Grid Effect

Well, the season finale is tonight. Definitely a lack of buzz compard to past seasons, in fact, I can hardly remember what happened last week. Something about Tommy secretly fighting fires without his counterparts any the wiser. I don’t know, it was damn weird, to say the least. I get the feeling that this season is going to end up being a Tommy Gavin dream, because there is nothing at stake going into this finale.

Actually, strike that, Black Sean (new probie) and Mike (former probie) got into something of a dust up when Mike called out Black Sean for using the tips he gave him against Tommy in last weeks hockey game. Really, I’m not entirely sure what else Mike thought Black Sean was going to do with pointers that were nothing more than strategy to be used against Tommy Gavin on a hockey rink. I guess Mike is naive and stupid. Anyways, the shoving ensued after Black Sean accused Mike of wanting to emulate Tommy. So, maybe that will and maybe that won’t be touched on this episode.

One thing that’s been unique about this season vs. the previous three is every scene seems to involve Tommy in some way. The only exceptions I can think of are the Franco-Natalie-Susan Sarandon drama, Lieu’s issues with his brother and former ex-nun girlfriend (though he did discuess much of this with Tommy) and I suppose instances of Chief’s suicide Tommy wasn’t privy to. Other than that, we’ve been inundated with Tommy Gavin, even if its something as mundane as him walking around NYC making/receiving phone calls with a dog that could scare the night.

This issue with him running into fires and making saves while wearing a dead man’s fire jacket (someone named Keefe, cannot remember if we ever met him or not). Needless to say, if this isn’t a dream, then I’m not really interested in whatever the explanation is going to be. Maybe he’s doing it to prove a point to himself, when Black Sean said he signed up to be a hero, Tommy resented the motivation. Maybe this is Tommy’s catharsis in finding meaning in his job without the glorification?

Actually, if this season is an unconscious experience, it sounds like its more of a nightmare than a dream. His wife left him, the two women in his life are fighting over the same kid, and now chief Feinberg (aka Hesh) hates him because he is under the impression Tommy disrespected his daughter, played by Amy Sedaris, on a date (that entire storyline has me confused). Oh, the Gina Gershon thing is still happening. At least Tommy had the foresight to arrive with Fresca in hand. Unless you’re a bisexual married man who cheats on his wife, this is the most bizarre love life imaginable.

Probably my favorite scene from last week was the dualing “guys night out” scene. One with Mike and Garrity proving they’re alcoholics to Lieu and his cousin in a dive bar, and the other with Franco and Black Sean at a trendy NYC night club, full with curtains and multi-colored lighting. This series isn’t really trying to break that misogyny tag when they have Garrity waking up horrified by the woman lying next to him. This didn’t really include Tommy in anyway.

If he is in a coma or what have you, maybe they are in his hospital room discussing the details of either the upcoming evening or the evening beforehand? I know, I’m stretching. But I’ve always said this series attempts to model itself as much as possible after The Sopranos. And when Tony was in his coma, everything his friends and family were discussing with him was reflected in his dream/supernatural experience.

Also, his daughter still hates his guts, even after he was proved right about her now former boyfriend, who married someone else (presumably one of her friends). Tommy completely overwhelming the kid, then being relieved when he discovered the ring the kid bought on his credit card was for another girl, was pretty damn funny. You just have to approve of the self-interest and twisted sense of morals.

Another uplifting, vintage Rescue Me scene I liked was the Gavin AA meeting that ended with the hot-headed lawyer cousin and Lenny Clarke standing in opposite corners, facing the wall, with the schoolroom they were held up in turned upside down by the presumable off screen scuffle. It’s humor like that, that just doesn’t exist anywhere else on television.

Anyhow, that is pretty much it, Here’s somewhat looking forward to tonight’s episode, If only because it’s a finale, and I want to see how they conclude a mediocre and (by all accounts) disappointing season. It can still be salvaged with a decent conclusion tonight, but it will take something remarkable. Like Tommy growing wings and learning to fly, or Mike embracing his homosexuality, or Lieu paying someone in prison to kill the girl who stole all his money. Either way, I’m on the fence as of now, and something needs to happen to guarantee I’m back for a fifth season.

You know what’s really great about Rescue Me? It’s the short episode titles. Other series’ like Friday Night Lights or The Wire tend to elongate their headings. Sure, the episodes themselves might be more insightful or have better narrative structure. But I can’t always fit the full title in the allotted space in the websites title bar, sometimes its extended and the first letters of the title post are taken out of the shot. So, Rescue Me, I’ve been hard on you this season (though not as hard as most), but there is a feather in your cap. Keep up the good work.

This episode opened with Tommy dreaming about everyone on his crew (Sean, black Sean, Probie, Franco & Kenny) dying in a fire. Only, we weren’t supposed to know its a dream until he wakes up. It was like the biggest non-surprise in television history. And its shit like this (that is becoming redundant) that is making it difficult to take the series seriously. I mean, the scene itself was well-executed, and it illustrated what I imagine is a fireman’s worst on-the-job fears, but I guess I just didn’t see the relevance of having it in there. Other than to maybe demonstrate that despite how self-destructive Tommy Gavin is, he still has something to lose? Your guess is as good as mine.

The highlight of the episode belonged to Charles Durning, who by all accounts has been woefully underused this season. Tommy had developed a resurgence of faith ever since his rescue of the window worker the week before and he used a prayer to overcome his resurgent fear of heights. Tommy’s dad (played by Durning), explained to him his disbelief in God, and how his own mortality haunts him everyday. This after Tommy’s entire family mocked him for praying for any guidance at one of their makeshift AA meetings. Looking into Durnings old, probably failing eyes as he regaled these legitimately morbid thoughts was chilling, to say the least. And he really managed to knock Tommy out of his born-again-ness.

Other than that, we had another dialogue deprived scene between Tommy and Gina Gershon, whose name we found out this week was Valerie, or Val, which makes Tommy think of Val Kilmer in Tombstone. Tommy getting his daughter the car he promised her last week to keep him in the family loop, she needs a philips head to start it but the issue never broached. At least not with her. What’s worse, he traded the car in an even swap for the escalade. Which, I guess he can afford it, since he still has all that good baby selling money. Speaking of which, apparently he still plans on Janet getting tired of watching the kid with her new job and boyfriend, so Sheila is anticipating getting Dylan/Elvis back sooner than later. Also, Tommy is fucking obsessed with Eric Clapton.

In the rest of the firehouse, Kenny is losing his mind over some chocolate pizza made by his cousins girlfriend that he is contemplating having revenge sex with. Franco is unimpressed with Natalie’s new boyfriend and insulted that she is dating some he deems unworthy so soon after they broke off their engagement. And Garrity is still pretending to be a drunk to finagle his way into the Gavin AA meetings.

Again, I may have been overly harsh in the opening paragraph, but the episode just seemed so aimless. We really do not feel like we’ve had a good episode since “Seven”, but we’re watching tonight, and it’s still open season as to whether we cut this or Entourage from weekly episode recaps.

Any preference?

I completely forgot about this, so just a quick impression of last Wednesday’s episode before the following one in ten minutes or so here.

This episode had its moments: Tommy’s lecture about race/ethnic relations in the NYFD, his reaction to hearing Janice was sleeping with her new boss, etc. But there were too many leaps of faith taking place. For instance, Janet’s new job. I am to assume she is being promoted so quickly because she is sleeping with her boss, who is exceptionally younger than her, but why must everything be so convenient? Can’t they find some logical way for her to piss off Tommy? It just seemed to preposterous, with him walking in there and immediately being intimidated. Remember Roger from season one? He was loaded, it didn’t really seem to bother Tommy. Just the fact that he was there seemed to bother him. On top of that, this has been an awfully abrupt recovery from postpartum depression. Really, like record setting. And is the kid still crying uncontrollably when Janet is holding him?

