Normally I tend to write up reviews of every single season of a TV series, but with “Rescue Me” I wanted to try a different tack. “Rescue Me” isn’t such a well known show as say, “Lost” or “Dexter”, and the seasons are relatively short, running only thirteen hour-long episodes compared to the normal twenty-two (even though it seems to me that fewer and fewer shows reach that size any more). Therefore, I thought I might as well give you a more complete view on the series, which might, or might not, be more helpful than my standardized approach.

I will, of course, avoid any kind of spoilers in the review itself, but anything is as always game in the comment section. I’d also appreciate it immensely if you took the time to leave some feedback on the “show review” compared to the “season review”.

I bought the first season of “Rescue Me” on a mere whim. There I was, having my regular lookie-loo ’round the local DVD shop, trying as always to see if they’d gotten anything a little rare in since the last time I stopped by, or saving that, something not featuring Vin Diesel as a crime fighting nanny. I ended up with picking out some obscure Tony Scott movie, “True Romance”, that Quentin Tarantino had written the script for (’twas quite good actually, which is something that can’t be said of every Tony Scott directed movie…), but that seemed a little thin, so I threw in “Rescue Me” to both tide me and the little shop over till next time I get the chance to pay it a visit. It doesn’t cater to the world’s biggest population and it’s nice to have shop around that carries Babylon 5 and Deadwood boxes, even if they overprice ‘em grotesquely. And, you know, the irony of the show’s title in that respect was also fun.

Now, I hadn’t heard much about this show, and the little that I had heard turned out be quite untrue. I was under the impression that this FOX show was some kind of tribute to American Firefighters, tooting their courage at 9/11 and so forth. In other words: Not something I’d normally enjoy, so I guess there was a reason it gathered dust for a couple of months before I finally watched an episode and came to two enjoyable realizations:

  1. Heh, this show is so not what I expected
  2. And, it’s damned good.

‘Cause while this is a show that centres around a group of male firefighters in New York and a lot the characters were there when the two towers came crashing down, it’s not about any of that. It’s about the people, their world and their relationships, and it makes you care about ‘em, too.

The main character, “Tommy Gavin”, is played by co-creator and co-writer, Denis Leary, who I have to admit that I’ve grown very fond of after watching this show. I think he’s a very talented first and foremost as an actor, but the writing and development of the show isn’t exactly poor, so I guess he’s good at that as well. You can safely say that Leary’s got his bases covered, which is a fact that his character, “Tommy Gavin”, can’t claim with any form for veracity. Why?

Well, basically it’s because he’s a first-class asshole with a heavy drinking problem, a very strained and dysfunctional relationship with his wife and mother of his three kids, and oh, let us not forget that he talks to dead people. Some of them, like his cousin Jimmy, appear quite frequently to act as manifestations of Gavin’s psyche and his constant inner turmoil, and sometimes the people he couldn’t save comes back to haunt him. This aspect of the show is - like most things this show does - handled very well at times, but it has a sad tendency of never finding the quite right balance. There were instances, especially in season 2, were the manifestations became too funky even for a genre freak like me, and then in season 3 I it went the other way with not enough of ‘em at all. Season 4 was good though in this regard though, so hopefully it has sorted out its issues with Tommy’s ghosts.

As for the other characters of this show, they’re a very mixed bag. The best ones are in my opinion those who manage to escape the A4 and become interesting unto themselves. Unfortunately though, at least two of the five firefighters at Tommy’s house were too stupid and retarded for me to enjoy them whenever they weren’t being abused by the others because of their unending idiocy. The other three weren’t much better to begin with, but thankfully their development went in directions that didn’t just make me want to groan. My favourite character, besides Tommy of course, was his brother, even though he didn’t get all that much on-screen time. I hated the bastard in season 3 though, but I won’t divulge they why of that…

The plot lines and methods used to tell them remain pretty much the same throughout all four seasons. The biggest ones are Tommy’s problems with his wife, his drinking problem and how that affects his life, and of course the life at the fire-house. The show probably falls into the same category as “Weeds”, with it featuring a lot of drama as well as dark comedy, but aside from that it isn’t a very good comparison. Imagine rather that humour falls into something a little bit like “Entourage” (albeit a lot darker and cynical at times) and that the drama resembles “Six Feet Under”; Yes, there are fires, but unlike C.S.I or “Life”, that’s not what the show’s about. Tommy Gavin is a less brilliant and firefightin’ family man version of “Gregory House”. Mind you, these are probably pretty poor comparisons, but they were the best I could come up with. I haven’t really seen anything quite like “Rescue Me”.

One of the biggest issues I have to nitpick is that I’d like it better if the show expanded its universe more. A result of this is that the show often ends up being very predictable, but thankfully it doesn’t matter too much since it’s not a whodunit-show that depends on such ploys. However, it could have taken a lesson or two from “Mad Men” in camouflaging its intents, ’cause it’s no fun when you know what’s going on while the show’s sniggering to itself while it thinks it has you fooled. I’d also like it if the show featured some stronger female characters that weren’t A. wife/girlfriend or B. a relation of Tommy’s. One of the show’s biggest strengths is the smack talk that the guys exchange at the fire-house, but a woman would be nice change of pace sometimes. I’d also (can’t believe I’m complaining about this) like to see more intense fire-scenes that actually impacted the lives of the characters more than they have done so far. I think it could be much cleverer in this respect

I’d not rate “Rescue Me” as one of my favourite shows of all time, but all in all I found it to be very enjoyable and certainly highly recommendable to anyone who’s looking for something that’s both fun and dark, light and at the same time quite meaty in its choice of themes. It does a lot of things pretty good, but sadly the groan-worthy moments appear more frequently than the yay-worthy ones, so if you haven’t watched “Dexter”, “Weeds” or “Studio 60″ yet, you’re probably better of choosing one of those. But if you have watched those shows…

Well, then “Rescue Me” might be just what you’re looking for. It certainly was for me.

8.0/10 (weak)