To be fair I hadn’t watched Rescue Me before it hit my desk, so I have no idea how well the first four seasons of the show went. Let’s point out that the show had to have done something right to get to a fifth season so I’m not speaking to the fans of the show, those guys and gals already know what I’m about to tell you the newcomer. Are you listening? Watch Rescue Me, it’s really really good. What? You want more?
The reason you should check out Rescue Me despite it being five seasons in is because the show has this quality that makes you forget that you don’t know who all the players are. It has a quality that makes you shut up and watch as the drama unfolds, and finally it has a quality that makes you take stock in your own life and hopefully feel thankful.
The characters in the show are firefighters for the most part, there are ancillary players but the fire fighters are the heart of the show, and while Denis Leary is the star, it is an ensemble cast that works well together. I’m no fire fighter, I can’t speak to how realistic the show is, but the themes dealt with and discussed on the show are either funny or relatable.
The show has an ability to do two things at once, be funny and be serious at any given time. The acting is so intense that you don’t even notice the change, you’re just laughing one moment then stone faced the next because the show runs the gamete of human emotion. It’s like overhearing a very real conversation. Also the show doesn’t try and do anything too hard, instead it just delivers on every beat, never letting up for a second.
Denis Leary plays a fire fighter with some issues to put it mildly, he’s fighting a losing battle with alcoholism, divorce, and he’s haunted by his past. If you’ve ever watched a show that didn’t really deal with tragedy in a way that felt real, then you need to try out Rescue Me, because the show seems to be about how we really deal with tragedy. Most shows deal with tragedy in thirty minutes or less, and then the next episode is on to some other topic and the characters are just magically okay, well not here. Like real life, sometimes it takes a long time to feel okay and you get that here with Rescue Me.
You might be wondering how a show so heavy could be remotely funny, and that’s where the brilliance lies. The show is quick, and it does have characters who are funnier than others, or seem to be there for comic relief, but those characters are utilized very well. Like I said earlier the show doesn’t try too hard, the lighter moments are natural and come and go easily from scene to scene.
The individual characters are very complex, and I hesitate to use that term because it might scare newer viewers away but hear me out. There are moments where you will feel like you wished you’d seen an earlier episode, but they don’t punish you for that. The plot isn’t set out in a way that you don’t need anything to really be explained, the characters take care of the back story through dialogue, so any confusion you have will be quickly resolved.
If I had any complaints about the show it would be that sometimes the consistency gets to me. The heavy tone doesn’t let up often (even when it’s funny the show is typically dealing with a serious issue) and I wish I had one character that was like other TV characters, a character that was okay, but no. No one on the show is ‘ok’ no one has their sh*t together, which can make the show a hard pill to swallow at times, but that’s life.
The shows saving grace, its break from the heaviness, is the humor. Denis Leary doesn’t rant or pulls lines from his act; he’s just funny like a lot of the cast. The back and forth between the guys in the fire house is the typical source for the comedic stuff, they talk about what you would imagine guys talking about when there aren’t any women around without overdoing it. The humor of the show breathes life into the story, making the show incredibly well rounded.
I can’t stress enough how smoothly the show flows, and how well acted it is. In this generation of Tivo and HULU there is simply no excuse for not giving this show a try, you will not regret it.
