"Rescue Me" A Fourth Time

(originally published on 6/13 at the now-defunct www.poweredbyshows.com)

Tonight, FX’s best show, one that along with The Shield has opened up new possibilities in non-premium cable television, returns for its fourth season. Rescue Me, created/written by and starring comedian Denis Leary, is one of the best shows on television, and its power is in how it rages against a post-9/11 world. In the cynical New York City inhabited by the firefighters that make up the cast, their lot in life has been thrust upon them--to bear the burden of their fallen comrades, and hope silently that they mean more than nothing. There is a sadness to this show in which Tommy Gavin (Leary) and his coworkers struggle though each day and its damning effect on their very souls, the bigoted, misogynist and racist anti-heroes at war with nobody but themselves. This is a New York of broken dreams, of failed marriages, of rampant alcoholism and family issues, and it’s not an easy show to watch.

The bright side of this (outside of seeing a stellar show and appreciating it) is the extremely bawdy humor of the program, one that makes it 10 times funnier than 90% of the sitcoms on television. In its own rough, ribald way, it’s the most laugh-out-loud show in a very long time. This works primarily because like the show’s themes, the humor comes from a very naturalistic place, one of ribbing your friends, of extreme sarcasm, of scathing nastiness. The show is not for everyone, that is true, and the TV-MA rating should not be taken lightly.

Rescue Me is a controversial show, most likely because of how certain viewers infer the show’s portrayal of women. Each hour of the series, we are given the female gender at their most cruel and uncaring, troubled and indecipherable, and even rather whorish. I feel this way sometimes while watching the show, but then I remind myself that the men are shown to be far worse beasts in the world of the show. Leary’s comedy (his 1992 Showtime special No Cure For Cancer especially) has always relied on self-deprecation and an unflinching look within, so why not bring that into the dramatic realm?

As of last season, Tommy has found that his estranged wife has been hooking up with his brother and may in fact be pregnant with his baby, but still demands rough sex from her husband which resulted in one of the most horrifying sequences of 2006. Tommy is, in karmic fashion for his cruel ways, drugged and raped by his deceased cousin’s widow (the victim happens to be one of many ghosts/hallucinations that haunt Tommy on a regular basis) without his remembering. By the end of the season, his cop brother is dead, he is still reeling over the vehicular manslaughter of his son at the end of season 2, and falling off of his Alcoholic’s Anonymous wagon, and he is forced into starting a new life with said widow. This is neglecting to mention any of the stories of his co-firefighters, who are going through issues of Alzheimer’s-ridden wives, stolen children, a money-grubbing liar of an escort and gay sons.

Oh, and Tommy finishes off the season drugged, once again by the widow, and left for dead in the burning waterfront house she bought for the both of them. How’s that for a cliffhanger?

Tonight it finally returns, the red-faced heavy-hitter of cable television. Don’t miss it.