Rescue Me – Sheila, of all people, saves the day

‘Twas an ugly episode of Rescue Me, though not in the typical Rescue Me fashion. Tommy didn’t get stinking drunk, hurt himself (or anyone else), or sabotage personal relationships. Teddy didn’t shoot anyone. Colleen didn’t fall off the wagon, again. Lou didn’t inhale pound cake. None of the firefighters died.

No, the ugliness of this episode was in watching each cast member tremble in fear that their history of unsavory behavior was going to be publicly exposed by a trashy reporter.

That list of scandalous behavior is indeed long:

Lou — who got his colleagues to impersonate him for his department physical and psychological exams because he’s got major heart and weight problems — previously married a prostitute. Franco, in his own words, could be portrayed as a “deadbeat dad,” and a 9/11 government conspiracy dude. Needles had a mail-order bride. Mike had oral sex with a guy from FDNY headquarters in the guy’s office after a Christmas party. Janet took up with Tommy’s cop brother Johnny, and had Johnny’s baby after Johnny was fatally shot on the job.

Then there’s Tommy, whose list of screw-ups is epic. But the reporter seemed most interested in the fact that Tommy had an affair with Sheila, the wife of his dead firefighter cousin and best friend. Crucifying the duo on television and blaming Tommy for Damian’s injuries, she believed, would strap a rocket booster to her television career.

On the heels of Tommy’s disastrous TV interview — I adored the post-interview headlines in the New York tabs, particularly “Effin’ DNY” — the entire firehouse and everyone associated with it had a target on their backs, with the reporter aiming the character assassinating TV lens.

But to have Sheila be the one who came through for everybody, to extort “Doug” at the Fire Department’s HQ over his against regulations in-office bar and in-office dalliance with Mike, AND blackmail the ill-intentioned reporter who prostituted herself (captured on video) to a cop in exchange for him not busting her for coke possession, was a stroke of genius. The sympathetic 9/11 widow took ‘em all down, so to speak, saved Tommy from his suspension, and stopped the salacious, gossipy stories about all of them from becoming public. That was such a better play than having an indignant, brawling firefighter (Tommy, Needles) take on the reporter and the tools at HQ.

Other developments:

• Franco is creating more and more distance between himself and his dysfunctional firehouse brothers, as he wants to escape the taint that is Tommy Gavin and land a promotion. I predict this won’t turn out well, as Franco’s becoming irritatingly sanctimonious, even if he is right about Tommy’s rogue behavior hurting all his colleagues’ careers.
• Tommy got his own “house” in order, staking out compromises between Janet and Sheila about Colleen’s wedding (which I’m banking on to turn into a disaster … this is the Gavins, after all). Loved his rambling monologue about his messed-up family of “drunks, drug addicts, liars … and stealers.”
• Sean’s hot-girlfriend-has-horrendous-post-coital-gas-problems was one of the more bizarre Rescue Me story lines I’ve seen in some time. But it figures that Sean would start dating a beautiful, smart, and kind woman only to discover that she’s got a distinctly unsexy physical issue.

Clacked by Meredith O'Brien
on Aug 11, 2011 @ 12:49 EST5EDT