'Rescue Me': This is the end . . . for now

Another season finale, another death in the Gavin family.

At least that's what I'm guessing happened. For all we know Tommy's dad just fell asleep at the minor league baseball game. Enduring the show's fourth season could do that to anybody.

It's disappointing to think of losing Charles Durning as a recurring part of the "Rescue Me" world. He was always good for an amusing line or two (especially when the writers extracted him from the painful Korean wife story line). In a brief moment of nostalgia at the game he even made Tommy smile — what a jarring but welcome moment that was for the perpetual cynic.

But given the state of the show, it doesn't matter much. After the abuse "Rescue Me" has inflicted on the fans all season long, it would be difficult for a single hour to make much difference.

I went over all of that last week, and with the finale behind us, it's time to move on. All we can do now is see how Denis Leary and Peter Tolan react to the widespread frustration with this season.

They're in a tough situation. Serial drama is easy enough to criticize but remarkably difficult to execute well. These guys have done it in the past, but can they do it again?

And an even more important question, will you be there to watch it?

-- Geoff Berkshire

(Photo courtesy FX)

So here we are. The second-to-last episode in the fourth season of "Rescue Me" has aired. And I'm speechless. Slightly confused. Maybe even a little bit depressed.

What went so wrong? How did this scrappy, frequently underappreciated little show turn into such a rambling mess? The storylines this season were alternately dull (Janet's depression; Tommy hates his daughter's boyfriend), ridiculous (the nympho nun), tiresome (every woman Tommy meets wants to sleep with him; Sheila's still crazy), extraneous (Uncle Teddy) and insulting (Tommy "seriously" considers killing the new baby). And all of them were drastically undercooked. I'm still waiting for the show to do something interesting with the new probie, "Black Sean" (Larenz Tate), and there's only one episode left.

Just last season, "Rescue Me" was riding high with smart arcs for great guest stars (Marisa Tomei and Susan Sarandon), a credible bout of sibling rivalry (Tommy and his dearly departed brother, Johnny), fresh and funny romantic developments (Franco fell in love, and Sean wooed Maggie) and provocative storylines (the infamous "rape").

This season we've endured countless scenes of the guys playing hockey. Just to mix it up, they played basketball.

Last season on "Rescue Me," a rough sex scene between Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) and his estranged wife, Janet (Andrea Roth), left some viewers outraged and spurred a controversy over whether the act constituted rape or not.

This week's episode seems to be aiming for a similar response by ending on an absurd, outrageous cliffhanger: Tommy holding a baby out over a river below, pondering whether to drop the child in. That baby, by the way, is either his or his brother's son with Janet (most likely his brother's, but no one knows for sure). But it isn't the paternity that placed him in that situation.

The convoluted soap opera dramatics that led Tommy to that place would baffle anyone who's not a regular viewer, but they are already understood by those who are. So let's deal with the creative decision to end the episode that way.

I think it's a load of crap.

Is it just me or is nothing happening on "Rescue Me" lately?

Sure, Janet is severely depressed (but not because Sheila wants her baby, Janet doesn't know that yet), Sean accidentally set fire to Mike's house, Lou's nymphomaniac girlfriend can't go without sex for a minute (even if it means sleeping with Artie Lange...ick) and Franco finally proposed to his girlfriend.

And yet everyone, and everything, feels stuck in some kind of holding pattern.

The two deaths in the last original episode of "Rescue Me" didn't hang very heavy over this week's events. The pre-credits sequence featured the funeral for Siletti's mother and the discovery of Chief Reilly's suicide played out over a Randy Newman song ("Dayton Ohio, 1903"), plus a Tommy Gavin monologue on the chief's youthful heroics.

Then it was right back to the regular business of comedy, sex and firefighting.  That would be OK if the episode hadn't felt like filler, making it all the more disappointing after the tragic events of the last hour.

Characters have died on "Rescue Me" before, but the show had never killed off one of its original cast members. Until now.

