce because she watches porn too much and so he’s forced to stay with Mike and in the process burns down Mike’s Mom’s house. Also is being forced out of his first name (Sean) by the new Probationary Fireman because the new guy, who’s actual name is Bart, wants to be called Sean. And Bart/Sean/Probie is a great basketball player so they are appeasing him for the sake of the Station Basketball team.
4 - Mike - The newest full timer. A bi-curious guy who just was asked by his Mom to kill her, but she died of natural causes the night he was planning on doing it. He never changed anything about her house because it was how he remembered her until Garrity burned it down.
5 - The Chief - Just got the job as Chief of this house, because the longtime Chief had a heart attack, failed his physical to get the job back, got a desk job and decided to kill himself rather than accept the desk job.
I’d go into the “outside the firehouse” characters, but this is too long as it is.
Welcome to the show. There are way too many angles to follow. It literally took me all of Season 3 to get “caught up.” Then at the beginning of Season 4, I was lost again, because old characters came up. Good Lord. The show is more confusing and harder to figure out than a Rubix Cube to a color blind guy.
So how do I feel about Rescue Me? Well, it, as in any program, has its ups and downs. Denis Leary is great in his character at times, but awful at others. Up until the most recent episode, he couldn’t handle the emotional low points, but, in typical Leary fashion, knocked out the comedy. We may have had a turning point with the lead character and for the first time I see the potential the show has to offer, when you finally get everything sorted out.
I have one main qualm with the show, and it is incredibly gigantic. The show employs the “Pay it Forward” technique of creating tragic situations for young kids (you thought I meant casting Bon Jovi didn’t you? Shame on you). You had Tommy’s son killed by a drunk driver (100% against this), you constantly have babies killed off in fires (yes it happens, no not with the frequency Rescue Me would have you believe), you have the nameless baby saga, and I won’t even bring up the latest wrinkle in that plot. If you need a powerful cliff hanging end to your show, create it through great writing, not contrite and ill fated story ideas. If we want to see kids being killed by their parents’ stupidity or drunk drivers, we’ll turn on the news.
After watching the four minute intro to this week’s episode, I had extremely high hopes that the writers had learned to balance drama and prose into an effective emotional weave. I didn’t even have a problem with the death of some kids. Usually the firefighting scenes are so over the top unbelievable (an entire side wall of a building gives out causing our heroes to plunge 5 stories down and out the building and none are injured) or extremely dull that they add very little, if anything, to the show. This was never more evident a problem than last week, where they completed omitted an “on the job” scene.
However, this opening sequence was believable, moving and really showed that even though firemen risk their lives at times, their heroic efforts can go for naught, even if they don’t realize it at the time. It really lent credibility to the writers. The guys ran into the burning building, not knowing if people were alive or dead, but trying to save them anyway, even if their own health was at risk. This was shown through the eyes of the new Probie, who visibly second guessed his decision to enter this career.
All the guys were shaken by this event, but came through it together and grew because of it. These are all truths shown throughout the show. If the show can consistently capture this magic, it has a very good chance to turn into an outstanding “edge of your seat” show. I’ll even recommend to a few guys.
If and when though, folks, if and when.
If Rescue Me can be consistent, I’ll be the first to praise its growth. For now, it’s stuck on the list of “The TV Only Stops Here for Her.” It’s getting better.
Feel free to comment with questions about the storylines, I know they’re a bit confusing.
Be Well.