909 Watches TV: Peaky Blinders

[909]

Cool, I want to hear your thoughts but didn't want to spoil anything in case you hadn't finished.

The bigotry coming off the prosecutors was something. You could feel it. Also, I noticed that Mike Nifong was in the prosecutors room prior to when he got disbarred later on over Duke. But other than that I have no opinions yet because I learned a long time ago when it comes to this kind of shit to not judge anything before knowing all the facts.

 

[909]

I'm not done with the show but I should note that I do believe the Owl Theory.

 

[909]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1377320071555657729

What are the odds they would start this while I'm watching it

 

[909]

So, I finished up. I don't believe the Owl Theory, but I don't know exactly what to believe. Here's my theory I guess. I also did some of my own research before posting this.

I don't think he killed her. The physical evidence just doesn't match up. The judge also seems to think he didn't based on the interview at the end, and Peterson probably should have taken his chances at retrial because he wouldn't have gotten convicted. If he killed her, why would the prosecution have to make so much shit up? I don't care enough to list all of their lies, but there were a lot of them. The prosecution had to create a whole obviously bullshit story just to get things into the court room. It's also obviously bullshit in that the people presenting evidence are actually proven to be liars. The people who were full of shit had no counter answer when their claims were challenged, and the prosecution would have had nothing to present the second time.

The problem is, Peterson has his own set of lies and he's obviously not telling the truth either. We know he's a liar because he got caught lying about his service in Vietnam. At the end of the series he goes back on his statement about Kathleen knowing he had sex with men, and said that he thought she would have been okay with it. I don't think she would have. I think he might have found her there and left her there hoping his son would come home to tell him what to do. He also has motive to have done it. Those things like their financial situation, or him fucking dudes, those aren't little things.

But, I keep coming back to the prosecution's claim of blunt force trauma causing blood loss leading to her death. Blunt force trauma causes damage to the brain or skull fractures. She didn't have them. The 911 call is definitely staged though and makes me feel like he saw her, walked back outside, and left her there until he called.

 

[909]

GUTS

Not sure how much I'm gonna write about this show, not because it's bad but I'm not sure there's any demand for me to write about it. Anyway, as I'm sure everyone knows, Rescue Me is a story about the FDNY post-9/11, and specifically about Denis Leary's character Tommy Gavin. Tommy is plagued by survivor's guilt and PTSD among other things, and he sees visions of his cousin who died on 9/11 as well as those he's failed to save in the line of duty. He also lives across the street from his soon to be ex-wife. It's a good premise for a show. I liked the first episode quite a bit, and the scene with the therapist is particularly of note. But, like I said. Not sure there's much demand to read this.

GAY

You know how in The Office thread we were talking about an episode that wouldn't get made now? Well, this one really wouldn't. A firefighter from another house says that there's a secret society of gay firefighters, and that some of the guys on 9/11 were among them. This leads to what can best be described as a gay bashing incident on the part of the chief of the firehouse featured in the show. Then, at the same time, the new probationary recruit might be gay himself. I say that because he seems to not be rejecting this dude hanging around the place. But, again, like I said, this episode would never be made today. Nor should it be. There were funny things in the episode unrelated to that though.

KANSAS

So, the chief is accordingly going to be in trouble for what he's done, and nobody at the gay bar is going to help him out because of what he did to that guy. Good. I honestly can't tell if the show is trying to make you feel bad for this character. Anyway, Tommy accidentally ruins his ex-wife's new relationship which is funny, but she wants to move to Kansas which is not so funny. I'm sure she's not going anywhere anyway. It does however seem like the show is headed towards awkward moments with Tommy and his cousin's widow. His relationship with alcohol is also not so good. And again, I don't know if the new guy is gay or not. The scenes with the guy and his wife about poetry didn't sit that right with me either. On the other hand, the scenes with Tommy and his daughter, or Tommy and his nephew, or the hockey game, all that stuff made this a good episode.

So, while I enjoyed the time I spent watching this, I'm not sure if there's demand enough to spend time writing about it. I still might anyway because it doesn't take that long.

 

[Hawk 34]

Man this show was such a thrill ride of a show. The first couple seasons are intense and very peak tv level and then it hits some truly remarkable peaks and valleys that I can’t entirely say I’ve seen other shows equal it. Then it gets so dumb it needs your reviews for it.

also the gay bashing thing you mentioned? That was a fraction of the stuff you couldn’t air anymore that this show did.

 

[909]

DNA

This was a pretty funny episode. Not sure which part was better. The part where Tommy's macking on his cousin's widow or the part where Franco has a crazy ex-girlfriend with a kid. Or, maybe the part where it seemed like Mike was going on a date with a gay dude but instead the guy wanted his girlfriend to get double teamed. This was all pretty funny. Not quite as funny and on more serious notes, Tommy's daughter gets in a near fatal car accident and the really dislikable chief has to use his gay son as a tool to help him keep his job even though he's clearly abused his son. The encounters with Tommy and Roger in the emergency room were pretty funny, but I don't think this was a particularly notable episode.

ORPHANS

This was more of that stuff with the chief, and arguably too much. At the same time Tommy and Roger get in a fight where Tommy threatens to do the same thing that Vic Mackey did to Armadillo with his stove burner. This was good and so was the scene where Roger clearly got his friends to beat Tommy up. But did I make clear how much I don't like the chief. I really don't like him. Also here, in a more surprising note, Nez OD's and Franco feels the need to take some control over what turned out to be his daughter. What really matters here though is Franco's self centered attitude and how this may play into the rest of the show merely beyond his daughter. Or, you know, maybe it won't. I'm still cracked up that Ryan O'Reily is Tommy's brother. I also think this is the episode where Tommy's dad tells him a story about why he just left his wife, and I thought this was surprisingly poignant even though the scene started out as something entirely different. It may have been in the following episode and due to watching these in batches, sometimes they run together.

