Good Bye, Rescue Me (2004-2011)

"Hello"
     All because of Cerc's recommendation of this series, I became a big fan of Rescue Me late in the game. I'd say I picked up with the series around season 4 or 5 (hard to remember), but being able to catch up and watch each season on my own time is what truly sucked me in. I usually watched 3-4 episodes a night, finding myself up at 2 a.m. saying, "just one more episode." 
     Episode after episode was filled with excitement from the beginning of the show to the last minute and I couldn't wait to watch the next episode. Within weeks, I finished watching multiple seasons in time to watch Rescue Me like the regulars; in front of my t.v. on a Wednesday night. This sucked for one reason...I had to wait an entire week to watch the next episode! The anticipation for next Wednesday was always there. Rescue Me basically started my television addiction.


"My Thoughts"
     I loved the beginning seasons. The constant fire fights, the drama in Tommy's family, the fire house jokes/pranks between the guys, and Tommy seeing and talking with the dead. The series did a great job of character build up. The show had its main characters, but never left out the smaller characters. I was always interested in everybody on the show and every story that revolved around each character. I felt like I was connected with the characters. 
     Throughout the series, I had made a "Please Don't Die List" that consisted of Sean Garrity and Mike Silletti because the constant dumb moments between the two, in which they thought they were intelligent made me laugh every single time. Tommy and Lou also were on that list, but that is a given. The friendship between them was amazing and with one gone, there wouldn't be the other.
     The series caught me off guard a few times with the unexpected deaths. The first and worst was the death of Tommy and Janet's son, Connor, in season two. I won't lie, it was a tear-jerker and blew me away. The scene sits in the back of mind anytime I watch Rescue Me because of how real they made it seem. Just the thought of someone losing their child that way is terrible. The other death was the suicide of Chief Reilly. This was a big character in the show and he went through a lot with his gambling issues, his wife having Alzheimer disease, he didn't agree with his sons (gay) life style, and he had a heart attack. The suicide didn't come out of left field, but it was a big death and loss in the cast. The death of Tommy's brother, Johnny, was also an unexpected death and really drew me in because it was around the time of his apology to Tommy for what he had done to the family.
     The constant betrayal between characters was interesting in this show. Tommy was a complete dirt bag and as a viewer, I didn't mind it at all for some reason. It could possibly be that you knew whenever Tommy cheated or did something wrong, it was always going to come back to bite him in the ass. For all the times that Tommy had cheated on Janet, I was absolutely appalled when Johnny (Tommy's brother) was sleeping with Janet (Tommy's wife). In the end, Tommy deserved it.
     The fight with alcohol was always there and lingered throughout most of the Gavin family. It was your typical Irish, middle-classed family and Tommy had the worst fight of them all. Again, this was a vital plot to the entire series. I loved following the struggle Tommy had with alcohol and was mildly upset when he became sober (seems so wrong to say). Colleen (Tommy's oldest daughter) also battled alcohol, but to me that was dumb. There was just something about her being the main focus in some episodes (and all of season 7) that I didn't care for.


"Good Bye"
     Seasons 1-5 were great, season 6 was alright, and season 7 was a complete nose-dive in my opinion. The show went from fighting fires, fighting each other, and complete dysfunction everywhere to fighting one or maybe two fires (in an entire season) and almost soap opera-ish.  
     Season 7 was the complete opposite of the feelings I had for seasons 1-6. Each episode didn't leave me waiting till next Wednesday. Instead of watching the show immediately, I put it aside...sometimes till the next day because I knew I wasn't going to miss much. The entire season's main focus was on Colleen's wedding (gag), which totally overshadowed the significance of the series final season being the 10th anniversary of 9-11. They hardly talked about it being 10 years, other than the news reporter's story that went no where and one to two flashbacks. 
     The last episode was...dry. They played their trickery with Tommy's dream to make us believe that 4 of the men have died. Jerks. Anyways, Lou dies and that means a big part of the show died. Instead of being an emotional ending, like the previews to THE FINAL EPISODE had shown us, it basically turned out to be an episode mocking Lou's eating habits while he was alive. Some people might like that, I didn't. This was supposed to be a series closer!!! 
     The best part about the final episode was the last portion. It was almost a mirror image of how the show started with Tommy giving a speech filled with the words douche bags and assholes to a bunch of "probies." This time when he got into his truck, he sees the ghost of Lou instead of his deceased cousin, Jimmy. That was an amazing ending and closing to a great series.


Good bye, Rescue Me.




I Should Mention...
My friends, Cerc and Munch, had brought up a good point about the series. It has paved a path for the successful, *newer* series today on cable. Series such as Sons of Anarchy, Justified, Breaking Bad, etc. Rescue Me was one of the first series that I have seen push the limits of what can be shown on cable television. From the sex appeal, to the brash language, to the drinking and drug addictions...it just seemed like there was never a boundary for the series. This made it even better as it gave you a feeling of reality. 
    Denis Leary gave everyone a great series built off a very tragic time of the United States. I couldn't have asked for a better series and honestly wish this was something I had started watching from day one. It is always sad to see something like this end after having such a long life (my last series was the Sapranos and the last season ended in a similar disappointing fashion).