Last week I said the women in this show were going to be the guy’s undoing so I wasn’t all that surprised that Tuesday night’s episode of ‘Rescue Me’ ended with Tommy lying on the floor with a bloody nose as his ex-wife and almost-girlfriend/ex-sister-in-law tell him off. Its probably for the best. This episode of ‘Rescue Me’ felt longer than the other episodes but not in a bad way.
I’m finding that some episodes of ‘Rescue Me’ lean heavier on the comedy while others fall over into the drama. Tonight’s episode was the perfect blend of dramedy. Uncle Teddy gets married and instead of kissing the bride he ends up getting restrained by the guards after almost getting into a fight with his new bride’s guest. I choked in a fit of nausea mixed with hysterics as Teddy’s wife flashed him a bit of tattooed behind as she left the chapel.
Tommy, thinking he fell off the wagon the other night, goes to Sheila’s to apologize. After confirming that he doesn’t remember a thing, Sheila tells Tommy he cried, got trashed and attacked her with a baseball bat so she left him to get hammered and trash his apartment. Tommy buys the story but still seems confused. He compliments Sheila for the way her butt looks in her jeans and leaves.
After a brawl during a Finest vs. Bravest hockey game, Tommy ends up pouring his heart out to a cop named Collins. The cop tells Tommy he has survivor’s guilt and that he went through the same thing when his friend died on 9/11. Collins tells Tommy that after his dad couldn’t give him any good advice on how to deal with it, he turned to alcohol and that’s pretty much how he’s been handling it. He invites Tommy out to a bar after the game but Tommy politely declines. The both agree that they’ll kill the other if either of them tells anyone about the conversation then Collins leaves. Probie comes into the locker room and sees Tommy all teary. Tommy tells Probie that he’s sad because he doesn’t want Probie to transfer (word got out about that). Probie, in true Probie form, hugs Tommy.
All of this emotionalness is cut with a side of Lou doing a bit of wine tasting at the beer vendor.
Maggie and Garrity end up getting engaged after another random argument. The moment was less than romantic but totally appropriate for their insanely dysfunctional relationship. Maggie was all ready to go to City Hall but Garrity convinces her to have a traditional wedding. Tommy takes the news about the engagement fairly well.
Lou finds out that Candy (his ex-girlfriend/hooker) got arrested for drug dealing. This inspires Lou to get cleaned up (which included trimming the hedges and I’m not talking about the kind that grows outside). He decides that now that Candy is in jail he’s going to turn over a new leaf. He goes into a gym and finds out it’s a Yoga gym. A perky instructor convinces him to join up. This can only be hilarious for us to watch and without fail the first Lou-yoga-moment comes when the instructor helps him get his legs over his head. Lou thanks her by promptly breaking wind.
Franco meets a nice girl named Natalie who he sleeps with but also experiences the divine art of intimacy with. She’ll be around for at least another couple of episodes. Probie comes home from a night out and after lying to his roommate about where he’s been, his roomie smells Probie’s hand (ew) and accuses Probie of being out with that woman he saw him with at the bar. Probie explains that he thinks he misses women. His roommate is outraged by this display of heterosexuality and throws Probie out.
This episode was full of ups and downs for Probie. He saves the lives of some firefighters at the beginning of the episode, gets thrown out of his apartment by his angry roommate and then towards the end, he’s sent on a mission by his fellow firefighters. The guys ask Probie to go to the Off-Track Betting place to put a bet on a horse. As expected (by viewers) Probie screws up the bet. When he returns to the house the guys are all looking disappointed because their horse lost. When they find out Probie bet on the wrong horse they’re overjoyed at his error. As it turns out, horse Probie bet on won The boys are $15 grand richer.
The hour draws to a close as Tommy and Angie get it on once again. Instead of going too long this time, Tommy finishes in record time. As Angie attempts to get another round started, Janet shows up. Angie has a brief argument with Janet and storms out. As she opens the door, her neo-yuppy-ex-boyfriend shows up and kicks Tommy in the face. While Tommy is lying on the ground all bloody, Angie tells him off and leaves. Janet follows suit and storms off leaving Tommy to ponder over why he bothers with women at all. I think we can assume things are over between Tommy and Angie and that things are worse than ever between Janet and Tommy.
The season is slowly drawing to a close. Based on the previews, it appears Probie is about to be outed at the firehouse and the situation between Tommy and his brother is coming to a head. I’m kind of hoping that Lou sticks with this yoga kick and gets his life back together. I’m also wondering when Franco is going to deal with the situation with his daughter. With only a few episodes to go it seems unlikely that all of the issues will get resolved before the end of the season but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see!
