FX' Rescue Me ~ Carrot, David, Zippo, Jump Season 5 Episodes 18, 19, 20,21

FX' Rescue Me: Carrot, David, Zippo, Jump: Season 5 Episodes 18,19,20,21.

Wow, where did the summer go. It's already September 1st and time for the 5th season finale of Rescue Me. Time got away from me, so i did a marathon Rescue Me viewing session of season 5's last 4 eps. The thing that i found to be a constant with Rescue Me are it's scripts. They're consistently good. The voice that Denis Leary, Evan Reilly and Peter Tolan have given the characters of Rescue Me, has such a natural flow and feel, you have to remind yourself that it's scripted.

They get it. Good music choices. The whole battle of the sexes thing, addiction/recovery, the camaraderie of firefighters, 911 and all the complications that that contains. i am lucky in that i personally did not lose loved ones or property, but i know people who did. i was born and raised in DC. my mom is retired, but she worked at the Pentagon, and was moments away from making her usual Tuesday morning trek to it's shopping concourse and to visit with friends who still worked there when the crashes happened. As a New Yorker and an American, it still hurts. It still makes me angry. 1 week and 3 days before the 8th anniversary of the occurrence it's still hard. Moved forward, never forgetting. Rescue Me gets that.


Leary's Tommy reminds me of virtually every Queens born Manhattan relocated IrishAmerican with whom it's ever been my pleasure to have been acquainted---but Tommy is archetypical, not stereotypical. Like all the Rescue Me characters, his voice, his heart, his hot messness, is authentic.

Speaking of hot messes, i was sorry to see Patti D'Arbanville's Ellie get bumped off in Jump [ep 21], but hey when you drive drunk AND you're not using a hands free cell, that's what's likely to happen.

i've always thought the thing that must be the most difficult for writers to get right, is the voice of the opposite sex. Not the case here. Even when they say or do something that's bat guano crazy, when you see the women on this show, you never scream at the tv 'oh c'mon, no woman thinks that way' or 'no way would a woman ever do that'. i give the characters Sheila, and Kelly as exhibits A & B to prove the point. Am i wrong?

Carrot [ep 18] does an equally effective job of portraying how male minds work, and is funny, funny, funny.

David [ep 19] and Zippo [ep 20] are good examples of how fire isn't the only thing that's combustible about Rescue Me.



Drink, episode 22, the 5th season finale of Rescue Me airs on FX Tuesday September 1, 2009 at 10:00pm. Please Check your local listings.