TVSquad

(S05E17) "Aww man... some people just make shitty alcoholics." - Cousin Eddie

At the end of last week's episode, I have to be honest -- I was dumbfounded. To abandon something that Rescue Me has so steadfastly built up as a pillar of what makes this show tic - namely, the collective on again/off again sobriety of the Gavin clan - seemed ridiculous to me. One Tommy Gavin speech and poof - everyone's boozin'.

But with the "let's go find an AA meeting" option suddenly off the table, I tell ya what - it's a lot more fun. I've said it before, but as viewers, it says a lot about us when we find the addictions, weaknesses, and vices of others as sources of enjoyment, but why the hell not? That seemed to be the theme of this week's episode anyway as we witnessed Tommy get his balls, figuratively speaking, wedged right into a Janet/Sheila vice-grip.

You knew this moment would come. Suddenly, "no strings attached" means exactly the opposite. We heard both Janet and Sheila say it before and at the time, only Lou seemed to see the writing on the wall. Getting them alone together was the missing piece, though. It's no longer about Tommy. Now, it's about one-upping the other woman in the ice-queeniest, bitchiest way possible. So who's Tommy going to choose? Does it really matter? If he ever were to make an honest decision and pick one of them over the other, the thrill of the game would end immediately for whomever he chose, and they'd be back at square one.

With that in mind, it makes me quite excited for what Maura Tierney's character (her current health issues won't affect Rescue Me - the season has already wrapped production) is going to bring to the table. In the few minutes we got to see her at the end of the ep, I liked what I saw. No BS, ballsy, and just what the heck was in the Halliburton case she ran into a fire to retrieve?

More importantly though, I'm excited for the next wave of episodes, because some of the current plots were/are getting pretty stale. Carla's "is she or isn't she a lesbian" thread was killing me, and far too much time was spent in this episode ogling the "lesbos" and "bull dykes" she sent over to the bar. We got it crystal clear. Apparently, Franco broke up with her, so I guess it's over. Thank god.

Also annoying? Mrs. Needles. The mail order Russian bride thing might have actually worked on this show had the plot been given some more context and actually gotten fleshed out. Not so much here. She was just sort of there all of sudden between last week and this week.

A few more thoughts ...

• The whole crew taking bets on Dancing With the Stars was hilarious.
• Did anyone else think something was going to happen to Tommy when that door blew up on him during the final apartment fire sequence?

That's all I got, but one last thought to chew on - I'm starting to get worried about Sean. He hasn't been around too much since beating the cancer, and I hope we're not being prepped for a tragedy by easing us into the idea via these absences. That being said, FX just sent out DVDs through episode 20, and last week along with this week are all I've watched so far ... I hope I'm wrong. I don't think I can live in a world without Sean's keen wisdom: "What's a cunf?"