Jack McGee has played Chief Jerry Reilly since "Rescue Me" premiered in 2004. A former firefighter off screen, McGee brought real-world credibility to his portrayal of a job veteran. He was the father figure, the sensible voice on a team of very human buffoons and screw-ups.

But on this week's episode Reilly killed himself with a gunshot to the head.

It’s been almost 15 years (!) since the legendary “Seinfeld” episode “The Contest” introduced the phrase “master of your domain” to the pop culture lexicon. So it’s about time for another TV take on masturbation. This week, “Rescue Me” served up something equally memorable, if significantly raunchier: the “spank bank.”

As introduced by porn-lovin’ Maggie Gavin (Tatum O’Neal), it’s a mental filing cabinet of people and images stored for later…use. Of course, “Rescue Me” didn’t invent the spank bank (there’s also a reference to it in “The 40-Year Old Virgin”), but this week’s episode was probably the most extensive discussion of the concept yet in entertainment.

Something was lost in all the hubbub over “Rescue Me’s” third season—the one that included Tommy Gavin’s “rape” of his estranged wife Janet, Tommy’s own “date rape” courtesy of wildly unstable sometimes girlfriend Sheila, an extreme case of sibling rivalry that led to Tommy beating his brother to a pulp and a further exploration of one of the series’ favorite topics, homosexuality, via the young “probie” officer uncomfortably flirting with bisexuality.

Lost among all the button-pushing and FX-network-appropriate edginess was just how beautifully the show’s ensemble cast had gelled, how the writing had grown tighter and sharper and how proficient everyone involved had become with the complex mix of comedy and drama. The potential had always been there, but last season “Rescue Me” finally emerged as “Sex and the City” with a Y-chromosome and the occasional elaborate pyrotechnic sequence. (In case you’re wondering, that’s a good thing.)

'Rescue Me': S.O.S.

So here we are. The second-to-last episode in the fourth season of "Rescue Me" has aired. And I'm speechless. Slightly confused. Maybe even a little bit depressed.

What went so wrong? How did this scrappy, frequently underappreciated little show turn into such a rambling mess? The storylines this season were alternately dull (Janet's depression; Tommy hates his daughter's boyfriend), ridiculous (the nympho nun), tiresome (every woman Tommy meets wants to sleep with him; Sheila's still crazy), extraneous (Uncle Teddy) and insulting (Tommy "seriously" considers killing the new baby). And all of them were drastically undercooked. I'm still waiting for the show to do something interesting with the new probie, "Black Sean" (Larenz Tate), and there's only one episode left.

Just last season, "Rescue Me" was riding high with smart arcs for great guest stars (Marisa Tomei and Susan Sarandon), a credible bout of sibling rivalry (Tommy and his dearly departed brother, Johnny), fresh and funny romantic developments (Franco fell in love, and Sean wooed Maggie) and provocative storylines (the infamous "rape").

This season we've endured countless scenes of the guys playing hockey. Just to mix it up, they played basketball.

Last season on "Rescue Me," a rough sex scene between Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) and his estranged wife, Janet (Andrea Roth), left some viewers outraged and spurred a controversy over whether the act constituted rape or not.

This week's episode seems to be aiming for a similar response by ending on an absurd, outrageous cliffhanger: Tommy holding a baby out over a river below, pondering whether to drop the child in. That baby, by the way, is either his or his brother's son with Janet (most likely his brother's, but no one knows for sure). But it isn't the paternity that placed him in that situation.

The convoluted soap opera dramatics that led Tommy to that place would baffle anyone who's not a regular viewer, but they are already understood by those who are. So let's deal with the creative decision to end the episode that way.

I think it's a load of crap.

Is it just me or is nothing happening on "Rescue Me" lately?

Sure, Janet is severely depressed (but not because Sheila wants her baby, Janet doesn't know that yet), Sean accidentally set fire to Mike's house, Lou's nymphomaniac girlfriend can't go without sex for a minute (even if it means sleeping with Artie Lange...ick) and Franco finally proposed to his girlfriend.

