Seventeen NYC fire houses had been closed due to budget constraints, boarded up with no advance notice, including the one where the Rescue Me crew works. And the guys were ticked for a lot of reasons, not least of which because all the food Lou had made — including chocolate cupcakes with the peanut butter frosting — was still inside that building, behind sturdy wooden planks.
As the crew stood outside the fire house still astonished at what had happened, Chief Needles said he held Tommy partially responsible for bringing bad luck to the house, what with Uncle Teddy shooting Tommy in a firefighter-run bar, Tommy refusing to go to a call after he was spooked, and getting busted for assaulting his daughter in a church … never mind Franco and Shawn getting into a fist fight at a call about the Gavins.
Oddly enough, that violent booze baptism Tommy gave Colleen last week — which nearly rendered her unconscious — seemed to have magically transformed all manner of alcohol into Colleen’s personal ipecac; all she needs to do is take a whiff of booze and she vomits.
Meanwhile, the neighborhood folk, who’d expected to be treated to a cook-out where they’d get to dine on Lou’s awesome eats, morphed into a protest group that was now worried about their safety given that there were no fire houses in close proximity to their area. During their protest, a call came in for a fire at a school, but in the wake of the closings no units were readily available. With no gear and no equipment, Tommy and crew — looking like the ragtag group that they are — drove their own vehicles to the scene, and used whatever they could find in the back of Tommy’s pick-up to battle the fire and save the children trapped inside. They successfully got the kids out of the building using a hockey stick, a baseball bat, and other assorted items, just as firefighters from another unit were pulling in.
At this point in the episode, I was wondering why, despite the house closure, everything seemed so very rosy. This was Rescue Me. People are supposed to be angry and fight and be disappointed all the time. And after the last few intensely dark episodes, this one seemed positively hopeful with Colleen off the drink, the guys emerging triumphant from the school, and members of the crew shaking hands and making nice.
Then Tommy and Janet went out on a date.
Per usual they got into a fight, after Tommy, intimidated by the Italian menu, started acting like an idiot in front of the waiter, ticking off Janet who wanted him to be easy-going and charming. And then it got embarrassingly physical in the glassed-in foyer in front of the restaurant after Janet had stormed away from the table and ripped up the Tony Bennett tickets Lou had graciously given them. (Love Lou!)
However, I was unprepared for them to come face-to-face with the heartbreaking what-could-have-been, seeing their dead son Connor’s best friend, all tall and grown — like they imagined Connor would have been — and working at the restaurant. Janet and Tommy gaped at the teen, gawked really, as the intensity of their loss seemed to have suddenly resurfaced right through their skin like a raw, exposed nerve. They drove home in uncharacteristic silence, save for some light sniffles from Janet. They were a broken couple seeking solace in the arms of the only other person who could possibly understand.
But this being Rescue Me, I’m not holding out hope that the push/pull, on/off nature of Janet and Tommy’s tumultuous relationship is going to transform into a healthy marriage. There’s no such thing as healthy, not with the Gavins anyway.
Speaking of messed-up Gavins, the best line of the night came from loony Uncle Teddy, who, after he got done praising Tommy’s booze baptism thing by calling him “AA’s very own Evil Knievel,” told Father Phil, “I only shoot drunk drivers and close family, Father, so unless you decide to get boozed up and behind the wheel, you’re safe.”
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Aug 11, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
