(S05E19) "This is all above board. It's underground of course, but it's above board." - Needles

What's that old saying? Chances are someone else has already said it better than you... or something like that? Well, this whole season of Rescue Me I've been looking for the right words to describe just how exactly I felt about it. There hasn't been a bad episode this season and I doubt any of the final three will disappoint either, but still - something has just been off.

Well, leave it to the show's co-creator, Peter Tolan, to put it in simple English at the TCA: when dealing with a shorter season (as in 13 vs. 22 episodes), you can focus on the quality of each episode (rather than being forced to move on to the next immediately). That's what I meant to say.

Like I said, nothing has been bad, but there has been this odd inconsistency that's been plaguing the storylines, especially in the past 3 or 4 weeks. Take the whole conversation between Sheila and Tommy in this hour. The real meat - the important stuff - was the part where Sheila and Tommy rehashed the past and talked about their brief fling before they both ended up with Jimmy and Janet respectively.

That was a huge moment, something we never knew before. But it took far too long to get to that revelation as the conversation was bogged down by the ridiculous filler/comic relief interlude where the two of them got going on this crazy Oedipal/Shakespearean Hamlet mother lover discussion that didn't really go anywhere.

Of course, all that was brought on by Tommy's date with Kelly. As a character, Kelly thus far has been horribly underdeveloped and I had a hard time caring "what's in the box" only to find out that it's just some really good weed. There was a lot of talk about what a revelation Maura Tierney's character was going to be and it's not that I don't find her to be a stellar actress, but I'm not convinced that this role is the epiphany we heard about. Again, though, 3 episodes left and this is still Rescue Me, so I'm obviously very optimistic that things will get interesting. Any predictions on what exactly Kelly's big moment is going to be? So far, she just wants to sleep with anyone.

A few more thoughts on "David" --

• Call me crazy, but it seems like Mick, Eddie, Teddy, and Ellie are drinking more than Tommy now. That can't be good.
• I had completely forgotten about Damien's cougar past with Mrs. Turbody.
• Now that we know Lou signed a pre-nup regarding Candy's inherited $250k, can this possibly still be a scam? If it is, what's her end game? Could the inheritance be fake?
• Anyone got a guess on who Jimmy had an affair with? Janet seems way too obvious/easy, but at the same time, who else would be as painful for Tommy to discover? Especially since Sheila seems to have known all along.
• The fight between Tommy and Lou was like one big sigh of relief. How long have we been waiting for the two of them to boil over? The line about Candy vs. Tommy and stealing vs. coveting your neighbor's wife was some great writing too.
• Anyone else notice the framed picture of Jerry in the rec room during the fight scene?
• What was with Franco saying that he recently discovered he wasn't as smart as he thought? Was it because Carla was a lesbian? Speaking of which, we never did get to see him confront her about that.

In closing, a question and a phrase. First, do you really want to fool around with someone who dated Mick Jagger and finds David Bowie attractive, and second, cat piss icicle. Mmmm.