Also, Sheila is content with Janet/Colleen watching the kid all of a sudden? It seemed like she wanted to exclusively raise Elvis (whom by the way has now been named Wyatt by Janet, which I suppose is his legal name). And she is letting Tommy keep the money. I am reminded of the Seinfeld episode where George is ranting about Kramer going to a fantasy camp because his entire life is a fantasy. This, is my basic theory about Tommy Gavin.

Speaking of which, the fear of heights was out of left field, the theory over on TWoP is that Tommy is in a Tony Soprano-esque limbo, and we’re simply waiting for him to wake up. A sudden fear of heights seems like it would symbolize that. And, to be honest, that would be a welcomed twist. Because the more of this season I watch, with a few exceptional episodes, the more I want to forget it ever happened.

The entire Franco thing is completely implausible. If he’s going to plot revenge against anyone, why not Susan Sarandon? She did, after all, kidnap his daughter. Oh well, at least he has someone to spy on Natalie: her mentally handicapped brother. Classy.

Some things I liked:

-The AA meeting

-Lou plotting revenge against Artie Lange

…Along with what was mentioned in the first paragraph, I think that is it. Hit or miss, as always. I think its self-explanatory which category this falls in. Enjoy tonight’s episode.

Sorry for teh extremely late post, today has been like one of those days were if I was to get in a fender bender, someone might end up dead in the ensuing confrontation. On top of not having any internet access at work or my house (they’re a mile apart) and being backloaded with detail as a result, I never got around to rewatching this episode, so I’ll just give some brief, vague interpretations.

The episode simply meandered through the first fifty minutes until Tommy’s heartfelt lamenting on the rooftop with Mike. I’m afraid this was another episode in which all the scenes are completely interchangable. Look, I get the drama and the built tension they put into accentuating Mike’s loneliness, but can’t someone on this show have a personal problem and not resort to extreme resolutions? What’s funny about this is Mike’s plight seemed more genuine and founded in reality than 90% of the other character arcs we’ve seen on this show. But enough is enough, we need to see some coping skills out of someone at some point.

In a completely unrelated note, the opening scene with Leary and Gina Gershon certainly isn’t going to quell the “Leary is in love with himself” crowd. And it did seem kind of contrived, but my beef with the show isn’t Leary’s cock getting the soft core treatment, its that this episode lacked any kind of structure. And that is becoming way too common with this series.

For instance, a scenario with as much potential as Maggie going to an intervention for alcoholism, it just missed on essentially every note (sans Steve Pasquale as Garrity, who was in rare form). I’m note sure what it was either, it seemed like they might have been trying too hard with virtually every Gavin there. But more likely, its that they never followed up on it. I wasn’t expecting another intervention, but at least a mention of it outside the group. Hopefully this will be a regular setting, because like stated before, its rife with potential.

It really seems like I’m waffling with this series, but there is so much asymmetry to it that I’m not really sure there is a consistent perspective to have. The final scene epitomizes that. It was reflective and enlightening as Tommy began to drink while regaling the loss of his kid, but out of nowhere he jumps off the roof and lands on a stairwell that isn’t up to code and begins cracking. Why did they do this? Well, I’m not sure. It wasn’t meant to be a cliffhanger, since they immediately showed Tommy in the previews for tonights episode. I guess it was supposed to symbolize the detriment of his alcoholism, but either way I didn’t get it.

Anyway, I’ll finish out this season, and decide whether I cut this or Entourage from my weekly recaps, because I can’t handle them both.

Not exactly the follow-up most of us were looking for to one of Rescue Me’s better episodes in a while.

Predictably, as I’m sure you heard, Tommy did not kill his non-biological son. But the leap-of-faith had already been taken and soured the audience. Never-the-less, I give them credit for not completely ruining the show and just having Tommy sell his child to Sheila. Which, ultimately, is probably the best thing for Elvis (Sheila’s chosen name, I would have preferred to stick with Capernious, the name Grid Effect deigned him). Still, who the hell sells kids? Regardless of blood relations. Has Queens turned into North Korea?

Anyhow, outside of Tommy dealing with the fallout with his Janet, and Franco being torn between his loyalties to his daughter and Natalie, this episode was fairly low on the dramatics. But outside of Kenny it wasn’t particularly funny, hence the problem.

For starters, Janet ran over Tommy with her car with their daughter in the backseat. Not only is this a traumatizing moment for the kid, but a potentially deadly one for Tommy. Then for her to open her door and turn around to say, “I wasn’t driving fast enough” after Tommy said, “You could have killed me” is just too idiotic. It isn’t a feather pillow you’re hitting him with, Janet, it’s two tons of steel. People have died from a lot less. This is after she hit him with a frying pan during a scuffle in the kitchen. Classy. I think next week they accidentally tip over a trailer while arguing inside of it.

Of course this led to that unseemly hallucination scene with Tommy taking an axe to his walls. That was interesting. It seems that a lot of trouble in Tommy’s life stems from his inability to cope with death, of his friends, family and coworkers. But scenes like this are almost too grating. It did drive him to consume alcohol again, so I guess that’s a plot point.

Franco having to be lectured by Susan Sarandon about what he wanted in his relationship with Natalie like he was ten years old was kind of annoying. Honestly, is anyone that emotionally stunted? Also, it didn’t really seem like Franco was making the compelling of a case for why he proposed to Natalie, “I think she might be the one…she’s really cool” are not exactly ringing endorsements for someone you plan on marrying. But for now, that looks like the path he’s been talked into. One does have to admire he was considering marrying Sarandon just to appease his daughter, regardless of how short-sighted it is. I mean, she did kidnap his daughter in the first place.

Amy Sedaris (of Stangers with Candy fame) had a small cameo in this episode, as the quirky, talkative daughter of the new house captain, Hesh (as he was known on Sopranos, at least), but known on this show as Chief Feinberg. This led to a battle of wills between Kenny and Tommy as to who would take her on a date. In one of the more ambiguous endings this show has had, Tommy pulls some guy from a burning building while trying to ditch Sedaris on their date, only to have Gina Gershon, whom he was eyeing in the restaurant, come up and stuff her number in his shirt pocket. No word as to whether or not we’ll see Sedaris again. Maybe that’s who Kenny will end up having kids with.

Other notes:

-Mike is lonely

-Sean is going to try and rekindle his marriage with Maggie. Why? No idea.

Not that I’m not entertained by the series, but I’m certainly not interested in any of the running subplots. They seem to still be making it up as they go along, with no logical conclusion in site. I’ll still continue to watch because I’m a cheap whore, apparently, but it has nothing to do with Rescue Me still consistently being gripping drama.

Technical problems again. Sorry for the delay.

Well, one would initially think the episode would be some sort of off-brand homage to the David Fincher film, but instead is the number of children the crew lost in a fire in the opening scene. And, let me put it this way, I am not usually one for musical montages, this series does them better than most, partly because the subjects are so palatable and the music is apropos (The Twilight Singers, “The Lure Would Prove too Much” in this case), but mainly because they are just better executed than any other television show.

This opening scene is a reminder of why people love this series. And it wasn’t just the scene itself but rather everything that happened after it. The quiet ride back to the firehouse, Needles’ (the new chief) speech afterwards and everyone’s visceral reaction that seemed to resonate with not only the audience, but the characters as well. This, by any measure, was one of the better constructed episodes of Rescue Me from any season…Until the closing scene.

Having Tommy hang his newborn over a river was one of the more horrifyingly unnecessary things anyone could have ever seen on television. It trumps everything I have seen on The Wire and The Sopranos, and those series revolve around hardened criminals. First off, I understand the build up in the episode to it. Starting with the fire, then Tommy’s spiritually conflicted conversation with Mic, and then his evil conscious taking the form of Johnny (his dead brother, in case you didn’t know or have since forgotten) convincing him to “drop him into the water … because you’ll never be able to forgive me for what I’ve done (fucking your estranged wife and impregnating her)”. Ultimately, the reason Tommy was contemplating this, related to his wife’s inability to cope with her post-partum depression. Which, in all actuality, is insane and completely illogical.

