Last night’s episode of Rescue Me began with quite an entertaining discussion involving Tommy explaining to Janet the difference between wine and booze. It seems Tommy and Colleen’s new agreement on not drinking booze only applies to hard liquor. Colleen seemed to be helping herself to as much alcohol as possible, so hopefully it won’t take seeing her falling hard to get Tommy in line. If he is serious about making a comeback in all aspects of his life, the effort needs to be all or nothing. Picking and choosing what he wants to fix and how he will fix his addiction will not help him or Colleen in the end.
Surprisingly, there were quite a few things that distracted Tommy from the bottle. For one, Tommy didn’t receive the stripper filled welcome back party that he expected at the firehouse. Then, his jealousy towards Franco continued to rise. Now that Tommy is back to work, he is able to see firsthand just how friendly Franco has become with Janet. This is truly the most comedic story line of the season so far and it just continues to become more hilarious each week.
The guest stars were also quite entertaining. Deanna Russo (Knight Rider) is introduced as a firefighter from another house that the crew runs into on a job. Her character becomes friendly with Damien, so it is only a matter of time until those two get caught not doing their job at the firehouse. Peter Gallagher (The OC) guest stars as the priest of a burning church. Both actors appear in multiple episodes, so I am anticipating the heat to rise in the new relationship that is building and in the priest’s concern over the church’s tainted statue.
Though the drama may ensue for those characters, the same cannot be said for others. Uncle Teddy & Mickey have deemed Tommy a lost cause and decide to cut ties with him. So now Tommy really has no one to lean on who has been in his alcohol obsessed shoes. But this actually seems like a much better idea than shooting Tommy every time he falls off the wagon. Since Tommy has no empathetic family to lean on, when he does find himself at his lowest point, he will be stronger for climbing out on top on his own in the end.
Someone who has literally climbed out on top is Damien, having had his first solo save! Go Damien! A round of applause is in order for Damien being such a brave guy, working 35 crazy calls in one shift, and for standing up to his overbearing mother! Thanks to Damien, Tommy is released from his duty of “saving” Damien. I would really like to know what Damien said to Sheila to make Sheila change her mind so quickly about accepting Damien’s career choice. However it seems less emotionally intrusive and quite right as it is. So it will be interesting to see if their discussion is ever brought to the surface again.
While Tommy has been dealing with his family all day, Sean and Mike have been attempting to come up with an idea for how they can help the community to prove that they are intelligent. What a joke these two guys are. I find Steven Pasquale to be the most hilarious on this show. Pasquale and Mike Lombardi work so well off of each other and their scenes seem to always be the highlight of an episode. Their brainstorming session in this episode brought laugh out loud comedy to my living room. It was brilliant. The writing on this show is fantastic but the delivery of the lines, especially from these two guys really seals the deal to an entertaining hour.
However, the episode ended on quite a disturbing note as Lou is found unconscious on the ground of the firehouse. There have been no reports of John Scurti leaving the show, so obviously his character Lou is just having a health scare. Still, this is the second to last season of the series, so even though Lou will be fine for the time being, the same cannot be said for the future. There is a lot of uncertainty for the future of everyone’s lives personally and professionally, and it is interesting to see the show unwind into the survival of the fittest. This alone makes me more anxious for next week!
Memorable Quotes:
Mike: I saw on TV actually where Brad Pitt’s building a bunch of houses for the people down there.
Sean: Really?
Mike: Yeah.
Sean: Brad Pitt’s a carpenter?
* Tommy: The mothering thing, okay. You’re smothering him with the moth- you’re a smother’s mother. That’s what you are. You, you know what I mean? It’s like a pillow, a love pillow that you’re holding over the kid. He can’t breathe.
* Needles: Hey, hey, hey! Knock it off. This ain’t West Side Story.
