Another toxic season of Rescue Me (Tuesday, 10:00 p.m. ET) came to an end on September 1^st.  As per usual, the fifth season ended on a decidedly disturbing note.  For strong violent content and sexually-charged dialogue, Rescue Me has been named Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.

Much of the episode focused on Tommy’s burgeoning relationship with Kelly – an acerbic woman whose tough exterior belies the grief she feels over the loss of her child.  In the previous episode, she and Tommy shared a tender moment as she expressed her anguish.  When Tommy tells Lou about this grief session, Lou asks, “Did you have a boner?

Tommy looks disgusted at first, but confesses, “Yes, I had the biggest boner, it was like a - it was weird - it was like an empathy boner...and I had no place to put it.”

Eventually, Tommy’s girlfriend, Sheila, and his ex-wife, Janet, learn about Tommy’s “grief connection.” “So you see it's not just a sex thing anymore,” Sheila explains to Janet, “It's a grief connection. Just like he has with you and just like he was with me.”  Sheila decides she and Janet will sabotage the relationship by warning Kelly about the vortex of misery that follows Tommy.  “We are gonna scare the ever-loving s*** out of her,” Sheila proclaims. 

Kelly, however, sizes up the Sheila and Janet pretty quickly.  She tells them, “You two strike me as a couple of ladies who found a really lousy thrill ride at a s****y carnival. But it's your lousy ride, at your s****y carnival, so you'll be god****ed if anybody's gonna cut the line, hop on and take a spin.”

Sheila fires back: “Really? ‘Cause you strike me as the type of lady who if she weren't already spinning on top of Tommy would be smart enough to haul ass in any direction he wasn't.”

Kelly throws the ladies out and tells them never to come to her apartment again.  Later, when Tommy drops by, she tells him about the chat she had with the crazy women in his life before she slams the door in his face. 

Subsequently, Tommy retaliates against Sheila.  He lures her into the bed and handcuffs her.  While she’s bound to the headrest, Tommy takes her stash of anti-depressants/anxiety meds and sets it on fire.  He then circles the bed and tosses lit matches onto the mattress.  Sheila begs him to stop as she frantically stamps the flame with her foot.   Given Tommy’s sadistic behavior in the past, it is plausible that he might actually set her ablaze.  Instead, he leaves her with this warning: “The next time you want to take something that belongs to me and squeeze all the hope and the breath and the promise out of it, terror sweats will be the least of your problems.”

The episode culminates in a violent cliffhanger.  Tommy and the guys are at Mike’s bar, drinking after hours.  Uncle Teddy enters, emotionally distraught, still broken up about the death of his wife who was drunk behind the wheel when a truck collided with her.  Teddy feels that his wife wouldn’t have started drinking again if he hadn’t fallen off the wagon.  He blames himself for her death … and he also blames Tommy.  Teddy shoots Tommy twice in the arm.  “You lead a s****y life,” he sermonizes over Tommy as he bleeds on the floor, “usually before it’s over bad karma comes back and bites you in the balls. You act like an a**hole, maybe you get cancer of the ass. You treat our kids like s***, maybe they pull a Menendez and blow your brains out the god**** couch while you're taking a nap….You took the best thing I ever had away from me, a**hole. A brave man dies once, but a coward dies a thousand times. I bet you wish you were a chickens*** now, huh a**hole. Have some ginger ale, boys. Hopefully, this is gonna take awhile.”  He holds the rest of the guys hostage so they all can watch Tommy slowly bleed to death.      

Recently, it was announced that Rescue Me will stretch out the final two seasons to coincide with the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  At times, it seems like Leary exploits that national tragedy to remind viewers why they should sympathize with these otherwise thoroughly reprehensible characters.  For all of the fine work Leary does through his non-profit organization, The Leary Firefighters Foundation, no show has done more to tarnish the image of firefighters than Rescue Me.  And the season five finale was no exception. 

For foul language, frank sexual dialogue, and disturbing violence, Rescue Me has been named the Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.

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