My biggest qualm with even suggesting Tommy would kill his probably non-biological infant son was that it goes against everything he stands for. This was the same guy who beat his newly discovered priest half-brother to a pulp for molesting one of his alter boys, who’s devastated by losing children in fires and is haunted by the loss for years afterwards, who prays by a kids bedside for him to fully recover from severe burns despite his absence of faith.

I understand the culmination of events leading up to it in the episode, but the history of the show refutes everything about the decision. Still, assuming they do not kill Capernious, it will be interesting to see how they handle the storyline tonight, or if they even touch on it. If Capernious is in fact murdered by the hands Tommy Gavin, I’ll most likely stop recapping Rescue Me. It’s annoying and far-fetched enough to have him even contemplating something so heinous, with really no character indication that it’s something he is even capable of. In addition, some would already argue that Tommy Gavin already is, but he would be inarguably past the point of redemption at that point.

Franco and Kenny seemed the most affected by the seven children lost in the fire, especially in the aftermath. Kenny, now reevaluating his life, has decided he wants kids, something the sexually liberated ex-nun wasn’t game for. He reconnected with Artie Lange (playing his cousin that slept with said ex-nun) and seemed moderately depressed; though not anywhere near where he was when that whore stole all his money.

Franco has been reintroduced to his daughter by Susan Surandon, who kidnapped Keela under the guise that he isn’t fit to be a father and that he was raising her illegally, so he couldn’t report it. But anyhow, Susan Sarandon wants to get back together for the sake of Keela, presumably not realizing that she is sixty years old and that he’s in his late-20’s. Never the less, Franco is considering this option, after stumbling upon Richie sleeping in his bed next to his fiancee and a picture of Franco and Natalie on a nightstand being overshadowed by several of her brother. Tough call, do you get back with the crazy woman who stole your child from you and took her to Europe strictly for the sake of that child; or do you stay with the sweet, demure woman your own age with a body that turns heads? Seriously, tough call.

The only levity this episode came from their first basketball game in which Kenny led the most spirited timeout cheer I’ve ever seen or heard, and Garrity and Mike reconciling over Garrity burnt down his house (”so that’s why the guys have been calling you zippo”). Oh, and Sheila’s ex-boyfriend tearing down the “Tommy shrine” after he “let” all the kids die in the fire. What a putz.

All in all, a fantastic episode, but that ending leaves a sour taste in your mouth. And almost negates any progress in the fifty-eight minutes leading up to it. But, like mentioned before, we’re really anticipating tonight’s venture.

ETA: As a programming note, Hard Knocks, the introspective HBO series on an NFL mini-camp starts tonight at 10pm et. This go around is with the Kansas City Chiefs, which means it’s with Herm Edwards (one of the more vibrant coaching personalities) and Larry Johnson (who is borderline crazy). If you have HBO, try and record both this and Rescue Me, or one of them and watch the other at its regular time, both should be worthwhile.

Well, it was mentioned last week that this episode of Rescue Me was stellar, even exceeded expectations. But I’m pretty much resigned to the fact that while these episodes are entertaining and the stories occasionally, nay, generally entertaining, they offer little in the way of substance. Not to say incredibly dramatic and devastating things do not take place, because they do ever so frequently, but nothing is ever made of them. Outside of Tommy still being on the wagon and Franco cutting back on his womanizing, very little has changed in the way of the characters who are still alive.

This episode maintained my interest because it focused on similar themes stressed in The Sopranos, mainly that of aging, but little will come of it. With Tony Soprano, after he was shot, he was continuously battling with his criminal underlings for the proper respect I imagine a mob boss must command. Tommy is never going to be put in a similar situation, if I had to guess he’s either going to beat the snot out of Larenz Tate or come to the realization that he isn’t as physically impressive as he once was when Larenz Tate smacks him around. Not exactly as introspective as anything I have seen on David Chase’s show. This can’t exactly replicate its blatant inspiration, but it could try and actually delve into the characters psyche for more than ten minutes.

I really hate to keep harping on this series not meeting the criteria of The Sopranos because really, nothing ever has (even The Wire is so starkly different than The Sopranos in subtext and delivery). But the most obvious example I can think of that separates a work of art from just an entertaining show is how Tony dealt with the Feech La Manna (Robert Loggia) situation. Tony, after his (at the time) estranged wife expressed to him how all of his “friends” simply placate his ego out of fear rather than general admiration, harks back to an awful joke he made wherein everyone laughed hysterically except Feech, who was stone cold silent. Realizing this means he is neither amused nor afraid of Tony, he has him framed and sent back to prison so as not to be a threat to his life or freedom a la Richie Aprile. My question is, when has something similar to this ever taken place on Rescue Me? Isn’t Tommy Gavin the same exact person he was in the pilot, sans alcoholism. Maybe he is a little more remorseful (look at his speech in the bar in “Twilight”), but it doesn’t really reflect his actions, at least not off the job. He seems to be a little more reckless on it.

Anyways, now that I am done ranting, this episode featured Tommy angrily protesting the new arrangement with the not-probie who has some basketball skills, as it sort of belittles everything firehouse camaraderie stands for. Garrity burning down Mike’s apartment while discovering his parents were gay, Tommy still trying to determine the length of new chief’s endowment, and Janet continuing her downward spiral in postpartum depression, motivating Tommy to reconsider Sheila’s proposition to essentially buy his newborn kid. Also, Tommy cannot play basketball, and I imagine neither can Dennis Leary. But that is it, nothing else needs detailed and if you missed last weeks episode, you are not caught up to watch in three hours.

Then again, maybe the entire show is a metaphor for the short attention span of the country, or the paradox facing the modern adult male in terms of his traditional role as strong, undaunted provider and emotional stagnation. Either way, I feel like I would be giving it too much credit to use either of these brooding themes to classify the series. As of now I am looking forward to watching tonight, but not expecting anything deeper than surface entertainment, which is fine. I just wish they would stop pretending something more profound is taking place.

Alright, new plan. Since I need to write something covering last weeks episode and post it with an ample amount of time before tonight’s episode airs, we’re going to forego the general scene-by-scene recap and more or less summarize the entire thing in a couple paragraphs. I know this comes as a major disappointment to the seventeen of you that regularly read this blog.

Essentially, everything in Tommy’s life is falling apart.

The end.

Kidding, though that wouldn’t really be a far-fetched sufficient synopsis. I actually really enjoyed this episode, much like Entourage, this is two weeks in a row where I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

In this episode, Tommy deals with the reality of aging, which reflects on his ability to raise a newborn, poor performance on the ice rink and in the back of Jennifer Esposito’s car. One thing I have always wondered about that, why have their sexual encounters always taken place in her SUV? She can afford the SUV, so does she live in it as well? I know Tommy is and will be reluctant to take a woman back to his place with his ex-wife and kids waiting up there, but is her place in Long Island so inaccessible that they must use a car? Everytime?

But yeah, she throws him around effortlessly and emasculates him about it later. This entire charade is just so extreme in order to compensate for the numerous criticisms about this shows portrayal of women, that its in an unintentional comic tailspin. Honestly, if Leary and Tolan want to wave a white flag with its offended (former) audience, then just have Leary not engage in intercourse with a single female cameo. Because honestly, that hasn’t happened since Susan Sarandon and Diane Farr, who were both plowed by Franco instead.

Sheila is now offering Tommy $400,000 for his (technically Johnny’s, it looks like) and Janet’s son, named by this web site since they have yet to name him on the show, Capernious. Its repulsive on several levels, but admittedly practical. Tommy doesn’t want to afford Capernious now, especially since he is skeptical of who the biological father is, the kid hates Janet, they are financially strapped as is, but between the monetary olive branch and the dumping of Capernious onto Sheila, the future is looking less grim.