REVENGE

Speaking of stuff that couldn't get made now, we have this. Sean is pranked into going on a date with a trans woman, he gets blown and later goes to feel her up and gets a hand full of balls. He finishes anyway and brings it up later at the firehouse, which makes the chief sick. Like I said above, and like Hawk just said, some of this shit couldn't get made now. Nor should it in this case. Besides that, the episode is about Franco finding his daughter and the aftermath of Tommy having been beaten up. Janet even considers reconciling with him until she finds out that Tommy's...I don't even know what you'd call it - the chick with no name is up in his house. And then Tommy reveals that he doesn't know her name and it all goes to shit to a point where she lights his house on fire. Laughed pretty hard at this. Her name being Karen, pre-Karen meme world, is just perfect. It also turns out that the Lieutenant guy shared his poetry at a 9/11 PTSD group and none of those people were even there. This episode really runs the gamut of extremely offensive storyline, very funny material, good serious stuff, and commentary on those who used to claim things about their own selves on 9/11 that weren't true. I guess the last thing I'll call grief hoarding. This was the best episode so far.

 

[909]

BUTTERFLY

I really don't like these kinds of episodes. By that I mean, the ones with random characters you probably won't ever see again, who have an outsized impact on the story and simultaneously manage to take up a lot of the focus. In this case it's one of Tommy's neighbors, a psychiatrist who wants some help building a deck in his back yard. Because Tommy is bringing in his whole crew to do it, we're treated to scenes where they all unload on the psychiatrist and air their feelings. I don't really care very much for this at all. The subplot with Mike is a lot more amusing, as it is when they make Mike construct almost the entire deck by himself. But again, I don't care for this and don't have much to say. Tommy getting mad at being told to have sex with his wife was good too though.

INCHES

This is a dick measuring episode that's interesting for a lot of other reasons, namely that this is our first firefighter death. There are two things they didn't take any time waiting to show people. Both that and Tommy's daughter getting injured feel like events that came too soon. The episode also begins with our first glimpse of what happened on 9/11. Of course it seems like the right time for that because Tommy is banging a 9/11 widow. We also learn that this is a big problem between firefighters (I don't even know if this is true) and Tommy's vision of his cousin sees Tommy in the middle of doing it. So now what? This is a good episode but there's probably too much shit going on here. Also, it's not like you wouldn't do the same thing because just look at her, so...I'm not seeing the big taboo here.

 

[909]

ALARM

Well, there sure was a lot here. Janet is pregnant, either by Tommy or Roger, and she decides to get an abortion because it's the right thing to do. Chief Reilly has a gambling problem to the extent he steals from someone's house while responding to a call. Lou bangs Billy's ex-wife. Mike bangs his girlfriend's daughter. But, it seems like the largest impact thing to happen to the show's plot as a whole is when a female firefighter joins the house and the guys decide they don't want her to be there. This was a very funny hour of television that pretty much featured everyone being led around by their dicks.

IMMORTAL

Tommy is really going off the rails now and everyone can see it, and it's obvious this is all leading to a major downfall of some kind. In addition to drinking all the time, he's beginning to show emotions that can best be described as being empty. He owes Janet a lot of money and gets it in one of those kinds of flukes that only happens in television, which is ordinarily a hallmark of a bad episode but in this case it is not. This also features a couple of the funniest scenes in the show so far, when Mike has to move in with Andrew. It was obvious what was going to happen all along but that doesn't make it less funny. Regardless the part when Andrew is dragging Mike over to his bed was highly amusing. The bit with the twins isn't bad either.

MOM

Of course, this episode's title is in relation to how many of the plots revolve around people's moms. Most importantly here is that Tommy's mom died and this will inevitably send him careening off the rails even worse. His dad has to move in with him, and his uncle is there now too along with a midget, so I don't know where all that's going to go. At the same time Mike is pressured into going on a date with a fat girl, who tells him she'll fuck him like nobody else ever has and it turns out she was telling the truth. He's still going to be ashamed of her and it seems that will create problems. I also cracked up good at Lou finding out his wife was cheating on him too. Now, I have two more episodes left in this season and I expect something major to happen.

 

[909]

LEAVING

In this episode, Tommy gets warned to stop seeing Sheila or else, because he's breaking firefighter taboo and shit. Yet one of the guys is banging the ex-wife of a dead guy, so you can see how hypocritical this is and I think that's supposed to be the point. A lot of bad shit happened here. I don't know where to start because some of it is morbid enough to be hilarious and some of it isn't. Like the bookie forgetting his bets. That was funny. Franco's dad having a stroke led to some funny outcomes. Janet lying about the money too, which you find out more about later. But then, you have Mike's girlfriend having bulimia which isn't supposed to be funny even though I did laugh in some part due to how it was revealed. And you have Sean hitting on Laura, the new firefighter. But in not so funny shit, the damn firehouse nearly burns the fuck down because of a 9/11 "tribute". And a lot of this shit that was funny leads to bad things in the next episode.

SANCTUARY

The other shoe dropped here. The bookie storyline with Chief Reilly was a precursor to his own wife having Alzheimer's even though she isn't that old. The hockey game happens and FDNY finally gets their revenge, but that only matters because of the totally unrealistic beginning of this episode. Actually, a lot of this episode is unrealistic but let's just roll with it. Lou is going to get a divorce. Mike comes to handle Theresa's eating disorder, but he gets a massive amount of shit for dating her in the first place. This is somewhat resolved when Mike and Franco beat the fuck out of Tommy over Tommy's thing with Sheila, and at the end of this beating we find out she's pregnant. There are some funny things here too, but they don't matter. Franco also nearly dies when Tommy has one of his PTSD episodes, and Tommy asks for a transfer. Basically this is some wild shit. And at the end, Janet sells her house and leaves! That's how you end a season.

VOICEMAIL

The aftermath of Janet leaving is not so good it seems. She didn't tell Tommy where they were going and with good reason, she found out about Sheila, and the kids are with her and haven't seen their dad for a while. Meanwhile Tommy is working at the most religious firehouse on Staten Island, he's bored, and he's spiraling even more in some part because of that. The guy is drinking more than ever. Meanwhile at his old house it seems like Beecher (Oz) has taken his spot and is a bad influence. When he told Sean to take a picture of his dick with Laura's disposable camera, Sean sure did it. This episode is mostly about Tommy though, and he unloads in a lot of very toxic ways. He beats up people selling 9/11 stuff at gross profits, which I approve of. He beats up his cousin and gets in a fight with his brother, which I don't. Sheila hates his drinking too. He also gets really wasted and pours alcohol all over himself while watching home videos, which leads to him going to an AA meeting to get his shit together. Didn't expect that. I did expect Franco refusing to speak to him. Really good episode here.

