I don't even remember when I first found out about this show, but it never interested me. Catchy theme by the Von Bondies though, one of the most memorable parts of the show. Anyway, with a rash of great cable shows on these days, and after having finished The Shield a few months back, I needed something else that looked just as good so I finally decided to sit down and watch this and did so over the course of two weeks.
I enjoyed the ride.
Denis Leary did well at putting together a show about a New York City firehouse and the troubled personal life of the lead character, Tommy Gavin, played by Leary himself. "Rescue Me" makes for a great title with its double meaning and I loved the mix of good drama and gallows humor/locker room talk that made the show. I don't recall any other series being able to devote an entire act to a bunch of guys trying to unravel the mystery of someone's orange penis right there in the locker room and doing so in an engaging, funny and satisfying manner. That's the kind of show this can be a lot of the time.
So, how would I break down the run of the show? I thought it was firing on all cylinders right out of the gate and remained pretty fun and well made for the first three seasons. Then season four started losing me a bit and I'd say that season 5 was a low point. I wouldn't say it got bad, it just felt like it was running on fumes, running out of ideas to keep it fresh and got a little too heavy at times. Then the show started to recover a bit by becoming "hit or miss" before getting somewhat interesting again. Ultimately I like how the show ended and thought it did so with some great laugh-out-loud humor between those edge-of-your seat serious moments.
If you haven't seen this show and like good cable dramas, check it out.
Now for some mostly spoilerish points for those who've seen it…
I enjoyed the ride.
Denis Leary did well at putting together a show about a New York City firehouse and the troubled personal life of the lead character, Tommy Gavin, played by Leary himself. "Rescue Me" makes for a great title with its double meaning and I loved the mix of good drama and gallows humor/locker room talk that made the show. I don't recall any other series being able to devote an entire act to a bunch of guys trying to unravel the mystery of someone's orange penis right there in the locker room and doing so in an engaging, funny and satisfying manner. That's the kind of show this can be a lot of the time.
So, how would I break down the run of the show? I thought it was firing on all cylinders right out of the gate and remained pretty fun and well made for the first three seasons. Then season four started losing me a bit and I'd say that season 5 was a low point. I wouldn't say it got bad, it just felt like it was running on fumes, running out of ideas to keep it fresh and got a little too heavy at times. Then the show started to recover a bit by becoming "hit or miss" before getting somewhat interesting again. Ultimately I like how the show ended and thought it did so with some great laugh-out-loud humor between those edge-of-your seat serious moments.
If you haven't seen this show and like good cable dramas, check it out.
Now for some mostly spoilerish points for those who've seen it…
- The constant and casual punching was a little over the top, but I sort of came to accept it as part of what the show does.
- Apparently Denis Leary's son picked the theme song.
- Leary is a big supporter of firefighters, having had a few among friends and family. He even started a charity, but the show itself doesn't always portray them in a positive light. I wonder how its been received by real firefighters.
- I like how each season ended in a denouement instead of a cliffhanger. Sure, I was able to just jump into the next season right away but I like the idea of what they did.
- A lot of good characters died over the course of the show and did so quite tragically. I've never seen anything like it. At times I didn't think that things could get back to the way they were but surprisingly the show was able to get back to its comedic roots in no time.
- I felt bad for the chief's wife and even worse when he killed himself, leaving her truly alone.
- When Colleen's musician boyfriend dumped her for that other girl, Tommy should have put a stop to those hefty credit card charges and let the kid deal with them. I'm surprised that he didn't. What could the kid do if that happened?
- They gave Franco a daughter early on but got rid of her in an odd way by sending her off to live with an older wealthy woman he had just met. I like how that relationship evolved, by the way. It started off as a one night stand only to turn into something a little deeper where she exposed a lot of his "immature" behavior. Susan Sarandon was good in the part too.
- Speaking of death, a lot of other characters just disappeared suddenly, Chuck Cunningham style. At least Tommy mentioned that his brother (played by James Badge Dale who probably had another gig) moved to Seattle.
- Callie Thorn's character was a nice addition to the series as the widowed wife of Tommy's dead cousin and part of a love triangle but halfway through the show's run, she became little more than a booty call. She went from being a real and complex character to an over-the-top caricature who dressed up in kinky lingerie and pounced on Tommy whenever he showed up. Looked like they were trying to find something for her to do. The character did recover a bit but not much. Gotta give a good shoutout to Callie Thorn though. I became aware of her for the first time earlier this year when I started watching her other show Necessary Roughness which recently got cancelled after three seasons. I like her.
- The mid to later seasons also introduced a lot of long talky scenes which would run for five minutes or longer with just one character talking. Ordinarlily I'd be impressed but a lot of these scenes weren't interesting enough to impress. They were just overlong. Kudos to the acting talent who pulled them off though.
- I loved Michael J. Fox's character. A lot of actors known for more wholesome roles like to appear on cable shows like these and either ham it up or get racy. Sometimes they're good and sometimes it looks like they're trying too hard. Fox was good. Same goes for Tatum O'Neal and Peter Gallagher.
- The incident where Uncle Lenny lost it and shot Tommy in the bar crossed the line for me. I thought it was too dark for the show and the character and I'm surprised that they had them making amends in no time.
- I liked Maura Tierney's character quite a bit. Quite the personality on her. Too bad they didn't keep her around more. Yet another character wo just vanished, so I was pleasantly surprised when they brought her back and even integrated Tierney's real-life cancer into the character. We didn't see her again after that one episode but at least she got some decent closure.
- Poor Damian. Another victim of firefighting. When the next episode after his accident started, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what happened to him. Seemed like he died at first. It's also a real shame that he got a pretty good girlfriend (played by Knight Rider's Deanna Russo) only to have her gone with no explanation once he was in the chair.
- I thought that Feinberg had alzheimer's disease, but they never followed up on it after his few incidents. No matter, it mirrors real life where bouts of illness come and go and don't fit neatly into a fictitious timeline.
- Backing those fire trucks into the garage must be quite a chore. You'd think that they'd have a back entrance for them to drive into.
- I remember Denis Leary doing an interview where he wanted Tommy Gavin to be killed off and appear as a ghost for the final season, but this never came to pass. Who would his ghost interact with anyway?
- We got a quaint and satisfying ending similar to what you'd get with a Wes Anderson movie and consistent with the season-ending denouments. And with all the characters who died, it was somewhat bittersweet as well. I'll miss the guys of 62 Truck.
