By Matthew Wood
Well, there’s no easy way to put it, and we might as well get the spoiler out of the way. Episode three of RESCUE ME ends tragically, as the Chief — fresh off the news that his heart is too weak to stay in the house — takes a revolver and puts a bullet through his head.
And, that's a shame, because it’s quite the downer of an ending to an otherwise lighthearted episode. After attacking Colleen’s live-in boyfriend, Tommy decides the only way to get his daughter to come home is to take a dive against the big bad beau and get some sympathy points from her. Of course, this plan fails miserably as he gets his ass kicked, yet doesn’t get any closer to his daughter. Moral of that story: Don’t ever, under any circumstances, let your daughter’s boyfriend beat you up. It sets a bad precedent, and the last thing you want is the kid thinking he’s even more of a badass than he already does.
Meanwhile, the rest of the boys are dealing with their various sexual problems: Lou with his pervert ex-nun girlfriend, Sean with his porn-loving wife, and even Franco’s retarded soon-to-be brother-in-law went on a date with his wheelchair-bound girlfriend with the “hot ass.” (Note to self: Don’t take a chick in a wheelchair on a bowling date.) Yes, it’s quite a dysfunctional house, and now it has lost its leader.
The events leading up to Chief Jerry Reilly’s demise seemed innocent enough. He took the day job as a “pencil pusher” (or “desk jockey,” if you prefer), was ready to use the new set of clubs that the house got for him, and was apparently poised for a cushy road to retirement.
But, I guess some guys just can’t slow down and hang it up. You can see where he’s coming from, but really, did he have to
end it all? I mean, the guy was looking at a pretty cushy life, culminating in retirement in Hilton Head. Hey man, I’ll take some South Carolina golfing any day — and you don’t even have to pay me retirement. But, that’s just me.
So, where do we go from here? The Chief always seemed to bring a calming presence to everyone in the house. And, let’s be honest — this isn’t the most stable group of guys. Will things start crashing down for everyone? Will Tommy become the glue that keeps them all together? Well, I don’t know if we should go that far, but he is definitely in a leadership position, and he needs to fulfill his responsibilities.
It was no coincidence that when Mike needed to talk about his dying mother, he went to Tommy. Of course, taking him to a gay restaurant for their little heart-to-heart may not have been the best judgment, but the point is that Tommy’s a guy everybody looks up to. Will he stand up to that role, or will he go into one of his childish bouts of drinking, carousing — or worse, not giving a crap? Only time will tell.