 

[909]

HARMONY

I feel like the show was really at its best in these two episodes. There still aren't enough people at the firehouse who want Tommy to come back, so it isn't happening. But there might be something good going for him after all. Maybe he can see his family again, when he finds out that they're living in Ohio. He can't get time off though. Instead, he joins their barbershop quartet under false pretenses, finds his family, gets into a fight with some random guy, and his family leaves and heads off to who knows where. Classic Tommy. There's only a few other things here that really matter. One is that Mike got dumped and is absolutely losing his shit. The chief's wife has really completely lost her damn mind too. And, now that Tommy has quit drinking, it feels like he doesn't really care about Sheila anymore.

BALLS

This episode is just as packed as the other one, although the content is more scattered and spread around to everyone else. Franco sleeps with Laura which is probably not such a good idea. It seems like Mike is going to kill his ex-girlfriend. In the big one, Sheila has a miscarriage and decides not to tell Tommy about it. Tommy, after all, is on a big high after going back to his firehouse as a result of Sully being found in a sex dungeon during a fire. This was really funny. Tommy's dad also comes back with a new Asian wife and she's really weird, but anyway, I don't care about that. There's a lot of funny things in this episode and it was worth the watch. I was also surprised all the guys agreed to have Tommy back after all that's happened, but you know, this is a television show and that would never actually work out that way.

 

[909]

TWAT

I dig how shows on FX would go for the most controversial episode titles possible. Of course, twat is in reference to what Lou told Laura when she messed up. Now it's Mike's turn to mess up and to be shit on for messing up, but their point is that their toxicity is more along the lines of ball busting than anything else. Which is true, but the way it sounds is cleverly written into the show so that it actually sounds like a problem. This episode also has a funny storyline where Tommy's uncle is doing photoshoots for a football fans magazine kind of thing. Tommy's dad being rejected and not being allowed to do this made me laugh so hard. Tommy's visions of Jesus are also getting much more common even though he isn't drinking anymore. Mike also meets a very tall woman he starts dating, and he gets over his ex in the process. This leads to some funny jokes in the other episodes. This set up the other two rather than being a good stand alone episode.

SENSITIVITY

It turns out that Tommy has a long lost brother, because his dad lived a double life for a very long time due to lack of sex in his marriage. I can only imagine where this is going. His brother is a priest, just like his cousin used to be, so it all seems to fit together very well. After Colleen arrived at the end of the previous episode, this leads to Tommy wanting to find where his other kids are and bring them back/kidnap them. This is uh...something I'm not too sure about but this show likes to do crazy shit with their storylines. The chief has also had to move his gay son back home even though he's an extreme homophobe. Big yikes. The sensitivity training scene is also some pretty bad shit that doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, but I found some of the things preceding that to be hilarious. It's also not that often a show can make me laugh like this one does.

REUNION

Lots of funny scenes here, and then you have two that are like...mindblowingly serious. The best series of scenes is almost definitely Lou's relationship with the person he donated bone marrow to. I really liked this. Sean also has a new girlfriend who likes to start fires, but she winds up dead at the end of the episode and he seems inconsolable. The chief's scenes with his son also have an element of comedy to them. However, this is about the point where the fun stops. The scene with Tommy and Sheila is too raw and makes him look like an absolute scumbag of epic proportions. I know this was the era of bad people being the main character in shows like this, but man. After that, he runs off to kidnap his kids, which isn't all that bad as he's just reciprocating what was done to him. His brother tried to warn him that this wasn't a good idea. But on an even more bad note, Franco's daughter seems to have taken some of his vicodin and possibly died. Big yikes. I really don't know where the show goes from here.

 

[909]

SHAME

This episode right here brought a lot to the table. I knew that at the start of the episode when they showed Reilly's son's boyfriend, that it wasn't gonna be good. I don't really understand what it's like to be like that though. You can't just let your anger consume you. Anyway, besides that, Tommy saved a kid and has been keeping time at his bedside because he's really turned over a new leaf for once. It's weird. But then, at the same time, he wants to find a new pad and get more vicodin now that he can't steal it from Franco. He is also considering banging someone who may or may not be his half sister. His half brother may also be a pedophile and given the nature of this show he almost certainly is. So it ain't all good. Also, Lou is trying to get back Sondra and using an escort to do it. Good for him. Also, of course they didn't kill off Franco's kid.

BELIEVE

I was initially going to talk about how funny this was, but the one afterwards is so much more funny I see no point. Anyway, this is the Chief's worst nightmare. His wife wants to have a party for their son's boyfriend. He won't say no because of the shape his wife is in, and this leads to about 100 gay guys coming over to his house and doing all kinds of stuff. His meltdown in the basement is grotesque, but it seems that he comes to grips with all of this and can handle it now. Seeing Mike and Sean sing karaoke didn't hurt. These two are so fucking dumb I can hardly watch their scenes without dying inside. Unfortunately for Tommy, Janet has found their kids. Fortunately for him, she wants to give their marriage another try. I could hardly believe this and it turned out that the following episode was necessary as a companion episode. Also unfortunately Sean tells Laura too much information and she breaks it off with Franco. This was a great episode though.

REBIRTH

All that matters here is that Tommy found out that Janet was on pills after what he did to her, and he finds out that he wants to be on those pills too. This leads to a lot of the funniest things I've seen on television. He went from being a major asshole to being a model human being. All of this is amazing. They could literally not have written better television than this. The best part is that it didn't get old. A lot of shows would have ended the joke, but nope, it seems that this will carry over into the next episode. It sure didn't end here. This dude is even going to mass now. The prayer in the locker room was probably my favorite part. Tommy even helps Franco get back together with Laura, but it's under false pretenses and this can't possibly last. Also, Mike is hanging out with gay dudes now because it helps him get tail. This is one of the best episodes of TV I've ever seen.

 

[909]

BRAINS

This episode was so wild and off the charts that I felt like I couldn't watch my usual amount of episodes as a result of that. Plus, I think three episodes is kind of a lot anyway and I might ramp it down a little bit sometimes. This stuff with the kid shooting himself in front of the pedophile is not something I saw coming. I thought he might kill him, but he didn't. And now Tommy's half brother is a pedophile who got arrested. Could you imagine that shit. The rest of the episode has some moments but not anything as big as or approaching that. Tommy is almost out of happy pills and is so close to going back to being an asshole too. Laura also thinks Tommy is into her. I laughed hard at this one. The scene with Sheila felt too much like everyone wanting to keep her in the show when her character no longer has purpose.

