the probie

(S04E02) "Oh, I'm looking forward to a lot of things. A nice big breakfast, a trip up to Aqueduct, and finally being able to sleep on my stomach again!" - Uncle Teddy

Well for all of you naysayers, get over it. Sheila is alive. Although I have to admit, I'm in the "I wish she were dead" camp too. As it is, we're already getting close to no Jimmy this season and I personally think Sheila would have made a great addition to Tommy's ghost parade. Although, after the brief glimpse of Johnny under the couch covers, it looks like he might be joining the ranks. Tommy's hallucinations aside, what a great episode. There is a reason this show gets such great reviews. From "the spank bank" to Cousin Eddie and his support of Tommy's "ineffective" penis to Lou trying to promote racial harmony, you can't miss a second of this show.

(S04E01) "You've got the whole tool-box going! Booze! Penises! I mean, I can't believe that I'm finally the moral compass in this family!" -Tommy

And on the eighth day, He created drunken Irish firefighters with potentially illegitimate children and mouths like sailors. That's how the Bible reads, right? Wait... it isn't? Well it should, because right now Rescue Me is just about as close to a religious experience as you can get without stepping into a church. It's downright mesmerizing and if you ask me, it easily earns the title of "best summer show." Now that June is upon us, not much else on TV compares to Rescue Me and tonight's season four premiere was proof. I covered some of the general plot points in my early review last week, but now that we've all seen this spectacular episode, let's be honest -- there's a lot to talk about.

Tommy Gavin is back and while it's probably a waste of breath, I'm gonna state the obvious anyway. Entering its fourth season, Rescue Me continues to be one of the best dramas on TV. Since we last left Tommy and the rest of the 62 Truck crew, about nine months have passed. You'd think with almost a year gone by that some new story-lines would have had time to develop, but for the most part things are the same. That's bad news for Tommy, but very good for us because the show is just as entertaining as ever. You can read on for a bit of an overview, but be warned -- it gets a little spoilery despite my attempts to be as vague as possible. But hey, who doesn't like to play with fire?

(S03E13) Another season comes and goes. I hate to say it, because I love this show, but I was a little disappointed with this finale. Same as I was with Deadwood a few nights ago. I just found it to be a bit of a slow episode that kind of meandered along. It (sort of) tied up a few loose ends and the cliffhanger? Not too sure how I feel about that either.

(S03E12) I get too emotional when I watch this show. It's just like the end of last season. The final few episodes are tear-jerkers and I'm a sucker for that stuff. That being said, I suppose that's giving the show some well deserved credit. If it can make you cry and and actually feel something, then the writers and actors must be doing something right.

(S03E11) Only two episodes left this season and there's going to be a lot of fall-out. A heads up right now though, if you haven't seen the episode yet, you probably want to stop reading this because the episode it self was a lot of build-up but the end was well... whoa. All I can is say that something is wrong if Leary doesn't walk off stage with that Emmy in a couple weeks.

(S03E10) This show is just ridiculous, and that's the good "ridiculous." Not the bad one. Honestly, it's starting to make everything else on TV look terrible by comparison. Really. Can you name one bad thing about this show right now? Or even this episode? I sure can't, but I've got plenty of good things to say in case you hadn't picked up on that yet.

(S03E09) Better and better every week. We still have four episodes left this season, and I already can't wait for season four. It's scary how good this show is and the beginning of this episode was no exception. If you've ever watched any of the commentaries on the DVD's for the first two seasons, Leary always talks about how the writers and producers have meetings with actual firefighters to help come up with fresh (and realistic) storylines. This had to have been one of them.

(S03E08) Ahh, my glorious return to the age of power... well sort of. All my power is back but the internet is still down. So I'm at the office and I feel like everyone has more to say about this episode than me because they all saw last week's installment. But I feel pretty caught up. I've read some other reviews and the "previously on Rescue Me" montage at the beginning of the show was pretty complete. All I'm saying is bear with me since I'm still trying to connect all the dots.

That being said, great opening sequence. Huge warehouse fire and some men from another house get trapped in the basement. The Probie was the only one not in the building yet and he risked his life to find the man down and got him out. It was huge. High fives, pats on the back. He was on cloud nine. He's definitely no longer The Probie after this act of courage. Though I wonder if the rest of the crew even know his real name is Mike?

(S03E04) Go grab a thesaurus and look up fantastic. The dozen or so associated words - wonderful, spectacular, etc. None of them, not a single one, would do this episode justice. It's easily one of the top-five episodes of Rescue Me so far and that's saying a lot, especially if you saw the previews for next week.

The episode started with a bang. While responding to a medical emergency (an elderly African-American male with chest pains), the crew encounters a toppled school bus full of children. Naturally, they pull over and help get the kids out. Just in time too because the bus caught fire and part of it blew up. But nothing goes easy for these guys. As a result of ignoring the medical call, they got called out on the evening news by the Reverend Al Sharpton. His argument? They're racist because they helped all those white children instead of the guy who called 911. But there was an Egyptian kid on the bus too. Take that Al.

(S03E03) This is shaping up to be a pretty dark season. Not to say that the first two were all sunshine and lollipops but we're on course for some pretty big confrontations. The one that has me most interested is Mike. His "probie" status is coming to an end and we know he's been tossing around the idea of transferring to another house. As many had correctly speculated, we found out at the end of the episode that Mike is indeed gay. At least it seems that way. He has some sort of a boyfriend and the two of them like to drink beers and cuddle at the end of the day... so, I'm not sure how else to interpret it.

It would seem then, that his decision to file for a transfer has more to do with his fear of everyone finding out his secret. And they will. We know that this isn't the most tolerant group of guys, but I'm thinking that when they find out, they might cut Mike some slack. He really respects these guys and I think it's killing him that he might lose that respect. Here's to hoping that Tommy and the rest of the crew don't let Mike down.