Tommy is clearly considering the proposition, though has yet to mention anything to Janet. He certainly looks ready to broach the subject when he comes home to discover Janet left Capernious and Katie home alone to buy a bottle of wine, and that Katie was leaning over Capernious’ crib wishing him dead. One would think living with both parents being non-biological is a better environment than this. And the impression I get from the dream Tommy had about the kid getting ran over by a semi (Note: Between this and the mythic shadowed figure telling Tommy to go to an AA meeting, and the closeup shot of the text, this show has taken enough cues from The Sopranos, it’s time to stop), they certainly be steering towards killing this Capernious off, which is just wholly unnecessary.

The hockey scene was extremely baffling. Out of nowhere Tommy is three steps behind the action and takes an earful from his coach who benches him mid-second quarter, then a cop on the opposing team whom Tommy challenges to a fight, and said cop pities him to the point where he refuses to throw down, which I guess is supposed to be the ultimate form of disrespect amongst these ranks. This is essentially parallel to Tony Soprano’s plight after Junior gunned him down. And while Tony Soprano took out an underling dubbed Muscles Marinara, Tommy is probably going to unleash his wrath on someone nicknamed Brutish Boiled Potato. or Probie.

Other notes:

-Kenny’s dick is fatigued from constant sex with the former nun, who plays Christian’s aids stricken ex-girlfriend on Nip Tuck. He asks for an extended intermission.

-The house has a new chief played by Hesh from The Sopranos. Depending on how much this series wants to (try and) replicate David Chase’s masterpiece, he’ll probably have a thing for black women. Right now he is cannon fodder for every Jewish stereotype anyone has ever known.

-Franco has asked Natalie to marry him and she has accepted. Which means that in four episodes time, something catastrophic is going to happen in the immediate future, or his daughter will come back or Susan Sarandon is going to murder the entire lot of them. In the vein of this series, I’d suspect an almost drops on Natalie’s head, but Richie catches it, saving Natalie, but is eventually crushed under the weight of the thing.

-Still no real mention of Chief, other than a short discussion over where to put his ashes. No explanation as to why his son wouldn’t/doesn’t receive them.

-Franco and Kenny persuaded Larenz Tate (Bart) to play basketball for their fire house by bartering probie work and agreeing to call him Sean. This is unquestionably the funniest scene this season, trumping the one where Garrity admits to fantasizing about Janet.

I know the tone of the recap sounded cynical and disparaging, but that’s just for kicks and because I cannot remember the episode that vividly. All in all, I was satisfied with it and hope they keep up the trend tonight, best solution for that would be to focus on this basketball subplot. If I can get that, between it and the USA scrimmage this past Sunday, it would all but remedy my basketball interest back to full stength after these horrifying NBA ref scandal.

Well, my head is spinning with the multitude of oversights this year, but I don’t know what else to expect from an award show that is clearly being compromised by someone or something. Either that or they are simply lazy. I hate to be so cynical but there is really no other explanation.

Note: This article will contain some spoilers, so if you’re waiting for some series’ to be released on DVD or whatever else, this post will upset you immensely if you continue to read.

For starters, lets give credit where credit is due: fifteen nominations for The Sopranos! Yowza! Obviously for best drama and both lead acting categories, then three supporting acting nominations (Imperioli, Bracco and Turturro) then three nominations in the best writing category for “Kennedy and Heidi” (The episode Chris died), “The Second Coming” (AJ’s suicide attempt) and the series finale, “Made In America”. All this in addition to a directing nomination for Alan Taylor for “Kennedy and Heidi” (I Get It!) and five other nominations in minor categories.

There were some other various highlights with the dramatic series nominations, including Dennis Leary getting a best actor nomination (which is a lost cause, I’m pretty sure based on the overwhelming recognition that The Sopranos very well might end up sweeping), Friday Night Lights, though clearly underappreciated did pick up a best directing and best casting (which is like an award for best ensemble), its minimal, but at least it is something.

The Wire, on the other hand, was completely snubbed. In this blogs humble opinion, this oversight completely diminishes all credibility The Emmys may have built up. This series is so nuanced, so well characterized and structured, its intriguing, insightful, entertaining and probably the only series that I can say with any cerititude that is actually important; and for it to get zero nominations is a fucking embarrassment. The only plausible explanation is either they aren’t watching it (most likely), its not popular so it goes unrecognized because there won’t be any mainstream outrage (quite possible), or race is actually an issue (never would have thought this to be the case as I am hesitant to play this card, but now I’m not so sure). It has to be one of these three, because if one watches the series in total, and isn’t subjective in any way, then there is no rationale for this series to not have a nomination in every major and minor category. It is that good.

Thing is, this really shouldn’t come as any shock. The Wire is virtually snubbed every year it should be in contention to clean house. I really shouldn’t take it so personally but the series deserves better. The Emmys are essentially the only mainstream outlet that acknowledges excellence in television, and for The Wire to go unrepresented is a sham. If The Emmys would give this show its due, then maybe it could build up the audience it deserves. But ultimately, those who watch The Emmys are not interested in a slew of no-names collecting awards, and that might be what this is attributed to. Most would rather see Kiefer Sutherland or one of the twenty-five year old smoking hot doctors from Grey’s Anatomy stockpile hardware. Not a gritty, realistic portrayal or institutional and urban decay and corruption. And that is no disrespect to 24 or the hospital drama, but give me a fucking break.

Like stated before, The Sopranos very well may sweep on Emmy night and that is all well and good. But it should really be rivaled by its artistic and narrative counterpart in The Wire, otherwise everything David Chase & Co. wins is borderline fraudulent. For a sports analogy, its would be like winning a Superbowl because the other team died in a plane crash. Technically, someone is awarded the Lombardi trophy, but did they really earn it? Or feel good about it?

Back later with some approving editorial on the comedy nominations (sans a few nitpicks), other miscellaneous categories and some more on Friday Night Lights, right now I need to karate chop some bricks so I don’t chuck my monitor across my office.

If you haven’t noticed a pattern, these recaps posts tend to be delayed, usually because they are so fucking long, and occasionally like today when work is bending me over the figurative table. Anyway, it was actually a decent episode. Between this and Entourage churning out decent episodes for this weeks recaps, this job is starting to lose its appeal.

New chief shows up at dead chiefs house to stumble onto his body, and Probie packs up his mom’s belongings waiting to go to her funeral, all to the tune of “Dayton, Ohio, 1903″ by Randy Newman. It’s beautifully shot and the pacing is in toe with the music, which induces an atmosphere of, “here is some more of the morbid, crazy shit that everyone eventually goes through”.

Lieu is lighting candles for Chief, he, Tommy, Franco and Sean sit around discussing his kid and such. Kenny tries to explain to Franco and Sean that them with their naivete and youthful exuberance couldn’t possibly understand why Chief would do what he did, since they have the majority of their lives in front of them. Kenny is particularly sensitive in his defense of Jerry, and Tommy doesn’t appear to be when he concurs that Chief was a coward, until he further explains that his cowardice stemmed from having to work behind a desk. When Garrity says that is no excuse, Tommy explodes and highlights several of the Chief’s career achievements to illustrate how fearless he was when working the Bronx in the 70’s, and says Jerry used up all the brave he had then after telling Garrity to suck his cock. Its scenes like this one that resonate most with its audience and why the firehouse should be the focal point of the series, as opposed to the personal lives of the members of the firehouse.

Tommy is looking at Nona’s car when she corrects his maintenance, so fix your own damn car. Why are you even over here? New chief and Garrity are asking him about some favor to get the new basketball stud Probie at their house. Nona exploits his peculiar behavior on their last date in front of Garrity and new chief. She calls him princess when she walks out and Tommy asks them to keep it under wraps, clearly a way of appeasing those upset about the portrayal of women on this show.

Colleen blackmails her dad for her affections, he agrees to buy a couple lamps and a bed so long as she calls them every couple of days.