And yet everyone, and everything, feels stuck in some kind of holding pattern.

The two deaths in the last original episode of "Rescue Me" didn't hang very heavy over this week's events. The pre-credits sequence featured the funeral for Siletti's mother and the discovery of Chief Reilly's suicide played out over a Randy Newman song ("Dayton Ohio, 1903"), plus a Tommy Gavin monologue on the chief's youthful heroics.

Then it was right back to the regular business of comedy, sex and firefighting.  That would be OK if the episode hadn't felt like filler, making it all the more disappointing after the tragic events of the last hour.

Characters have died on "Rescue Me" before, but the show had never killed off one of its original cast members. Until now.

Jack McGee has played Chief Jerry Reilly since "Rescue Me" premiered in 2004. A former firefighter off screen, McGee brought real-world credibility to his portrayal of a job veteran. He was the father figure, the sensible voice on a team of very human buffoons and screw-ups.

But on this week's episode Reilly killed himself with a gunshot to the head.

It’s been almost 15 years (!) since the legendary “Seinfeld” episode “The Contest” introduced the phrase “master of your domain” to the pop culture lexicon. So it’s about time for another TV take on masturbation. This week, “Rescue Me” served up something equally memorable, if significantly raunchier: the “spank bank.”

As introduced by porn-lovin’ Maggie Gavin (Tatum O’Neal), it’s a mental filing cabinet of people and images stored for later…use. Of course, “Rescue Me” didn’t invent the spank bank (there’s also a reference to it in “The 40-Year Old Virgin”), but this week’s episode was probably the most extensive discussion of the concept yet in entertainment.

Something was lost in all the hubbub over “Rescue Me’s” third season—the one that included Tommy Gavin’s “rape” of his estranged wife Janet, Tommy’s own “date rape” courtesy of wildly unstable sometimes girlfriend Sheila, an extreme case of sibling rivalry that led to Tommy beating his brother to a pulp and a further exploration of one of the series’ favorite topics, homosexuality, via the young “probie” officer uncomfortably flirting with bisexuality.

Lost among all the button-pushing and FX-network-appropriate edginess was just how beautifully the show’s ensemble cast had gelled, how the writing had grown tighter and sharper and how proficient everyone involved had become with the complex mix of comedy and drama. The potential had always been there, but last season “Rescue Me” finally emerged as “Sex and the City” with a Y-chromosome and the occasional elaborate pyrotechnic sequence. (In case you’re wondering, that’s a good thing.)

'Rescue Me': Whom are you trying to fool?

Last season on "Rescue Me," a rough sex scene between Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) and his estranged wife, Janet (Andrea Roth), left some viewers outraged and spurred a controversy over whether the act constituted rape or not.

This week's episode seems to be aiming for a similar response by ending on an absurd, outrageous cliffhanger: Tommy holding a baby out over a river below, pondering whether to drop the child in. That baby, by the way, is either his or his brother's son with Janet (most likely his brother's, but no one knows for sure). But it isn't the paternity that placed him in that situation.

The convoluted soap opera dramatics that led Tommy to that place would baffle anyone who's not a regular viewer, but they are already understood by those who are. So let's deal with the creative decision to end the episode that way.

I think it's a load of crap.

Is it just me or is nothing happening on "Rescue Me" lately?

Sure, Janet is severely depressed (but not because Sheila wants her baby, Janet doesn't know that yet), Sean accidentally set fire to Mike's house, Lou's nymphomaniac girlfriend can't go without sex for a minute (even if it means sleeping with Artie Lange...ick) and Franco finally proposed to his girlfriend.

And yet everyone, and everything, feels stuck in some kind of holding pattern.

The two deaths in the last original episode of "Rescue Me" didn't hang very heavy over this week's events. The pre-credits sequence featured the funeral for Siletti's mother and the discovery of Chief Reilly's suicide played out over a Randy Newman song ("Dayton Ohio, 1903"), plus a Tommy Gavin monologue on the chief's youthful heroics.

