Rescue Me - TV Review

It's rare to find a show that actually gets better with age. Maybe it's because writers and creators put so much energy into their pilot that they don't have anywhere else to go, but show me a program even as early as its second episode and I'll show you a program whose fans think it's not as good as it used to be. Finding a show that actually gets better week after week is an incredible rarity. The Sopranos did it for a few years and The Shield is arguably still doing it, but after that the list is pretty short. Think about how many well-written shows have just fizzled off into oblivion (The West Wing and Six Feet Under are currently mid-fizzle). Well, add another show to the short list of continuous improvement. Rescue Me, back for its second season on FX this summer, feels more confident and smarter, as the writing basically just keeps getting better.

Compare the pilot episode from last year, which showed promise but had some flaws, to the absolutely riveting first hour of season two, debuting June 21st. Maybe it's because creators Leary & Tolan don't have to worry about critical or commercial success but the show feels more comfortable in its own boots in the first three episodes of the new season. Rather than pushing over-the-top plotlines or emotional buttons, Leary & Tolan let their characters breathe and grow. As the season opens with Tommy (Leary) battling his alcoholic demons, in the darkness of his wife leaving town with his kids, the writers strike the perfect balance of believability and theatricality. Six Feet Under managed it brilliantly in its first two seasons, as fantasy sequences and ghosts intermingled perfectly with the Fisher family. It's tough to meld fantasy and reality without coming off as manipulative or unbelievable but the writers on Rescue Me know how to find the perfect balance. In the first few episodes of the new season, Tommy literally sees Jesus as he's trying to fight his alcoholism. It shouldn't work but it does.

And the main reason it does is because you can get away with dream sequences and fantasy only if you ground your characters in reality. The true genius of Rescue Me is in the age-old television rule - your show is only as strong as the weakest character in the ensemble. In the first three episodes of the second season, everyone gets a bit of character development. This show will always belong to Leary (and he deserves the Emmy nomination he's likely to get) but the reason the show continues to improve is that Diane Farr, Steven Pasquale, Mike Lombardi, hell, all of them get fully-drawn characters to play with, not just plot devices for the lead, the standard problem with most television writing. The writers of Rescue Me take little moments between the squad and the other people in Tommy's life and let them grow and fully develop (watch where they take Mike's girlfriend situation for a good example of how unpredictable and yet believable this show can be).

My only concern would be that viewers coming in to the firehouse for the first time this season may not find it as richly developed as the people that are already fans. Ah, the magic of DVD. The excellent writing and acting should keep new fans coming back but if you really want to thoroughly enjoy the show, rent or buy the first season, releases on DVD just a few weeks ago. But consider that just the warmup for where this show feels like it's going this summer and hopefully in seasons to come, consistently towards being one of the best written shows on television.