Remember that 'manly' soap, Lava? That's kind of what Rescue Me reminds me of, especially this fourth season: a gritty soaper.
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Remember that "manly" soap, Lava? That's kind of what "Rescue Me" reminds me of, especially this fourth season: a gritty soaper that's made for chest hair. Well, maybe not as much chest hair this season as before. The melodrama is pretty thick, with plot turns putting more torque on these characters than a monkey wrench. The story lines seem a little more daytime drama than in previous years, and even the banter--the currency that makes us care to pass time with this group--seems a little off. The episodes are a little more uneven, too, with some of them strong and others, well, blah. That said, "Rescue Me" still features strong performances.
In case you've somehow missed seeing or hearing about this FX show, "Rescue Me" stars Dennis Leary as Tommy Gavin, a firefighter with more problems than your average person. That's because firefighting is a stressful occupation, and alcoholism is only one side effect. Firefighting is hard on relationships, and professional traumas can have such far-reaching effects that they can begin to create personal ones.
Season 1 introduced viewers to the firefighters of Truck Company 62, who were all candidates for an anger management workshop: a bunch of foul-mouthed sexists, law-and-order extremists, verbal gay bashers, and equal opportunity racists. If there's a politically insensitive remark to be made, these guys will step up to the plate. They're a different kind of breed, and like the military they've formed a family among themselves.
This is the season where we lose the patriarch, Chief Jerry Reilly (Jack McGee) and the gang gets a new chief. Tommy is still dealing with his estranged wife Janet (Andrea Roth) and the new baby that may be Tommy's or might be his late brother's (Dean Winters). This season Tommy's daughter Colleen (Natalie Distler) turns out to be a big pain in the patuti, blaming dad for everything but the air that she breathes, and Tommy floats from this woman to that. Firefighter Sean (Steven Pasquale) has problems with his own wife (Tatum O'Neal as Tommy's sister, Maggie), firefighter Franco is fighting to get his daughter back from Alicia (Susan Sarandon), Probie Mike (Michael Lombard) has a secret, and Sheila (Callie Thorne) tries to pick up the pieces after the beach house fire that ended Season 3. This season, Tommy is more haunted than ever by the men that were lost, especially his cousin.
"Rescue Me" has always seemed a cross between an edgy, original show and a straight melodrama. Season 3 stretched the imagination a bit with plot lines, but that's nothing compared to the fourth season. It gets a little soapier this year with paternity questions, custody challenges, and a bunch of "secrets" and "twists" that would be criminal of me to mention here. Let's just say that it feels a lot more like daytime TV, except for the language and attitudes.
Thirteen episodes are contained on four single-sided discs housed in two slim clear plastic keep cases with a cardboard slipcase. Here's the rundown:
1) "Babyface." It's bad enough that that a beach house fire at the end of Season 3 almost kills him, but then Tommy comes under suspicion when he can't piece together the events preceding the fire. Meanwhile, Janet begins to worry that her newborn son likes Tommy more than her, and the baby might not be Tommy's after all. Meanwhile, the volunteer fire fighter (Jennifer Esposito) who rescued Tommy expresses an interest in him.
2) "Tuesday." Tommy figures out what happened but is embarrassed to tell investigators. Meanwhile, Teddy is released from prison, Mike gets an impossible request from his mother, and Tommy and Janet learn how out of touch they are with their daughter.
3) "Commitment." The crew puts their heads together to come up with a plan to bring Tommy together again with Colleen. Mike convinces Tommy to spend some time together outside of the firehouse, and that seems fine with Tommy, since he's trying to avoid Nona (Esposito).
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