This last show really sucked, I cant believe they would kill Jerry off the show, Dennis what the heck are you and your writers thinking. Jerry wasnt a main character but he was a good one on the show. I"m very dissappointed, and not looking forward to the next show at all.

Jeff, kudos on your analysis above - it is insightful, lucid, and extremely literate. In a very real sense, I understand where you are coming from concerning your criticisms of the show and especially the characters. Even I would have to admit that the show is not as good as it used to be; I definitely think the show and its braintrust take themselves a little too seriously, even in their most lighthearted comic moments.

Having said that, I think that you're failing to view these characters in context when you criticize their thought, speech, actions, etc. First off, this is not just drama - it's melodrama, and as such one must expect the characters to think, talk, and act in larger-than-life, grandiose ways. In a world such as this, you cannot use preconceived notions of the real world (reflected in true drama) and how it operates as a framework for interpretation (e.g., if this were real life wouldn't Tommy have been arrested for assault, like, twenty times by now?).

As for the women...well, I think they're right-on there.

Over the past 3+ years, we've been introduced to a conniving retard, a porn star/hooker con-woman who fleeces sympathetic johns, an obsessed bisexual fire victim who loves "The Mick," a defrocked priest who curses and drinks and screws, a sexy "cougar" who seduces young men and steals their children...I could go on forever. These characters would be just as at home in a Tennessee Williams play or a Pedro Almodovar film as they are in this show. They are literally unreal, like archetypes of human behavior on steroids.

Second, the shows characters are constantly developing and have been doing so since Season 1. If I had no prior experience with this show and started watching now, I would have to agree that the characters are one-note cardboard cutouts. This isn't a two-hour movie, though; characters are not (usually) going to experience life/behavior-changing events in every episode.

When I look at Tommy, for example, I see an emotionally walled-off "man's man" who has made a conscious effort to understand his post-9/11 guilt (despite being - in the words of Matt Damon's charcter in The Departed - Irish and therefore "impervious to psychoanalysis"). I see a man who was a suicidal alcoholic get an admittedly loose grip on himself and his disease in the midst of harrowing personal trauma (the death of his son and his brother, for example). I don't know about you, but I couldn't imagine the Tommy of Season 4 going on a bender; it would seem out of character - he has changed that much. Is he still an a**hole? Of course! But, now he is an a**hole who uses face creme (say it ain't so!), allows himself to be beaten up in public, and has taken reponsibility for raising a baby THAT MAY NOT EVEN BE HIS. This is not the Tommy we once knew, but I understand how he got here.

Is he sympathetic? Does he have underlying humanity? I think so. One would be hard-pressed not to sympathize with Tommy, considering the persistent demons, deaths (mother, brother, son - now, Jerry), family issues (pregnancies, scummy boyfriends, car wrecks, runaways), etc. In true, melodramatic style, the sh*t keeps piling up, and Tommy can't shovel fast enough.

I couldn't disagree more with your comparison of Tommy to Tony Soprano. Don't get me wrong, I loved The Sopranos - I was there from the beginning and couldn't stop watching even as it started to meander (an entire 1/2 season about a gay minor character?). I hate to compare the two characters (two very different types of shows), but their arcs are very similar. They both are emotionally traumatized (yet constipated) men who begin to recognize their failings and in the midst of crisis seek to change.

I think that by the end Tommy will accomplish what Tony did. He'll continue to evolve, but in the end "you are what you are." Tony was a stone-cold murderer in the beginning; in the end, he was a stone-cold murderer who understood why he was a stone-cold murderer.

By the same token, Tommy will always be an a**hole, and I think he's OK with that. "The more he changes, the more he'll stay the same."

I never commented on any of these Rescue Me posts because everyone was so madly in love with the show, calling it the best ever.

Best show on TV.
Better than the Sopranos.

I watch this show because I love FX and it makes me laugh, but overall it's a bad show.

Thank you Jeff for your honesty in picking apart this show.

The character's actions are implausible and they kill characters just to give the show some momentum which they quickly lose.

- Where the fuck did Tommy's sign language sister come from? What a deus ex machina.

- How many times is it funny to watch Tommy get beat up by a ghost while others watch?

- How the fuck did Uncle Teddy get out of jail? MADD? Please...

- Why wouldn't Chief get the illegal immigrant who ditched him?

- Why would Tommy believe he blacked out drinking when they have never showed him fall off the wagon?

- Why did Teddy want to get out of jail? First he loved it, then he hated it, now he wants to go back? Stupid plotline.

- Franco's daughter is in France and now that plot seems dead.