Nona and Tommy are at the conclusion of their date in her car, she goes in to make a move and he can’t get it up after she plays with his dick for a short while. There has to be a happy medium here. She pretends to not have pulled him out of the fire to see if it will restore his manhood, he somewhat cluelessly says, “I think you’re lying to me”, and she kicks him out of the car.

Tommy walks in to see Janet awake with the kid they have yet to name, we’ll call him Capernious. She acts moved by the fact he is buying their older daughter back. Well, “acts” probably isn’t the apt description, “downright touched” is probably more fitting. It reminds me of Lindsay Bluths line, “That’s all I ever wanted from you daddy, for you to spend money on me.” He lies down with the kid on his chest and tends to a cut on his younger daughters hand she got from using “big girl scissors”, as Janet looks on in approval. And, big girl scissors? Really? This broad is like 14. Is she still on the big wheel as well?

Tommy eats some lasagna Janet made, aren’t these people like second or third generation Irish immigrants, they can make edible Italian food? Janet suggests getting back together and recommends a therapist for assistance, he seems apprehensive but willing. He says between the conversation and her reaching out to touch his hand is somewhat priming. She turns down his meek advances by aying their daughter is there.

Garrity and Maggie discuss her drinking habits, she has stashes all over the house and is currently hungover, its a psuedo-gender reversal and dull. She claims her “disease” to be genetic. He asks for a divorce and she concedes, but apparently it was a bluff and she pre-emptively called it.

Sheila stops by Tommy’s with her new beau, she informs him that everything went accordingly with the insurance and avoiding jail. New beau’s name is Troy, and he compliments Tommys jeans, then mills around all awkwardly, Sheila loves the kid and Tommy is hesitant to have Janet see Capernious with her and not crying. Troy asks for some water and Tommy tells him to help himself, Janet walks in and Tommy cannot remember Troy’s name either. Janet takes Capernious and he immediately starts crying. Troy suggests Derrick somewhat ominously as a real name for Capernious, Janet is somewhat flummoxed and Troy asks her about Tommy’s jeans. Janet grabs the kid and runs into his room. Sheila points out that the kid hates her, Tommy blames it on gas.

Troy gets all in Tommy’s bidness asking for a signed autograph of a newspaper headline, when he is detailing the signature the guy feels his jeans and Tommy, expectedly and understandably, freaks out. Sheila drags him out of the apartment and there is never an explanation of Troy’s motives.

In the house, everyone is listening Probie lament and mourn his mother about how he never appreciated her. Tommy, Franco and Kenny all share looks because apparently his mourning is amusing. Probie sees Kenny looking suspiciously and threatens him if he makes a gay joke, Kenny promises he won’t. After Probie leaves Tommy says he can’t believe Kenny avoided doing anything of the sort, Kenny pleads earnestly to give him some time, Tommy suggests tommorow morning and they all agree to pounce then.

All the main characters walk around a building looking for a fire while talking about where to place Jerry’s ashes, in the meantime they do a great job with a single shot scene illustrating confusion as they find the fire, forget how they came in when they attempt exiting, to tracking down Probie and putting a mask on him, to Tommy injuring his knee and finding a pregnant woman, the scene is great up until said woman pops this kid out like a fucking pez dispenser, Tommy is forced to do it after Kenny proclaims, “I don’t know ‘nothin about birthin’ no babies. I suppose the fire was self-contained, because we never see them exit the premises nor fret over doing so because the scene ends almost abruptly.

At a therapists office, Tommy and Janet rundown a brief history of how they met and all of their differences. Said therapist stares at them, jaw agape, then gets up to make a phone call, assuming this is a prank of sorts. When the person on the other end of the phone informs him he is mistaken, He doubles back and tells them he doesn’t have the time they are going to require should they get back together. In the midst the rundown of their tumultuous relationship, Tommy references “the rape” and literally mimics hand quotations when he says it, which is unquestionably the most meta thing they have ever done on this series, and not to rehash the issue, because I can certainly see how that scene might have been perceived as a rape and is a legitimate question, but if that wasn’t their intention then they are set in their opinion, I am amused by the figurative “fuck you” that those quotations represent

Kennt complains about not finding any dirt on the Jew-hater from the opposing firehouse that is competing for Larenz Tate (basketball stud mentioned earlier), he says he is going to go over there and probably resort to making shit up. Franco approaches Kenny and new Chief seeking advice on marriage as he is feeling a lot of trepidation over proposing to Natalie, and they do not seem to have any. Kenny does suggest he ask someone with a good experience and a bad experience in regards to their nuptials for an objective viewpoint, he asks Kenny about his marriage and says it was to, “a dirty, filthy, blood-sucking little whore.”

Garrity is rattling off about his marriage to Franco, Tommy catches them and tells Garrity he was warned, and he was. Amply so, at that. Franco strokes Tommy’s ego after Tommy tells him how sensitivity and emotional availability in a marriage is essential.

Kenny tries to back Jew-hater guy into a corner and sneaks into his house when he mentions some random guys car is getting a ticket.

Garrity offers to stay at Mikes to keep him company, he agrees, but Garrity fesses up and admits his motivation is because of his current separation. Have fun with that no-fault NYC divorce to a woman with no income there, Garrity. The kibbles and bits you two have should really keep everyone happy.

Kenny’s bribe fails and he resorts to begging for the new probie because the other guy’s house already has a solid basketball team. Kenny blesses him after he hears a sneeze, then realizes it isn’t him, looks in a closet pantry to see random guy’s whose car wasn’t getting ticketed wife hiding there in some racy lingerie, Kenny simply says that he has to go find a locker for his new Probie. Done and done, I love the immediate transition from having no leverage to having the guy over a barrel.

Tommy walks in to an eager Janet and he still cannot get it up. Clearly a mental block, or maybe all that viagra Sheila hid in his food is having a reverse effect since he never needed it. Is that a possibility? I have known some kids my age that have taken it out of recreation but either they haven’t mentioned it or this wasn’t an issue. Anyway, Janet calls off the attempt at rekindling the marriage after he can’t get it up and he accidentally confesses to his dalliance with Nona. Man, is she particular. A soft member and an encounter with another woman when they weren’t romantically involved and suddenly its over. Anyway, he holds there kid and she locks herself in a different room, and boy howdy is she angry. Again.

Again, a solid episode and with several scenes that reminded me why I liked this show in the first place, but their is really no continuity. All the scenes are more or less interchangeable. And outside of some conversation in passing, we never heard anything about Chief after the opening credits. Maybe the addition of Larenz Tate getting some dialogue will change things around.

Rescue Me returned last night from a two week hiatus and returned strong. From Tommy and Kenny’s impassioned defense of Chief, to the therapy session to all of the firehouse banter and everything that came out of John Scurti’s mouth, that was like season one Rescue Me, not the forced nonsense we’ve become accustomed to with the first half of season three and up until this point in season four. Also, when Tommy said, “the rape” in therapy, was he referring to the controversial “rape” in season three’s “Sparks”? I cannot recall any other instances of rape that would bear mentioning in that shrinks office, but it was delivered oddly. Of course, not everyone agrees with my laudatory point of view.

But as you can tell from the title, we’re not here to rehash the only series I watch during the work week, we’re here to provide op-ed on varying news headlines. Is it a negative indicator for what you are writing if you are fending off sleep while writing it? And yes, I am at work.

Wow, no one wants to fill that void left by Rosie O’Donnell at The View. They might as well just bite the bullet and ask Dan Patrick.

Kevin Reilly, the wrongfully ousted entertainment president at NBC, is moving to FOX, where he will most likely be responsible for the next wave of C-list celebrity reality shows.

I don’t know what the hell tickles this clowns fancy (he is kind of all over the place), but it surely isn’t the same thing that is tickles mine. Considering we watch are watching three series this summer (soon to be four when Mad Men premieres on July 19th), I would hardly call this TV season overloaded.