BITCH

I didn't think this was a good episode at all. Tommy was off the pills but there wasn't a lot going on here. All that really happened is that we found out Jimmy's kid wants to be a firefighter. Franco also punched Tommy at the end as this meandered to its conclusion. Of course, Tommy finally admitted that he wrote the poetry. And also, Mike and Sean are still really fucking stupid. It's also a good laugh when Franco's blind date shows up with such a huge ass. But that's it.

 

[909]

HAPPY

This was a really funny episode until the ending, with a lot of awkward moments mixed in with those that felt like comeuppance or something I was waiting for. Awkward is along the lines of Sean feeling the lump on Mike's balls while feeling his own. Of course someone would walk in during that. You find out there's nothing wrong with Mike, but it's still funny. Tatum O'Neal also shows up playing Tommy's sister, this has potential too. She's there for the reading of Mrs. Ng's will and that doesn't go well for anyone. In more unfortunate news, the Chief's wife tries to kill herself. It comes out of nowhere and it's impossible to understand why because she has Alzheimer's. She just did it. And the real capper here is Tommy's son getting killed by a drunk driver. This was bigly unexpected and the kind of dynamic shift a show needs going into its finale.

JUSTICE

Of course, the episode after a kid dying is going to be about his family and their reaction to it, which is really not good. Tommy is devastated and can't really talk at all, which leads to Sheila arguing with Janet about why Janet's treating him like shit. Then you have a couple real big ones as the episode goes along. Janet leaves again because pills can't even make her happy now, and she thinks it's Tommy's fault even though he told his kid to go inside. The Chief also has to put his wife in a home. Tommy goes over to save Sheila from getting beaten up, and gets beat up himself and starts sobbing. Well, a show don't get much more real than that. Laura leaves the house too and will never see Franco again, and the bits with Sean and Mike only provide some amount of levity which is nearly impossible given the tone of the episode. The real climax however is Uncle Teddy FUCKING KILLING THE DRUNK DRIVER. I couldn't believe it and initially this was a character I couldn't stand, but the dynamic with him and Tommy's dad really grew on me. What's gonna happen to him now? Great television here.

 

[909]

DEVIL

How does a show follow up the death of a kid, and the murdering of the guy who killed that kid? I couldn't quite figure it out but these two episodes were bangers. I couldn't possibly conceive of some of these things and I don't know where to start. So just know that I have an opinion about everything even if I don't mention it. It's all good other than Damien having an affair with his teacher, cause while that could merit a storyline in some other show it doesn't seem to do so here. The non-smoking scenes are all pretty funny even though this ends with Tommy having a cig after saving someone who had been written off for dead. Tommy also has to take care of his dad now because his uncle is in prison. Sean's storyline with Maggie is a good one as well, but yeah, Janet and Tommy seem to really be over this time. This is exacerbated in the next episode.

DISCOVERY

We hit all notes necessary here. I don't know where to start this time either. I guess we can start with the club scenes featuring Susan Sarandon, who wants to bang Franco. I laughed plenty here. Everyone else at the house is just ridiculously pathetic. Sean ain't ever gonna tell Tommy about dating his older sister it seems like. Mike always spends time talking to dudes, which isn't pathetic but it seems like there's potential for him to be in denial about being gay. Lou is dead broke and the Chief might need to borrow money from him. The scene of Lou watching porn featuring the chick who conned him was in the previous episode, but it was good enough to mention here. Franco and Mike are also considering leaving the house. But, I really buried the lede here. How about Tommy nearly killing his brother when he finds out about him and Janet? It wasn't shocking that he was involved with her, but Tommy's reaction was shocking even though his rage over these things had already been built up in other stories during this episode. This was the best episode and I can't see anything else topping it. I nearly forgot to mention Sheila and Janet getting into it at the same time.

Also, I know this might be fucked up, but that scene was also satisfying. He went too far, but you know. You think about all the shit this guy went through that wasn't his fault, even though there definitely was a lot of shit that was his fault, and that's like the ultimate betrayal.

 

[909]

TORTURE

This episode brings some big revelations while continuing the downward spiral of a few of the characters. I guess I'll start with the latter. This storyline to make Lou into a miserable fuck is a really good one. The actor is perfect for it, for one thing. The second thing is they take his misery to unexpected points. The point where this guy is blacked out walking through the streets, or when he harasses Mike for reading The Tao of Pooh, that's some really dark shit. Chief Reilly can also not pay for his wife's nursing home and nobody's going to help him, so he has to get a second job. And Tommy ain't talking to Janet anymore. Meanwhile Susan Sarandon's character is hooking up with Franco and it's all going well, but there's no way she stays on this show for very long. Lastly, I knew Mike was gonna turn out to be gay or bisexual, and there it is. I thought it was a good cliffhanger though because the other shoe doesn't drop until the next week.

SPARKS

There's only two things to talk about here. Yes, Mike is gay. Now it's time to only talk about the one other thing. There are shows where the lead characters do a lot of bad shit. There aren't very many shows where the lead character rapes his soon to be ex-wife. It doesn't really matter that towards the end she doesn't seem to mind or any of that. These two have a really strong hatred of each other but they're also still attracted to each other. Janet says early in the first season that the problem with their relationship is all psychological and due to Tommy's lack of openness and inability to talk to her. But it's still rape. It's impossible for me to really think about anything else when it comes to the episode. That all being said I don't think that means this isn't a show worth watching or anything. I need to see where the ride ends. There was already plenty of reason to think Tommy was a bad guy as a character and it always surprises me when people decide that a show has gone too far in portraying that. The scene is also ultimately up to anyone's interpretation, but that was mine. He raped her, end of.

Also, when it comes to a television show, I think people also need to learn that the season as a whole is more important than the individual episodes, and that in any given episode you aren't getting the full picture of anyone's intentions. Having said that I think the moment is consistent with the character and wasn't surprised by it.

