Rescue Me: You Said Tee-Tots, Didn’t You?

It’s a turning point for several of the guys this week, most notably Damian, who officially graduates and finds himself the newest member of 62 Truck—for better or for worse. Sheila is there to neurotically take pictures like any doting mother, while the guys all start announcing the many good-natured tortures that await Damian as part of the time-honored ritual of being a probie (probationary firefighter, rookie, the new guy, grunt, whatever you want to call it). He will face ridicule and abuse—of physical, verbal, and psychological natures. But what Sheila is worried about is having her son being roasted like a marshmallow. And after having that very thing happen to her late husband Jimmy, she has every right to be concerned.

That’s why for weeks she has been manipulating Tommy into going out of his way to protect Damian and never leave his side. Damian’s safety is Tommy’s extra responsibility, whether he wants it or not. He has that responsibility on his mind when the crew goes into a big apartment building fire. Needles orders Damian to stay with Lou, but as soon as they get inside, Tommy tells Lou that Damian is going to stick with him. Lou respects this. After all, Damian is Tommy’s family.

The job seems routine, everyone seems to have been evacuated. The building starts to go and Needles orders everyone out. But then Black Shawn and Franco think they hear something and believe someone might still be trapped inside. Normally Tommy would be with them all the way, gung-ho, and he’d go running back into the flames to save the day. But he has Damian to think about, not to mention the fact that Needles has been up everyone’s ass this season whining about regulations. So Tommy does something truly unlike him: he tells everyone to follow Needles’ command and evacuate. But Franco and Shawn and Mike don’t listen and they run back. Tommy gives Damian over to Lou and goes after them to make sure they get out okay. Not only does Tommy display his usual balls here, but he acts perhaps more responsible than he ever has before.

Everyone gets out okay, and yet Needles blows a gasket, and dumps the whole mess in Tommy’s lap. It’s an unfair situation, and I’ve finally reached my verdict on Needles: I think he’s a whiny little weasel who, if he ever had any redeeming qualities, has them no more. I hope Tommy kicks the sweet bejesus out of him, and if the coming attractions don’t lie, that’s set to happen next week.

The other big event this week is that Sean gets out of the hospital. He can’t come back to work for a few weeks, but he stops by the firehouse and tells the guys that he basically has a new lease on life and wants to live bigger and fuller than he ever has before. He inspires chiefly Black Shawn and Franco, who use this idea to justify getting plastered at a speed that even Tommy would blush at during a memorial dinner/benefit type of thing for a colleague who died in 9/11. Everyone attends this shindig not solely out of respect for their dead acquaintance, but because of the presence of his widow, who apparently used a good amount of the funds she got from her husband’s tragic death to enhance her, as Lou inimitably dubs them, her “tee-tots.” The problem is that Lou starts mentioning aforementioned tee-tots and raving about them unknowingly to her new husband. Bad for Lou, funny for viewers to watch.

The fight that breaks out there though isn’t due to Lou, but due to Tommy. Tommy is on the right side though. He goes after a politician who openly admits that he didn’t even know the firefighter who died, and has a whole camera crew there filming to help his re-election campaign. Tommy goes after him…but did I mention a camera crew? Oh, and Tommy identifies himself verbally on camera and announces that he belongs to 62 Truck. I guess it was a moment of pride, but it’s definitely going to come back to bite him in the ass.

Candy isn’t in this episode, so who knows what the status is of her insane marriage proposal to Lou. Janet makes a brief appearance to act like the typical despicable twit she is while she and Tommy are out with Katy buying Katy new clothes and trying to keep up the charade that they still love each other. The problem is that for Tommy, it isn’t a charade, though how he can have any feelings for this woman that aren’t pure hatred, I will never know.

Franco continues to try to block out the idea that his new lady is a lesbian, even though the guys keep chanting it over and over again. But he’s definitely starting to have doubts as well. I don’t really like this new girlfriend, she does nothing for me. I’d rather have some Franco stuff with his daughter, who hasn’t yet made an appearance this season. There are only seven episodes left, but I’m sure the creative team will make them count.

For another take on this episode, check out Spooning for Love in All the Wrong Places by Jaimie Campos.

Season 5, Episode 15: Initiation (originally aired July 14, 2009)

For more on Rescue Me, click here.

Tuesdays at 10pm on FX

Photographs courtesy of FX and IMDbPro