Why would black people want a Laguna Beach equivalent? That show represents everything that’s ugly about white America, why mimic it?

The L Word is allowing one of their fans to script a scene for them. Umm, I don’t watch this show, but if Sarah Shahi is still on it, then they better hope someone that has my sensibilities doesn’t win, because I would be taking full advantage of the disregard for FCC regulations that Showtime affords for its original programming. My apologies.

Chris Noth, most widely recognized as Mr. Big, has yet to sign on to the new (it’s official) Sex and The City movie, mostly as a result of them neglecting a decent offer, and partly due to scheduling conflicts. So if they fail to work around his schedule, the women in the movie will sit around bad mouthing him for something that is entirely out of his hands. Wow, that show is like real life.

And finally, Springfield, Vermont has won The Simpsons movie contest, and will play host to their premiere. They won with a shade over 15,000 votes, I know Springfield is a small city and Vermont a small state, but doesn’t this seem astonishingly low to anyone else? Especially for the city that won the fucking thing. Springfield, Ohio is about thirty minutes outside of Columbus, about the equidistant point between us and Dayton. Had anyone known this contest was going on, we could have won it in a landslide.

Wow, what a staunchly unoriginal title. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if this was already the name of an earlier episode and they forgot about it. Anyhow, we rebounded a bit from the last episode two weeks ago, so maybe the recap will be a little less cynical than usual. Then again, this is Rescue Me, cynicism is somewhat born into the recaps.

We pick up with the fire truck pulling up to Clleen’s boyfriends apartment, he walks in with Kenny, Garrity and Franco, they see her walk out in her underwear and Tommy doubles back to tell Garrity to keep it out of the spank bank, he gets around to punching the boyfriend after he touches his arm. Tommy and Colleen have a pretty intense argument where she sort of crosses a point of no return, “Eat shit and die, go to hell” is how she closes it out.

At the house now, Janet is now berating Tommy about his antics with the boyfriend, particularly about punching the kid being counterproductive. But that’s why you love him, Jan. The baby stops crying while she is giving him shit for being a bad father, and they both decide to keep it up if thats what humors him. She demands Tommy apologize as a last ditch effort to get their daughter back.

Jerry is pleading with some paper pusher in the NYFD to restaff him with his old position, but its a fruitless venture as he is now an insurance liability. He makes a weak effort to bribe him and the guy offers him a desk job. Chief really resents the concept.

Tommy is reading a book about ED as a result of Sheila’s bullshit story, Garrity walks in and he claims to be reading about John McCain. Leary feigns interest in talking to his brother in law, they notice an informercial about face cream and Tommy pretends it is gay before rummaging through the Probie’s locker after Garrity said he might have some. Probie walks in and catches him, Kenny walks in asking about the possible apology and recommends Tommy let the kid beat his ass to regain sympathy, probably a sound, if incredibly devious solution. They catch Probie using the aforementioned face cream, Kenny makes some joke about having balls and Tommy essentially steals all of Probie’s product once Kenny leaves.

Probie asks Tommy out to dinner to talk about his mother, Tommy is completely self-involved. He declines when Nona calls and asks him about his date, then he uses Probies mom as an excuse and studders his way through a series of half-truths. Tommy assures her, that she won’t make it through the week. He eventually agrees to dinner with Probie only on the grounds that everything is comped and its as short as possible.

Murmur from The Sopranos walks in to his apartment to see Teddy waiting in his kitchen, going out of his way to make himself at home with the beer and pizza Murmur stumbled in with. He explains the story to Murmur and they exchange other pleasantries.

Kenny bitches about the nun being relentless in the bedroom and Probie explains he is celibate but still masturbating enough to develop callouses. Garrity offers Maggies porn stash to Probie who cordially dclines, the crew has some more homophobic rants, Tommy explains how Nona isn’t as one would expect, physically. Meaning she isn’t a disproportionately built. Chief asks all of the crew into the kitchen.

Sheila ice skates with her boyfriend that saved her life and she explains how she wants a new start before describing the state of her “tootsies”.

Chief is giving an unemotional speech about his retirement. He is best man at his sons wedding and wants to trick his son into thinking he has expected his lifestyle, they offer some stereotypical answers about how to put on the facade of being open-minded, he thanks them for their worthless advice.

Shiela is discussing Tommy to the new boyfriend, who seemingly idolizes his on-job heroics. He assumes she loves him and she explains it as the bad kind of love. “Bad kind of love” and “tootsies”?…Jesus Sheila, your even making me uncomfortable.

Tommy talks with Chief about the news that he will be working a desk, Tommy explains that he is facing some charges that are eventually going to be dropped, but that someone in charge might still be investigating, Chief promises to try and eradicate this burden. Tommy calls him Chief, he retorts that it is just Jerry from here on out, Tommy says he meant what he said.

Franco is bowling with his girlfriend, Natalie, Richie, and his wheelchair bound girlfriend, Barbara. She gives him shit about being emotionally distant, he puts it on trying to bond with Richie. She storms off in a huff after he sarcastically asks if ignoring the burgeoning relationship is an option.

Tommy is at dinner with Probie who is heartbreakingly revealing that his mom wants him to euthanize her, and it’s way to daunting of a task for him. Probie starts crying and Tommy gives him a man up speech which includes demanding he stop crying, and suggests increasing the morphine drip as the most painless and effortless method. Tommy starts to get insecure when he notices its all couples of men in the restaurant and when Probie explains its a new fad for two men to go out on a “man-date”, he makes eye contact with some abrasive individual when Nona walks in spying on him.

On the sidewalk, she shows how she carried Tommy to safety by throwing him over her shoulder, Probie is really into it, when the same guy from inside tries to pick a fight, she steps in between them and tells him to scram.

Chief is giving the best man speech at his sons wedding, its heartfelt, even if he doesn’t mean any of it.

Nona is dropping off Tommy and she lunges at him after he refers to Janet as his mom, he fends her off and it is revealed she is a volunteer firefighter. Tommy suggests waiting, for whatever reason, I’m sure it has something to do with the ED he believes he has, and she kicks him out of her truck. I want to know what her profession is supposed to be. She calls him princess and says she will call him before 11pm because she doesn’t want to upset his “mom”. I think its time Tommy found his own place.

Tommy walks in to find Janet sleeping with their baby, cradling him really, really close. Like if she moves an inch she’ll sufocate him, close.

Chief and his son have a conversation about his wife/his mom. Chief suggests he try and visit more often, he claims he will make it regularly after the wedding and such. They hug and Chief says he loves him.

Probie is meddling through the medicine cabinet, and looks at his mother, contemplating actually killing her.

Probie is woken up by the nurse to find out his mom has passed, he asks if he is in trouble, after the nurses befuddlement at such an odd question she assures him that she died peacefully, but it turns out he didn’t kill her. You figure he would be relieved (in a manner of speaking), but instead he is grief-stricken because he “let her down”.

Chief deletes the negative headings on Tommy’s file.

Frank is bickering with Murmur about there living situation and he attacks him when he mentions going back to his wife, then considers a killing spree to regain incarceration. I guess he’s an institutionalized man, now. Hopefully he doesn’t go out like Brooks from Shawshank.

Chief starts walking out of the house and Tommy catches him, Chief says he cleared up his problems. Tommy asks him to help with the door on the truck, which inside contains a new set of golf clubs in a bag with his house number on it. They break out the champagne which Tommy declines. They cheers and Chief is grateful, if sedated.

Janet begins to read a magazine when the kid wakes up and begins to cry, she starts nervously crying herself. I see where they are going with this, and I don’t need to see an infant killed on this show.

Garrity, Franco, Kenny and Tommy are waiting outside Colleen’s boyfriends house, in which it is revealed that Garrity has never heard of Raging Bull. They see the couple walking down the street and Tommy confronts them peacefully and the kid is resentful, Tommy puts his hand on him, to which the kid proclaims he is on probation and proceeds to go apeshit, he throws Tommy into a car and wrestles around with him a bit, it is interspersed with shots of Chief reading a magazine and eating a salad, then practicing with his new putter, then doing some primming in front of a mirror, then putting a revolver inside his mouth and pulling the trigger. So, yeah, they killed off yet another main character. Give them like two more weeks it will no longer be an ensemble cast.