Then it was right back to the regular business of comedy, sex and firefighting.  That would be OK if the episode hadn't felt like filler, making it all the more disappointing after the tragic events of the last hour.

Characters have died on "Rescue Me" before, but the show had never killed off one of its original cast members. Until now.

Jack McGee has played Chief Jerry Reilly since "Rescue Me" premiered in 2004. A former firefighter off screen, McGee brought real-world credibility to his portrayal of a job veteran. He was the father figure, the sensible voice on a team of very human buffoons and screw-ups.

But on this week's episode Reilly killed himself with a gunshot to the head.

It’s been almost 15 years (!) since the legendary “Seinfeld” episode “The Contest” introduced the phrase “master of your domain” to the pop culture lexicon. So it’s about time for another TV take on masturbation. This week, “Rescue Me” served up something equally memorable, if significantly raunchier: the “spank bank.”

As introduced by porn-lovin’ Maggie Gavin (Tatum O’Neal), it’s a mental filing cabinet of people and images stored for later…use. Of course, “Rescue Me” didn’t invent the spank bank (there’s also a reference to it in “The 40-Year Old Virgin”), but this week’s episode was probably the most extensive discussion of the concept yet in entertainment.

Something was lost in all the hubbub over “Rescue Me’s” third season—the one that included Tommy Gavin’s “rape” of his estranged wife Janet, Tommy’s own “date rape” courtesy of wildly unstable sometimes girlfriend Sheila, an extreme case of sibling rivalry that led to Tommy beating his brother to a pulp and a further exploration of one of the series’ favorite topics, homosexuality, via the young “probie” officer uncomfortably flirting with bisexuality.

Lost among all the button-pushing and FX-network-appropriate edginess was just how beautifully the show’s ensemble cast had gelled, how the writing had grown tighter and sharper and how proficient everyone involved had become with the complex mix of comedy and drama. The potential had always been there, but last season “Rescue Me” finally emerged as “Sex and the City” with a Y-chromosome and the occasional elaborate pyrotechnic sequence. (In case you’re wondering, that’s a good thing.)

'Rescue Me': Stuck in a rut

Is it just me or is nothing happening on "Rescue Me" lately?

Sure, Janet is severely depressed (but not because Sheila wants her baby, Janet doesn't know that yet), Sean accidentally set fire to Mike's house, Lou's nymphomaniac girlfriend can't go without sex for a minute (even if it means sleeping with Artie Lange...ick) and Franco finally proposed to his girlfriend.

And yet everyone, and everything, feels stuck in some kind of holding pattern.

The two deaths in the last original episode of "Rescue Me" didn't hang very heavy over this week's events. The pre-credits sequence featured the funeral for Siletti's mother and the discovery of Chief Reilly's suicide played out over a Randy Newman song ("Dayton Ohio, 1903"), plus a Tommy Gavin monologue on the chief's youthful heroics.

Then it was right back to the regular business of comedy, sex and firefighting.  That would be OK if the episode hadn't felt like filler, making it all the more disappointing after the tragic events of the last hour.

Characters have died on "Rescue Me" before, but the show had never killed off one of its original cast members. Until now.

Jack McGee has played Chief Jerry Reilly since "Rescue Me" premiered in 2004. A former firefighter off screen, McGee brought real-world credibility to his portrayal of a job veteran. He was the father figure, the sensible voice on a team of very human buffoons and screw-ups.

But on this week's episode Reilly killed himself with a gunshot to the head.

It’s been almost 15 years (!) since the legendary “Seinfeld” episode “The Contest” introduced the phrase “master of your domain” to the pop culture lexicon. So it’s about time for another TV take on masturbation. This week, “Rescue Me” served up something equally memorable, if significantly raunchier: the “spank bank.”