- The nun is horny. I get it.

- Shaun has no story now.

- Why is Tommy still such a dick to his "brother" probie? Even Vic Mackey and Dutch came to terms and they're not even friends.
It's like Leary is just a dick to be funny.

This whole show is about Denis Leary's ego and his view on life. He fucks 5 women per ep while dropping little life nuggets.

It's seriously flawed. Enjoy it but be real

It has none of the complexities about death like Six Feet Under. None of the anti-hero confusion of the Sopranos. None of the raw workplace excitement of the Shield.

It's funny. That's it.

I'm pretty sure.. that Rescue has 'jumped the shark' with this one. I honestly think that Denis Leary's ego has taken over. C'mon all these beautiful women throwing themselves at this man??.. Alcoholic, maniac, anger issues, has a family, foul mouthed and let's face it.. a little deranged. Not in this lifetime. The man is not scary looking.. but he's no George Clooney either. I believe that poor Denis is just playing out his fantasies.. until the network pulls the plug.

One who knows..

i am sitting here shaking my head, but not at jerry's suicide. i'm astonished that so many people have been raving about this show. it's flat-out wretched.

there is not one character who talks or acts like an actual human being. the humor is forced and unfunny because it's so artificial. mostly, it's denis leary's ego on overdrive -- we have to sit there for an hour while watching him act out fantasies about getting beautiful woman after beautiful woman and playing fireman in between.


the women are, down to the very last one, shrill and unsympathetic. and leary's character is worst of all: there is NOTHING sympathetic about him.

with tony soprano, you had real complexity. he could do these heinous things, but then do something extraordinarily human. that's what people are really like. shades of gray are realistic.


there is also a pretty good rule of thumb in most good fiction. your protagonist doesn't have to be liked, but he must be likable. that is, make him caddish, make him evil, but make him someone you can actually relate to and care about. that way, when he does something awful, it resonates because you, the viewer/reader, are so torn.

leary has turned his character into a one-note guy -- he lies badly, postures and occasionally throws a punch. he insults and mistreats everyone. there's nothing human there. there's nothing remotely sympathetic. i keep watching, and with each passing episode i just feel he's a bigger prick than in the one before. that's just not enough to build a show on.

archie bunker was a prick but with underlying humanity.
tony soprano and vic mackey, same thing.
the characters on Lost: remarkably shaded/nuanced.
Battrlestar Galactica: this week's villain could be next week's savior. Every character is a mix of good and bad impulse.

Rescue Me is a boy's club. it's a juvenile, one-note cartoon. get over it.

i hope they dont go to the post-partum route they already copped out with this whole sucide storyline. Jerry would not have done that. at least no at this point. they should have left him left the show with grace and retired to some depressing AZ retirement home.

"How long before Tommy realizes Janet is going through post-partum?"

What are the chances she does an "Andrea Yates" on the baby? I thought it was going to happen prior to the end of this episode.

I just started watching Rescue Me - the season premier was my first episode - and I am so hooked!!! This is some freakin' great television!!!

Rescue Me achieves the same thing as The Riches - shifting effortlessly between dark and light, tragedy and humor, and I think that's what makes both shows so incredibly realistic. And even though I've only seen like 3 episodes, I was SO sad when the chief killed himself. I agree with publius - I think he was the chief or he was nothing.

During that scene with Janet and the baby I thought she was going to start shaking it. I was like, "nooooo...don't do it".

And with Jerry I kept telling my roommate "He's gonna kill himself! He's gonna kill himself!" That was so sad. He will be missed. But I also thought it was strange that they didn't mention anything about it in the previews for next time. I wonder if they don't find him for a while or what. Most likely, they just want to keep us wondering.

I loved when Tommy busts into Prick Jagger's house and his daughter is in her underwear and he warns Garrity NOT to put her in his "spank bank".

I was a little suspicious of the "volly" too. He seemed like he was either digging for information on the fire or he just wants to bang one of Tommy Gavin's women for notoriety.

I too was a little disappointed when Tommy backed down from the jealous guy at the restaurant. I was expecting some loud Irish music to come on and some ass kicking to commence!

while the suicide certainly makes sense, i actually thought he was going to have a heart attack. especially when he started cutting his nails...the guy at hq told him "you can run a god-damned marathon then have a heart attack clippin' your toe nails". although looking back on the buildup, not realizing that the suicide was coming makes me feel a touch dense.

i certainly hope they don't try some trick to make it an unsuccessful attempt. if the chief can't be the chief, then let him go with what he perceives as dignity.