One think you’ve got to love about FX — if you’re in the business of reviewing shows — is that they do it right when they send out their previews. None of that one-episode and some interviews crap. In the case of 30 Days and short run shows like that, they just go ahead and send you the whole thing. And for their staple series like the late The Shield and Rescue Me, they give you just shy of ten full episodes to look at. With Rescue Me’s fifth season, premiering tonight at 10pm/9pm Central, set to run 22 consecutive episodes, this is still almost half of that.
Now, if anyone out there is still thinking that Rescue Me has been in a bit of a creative slump, it looks like the extended hiatus was good for the writers. The show is as sharp as it’s ever been. Throughout these nine episodes there were no weak spots. Not to mention that the first few episodes kicked things off with a couple of bright guest spots as well, particularly Karina Lombard (The L Word, The 4400) and Michael J. Fox.
One of the best things about the show is the humor that runs rampant throughout it, primarily as a result of the idiocy of Mike and Sean, though Franco often gives them a run for their money. It may not be much of a statement on the intellectual capacity of some FDNY firefighters, but it works so well in the context of the darker drama here.
Some of those darker elements came back to the forefront here, particularly Tommy’s demons of alcohol, anger, violence and ghosts. And the specter of 9/11 hangs over the show more than it has perhaps since the first season, brought back by Karina Lombard’s character, a writer who’s working on a book on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Franco’s conspiracy theories about that day wind up a bit more public than the chief would prefer and the boys find that the memories of that day are a bit more raw than they may have remembered. The whole thing leads to more than a few altercations, some of them verbal and some of them pretty large and violent.
The boys set up a bar with Mike’s inheritance, creating some lighter moments. On the opposite side of that we have Sean, who gets a very sobering diagnosis, and Sheila. Well actually Sheila straddles the line of light and dark pretty consistently. You’ll be pleased to know that bitch is just as crazy as ever.
As for Tommy, his father’s death seems to have been the catalyst that pushes him down a destructive path. He struggles with his anger, his alcoholism and surprisingly, not so much his job (yes the Section Eight is addressed pretty quickly). He’s always had violent passion in the bedroom, but this season he takes the cake. When they drop in to visit their daughter at her private school, let’s just say they’re bouncing off the walls with excitement.
Rescue Me succeeds, as any long-running show does, on its characters and their interactions. They fight and scream at one another, but they’re brothers in the end. And with the extended season, we have a lot more time to get to know them. The plots are stretched a little more so the characters can breathe, both in Tommy’s personal life and at the firehouse.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Apr 07, 2009 @ 17:00 EST5EDT
One THING you’ve got to love…:)
Rupe’s champin’ at the bit …..