The has been an ongoing issue with the fan base. Some felt it was forced, some believed it was in character. Now, I don’t think anyone can claim it was in character for Chief to commit suicide, he’s been too strong of a character for every episode up until this one, but it was developed well in this episode. But it was only THIS one episode. Whatever happened to this series building drama? Now it seems like half the dramatic happenings are more time killers than anything, and half of everything happens inorganically.

This specific incident might also be the result of behind the camera issues. But they will probably focus on this tonight then it will be all but forgotten come next Wednesday. Really, outside of the questionable ending I thought the rest of the episode was spotless. Oh well, I guess consistent development and sound narrative structure is what separates this from the likes of The Sopranos and The Wire.

Save for a few scenes, another pretty bland episode. Tons of recycled material and little development, everything seems to be forced instead of happening organically, especially with Tommy. I guess the assertion is his life is a never ending sequence of dramatic/traumatic events that raise his ire, but there has never been even a remotely dull period in this guys life. That’s partly why this series is good (arguably great in the first season) but nowhere near the class of The Sopranos or The Wire (Both of which being the gold standard of dramatic television). Onto the recap…

Pre-credits scene, we open with Sheila lecturing Tommy about that bizarre insurance scam that they apparently decided to run when immediately after they regained consciousness following the fire she started. She tries to lecture him about needing the money himself. She Tommy wants to know about the evening in question, she gives him the same song and dance about him being an out of control drunk being the case. He immediately starts breaking all of the expensive furniture in her new loft to extort honest answers. It’s over-priced glass, essentially.
He persuades her into giving a mildly accurate, but she conveniently leaves out the part about her drugging him and accidentally setting the place ablaze. She says he flipped out when he was drunk because he couldn’t produce an erection, and sheds some crocodile tears about the mythical experience, which Tommy completely buys. He leaves and she smiles triumphantly.

Tommy talks with his lawyer and apparently the story is gold because him being unable to get hard is a plausible reason why he lied in the first place. The lawyer raises his voice and a table of women look over at Tommy when he utters the phrase, “limp, lifeless, little dick”.

Jerry trot-jogs on a treadmill, apparently he is exceeding his expected recovery time.

Probie/Mike is visiting his cancer stricken mother, and insists on staying for some routine but painful procedure.

Kenny and Franco watch diminutive Larenz Tate play basketball and marvel at his excellence as several other lieutenants drool over him. Kenny wants to recruit the kid by letting him avoid menial tasks that come with the territory. Franco agrees to play nice with Kenny to give off the impression of racial bonding when his Richie calls.

Janet talks with their young daughter about their new son, they have a charming conversation about whether or not the kid likes her, given his penchant for vomiting, the daughter wants to call him puke-face, despite Janet’s protests, she does so anyway as she leaves for school.

Jerry is talking about his physical health to some RN and about his sons wedding. He pretends his son is straight which I suppose was the point of this scene, illustrating that he still hasn’t come to grips with his son’s sexuality.

Rich apparently tried to eat some piece of jewelry in a store, Franco calms the situation and sees some ring that catches his eye and inquires about the price. Rich says he needs to buy his girlfriend one of those and Franco points out that it will take much less to keep her attention.

Probie/Michael is talking about his mother’s condition, its fairly grim. Probie thinks it means she’ll be alright, the guy spells it out to him in no uncertain terms, somewhat callously but understandable, given how busy he is and Probie’s naivete. Mike calls his mom the Babe Ruth of cancer, saying she can beat it. Doc points out that is how Babe Ruth died: from cancer.

Maggie is voluntarily throwing out her pornography, much to Sean’s excitement. Then she talks about her spank bank, which I guess is a collection of scenarios one (typically a guy) saves to masturbate from. Not to get to personal but I have never heard of this phrase before, if it’s there I resolve the situation, if it’s not I leave it alone. I have never heard of a title doned to a collection of masturbatory fantasies.

Tommy talks in a law office, it’s really melodramatic. They had to show us scenes immediately after the fire if it was supposed to impact him or anyone to the point we’re supposed to be on the edge of our seat watching this. They lighten the mood with him asking if the stenographer (the only woman in the office has to be there, and obviously she does. The writers decided to cut out the rehashing of the story, thank God. Sheila is sitting outside, supposedly waiting to go in and tell her version of the story. She is with some stranger, making out, Tommy definitely takes notice.

Jerry and his kid talk on the phone about random shit. The replacement chief comes in and they have a dick measuring contest about the arrangement of the firehouse. Yawn.

Janet, who looks much better this season, answers a call about her daughter and discovers she is supposedly lambing it.

Teddy is being released from prison and looking forward to being able to sleep on his stomach again. MADD was the driving force behind his early release.

In the car, Janet calls Tommy about Colleen running away, they break down the situation with some assistance from Teddy’s wife, who insists Colleen will be home in two months. Tommy decides to track her down by getting information about the guy…

And demands to stop at a liquor store and they all assume it’s for him. Though his concern is clear, it doesn’t stop Teddy from asking for a bottle of Cristal. Upon entering, Tommy gazes admiringly at the numerous options and gets some Johnny Blue, running about $200 in the city. He gets a call from Nona, who, for whatever reason, is all over his cock despite his resistance. He gets her to settle down by telling the sad saga of his daughter running away. I either need to get into fire-fighting or come to the realization that women, in all corners of the world, do not operate like this.

Probie’s mom wants him to be euthanized. Obviously he’s hesitant, but she makes a decent case in the vein of Kavorkian. It’s convincing, at least for Probie. She closes her speil with: “Momma loves you baby, now go find something to kill me with”.

Teddy was apparently under the impression that his woman would dump him after he got out of prison, but she doesn’t have the same mindset she used to. He feigns excitement and excuses himself, next we see is of him running out the back.

Kenny talks with the other lieutenant who hates Jewish people. He threatens to dig up dirt on his house if he goes after Larenz Tate. Kenny walks off undeterred.

Tommy talks with Johnny’s old partner, the guy is pretty broken up and Tommy just seems perturbed he still has to deal with any kind of mourning, we get to the point of the visit: Tommy wants hombre to find his kid. The guy says his hands are tied, Tommy persists, the guy begrudgingly agrees to look him up. Tommy mutters some nonsense as he walks away, the guy asks him what he said, Tommy lies. Doesn’t this guy know Tommy isn’t much for rules and regulations or chain of command or anything like that? I mean, he was Johnny’s partner for at least a few years when he was runnign scams and cutting corners for Tommy. I guess Johnny kept all of that real close.

Tommy and Janet argue over who is at fault for their marriage (the most recycled of all the material), Tommy goes out to the kitchen, thinking he’s hearing someone walk in and thay immediately suspect it’s Colleen. Tommy looks under the covers and sees Johnny staring right back at him, no word on Colleen.

All the guys sit around the kitchen as Kenny cooks, Sean walks in and says, “Can I ask you something” and Kenny completely rails him about how when he asks such a question it leads to a regrettable conversation. He asks about spank banks, Leary says, “Ellen Degeneres (long pause), have you seen her dance?” In short, this scene exemplifies why anyone watches this show:
Lieu: Jessica Biel.
Sean: She’s old enough to be your daughter, Lieu.
Lieu: Bingo.
And several similar exchanges. Sean runs through his and subconsciously says Janet, he tries to back track and Kenny collects all the knives, foreseeing an unpleasant reaction from Tommy. And Tommy does, indeed go ballistic when Sean gets into details. Like Jeff Green would say, “I thought it was a compliment”. Tommy wonders aloud if anyone beats off to his eighteen year old daughter and the room falls silent. Sean is shaking and Tommy follows him when he heads outside.

