Rescue Me: Devil (season premiere)

(S03E01) Wow. That was one hell of a return. Rescue Me is one of those rare shows that smacks you from every angle and it does it well. Tonight's season three premiere didn't hold anything back. I'm still not sure how to react to the way it ended. Although, I had a pretty good hunch as to what it would be, but I'll get to that. We pick up months after the death of Connor Gavin and Tommy's world is still upside down. But that shouldn't come as a surprise, because when has Tommy's world ever been right side up?

Take Uncle Teddy. He's in jail for first-degree murder after he shot and killed the guy that ran over Connor. Tommy, Johnny, and Cousin Danny (remember him? the lawyer) are doing everything they can to get Teddy out of jail, but the big guy seems to be at peace with the choice he made. It's hard not to respect him. The guy hung himself out to dry to take a drunk driver who had killed (and would probably kill again) out of the picture.

Or what about Lou? After that con-artist prostitute took him for over $20 Grand, Lou hasn't really recovered. He finally moved out of the firehouse basement but his new place is a dump. He spends his nights getting drunk out of his mind and it looks like he hasn't shaved in a week or two. To make matters worse, he stumbles upon a porno starring, you guessed it, Candi. Or was it Danielle? Either way, the porn looked terrible... not that I would know anything about that. Ken Shea isn't doing too well and I'm honestly dreading his storyline. I like his character way too much. I don't want to see him go through this.

Sheila and Damien seem to be doing well. She agrees to look after Tommy's old man a few days a week. Poor old guy ain't doing too well. He wets the bed. A lot. But he isn't the only one getting the bed sheets moist. Damien is sleeping with his science teacher, Mrs. Turbudy. Tommy goes to give her a talkin' too and he walks away with her number. Classic Tommy right there. But that science teacher? Well... she is a fox. Of course none of this sits too well with Jimmy. He and Tommy still speak, but Jimmy is convinced that Damien's downfall (smoking, drinking, sex with the science teacher) is all Tommy's fault. Yeah, it sort of is.

At the house, everyone seems to be getting along well. Franco is much better now that Laura is long gone. Garrity is seeing Tommy's sister Maggie and no one knows yet. But given Sean's big mouth, he'll probably let it slip sooner rather than later. It was pretty amusing when they all decided to quit smoking after Paroli banned it in the house anyway. Doubt that will last long.

And finally we get to Janet. She wants a divorce. Plain and simple. But she's doing a good job of making Tommy feel guilty. As if he could have done any more to save his son? I'm not a big Janet fan right now. Especially after we found out she's sleeping with Johnny. And I knew it too! Check out the picture above, or this bigger one. There she is, smooching with Tommy's brother against the cop cruiser. It feels oddly incestuous... but then again, Tommy did shack up with Sheila after Jimmy died. So I suppose it's par for the Rescue Me course.

As usual, we got a nice montage at the end of the episode set to "Devil" by The Stereophonics. After rescuing a little girl from a fire, the paramedics pronounce her dead. But Tommy starts beating her chest for what seems like an hour because he still feels all this guilt about Connor. Then she coughs and her eyes open. He actually brought her back. As he walks away, Tommy lights up a cigarette. Screw the whole "let's quit smoking together thing." You know what? He earned it.