Rescue Me: Thaw

I’ve been away for a couple of weeks, so naturally the first thing I did when I got home was plow through the two Rescue Me episodes my Tivo/soulmate saved for me and then I even watched last night’s episode live, commercials and all. And as further testament to the subversive, unpredictable genius of Denis Leary and Peter Tolan, after a three hour blast I was still desperately craving more.

I almost feel a little guilty now, as I happily watch Tommy and Janet and Sheila all fall back into the self-destructive spirals they’ve been trying to claw their way out of for several seasons. Months change, seasons change, but not people. They can pretend for a little while, they can put up a front, but eventually, everyone falls back into who they are, for better or for worse. So Tommy is drinking again, and by the end of the episode, has found himself immersed again in dysfunctional relationships with both Janet and Sheila. Yikes.

They’ve both promised him no-frills, low-maintenance, sex-only relationships, Sheila as a ploy to make sure Tommy keeps her son Damian safe in the firehouse, and Janet…well…I don’t know what Janet’s motive is, but that’s not exactly new for her character. Tommy stupidly agrees to both of them, even though he has to know in the back of his mind that they will never work and will in fact just lead to more trouble. Then again, Tommy Gavin seems to thrive on trouble, almost as if he seeks it out. And he’s got plenty more going on in that arena, believe me.

First, Needles is up his ass (just as Needles seems to be up everyone’s lately) about the whole Damian fiasco of last week. Tommy rescued Damian after Mike stupidly brought him into a fire and nearly got him killed. The good news is that Feinberg okayed Damian going along, so now Tommy has some dirt on him in case he ever tries to get Tommy kicked out of the firehouse again. Tommy tries to take the rap for Mike, and Needles really gets out of line, telling Tommy “that’s your twenty-year-old godson you almost got killed. You already got one dead kid on your conscience, do you really want another one?” Bringing up Connor is really low, especially since now Connor has joined Tommy’s drunken pantheon of ghosts, not as the young boy that was killed in a hit-and-run, but as what Tommy’s subconscious thinks he might have grown into.

Meanwhile, Sean continues to deal with his kidney cancer, which is getting worse. He bites the bullet and calls his mother and his infantile brother to tell them the news.  He reluctantly convinces his mother to come all the way from…New Jersey…to be with him during surgery, after she complains that he never calls with positive news and laments the fact that he doesn’t have a new girlfriend. Ain’t family swell?

Speaking of family dysfunction, Janet tells Tommy that their daughter Katy sent them a letter saying she doesn’t want to see them again unless they can act civilized and happy. Tommy suggests they lie and fake a relationship, and Janet concurs (and adds the whole sex thing). Naturally this whole arrangement upsets Dwight (Michael J. Fox), who comes by the firehouse and confronts Tommy about why Janet seems different since she and Tommy came back from going to see Katy’s play. The truth comes out, and Dwight exacts his own unique measure of very painful revenge on Tommy. Janet claims she is done with Dwight, but I hope that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of Michael J. Fox on the show.

The other big dustup this week is between Tommy and Mike. Mike runs into Tommy late one night at the bar and sees that he has been drinking. Tommy tries to lie his way out of it and tells Mike to back off mentoring Damian because he is going to take over that duty. Mike stands up to Tommy and tells him that he has no rank or power over him anymore, and that he’s not just going to listen just because Tommy says he has to. Tommy takes a drunken swing at him and Mike hits him in the gut. “Keep drinking pal” he says as he walks out. Now Mike knows a secret and has leverage against Tommy with Feinberg and Needles. The conflict keeps ratcheting up this season, and while normally I’d be getting depressed over the fact that nine episodes are gone, because this season is a super-sized 22 episodes and not 13, we still got a long ways to go. Until next week…

Season 5, Episode 9: Thaw (originally aired June 2, 2009)

For another take on this episode, check out Where My Ladies At? by Jaimie Campos.

For more on Rescue Me, click here.

Tuesdays at 10pm on FX

Photographs courtesy of FX and IMDbPro