As introduced by porn-lovin’ Maggie Gavin (Tatum O’Neal), it’s a mental filing cabinet of people and images stored for later…use. Of course, “Rescue Me” didn’t invent the spank bank (there’s also a reference to it in “The 40-Year Old Virgin”), but this week’s episode was probably the most extensive discussion of the concept yet in entertainment.

Something was lost in all the hubbub over “Rescue Me’s” third season—the one that included Tommy Gavin’s “rape” of his estranged wife Janet, Tommy’s own “date rape” courtesy of wildly unstable sometimes girlfriend Sheila, an extreme case of sibling rivalry that led to Tommy beating his brother to a pulp and a further exploration of one of the series’ favorite topics, homosexuality, via the young “probie” officer uncomfortably flirting with bisexuality.

Lost among all the button-pushing and FX-network-appropriate edginess was just how beautifully the show’s ensemble cast had gelled, how the writing had grown tighter and sharper and how proficient everyone involved had become with the complex mix of comedy and drama. The potential had always been there, but last season “Rescue Me” finally emerged as “Sex and the City” with a Y-chromosome and the occasional elaborate pyrotechnic sequence. (In case you’re wondering, that’s a good thing.)

'Rescue Me': Hey, didn't somebody die last time?

The two deaths in the last original episode of "Rescue Me" didn't hang very heavy over this week's events. The pre-credits sequence featured the funeral for Siletti's mother and the discovery of Chief Reilly's suicide played out over a Randy Newman song ("Dayton Ohio, 1903"), plus a Tommy Gavin monologue on the chief's youthful heroics.

Then it was right back to the regular business of comedy, sex and firefighting.  That would be OK if the episode hadn't felt like filler, making it all the more disappointing after the tragic events of the last hour.

Characters have died on "Rescue Me" before, but the show had never killed off one of its original cast members. Until now.

Jack McGee has played Chief Jerry Reilly since "Rescue Me" premiered in 2004. A former firefighter off screen, McGee brought real-world credibility to his portrayal of a job veteran. He was the father figure, the sensible voice on a team of very human buffoons and screw-ups.

But on this week's episode Reilly killed himself with a gunshot to the head.

It’s been almost 15 years (!) since the legendary “Seinfeld” episode “The Contest” introduced the phrase “master of your domain” to the pop culture lexicon. So it’s about time for another TV take on masturbation. This week, “Rescue Me” served up something equally memorable, if significantly raunchier: the “spank bank.”

As introduced by porn-lovin’ Maggie Gavin (Tatum O’Neal), it’s a mental filing cabinet of people and images stored for later…use. Of course, “Rescue Me” didn’t invent the spank bank (there’s also a reference to it in “The 40-Year Old Virgin”), but this week’s episode was probably the most extensive discussion of the concept yet in entertainment.

Something was lost in all the hubbub over “Rescue Me’s” third season—the one that included Tommy Gavin’s “rape” of his estranged wife Janet, Tommy’s own “date rape” courtesy of wildly unstable sometimes girlfriend Sheila, an extreme case of sibling rivalry that led to Tommy beating his brother to a pulp and a further exploration of one of the series’ favorite topics, homosexuality, via the young “probie” officer uncomfortably flirting with bisexuality.

Lost among all the button-pushing and FX-network-appropriate edginess was just how beautifully the show’s ensemble cast had gelled, how the writing had grown tighter and sharper and how proficient everyone involved had become with the complex mix of comedy and drama. The potential had always been there, but last season “Rescue Me” finally emerged as “Sex and the City” with a Y-chromosome and the occasional elaborate pyrotechnic sequence. (In case you’re wondering, that’s a good thing.)

'Rescue Me': Hail to the chief

Characters have died on "Rescue Me" before, but the show had never killed off one of its original cast members. Until now.

Jack McGee has played Chief Jerry Reilly since "Rescue Me" premiered in 2004. A former firefighter off screen, McGee brought real-world credibility to his portrayal of a job veteran. He was the father figure, the sensible voice on a team of very human buffoons and screw-ups.

But on this week's episode Reilly killed himself with a gunshot to the head.

