Tommy Gavin (Denis
Leary) is a lifesaver. Whether he is pulling survivors from fiery
high-rise infernos or the twisted steel of a subway collision,
Gavin takes great pride in leading the heroic but often
overwhelmed firefighters of New York City's Truck Company 62.
Gavin is also a man drifting between sorrow and anger over a
recent separation from his wife (Andrea Roth) and three kids, and
recurring memories of comrades and New Yorkers fallen victim.
Leary and multiple Emmy Award-winning writer-producer Peter Tolan
(The Larry Sanders Show, Murphy Brown), the team
behind the critically-acclaimed cop drama The Job, have reunited
as creators, writers and executive producers of Rescue Me.
CRITIQUE
Rescue Me
blends comedy and drama well together. The stories in each episode
are worth following and the characters are mostly interesting,
too. Certain subplots work very well, and they are consistent
throughout the season. Some other, smaller subplots are more
contained, happening over the course of a few episodes. Half of
these work, the others seem a bit ridiculous or over the top.
These mostly concern the supporting characters and what they
experience outside the job. The comedy here isn't too broad as it
is limited to sex jokes, gay jokes, and general jokes about the
characters. The writing for the show is generally well done, with
Peter Tolan and Denis Leary leading the way writing 8 of the 13
episodes. I enjoyed their scripts the most. The others were
decent.
Watching the
characters fight fires and save lives is interesting and
dramatically satisfying to watch, plus the filmmakers do a great
job making the firefighting scenes exciting. Tommy Gavin is the
main character and in the first half of the season he's dealing
with visions of dead people he couldn't save, coping with his
soon-to-ex-wife who is already dating, staying off booze and
cigarettes, and more. Gavin can be a nice guy but when he gets
pissed off he can become quite an asshole, which can turn some
people off. In terms of chemistry, Gavin and the supporting
characters have a good sense and share of camaraderie. The acting
is good, but overall is nothing special. Since Rescue Me is
broadcast on the F/X channel you can expect a good amount of
nudity and curse words, which is always a good thing (right?).
Disc One:
Guts, Gay, Kansas,
DNA
Disc Two:
Orphans, Revenge,
Butterfly, Inches
Disc Three:
Alarm, Immortal,
Mom, Leaving, Sanctuary
THE VIDEO
Sony presents
Rescue Me in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colors look clean
and well saturated. Print quality is pretty good, as is sharpness
and detail. Sony should've expanded this set to 4 discs instead of
only 3 as the last disc holds 5 episodes, which degrades the video
quality somewhat. Subtitles are not available, but the set is closed
captioned.
THE AUDIO
Sony presents
Rescue Me in English Dolby Surround. Dialogue is
clear and easy to understand, with the front speakers delivering
noise free audio. The rear speakers are active during the action
scenes, and the sound effects and score are presented clearly.
THE EXTRAS
There is audio
commentary for the first and last episodes with creators Denis
Leary and Peter Tolan. Both engage in interesting discussions
about the show's development and inspiration, stories from the
production, scene specific events, and much more. They also joke
about several things. Oddly, the track censors the word "shit"
even though it pops up a few times on the show itself. I can
understand censoring "fuck" on the commentary, but "shit"? Gimme a
break.
The gag reel
(6:52) is fun to watch. Leary appears to have the most trouble
saying his lines right, but the other actors get it wrong, too.
There are practical goofs here as well as a few intentional gags.
It's good stuff.
Next are four
featurettes covering different aspects of the show. How It
All Began (13:41) has Peter Tolan and Denis Leary explaining
how the show began, obviously. Authenticity (17:23) speaks
for itself. The Cast (16:41) includes interviews with the
cast members who offer their thoughts on the show, characters,
etc. The Look (10:39) focuses on the production, which
films on location using HD cameras, and so forth. There are some
good stories in here and overall these four featurettes are quite
good. The only downside is the show clips which run a little too
long. Instead of clips I would've liked to have seen more on-set
footage.
The last two extras
on the first disc is a Season 2 Sneak Peak (3:53) and the
FX: An All New Season teaser (1:03).
Disc 2 presents
several deleted scenes which run about 7 minutes in length.
These are okay. They're not anamorphic but presented in
letterboxed widescreen.
Disc 3 features
several trailers.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Rescue Me is
good show that has its upsides and a few flaws. While not terribly
great material, there is some good drama and comedy to be found
here. The extras are nice to have and overall I'm
recommending this first season DVD.