 

[909]

CHLAMYDIA

This episode was absurd and it felt like it could have been better. But I mean, how can it be that bad with Marisa Tomei? The answer is that it can't. Mrs. Turbody also gets busted for statuory rape, and she may or may not have had the clap, so Tommy thinks he probably has it. So, a lot of this episode revolves around his dick and whether or not he can use it. But, I think he does have the clap. This was all funny anyway. I loved seeing the Chief get busted fucking that other older woman and having to work a second job for the meantime. Shit is wrong. Speaking of wrong, I knew Susan Sarandon's character was going to take Keela away once Franco slipped up and told her the deal. Mike and the other guy almost coming to blows every time there's some dick sucking is pretty funny too. But, they didn't really follow up on the rape here.

ZOMBIES

This is where we either start the build to Mike leaving this firehouse or no longer being called the Probie. There's no other way for it to go from here. And then there's Sean's long drug related trip similar to Walter White faking it in Breaking Bad. Except Sean isn't faking and these scenes are a good distraction from everything else. There are two main things here. One is that Janet shows up at Tommy's house and they have sex. Like I said, the first time was rape even though they do have base attraction to each other. This thing sometimes happens in relationships but it's still rape. And then, Sheila's attempt to set Tommy up with his brother's ex (Marisa Tomei) does not go well and she thinks that Tommy is gonna fuck her. After this she has a major meltdown. Lou also nearly gets Tommy killed. Lots of potential for shit here. Also, the way Tommy kept Sheila on the string all this time is really scummy and I won't be surprised by pretty much anything she does.

 

[909]

SATISFACTION

This episode does something I would not have written. Well, at least two things I wouldn't have written. One is that the guys find out where Chief Reilly is working and they start busting his balls about it. This leads to a storyline in the following episode where he may no longer need a second job. I don't care for it. The second is that Sheila date rapes Tommy. Didn't quite see that coming even though we all knew she was pissed off. I guess Tommy banging Angie just sent her over the edge. Smearing alcohol all over Tommy is really awful too. It's like a double rape in that it's made to seem like he relapsed and the eventual ramifications from that are quite bad. The side storyline with Sean getting in fights with everyone was pretty funny too, but this wasn't the most eventful episode. I do think it's funny that Uncle Teddy is getting married though.

KARATE

I guess we can call this the episode where Lou finally gets his shit together. But before that, man. What a fuckin trainwreck of a human being. Downing alcohol at the game was bad enough but this dude was about to eat a meatball sandwich that fell in the fucking ash tray. I couldn't believe it. Mike is also probably still gay, but he bangs chicks again too, so he's bisexual. Tommy also seems to want him to stay at their house and not leave. Tommy also still has survivor's guilt. The money storyline with the Chief also culminates in the house winning a jackpot on horse racing when Mike accidentally bets the wrong horse. That's one way to end that shit I guess. But most importantly here are the ramifications of Tommy getting date raped and his dates with Angie. There were no ramifications to him getting date raped. His dates with Angie went reasonably well, but Janet showed up to have sex and the whole thing spiraled out of control, ending in Tommy getting knocked out. These were not the best episodes but I thought the ending of this one really smacked.

 

[909]

PIECES

Unlike the previous two episodes, these three were really good. One in particular was above the rest and I'll be getting to that. The bits with John Salley at the beginning of the episode felt like the perfect way to start things. This episode is a lot more funny than the other two. I can't believe how stupid Sean is. The character is also performed perfectly by the actor. Tommy is also getting worried that their crew is going to break up and with good reason. I'm gonna save some of my commentary about other things for later in this page. But, the real kicker is that Janet is pregnant again and it might be Tommy's. It also might be Johnny's. But in any case, it won't be aborted this time. We also have Franco dating a woman with a mentally handicapped brother. I'm sure this show will handle that well. Spoiler: they didn't.

RETARDS

Despite the horrible title this episode hits HARD. This guy Richard is way too mentally handicapped and the show doesn't handle it well, and most of his lines aren't funny or worthwhile. But I mean, what about everything else. Tommy is still going to see the completely disabled firefighter in the burn unit of the hospital. Honestly I thought Tommy was going to kill him and put him out of his misery. Instead we wait. This episode almost entirely revolves around Tommy, and it goes straight for the heavy notes. That's when Rescue Me is at its best. Of course Tommy was going to relapse at this point. He does it in a way that makes for tough but great viewing. The confrontation with Janet and Tommy prior to that is similarly intriguing. And of COURSE the house would find out that Mike gets blowjobs from a dude. I was shocked at how they handled it, and by they I mean the writers of the show. Could have been much worse. Great episode.

TWILIGHT

The things towards the end of the episode really stuck with me, much more than anything else that preceded that. So I can start with them. One is that Johnny gets shot to death. So that's the end of that storyline but Janet may be pregnant with his kid. So, you know. Not good. Him and Tommy never made up either and Tommy had to get slapped around the last time he took a drink. Dunno where it goes from there. At the same time it seems like the Chief has a heart attack while banging the Jamaican woman who was taking care of his wife at the facility. What a guy that guy is. We also have Richard making jokes about Mike getting his dick sucked, Sheila has gone fully insane and is spending all kinds of money (for some reason her having the money is not implausible), and the Sean/Maggie scenes are still good. But you know, now I just want to know what happened to Johnny. Rest don't matter.

 

[909]

HELL

Well, this went as expected with Johnny and I can't say I'm surprised. Of course he's dead. Where do we go from here? Apparently we introduce another Gavin sibling who I bet we'll never see again, and she's deaf to boot. It also turns out Jerry's heart attack is very bad and he could even die. Of course, now because Tommy's dead, Janet has to go back to live with Tommy at the very least and they're either gonna get back to it or they won't. Mike is also now not sure if he's bisexual or not, who knows what will happen with this story, but it's still funny. And we cap off what could have been a very depressing episode with Maggie and Sean having a snap wedding ceremony at the cemetery. So, it wasn't. And Tommy is still leading Sheila to believe he's actually going to do all these things with his job and her house. No way he could commit to that and as a result this storyline feels kind of half assed. Still a really strong effort here.

