MISGUIDED MACHISMO: Denis Leary, creator, writer and star of Rescue Me. Subscribe to Archivestuff Have your say Rescue Me, back on TV One, is an acquired taste, and only those with a high threshold for watching self-pitying and emotionally immature males should bother to acquire it. The central character, New York firefighting hero Tommy played by Denis Leary for whom this is a star vehicle is also quite a funny character.
But it's so full-on about Tommy, and so sketchy about the subordinate characters, that you can weary of it far too quickly. And that's despite strong stories and witty dialogue. It makes this reviewer yearn for a prime time return for NYPD Blue, a similarly toned series with much misguided machismo, but much the stronger for having an ensemble cast instead of relying on one domineering ego as its centre.
In its wisdom, TVNZ decided to end the last series before playing the final episode. Instead, it played this strong end-of- season cliffhanger last night, as the start to the new series. This will make things somewhat bumpy come the second episode next week, because last night was packed with stuff designed to be digested at leisure chiefly, the fact that Tommy's nice old Uncle Teddy bumped off the guy who ran over Tommy's son in the last series.
Those following the show will recall that little Connor was hit by a habitual drunk driver, and died. The driver, an unloveable idiot with a slappable, smarmy manner, seemed unlikely to be brought to justice, so Tommy's circle of family and friends mulled what to do. Tommy himself was contemplating a hit.
But Uncle Teddy did the deed for nothing last night, in a final, shocking scene at the railway station platform. Suffice it to say, this wasn't Anna Karenina. Tommy's chief reaction to Connor's death, besides vengeance, is a mix of guilt and self-justification, since he was supposed to be watching the boy when he rode his bike on the road.
This not his first lapse of adult- grade responsibility leads to yet another breakup with his wife, Janet, a beautiful but rather humourless woman, probably sapped of joie de vivre after years of coping with Tommy. Tommy naturally handles this in his customary mature way. Perhaps the most tiresome thing about Rescue Me is that we're supposed to care about Tommy and his alcohol addiction.
He's been going to AA, but his whole attitude strobes, "This doesn't really apply to me, I'm just doing it to shut up all the nagging I get." Much of Tommy's story arc these days is larded with will he/won't he get back on the bottle? Alas, whether he is or isn't on it seems not to affect his behaviour all that much.
The other characters, some of whom are quite likeable, are allowed high drama. His ailing father, who hooked up with a rich woman, is a Sopranos-style cantankerous old git. His sister-in-law is a capable, much-put-upon New York broad.
His firemen colleagues whose smoko dialogue at the station is the highlight of the show have a rich array of dramas, including one stalking his ex- girlfriend, another being conned of his life's savings by a prostitute and their chief having to put his Alzheimers-suffering wife into care. The series' other feature has been carefully generated controversy. To launch a show seemingly on the wave of firefighter admiration following the 9/11 attacks was pretty audacious for a start.
These firefighters have been depicted both as heroes and as Neanderthals at the same time. One minute they're breaking rules to rescue people, next they're victimising a cross- dresser. This series features a much- ballyhooed "rape but she likes it!
" scene. It's possible women get this show wrong, supposing that Tommy is presented as a hero, when really the writers are intending to show us that, despite being a hero, he's an annoying schmuck. But the ambivalence is annoying.
For my money, if you want a thoughtful show about men behaving badly, you can save time by skipping this and sticking to The Sopranos on Thursday nights. MISGUIDED MACHISMO: Denis Leary, creator, writer and star of Rescue Me.
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