TVSquad

(S05E13) "...cause the only thing he can feel is heat." - Tommy's dad

I never want to look at a blow torch again.

I gotta say - I never saw that coming. We've known for some time now that Tommy doesn't feel too much. It takes a lot for him to get passionate about anything and when a glimmer of emotion does emerge, it's usually in the form of yelling and obscenities. I just hope he doesn't develop an affinity for his latest attempt at "feeling."

At first it caught me off guard. Earlier in the episode, every effort was made for us to not see the burned body of the little girl killed in that car accident, yet we got a front row seat to Tommy lighting his own thigh on fire with a blow torch. I'm not saying those two things are equal by any measure, but in terms of this show, Tommy's oozing, third-degree burn riddled thigh was one of the more gruesome things we've seen on Rescue Me.

Like I said, I hope that he didn't enjoy it, but it sure seemed like he did. The fact that he felt anything was obviously enjoyable - the burn itself, Sheila cleaning it with hydrogen peroxide, then when she hopped on and screwed him, gyrating against the wound - Tommy seemed to like it all, pleasure and pain.

The thing that I'm most perplexed by is the fact that Tommy clearly has the capacity for serious emotion. He's got an entire arsenal of dead relatives in his head that did nothing but cry in this episode and let's not forget how he turned on the smile to go and talk with the kids in the cancer ward at the hospital. It's inside of him and I'm not sure "he found his son run over by a car" is sufficient enough anymore to justify his suppression of emotions. It looks like the self-mutilation thing may be a decent enough alternative until he figures it out though.

There were a lot of things I liked about this episode:

• The continuation of Lou and Candy's second courtship has been great to watch and the chemistry between Milena Govich and John Scurti is excellent. That being said, it reminds me so much of how things unfolded way back in season two and I can't help but worry if she's just playing him again.
• I'm glad Teddy and Maggie's VA excursion finally paid off plot-wise, even if it only involved Sean. Teddy acting all angel-of-death and Maggie offering to have sex with Sean were classic moments - is that all they did for those veterans down there?!?
• I liked how the little girl was a catalyst for some of the guys in the house - Lou evaluating what he wants out of life; Franco putting forth more effort at the boxing gym.

One other thing that crossed my mind is how volatile the pseudo-relationship between Tommy and Sheila has become. At this point, who's using who? Sheila is practically addicted to Tommy with his pants off and he's more or less using her apartment for exactly what she said he could use it for - a place to drink without judgment. Only problem is that now he's using it as a place to get completely lit. If I'm not mistaken, he did ask her for a bottle of whiskey after he had already housed one at the bar earlier. Tommy might actually need Janet in his life for once if this keeps up.