It’s been almost 15 years (!) since the legendary “Seinfeld” episode “The Contest” introduced the phrase “master of your domain” to the pop culture lexicon. So it’s about time for another TV take on masturbation. This week, “Rescue Me” served up something equally memorable, if significantly raunchier: the “spank bank.”

As introduced by porn-lovin’ Maggie Gavin (Tatum O’Neal), it’s a mental filing cabinet of people and images stored for later…use. Of course, “Rescue Me” didn’t invent the spank bank (there’s also a reference to it in “The 40-Year Old Virgin”), but this week’s episode was probably the most extensive discussion of the concept yet in entertainment.

Something was lost in all the hubbub over “Rescue Me’s” third season—the one that included Tommy Gavin’s “rape” of his estranged wife Janet, Tommy’s own “date rape” courtesy of wildly unstable sometimes girlfriend Sheila, an extreme case of sibling rivalry that led to Tommy beating his brother to a pulp and a further exploration of one of the series’ favorite topics, homosexuality, via the young “probie” officer uncomfortably flirting with bisexuality.

Lost among all the button-pushing and FX-network-appropriate edginess was just how beautifully the show’s ensemble cast had gelled, how the writing had grown tighter and sharper and how proficient everyone involved had become with the complex mix of comedy and drama. The potential had always been there, but last season “Rescue Me” finally emerged as “Sex and the City” with a Y-chromosome and the occasional elaborate pyrotechnic sequence. (In case you’re wondering, that’s a good thing.)

'Rescue Me': Does it have free checking?

It’s been almost 15 years (!) since the legendary “Seinfeld” episode “The Contest” introduced the phrase “master of your domain” to the pop culture lexicon. So it’s about time for another TV take on masturbation. This week, “Rescue Me” served up something equally memorable, if significantly raunchier: the “spank bank.”

As introduced by porn-lovin’ Maggie Gavin (Tatum O’Neal), it’s a mental filing cabinet of people and images stored for later…use. Of course, “Rescue Me” didn’t invent the spank bank (there’s also a reference to it in “The 40-Year Old Virgin”), but this week’s episode was probably the most extensive discussion of the concept yet in entertainment.

Something was lost in all the hubbub over “Rescue Me’s” third season—the one that included Tommy Gavin’s “rape” of his estranged wife Janet, Tommy’s own “date rape” courtesy of wildly unstable sometimes girlfriend Sheila, an extreme case of sibling rivalry that led to Tommy beating his brother to a pulp and a further exploration of one of the series’ favorite topics, homosexuality, via the young “probie” officer uncomfortably flirting with bisexuality.

Lost among all the button-pushing and FX-network-appropriate edginess was just how beautifully the show’s ensemble cast had gelled, how the writing had grown tighter and sharper and how proficient everyone involved had become with the complex mix of comedy and drama. The potential had always been there, but last season “Rescue Me” finally emerged as “Sex and the City” with a Y-chromosome and the occasional elaborate pyrotechnic sequence. (In case you’re wondering, that’s a good thing.)

'Rescue Me': Complexity and the city

Something was lost in all the hubbub over “Rescue Me’s” third season—the one that included Tommy Gavin’s “rape” of his estranged wife Janet, Tommy’s own “date rape” courtesy of wildly unstable sometimes girlfriend Sheila, an extreme case of sibling rivalry that led to Tommy beating his brother to a pulp and a further exploration of one of the series’ favorite topics, homosexuality, via the young “probie” officer uncomfortably flirting with bisexuality.

Lost among all the button-pushing and FX-network-appropriate edginess was just how beautifully the show’s ensemble cast had gelled, how the writing had grown tighter and sharper and how proficient everyone involved had become with the complex mix of comedy and drama. The potential had always been there, but last season “Rescue Me” finally emerged as “Sex and the City” with a Y-chromosome and the occasional elaborate pyrotechnic sequence. (In case you’re wondering, that’s a good thing.)