BEACHED

Sheila drugging Tommy again when he strung her along again is not very surprising. Accidentally burning the house down and then nearly purposely leaving a drugged Tommy in there is pretty bad though. Of course now we have a few other issues to close the season out. One is that it seems Franco will never see Keela again after her appearance here prior to being sent off to Paris. Everyone at the house also comes to the conclusion they are not going to change their life courses. They can't. Franco failed his exam, Lou can't get on the water, Tommy won't retire, and Mike won't transfer. I cracked up at Artie Lange being in this episode just because I wasn't expecting it. Same can be said for Bill Belichick in the other episode. Who woulda thought?

BABY FACE

This time between seasons it seems we jump way forward. At least nine or ten months. Janet and Tommy are living together but the whole thing is platonic. They had a baby and now Colleen is majorly acting out, driving Tommy nuts. Janet doesn't care. It also turned out that the baby hates Janet so there's issues when it comes to Tommy having to leave for work. Tommy also doesn't know what happened at the house and how it burned down, and the people investigating this don't like his story. Apparently someone forged his signature onto insurance papers. The whole crew also nearly dies on a rescue, and the show does a great job of making you think they actually did. Can't wait to see what happens with Sheila though. We merely get a taste at the end. It also turns out that Jennifer Esposito in this show and she wants to date Tommy? What a guy

 

[909]

TUESDAY

Tommy is just not going to get any straight answers from Sheila about the fire. I guess that's to be expected. What's not to be expected is that she has a new dude. Why I didn't see this coming, I don't really know. But that's what happened. In this episode we also learn that Colleen has run away from home, and best of all Teddy gets off the charges of killing the drunk driver. Home from prison, he decides that he wants to leave his wife any way possible and climbs out of the back of a restaurant. The end of this episode is hilarious as well. Sean talks himself into saying that he at least one beat off to Janet, which makes Tommy angrier and angrier and it's expected that he'll do something. He doesn't. Instead they get a call and whisk away to it, leaving this storyline or potential storyline undone.

COMMITMENT

This episode is packed with storylines and culminates in something that I frankly expected, the Chief blowing his head off after being told he could not go back to work. Before doing that it appears he straightened everything out with Tommy and the arson thing, he saw his son get married, got a new set of golf clubs, and I guess he thought he had nothing left to live for. Between the heart attack and the chemicals from 9/11, how long would he have lived anyway? Besides that, Natalie breaks things off with Franco and with good reason, Franco has a lot of similar traits to Tommy in that they're both emotionally closed off. Women don't like that. Mike's mom is also dying and has a dying wish, she wants Mike to put her out of her misery. Tommy convinces Mike he should do that, but Mike's mom dies in her sleep before he can do so. We also have two confrontations between Colleen's boyfriend and Tommy, both of which are very amusing. Unfortunately all the very funny things in this episode kind of get ruined by the suicide. At this point Rescue Me is also written a lot more haphazardly than the first three seasons. I like it, but there are clear differences in the show compared to the second season (which was amazing).

 

[909]

PUSSIFIED

No surprise here when it comes to the Chief, he's dead. They didn't exactly show it before, but he's dead. And everyone has a lot of reactions to all of this. Some of them make Tommy extremely angry. Others are basically not worth writing home about. Tommy has a lot of pressures as we all know. His dick doesn't work anymore for one thing. Colleen doesn't talk to her parents consistently and Tommy needs to bribe her to straighten that out. Tommy and Janet also go see a marriage counselor because they want to try again. Which just doesn't work, going back to what I said about his dick not working. Sean also completely blew it with Maggie and they're done. Of course it went that way. Also this fucking dude from Dexter hero worshipping Tommy is highly amusing.

BLACK

Hesh being cast as a chief in this show is a nice little move. He's awfully old to be a chief, but fuck it. This could be funny. Tommy seems to have also lost his way. Not just with his dick, but with playing hockey and pretty much everything else. He gets his mojo back towards the end of the episode with Nona, but a lot of the damage in his life is already done. In other words, he's Tommy Gavin. The storyline with Sheila wanting to buy Janet's baby is just fucking dumb and unrealistic. Janet's post-partum on the other hand is not. There are a few other bad pieces of writing in this episode, namely when Franco says his mom has been dead a long time. But she wasn't dead? Anyway, until knowing what the rest of the season has in store, it's difficult to make much judgments. I can say right now though that this seems scatter-shot.

 

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BALANCE

I think Black Shawn is gonna be a good character. We have to wait and see of course, but it's about time someone stands up to the way Tommy treats everyone. In other news here, Lou gets cheated on and Artie Lange sleeps with his girlfriend, which is pretty much the worst way for a relationship to ever end. The baby is also definitely not Tommy's. This sends Janet into a major depressive tailspin the likes of which I did not expect. Sean burning up Mike's house is also highly amusing and unexpected. I couldn't believe it. I do think this is a good episode but these events occupy so much of it that really, there just isn't a lot to talk about. At least this episode makes more clear what the storyline seems to be (Janet becoming so depressed that she either tries to kill herself, or leaves and finds some other dude mad fast).

SEVEN

It seems the storyline is also more clear with the start of this episode. There is a very bad fire where seven kids die, the firefighters are powerless to save them even though they do their best. There is nothing they could do but it seems possible this will send more of the house into depression and/or to do bad things. I think this even leads to the end of the episode, where Tommy kidnaps his unnamed baby and decides that he needs to either give the baby to Sheila or throw it in the river. There's nothing to indicate Tommy would ever do something like the latter, so the episode leads you to believe he decides the former. This show is at its best when dealing with hard truths and depressing moments. There's no exception here. There's another scene earlier in the episode where Tommy tries to tell Janet what happened, but he's unable to do so because of the rut Janet and his daughter are in. And you know, what's left unsaid basically tells the story here. In other news, Alicia wants Franco back and is going to make him make a decision.

SOLO

Of course, Tommy did give the baby to Sheila and Janet is extremely upset about it. So, they fight. After fighting, Janet runs Tommy over. Now Tommy's ghosts are going to come back and he takes an axe to his house, thinking that it's on fire. I shit you not. Afterwards, Hesh (I don't know what else to call him) wants someone to date his daughter, who turns out to be a nutcase. During said date, there's a house on fire and Tommy runs in there like a lunatic with no gear on. He is who he is. He also needs an AA meeting. So does Maggie, who has disappeared for a while. Franco also winds up not going with Alicia but his engagement, it ain't gonna last. The show makes this clear by how he looks at the pictures. Not a great episode, this one. I can't eloquently explain but everything doesn't tie together.