They get a call and in the truck Tommy talks with Sheila about the guy she was with, its apparently the guy who saved her, Tommy calls it a cliche, which is apparently why he’s refusing the advances of Nona, Jennifer Esposito. Yeah, I know, If I am ever in the sitaution in which Jennifer Esposito is willfully propostioning me, I don’t give a shit about what the circumstances are, I’m using the opportunity to the fullest of my capabilities.

Tommy gets a call to the whereabouts of his daughter, and they leave their work site to track said guy down. Kenny asks him to reconsider, Tommy is defiant but looks conflicted.

Eventful, but really the pacing needs toned down. There is almost too much taking place and I’d say this has been the case for about a season and a half. I suppose not everyone needs a storyline at every waking second of screentime. Reducing the amount of actors highlighted in each episode actually enables the writers to flesh out the characters better. Right now its a jumbled mess of trauma and I cannot relate to it or become vested in it because nothing is really developed. Usually the second half of the Rescue Me season trumps the first, one would expect this to be the case in the fourth season as well.

I know I promised a Rescue Me preview in my last post, but I got caught up in some extra-cirriculars last night and never got around to it. Thankfully, however, the season premiere was essentially a preview in and of itself, so there was no need, as most of the episode simply rehashed where all of the characters are at. Usually I wait until the following week to recap a dramatic episode of television, but last night was fairly uneventful and meandering, so I’ll just get it out of the way now. Instead of going in order of events, I’ll do a character by character synopsis.

Tommy Gavin: Now living with Janet (his separated but not divorced but not technically separated anymore because they are living together wife) in a platonic relationship with a kid that may or may not be his (it’s his or his departed brother’s). Tommy’s concerns range from studdering in protest over his rebellious eighteen year-old daughter and Janet’s remarkably poor parenting skills, to potentially going to jail as an arson suspect from the fire at Sheila’s beach house (he cannot remember the details since she drugged him, she’s alive and trying to pull an insurance scam, by the way. Given how last season ended, this doesn’t add up) and fending off the advances of Jennifer Esposito, the firewoman who saved him; to debating with the rest of the house as to what kind of gaming court they should have in the basement: basketball or street hockey.

Franco: Now living with the young photographer he met at a bar by himself last season and is still coping with her mentally-challenged brother, who wants Franco to marry his sister so he can bed a girl with down-syndrome, whose partially deaf and in a wheelchair. There conversation went something like this:

Franco’s Girlfriends Brother (Can’t remember his name, sorry): She’s got a great ass.
Franco: Well, how do you know she has a great ass if she’s in a wheelchair?
FGB: Sometimes they stand her up.

Some might find this offensive, I find it amusing. He is pushing for the basketball court.

Kenny Shea: Not much going on here. He’s trying to handle the advances of sexually pent-up former nun he is currently dating and is the lead advocate for the basketball court over the street hockey rink, mainly because there is a new black guy going through probie school that he thinks he has an inside track on and can recruit to their house.

Probie: Had a colonoscopy due to a history of colon cancer in his family, meaning he will eventually be diagnosed with it at some point this season or it was written in strictly for John Scurti to crack a joke about his taint later in this episode. But he was drug induced and virtually unheard from, from start to finish.

Garrity: Still married to Maggie (Tommy’s sister) and has been so for nine months. There marriage is something of a gender reversal in terms of bedroom antics. In other words, she has a porn collection that he wants to get rid of. Garrity also looks bizarre with this new hairstyle, Very Abrecrombie & Fitch-esque. He was hoping for a basketball court but Garrity is blackmailing him into voting for the street hockey court with the threat of buying Maggie more porn.

Chief Riley: Coping well since his near fatal heart attack at the end of last season. Having lost thirty-five pounds and is begrudgingly going to attend his gay sons wedding as his best man, somewhere in Massachusetts. Another great exchange here:

Chief Riley: Okay okay, I don’t have to kiss the bride, do I?
Chief Riley’s son (again, cannot remember his name): Just not on my lips.

I guess his near death experience has done wonders on his psyche. He also determines the outcome of the remodeling of the basement: There going halvsies; and turns down more than one slice of pizza.

Other notes:

-There was an explosion on site where all of them nearly died, but you knew they wouldn’t because it contained five of the six characters mentioned above. A floor gets upturned and they all fall out of the third story of a building onto some stuffed animals. Think Suzy Green falling on the pound cakes in Curb.

-Janets newborn son hates her, and his crying is only quelled when Tommy is holding him.

-Colleen vomited after getting stoned and drunk with her twenty-six year old boyfriend and having sex with him in his truck.

Like I said, fairly uneventful and mostly a “seeing what their up to now” episode. But I’m cautiously optimistic they can rebound from the pedestrian third season with the body of work the fourth produces.

While watching The Sopranos on Sunday and hearing a Doors song in the background, it dawned on me that all four dramatic series we deem appointment television utilize music in profoundly effective ways. Along with The Sopranos, The Wire, Friday Night Lights and Rescue Me (Starts back up a week from tomorrow on June 13th) use the music as almost an unnamed character and when it’s absent its effect is even more resonant.

I decided to discuss this after I stumbled onto this radio interview with Martin Bruestle, a producer on The Sopranos where he details the selection process for music in the series. They go over the significance of “Comfortably Numb”, their intentions to use “Thru and Thru” to conclude the second season and the meaning behind the Italian folklore song, “Ninna, Ninna”, at the end of the episode before memorial day weekend, “The Second Coming”. All three contain lyrics that pertain specifically to the heart of the characters and speak to their current state. In several ways, unless you are intimately familiar with them, what the music says about Tony’s, AJ’s, Carmela’s or Chrissy’s psyche might go undetected.

The Wire’s usage of music is handled much differently. Generally speaking, the only time you hear any music on this series it is played within the setting. Meaning it is audible to the audience and the characters, coming from a passing car or from someone’s radio. The only exception to this I can recall is the closing montage at the end of every season. The music in this series is used to establish setting rather than to resonate emotion and is a hybrid of classic rock, mowtown, R&B and rap/hip-hop (I’m still not clear what the difference is between these two is, but I can always distinguish them, go figure). But when it is absent, it’s eerily noticeable: Wallace’s death, Bodie’s death, Michael’s killing, Michael’s father’s death, Ziggy’s killing, Omar killing Stringer, etc. In virtually every other crime drama music overheads all pivotal plot points (usually a score, not pop music), this isn’t the case with David Simon, he uses music to create a realistic approximation of the urban environment, when the music is absent, something devastating/chilling is generally about to happen.

Rescue Me uses its music probably more than any of these series’, probably egregiously so. As opposed to The Wire, anytime something relevant happens to Tommy Gavin, you can almost que up the modern alternative rock, and much like The Wire, their method works for their series. The music on this series seems to be meticulously chosen and tends to consist of indie bands. Damn near every episode concludes with a montage encompassing every character before fading to credits where often something life-altering takes place for one of them (Usually Tommy).

Friday Night Lights doesn’t use music as liberally as Rescue Me but it is definitely more random. I guess the best way to paraphrase this is it works in the scenes where they use it and tends to when they do not, but occasionally are wondering where it is when they opt to leave it out. Other than climatic points in the series, they often use some sort of hard rock or rap in footbally scenes and soft rock in the pivotal relationship sequences. The two that come to mind specifically are Daniel Johnston’s, “Devil Town” (used twice actually, once before they play their first game without Jason Street, and secondly at the State Championship parade); and The Killers, “Read My Mind” as the town of Dillon sets up the makeshift football field in “Mud Bowl”.

Since all four series use music in remarkably different ways and all four methods are immensely effective, there isn’t necessarily a right way and a wrong way; just an appropriate way as it pertains to any given series. Music doesn’t make any of these narratives, but it certainly enhances the experience of following them and adds another element to already multi-faceted scenarios and characters.

Back tomorrow with links.