Rescue Me' is still taking care of itself

June 21, 2005|By Maureen Ryan, Tribune staff reporter.

"[Sept. 11] happened four years ago, champ. Deal with it," a cop snarls at a New York City firefighter, just after the cop writes the fire-fighter a ticket.

So much for hero worship. The compelling premise of "Rescue Me," which begins its second season Tuesday at 9 p.m. on FX, turns the concept of post-9/11 hero worship on its head. The crew members of New York City's 62 Truck, the unruly firefighting family depicted on the show, do more than their share of dangerous rescues, but they also mess up. A lot.

For instance, early in the second season, Tommy Gavin (star and co-creator Denis Leary) tries to get out of that parking ticket. But he seems half-hearted as he trots out the fallen heroes -- yet again -- to cover up his personal irresponsibility. By this point in his life, even the thickheaded Gavin is starting to realize that his life probably would have spun out of control no matter what -- the aftermath of Sept. 11 just helped the process along.

Though "Rescue Me" isn't on the level of "Deadwood," this well-made series does for firefighters what the HBO series has done for larger-than-life characters from the Old West: rescued them from mythology to make them flesh-and-blood humans, ones with idiosyncrasies, flaws, selfish urges and generous impulses. Both programs show "heroes" as people -- some charismatic, some stupid, some in between -- who are just trying to figure out how to get from one day to the next.

That's a struggle for Gavin as the season opens. His fed-up wife has left town with his three kids, his girlfriend (the widow of his firefighter cousin, no less) is pregnant, he's got no fixed address of his own and he's left Manhattan's 62 Truck for a mind-numbingly dull firehouse on Staten Island. Not surprisingly, he is hitting the bottle pretty hard.

If there's a problem with "Rescue Me," it's that FX's law-enforcement series, "The Shield," has set the bar so high in the one-hour drama realm. "Rescue Me" story lines occasionally veer into superficiality and repetitiveness, and Gavin's boorishness and selfishness can be a little predictable and tiresome.

But Gavin's sardonic wit is entertaining, and the 62 Truck crew is a real treat, thanks to the fine supporting work of actors such as John Scurti, who plays the af-fable but lonely Lt. Lou Shea, and former fire-fighter Jack McGee as gruff Chief Jerry Reilly, who deals with a family tragedy of his own in the first few episodes of the season.

Firefighting takes a lot of courage and a certain willingness to suspend introspection. "Rescue Me's" greatest strength may be in showing the terrifying, confusing situations that firefighters encounter every day.

But to its credit, it also shows the consequences of blocking out emotions all the time, not just on the job. And that's a fearsome cost indeed.