 

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ANIMAL

I'm surprised this episode has such a low rating on IMDB. For me it pretty much hits most of the right notes. Gina Gershon was introduced in the episode previous to this, and she gets off way before Tommy, leaving him blue balled. I found this pretty funny. Janet also hatches a plan to get her baby back from Sheila, and it all goes pretty well. This makes Tommy angry but it also makes him too much of a caricature for this storyline to really work. Unfortunately you can see where Tommy's really at here. His family members are drunks and they need to stage an intervention. Colleen keeps asking for shit. His friends lives are in turmoil. Natalie dumped Franco. The new chief is riding his ass because the date with his daughter didn't go well. Mike took some pills and has been contemplating suicide. This leads to a scene where Tommy tells Mike everything wrong with his life, then jumps onto a fire escape to scare him. When doing so, the fire escape nearly breaks, which leads into the next episode. Anyway, this is good stuff. Tommy's family is becoming too much like caricatures though.

HIGH

The end of the previous episode comes in at the end of this one, which is an episode that features Tommy running full speed into a burning building because he no longer cares about himself again. This turns into a big problem back at the house, and we'll see where it's going. Janet, of course, is not giving the baby back to Sheila. This may end Tommy's money train. Janet is now also sleeping with another dude, which makes me think this episode is supposed to be heavily distanced from the previous one. A lot of this just doesn't make that much sense though. Janet has apparently pawned the baby off on Colleen for three days a week, and Tommy has to bribe Colleen so that he can see the baby. So wasn't he kind of right about saying that Janet shouldn't have the baby? I dunno but this is not my favorite episode at all. The ending sticks the landing though. Tommy may have lost his nerve when it comes to rescuing people in large buildings.

 

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CYCLE

What I learned in these three episodes was that they were supposed to set up the following season more than bringing this one to some grand conclusion. There's absolutely nothing here that makes it seem like the season will end the way it does. In fact there's almost nothing here in the episode at all. I can like hardly tell you anything that happened other than that Tommy goes on another date with Beth. This has to be the worst episode because nothing happens. The only thing is that we start the storyline of Tommy wearing Jimmy Keefe's fire jacket for good but obvious reasons. After all, the fire jacket was supposed to be for Tommy's now dead son.

KEEFE

People are now noticing what Tommy's doing with the jacket, but they don't know that it's him. In any case this is an episode full of arguments. Tommy exposes Colleen's boyfriend and that's the end of her relationship, which makes Colleen very angry. She may never forgive Tommy for this! We also have Mike and Black Shawn nearly going toe to toe in the locker room. Does Mike really want to be like Tommy? I dunno, but he wants to be a drunk like the randoms this show just introduced as the other crew. The best scene here though, is Tommy arguing with the new chief because he felt his daughter's tit in the last episode and she kinda liked it but the whole thing ended in complete disagreement anyway. This turns into a huge argument later on, and now Tommy has a chief who is out to get him once again. Needles defended him though which I did not expect.

YAZ

Like I said above, these episodes were setting up the following season more than anything else. Franco and Natalie's relationship or lack thereof is left in question. Everyone is seeing Jimmy's jacket now, but they don't know that it's Tommy and this is still left in question even though Sheila seems to understand why he's doing it. Tommy also reclaims his relationship with Gina Gershon, somewhat by force, but I guess she really wanted him to take charge or some shit. Of course, when Colleen shows up at the firehouse, you know where this is going. Apparently on a date with Black Shawn. Tommy won't like that, but again, if he doesn't we have to find out later. At the end of the season we also have the one thing that feels like a season finale. Tommy's dad dies at a baseball game, but it's pretty much out of nowhere and with little foreshadowing. This episode is pretty good but it's a strange way to end a season.

 

[909]

SEASON 5


BAPTISM

Oddly for this show, we have one that makes me happy rather than provoking any other kind of emotion. Why is that? Well, Michael J. Fox is in this episode, and in this season, and clearly he's banging Janet. So we have an interesting use of stunt casting here. These bits with Fox are sure to be good throughout even though they're weird. In other news, Tommy is actually facing a hearing where he may be ruled nuts and kicked out of FDNY. It also seems that Franco is going to join the two stooges in building a bar and running it. How could that possibly go wrong? Sean and Mike have like ten brain cells between them for one thing. Also, Black Shawn really is with Colleen now. So go figure that one, this is a storyline with a lot of potential. The fire starting this episode off was also unique compared to so many of the others.

FRENCH

So, we have a French journalist showing up to the firehouse wanting insights from the guys about 9/11. Some of these guys are more willing to talk about it than the others, as everyone no doubt expected. Tommy of course does not want to, but he still says plenty and it's clear this subject will come up again. At least this season will have clear purposes as opposed to how the last one went. We have another funny storyline here with Sheila, adding to the one with the guys and the bar. Sheila wants to be a Big Sister. Unfortunately she accuses a black child of stealing her phone, and yeah...it doesn't go too well for her. Tommy has also now been pushed into becoming someone's sponsor. Because that dude is really capable of being someone's sponsor. It also turns out that Michael J. Fox's character is named Dwight, and Dwight is handicapped and in a wheelchair. After this, Tommy goes off to his hearing, and of course he isn't going to lose his job.


What I find when it comes to television shows, is that they need to reorient their goals to the audience as the show goes on. I think their primary goal should be to make their audience happy. It keeps people from complaining too much, for one thing. These two episodes did that.

 

[909]

WINE

After the revelation that Colleen is dating Black Shawn, this episode begins with Tommy having a dream where Colleen births triplets and gets married to Black Shawn without Tommy's knowledge. This leads to Tommy fainting in the dream and subsequently waking up, where it is clear his relationship with Gina Gershon has gone south and will be ending. Anyway, this episode follows the same themes as already started in the two I talked about above. The French reporter chick wants to know more insights as to 9/11, Tommy does not really want to give them, and now everyone in the house is starting to talk about their own opinions. It turns out Franco asks questions about 9/11 and doubts the story, while Mike is really simple minded as we know and believes absolutely everything, including the lie that Rudy Guiliani had their back. Mike is also progressing more towards opening the bar. Unfortunately I don't like that Tommy is trying to sleep with the reporter and find that to be a common problem in this show. The women are there for sleeping with rather than being fully defined characters. Well, except for Sheila. But we'll get into that later. The jokes with Tommy wanting his daughter to sleep with Black Shawn are creepy but they're also funny. But again, it goes back to that problem I just mentioned.

