Rescue Me – Much monkey business

Monkey Business.

Oh … how I love the monkey business. And this episode of Rescue Me was filled to the brim with it.

I was pondering last week’s offering from Meredith, and kept going back to the infighting and turmoil that rules Tommy and Janet’s relationship. You see, I had a bit of a problem with the way things worked out at the close of that episode … both of them becoming sentimental and falling into bed at the end. It was a little too sappy … a bit too convenient. Since when have the situations on Rescue Me ever been about convenience? More on this later….

Back to the monkey business. Best part of the entire show for this reviewer was Chief Needles Nelson’s shellacking of the headquarter’s upper crust curmudgeon during his visit with Feinberg concerning the closing of their house. My jaw was on the floor the entire exchange. Needles wasn’t leaving headquarters without having his say, and damn! … did he ever! He bulldogged Ladder 62’s case as to why their house shouldn’t be closed … and he did it with passion and statement, Feinberg and his tip-toeing be damned. I was practically on my feet cheering the post-Needles rant! The following scene after Nelson and Feinberg leave headquarters? Firetrucks rolling back into a reopened Ladder 62. Dog dig it!

Monkey Business: The guy’s house porn collection is saved and still available! Much to the merriment of all the reunited crew! And it’s stored in an ice chest! Does anyone get the irony of this…?!?

Monkey Business: Franco and Black Shawn “schooling” Damien on the finer points of “bedding” his new girlfriend from a rival house. Classic. Loved the Star Wars references. And then! Damien’s horizontal mambo with his girlfriend lasting all of 12 seconds! Wait! It gets better: Round 2 lasts a mere 16 seconds…!!! *snort*

Monkey Business: Tommy and Sheila calling their “relationship” quits after Tommy’s reuniting with Janet? Typical Tommy needing to prove a point … that point being that what he and Sheila shared wasn’t just a throw-away, horndog relationship. It was necessary for Tommy to prove to Sheila she yearned for him, alcoholic stupor notwithstanding on either of their parts. And then, to have Tommy’s cousin Mickey find them intertwined, just about ready to get jiggy with each other … classic Rescue Me plot twist. As if Nelson’s antics at headquarters didn’t have me in stitches, I was rolling anew at the Tommy/Sheila phone exchange once Mickey stormed out the door having caught the two on the couch:

Sheila: “Who are you calling?”
Tommy: “Dominos Pizza. Who do you think I’m calling? I’m calling him! Who are you calling?”
Sheila: “My vagineey … to tell it to stay away from you!”

Monkey Business: The exploits of Garrity and Selitti as they assist in granting their cancer-stricken friend’s request to be “remembered.” How? By visiting those whose lives have been touched by being saved by the dying friend. Comedy ensues with each and every visit. One rescued man ends up a deadbeat, vilified and incarcerated. Another, a widower, is grief-stricken at the fact that he was saved while his wife was left to die. And so on and so forth. (It may not seem funny here, but go watch the episode and try not to be amused.)

Monkey Business: Back to Tommy and Janet. Having been discovered in the throes of pre-passion with Sheila by Mickey, Tommy runs home to find Janet in the midst of dinner preparations. Nothing seems amiss. Tommy’s monkey business of the hour before seems to have escaped Janet’s notice. No phone call from Mickey letting her know Tommy was caught with his pants down … nothing. That is … until Mickey steps out from around the corner — ready to partake of dinner with the family, much to Tommy’s chagrin.

So much for the sappiness of last week’s Tommy and Janet bedroom closing. It appears things are “going back to normal” … i.e. chaos will reign once more.

Can I love Rescue Me any more than I already do? I don’t think so….

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Aug 18, 2010 @ 14:45 EST5EDT