David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. "Rescue Me:" What a rush to judgment
Life may be miserable for just about everyone in “Rescue Me,” but that doesn’t mean they still can’t shoehorn in one of those bizarrely improbable sex scenes for Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary), and tonight, it’s Gina Gershon who does the honors. Last week, she stuck her phone number in his pocket in front of his date; this week, he phones her up, is told, “Get over here right now,” obeys, is immediately groped, is asked, “You don’t think I’m being too forward, do you?” and we’re off to the races. Oddly enough, it doesn’t end all that satisfyingly for Tommy.
Boy, this episode is all over the place. One minute, they’re staging an intervention for Teddy (Lenny Clarke) and Maggie (Tatum O’Neal) – when told they want to discuss her “problem,” Maggine replies “Which one?”; Teddy demands of Tommy, “Does being sober make your life any easier?”; when Tommy responds, “Not really, but …” Teddy offers a defiant, “There you go!” – and discuss having Gavin family AA meetings, but that’s the end of that. (One imagines those meetings will appear in future episodes, but including one here could’ve tied this episode together a little, and no doubt would’ve no doubt been mordantly funny, as well.) Then, there’s another NYPD/FDNY hockey scrum, with Tommy suited up to play for the cops in honor of his late brother – there could’ve been a lot of potential in that, as well, but they dispatch that in just a few minutes.
And Janet (Andrea Roth) and Sheila (Callie Thorne) have a little skirmish over custody over Janet’s baby, and there’s a quick fire scene offering Tommy some heroic derring-do, and Leary gets to deliver another one of those Emmy-clip soliloquies about 9/11, life, death, love, etc., etc. There’s about three episodes worth of incident crammed in here, but like that sex scene with Gershon that opens the episode, it’s all rushed and doesn’t provide much of a payoff.
Oh, and remember how executive producer Peter Tolan promised that Jerry’s suicide would result in the other characters ruminating over his loss? Not so much – still.
- “Rescue Me:” 10 tonight; FX.