JIMMY

This on the other hand is a very good, very well rounded 45 minutes of television. We do go back to the sleeping with journalist well, but in this case it's Lou who pours his heart and soul out to her when writing about 9/11, and he thinks that maybe, just maybe, he can finally have a brighter outlook on life. Except, Tommy starts to make fun of Lou over all this and Lou completely explodes at him and starts screaming. Well, can't say I saw that coming. This all happens even though Tommy is crashing at Lou's house. Takes some nerve to pull that shit. The thing is that Tommy saw Jimmy Keefe in the 9/11 footage. He did not die in the collapse of the first tower as was previously assumed. Nobody believes him though. The side storylines here fortunately don't take up much of the time in this episode. That is, except for Janet telling Tommy that his idea for Colleen and Black Shawn was a good idea. I should also note that in these shows some of the relationships are inbalanced and that the man is with someone way out of his league. Well Janet is so far out of Tommy's league as to nearly be the most absurd of all these relationships in television. The one side storyline that will be really kicking is the one with Sheila. Given the events here, how could it not?

SHEILA

Unsurprisingly, this is mostly about Sheila. That is, except for one surprisingly heavy blow where it is revealed Sean has renal carcinoma, most likely from his efforts on 9/11. I don't know why, but this is completely unexpected. I should have expected that a show related to 9/11 would eventually have one of these storylines, but I didn't. It is also discussed here how absolutely ridiculous health insurance is, and particularly how it's related to cancers and other injuries caused by 9/11. Also related to 9/11, Franco is at a truther rally. I don't think I like this at all. Tommy also finds out Dwight is a pill head and tells Janet his daughter won't be staying in a house with someone like that (which is rich). This is still well handled and very funny. But you know, even though it seemed like Sheila's storyline was stupid, it turns out that it isn't. This therapist has been used so that Sheila can get over Jimmy and stop projecting her feelings onto Tommy, and as a result no longer really care for him in any meaningful way. It seems to be working. Unfortunately her son is also now completely intent on becoming a firefighter regardless of her wishes. It also seems very clear here that Tommy is about to start drinking again. Where that will go, I don't know.

 

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PERSPECTIVE

Of course, some of this stuff was some time in coming. Franco's idiotic views on 9/11 were bound to come back on him in some way. In this case it ends with a bunch of other firefighters walking into the house and getting into a brawl. Also some time in coming is Tommy having another drink. When so much of his life winds up in a situation where he's talking about his dead cousin all the time, this is bound to happen I guess. So, one year of sobriety down the drain after the reporter asks him a question he is unequipped to handle. The fact he's outside of Ground Zero when this happened surely did not help. Lou and Tommy are also on the road to a major falling out, and they nearly reach that point when talking about whether or not Lou will pull off being able to sleep with the reporter. There's another very good argument here between Janet and Tommy, and pretty much that's your episode in a nutshell. Good episode but the next one was better.

PLAY

Play is in reference to Janet and Tommy going to see their other daughter, Katy. Katy has been pretty much no part of the show at all to this point. The episode almost entirely focuses on Katy and her parents, who have to travel upstate to her boarding school for said play. This weekend goes well for all involved except Katy, who is thoroughly embarrassed by her parents even though the worst details are not revealed to her. But of course, Tommy and Janet are hooking up again. No shock there. The dinner scene was funny but it was almost like a parody and seemed to be written as such. Meanwhile Sean is still unable to reveal that he has renal cancer. Black Shawn is considering telling Tommy that he doesn't want to see Colleen anymore, which is a whole other can of worms that shouldn't be opened. It also seems like Lou slept with Genevieve. Maybe he did and maybe he didn't. But they either filmed it and didn't like it, or didn't film it, and now I'm not completely sure what happened at all.

 

[909]

ICEMAN

So it turns out the French chick left the show, so they did that whole storyline with Lou with her not even being there, and we just have to be okay with that because it does make for some interesting TV. Unfortunately most of the episode isn't about that. It's about Tommy getting back into drinking. The scene with all his ghosts doesn't really do it for me at all, and it's a very long scene. Even Tommy's son is now an adult ghost, and there's a long scene here where Tommy thinks that he's robbed the bar. Probably time to put down the bottle, but he does not. This leads to a scene where very foolishly Damien is taken with the crew as they respond to a fire. This should never have happened. Of course, something bad happens and Tommy has to jump into a fire to stay him. The episode ends there on a cliffhanger. Did not like this very much.

THAW

This is an episode that goes well for Tommy, but it's a step back for certain characters and Tommy's continued reliance on drinking makes this show difficult to watch. Apparently Janet wants to start having no strings attached sex with Tommy again. Sheila wants to have strings attached sex with Tommy again. So, good for him and all that shit. He did save Damien after all, and he also took the blame from Needles for bringing him inside even though it was Mike who did so. In this episode we are also introduced to Sean's family, who I hope won't be around that long because they're very annoying. But, he needs moral and physical support because he still hasn't told anyone at the house what's going on. Black Shawn also returns after an episode spent on the sideline because he didn't want to face Tommy or Colleen. In the end he still wants to be with Colleen. But anyway, this feels like the show is backsliding in a bad way and I don't like it. Sheila seemed to break free from wanting to do this, but now she's continuing her obsession with Tommy, and it should have ended when she was seeing that therapist.

CONTROL

As in the last episode, Tommy has a problem with Mike because he thinks Mike might get Damien killed. Well, that isn't resolved here but there is an opening scene that makes clear how much of a superior firefighter Tommy is to Mike. Surprisingly Candy also returns after a few seasons spent doing who knows what who knows where. She wants to talk to Lou, who never wants to speak to her again. Doesn't take a genius to figure out why. We have a very funny storyline here as well with Lou and Needles training Franco to be on the FDNY boxing team. Of course given how things end in this show that's almost guaranteed to have a tragic end of some kind. Maybe Franco will kill someone. I think this was the weakest trio of episodes since I started watching the show, honestly. It just didn't hit any of the notes that would make me care.