Series: Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season had a lot to live up to given the quality of the show my associates looked at with their reviews of Season One and Season Two. While leaning more towards an ensemble show at times, Leary's character of Tommy drives the entire show much of the time. Tommy has an addictive personality, downing huge volumes of booze and pills in an effort to deal with everything he has faced as an NYPD firefighter. The initial season played a lot off of the terrorist attack being the cause of Tommy's woes but as the show matures, more evidence is put forth to show Tommy had long been the emotionally neutered Irishman full of hatred, anger, and contempt for all around him; even his best friends he relies on while saving lives. Women are a means to an end for Tommy; he shows little concern for their feelings and considers most of them to be objects to score with, reserving bragging rights for the following day at station house 62. If you've seen the show, you'll know that watching it in order is important to get the most out of the material as this hard edged blend of comedy and drama builds on layers that equally repel and attract given the compelling characterizations. Some in the media have gone out of their way in the past to isolate narrow portions of the show and vilify the portrayals yet the writers are careful to balance all aspects of human frailty instead of the generic "fireman as angelic savior" that past shows have bored us with.

The show definitely has some major quirks too; Tommy "sees" dead people as he carries about his business with the scriptwriters trying to find ways to keep the idea fresh. Most of the time, the people he sees are ones that he feels he could have saved from fires but dropped the ball with; including his beloved cousin that has been with the show since the beginning (a victim of the 911 attacks). The dead typically serve to get Tommy to espouse his sorrow at having failed them or even help Tommy deal with the survivor's guilt he apparently suffers from. The viewer can take this twisted plot device as Tommy's imagination or as a reality device within the show; either path offering up consequences to the storyline of the day (this is an area the show is sometimes inconsistent with; forcing the viewer to pretty much choose one path or another). These ghosts that haunt Tommy show his tortured Catholic upbringing though the second season tried something different with one of them playing Jesus (also used by The Book of Daniel back in early 2006). As a fan of the show, I find this to be the one element I'm not typically happy with since the writers do not make it clear which path is the "right" one though I understand why this is done too.

Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season continued the evolution of the characters though and made less use of the ghost witnesses of Tommy's failures; even Jimmy being used far less as a crutch for the writers to rely so heavily on. The aftermath of Tommy's personal loss at the wheel of a drunk driver and his continuing troubles as his separation from his wife eats away at him show him to be trying to fight his addictions to alcohol and prescription drugs. By not blurring his reality so harshly, he gets smacked with the tragedies of life even harder, including one where his brother Johnny betrays him and is nearly killed by Tommy in a rage befitting someone not nearly as able to cope without the substances that have been propping him up for lengthy periods of time. Still chased by the obsessive Shelia (the wife of a fallen fireman/family member) and still wondering if putting his life on the line for a public willing to spit all over him now that the glow of 911 has diminished into the back of their minds (the racist hater Al Sharpton getting skewered in a pointed commentary when the guys opt to save a flipped over bus of kids in peril over a single stroke victim). As shown in the past, Tommy's entire identity is based on his work; leading to his series of failed relationships as a result since that was all he knew (inheriting the trait from his father in an expanded role for Charles Durning this season). He can save the lives of strangers but winces at the thought of even helping out those he is closest to except in the most superficial of ways.

The rest of the regulars were back too; Probie exploring his sexual options being the weakest of topics handled this season, the LT coming to grips with his stunningly lame porn star relationship from season 2 (written much better this year too for the most part), the Chief finding money problems and a wife with Alzheimer's going hand in hand as well as some medical issues that were not unexpected, Franco's daughter arc playing out with the help of a guest appearance by Susan Sarandon in a role full of propaganda for the left, and Sean's romantic life with Maggie (another great role by Tatum O'Neal) getting an elevated (and hilarious) boost this year too. Lenny Clarke as a jailed Uncle Teddy was great too but the sequences involving his time in jail seemed to be under utilized as almost an after thought (there was surely enough material her for a spin off show but aside from the marriage arc that floundered far too readily, the one liners seemed like they were all shot in a couple of days and clumsily dropped in to fill out specific episodes). The season once again ended in a tremendous loss for Tommy and the limited roles by ladies such as Marissa Tomei had a lot of potential but fell flat all too often.

In all then, the roller coaster ride of the show proved to be just as fascinating as ever and while some of the mystical aspects of the series were truncated this time, the karmic wheel of life concept was in evidence throughout the season; proving no good (or bad) deed goes unpunished. The four disc set looked & sounded better than the episodes did when they aired on cable, were presented in their original order, and were good enough that I watched them all straight through the other day. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir about the quality of the show on all levels with the show providing a lot of meat to sink your collective teeth into in terms of the socially relevant topics covered (the teacher scandal, the dangers of prescription drugs, modern romance, and how men deal with problems all big winners here). I've known a lot of firemen over the years and while most of them are solid family men and as loyal friends as you'll find anywhere, the darker sides were covered all too well by the show too (albeit taken way out of proportion to those I've known in all ways except how they all chased skirt so frequently). There are few series on TV that even approach the quality of Rescue Me, never mind equal it, so while I would prefer longer seasons, I still Highly Recommend this set. Buy all three of them if you haven't already and enjoy the gritty drama unfold with the kind of replay value you simply don't find that often these days.

Season Three Episodes:

1) Devil (May 30, 2006)
2) Discovery (June 6, 2006)
3) Torture (June 13, 2006)
4) Sparks (June 20, 2006)
5) Chlamydia (July 7, 2006)
6) Zombies (July 11, 2006)
7) Satisfaction (July 18, 2006)
8) Karate (July 25, 2006)
9) Pieces (August 1, 2006)
10) Retards (August 8, 2006)
11) Twilight (August 15, 2006)
12) Hell (August 22, 2006)
13) Beached (August 29, 2006)

Picture: Rescue Me was presented in an anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 ratio widescreen color as shot by several directors for airing on the FX Network in the summer of 2006. Shot in 24p in Digital HDTV format using Sony HDW-F900 cameras, the clarity of the show is such that you'd think it was produced for network television instead of cable. There was some minor grain and if you watch closely enough, there were some minor flubs with mikes popping up or filming crews seen in reflections but the four disc set was very nicely handled all the same. I wonder what a true high definition version of the show (in either HD or BR) would look like but I doubt anyone will find substantial problems with the visual quality of the show.

Sound: The audio was presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround and while a lot of the show is simply dialogue that did not appreciably benefit from the separation, the action sequences came alive in an immersive field that did seem to utilize the entire range of the audio. The music did not appear to be altered for the DVD release, the vocals were crisp, and the special effects sounded "right" for the majority of the times that they were employed (its been years since I was in a firehouse or on the scene of a fire so forgive me if the minor liberties taken to enhance the mood of the scenes wasn't perfect though).

Extras: One of the things that make this series a great pick for TV on DVD enthusiasts is the wealth of supplemental material you'll find on each disc. There were numerous deleted scenes; many of which added some level of understanding to the major plot points (unlike most shows where they are cut because they suck) with my only negative point being that they were not finished in post production (cutting corners to save money makes sense in this case but some of them were looking like they missed the very last edit too). If you've watched the show as it aired, you'll find many of these to add insight to the series, answering some of the message board questions a few of you had placed online. There were also numerous featurettes such as a lengthy Behind the Scenes feature that gave the cast & crew a chance to speak up about what they saw as important season highlights. Other times, the shorter bits like Being Denis Leary allowed Denis' body double to get a chance in the spotlight for a few minutes, the technical clips about fighting fires in a large city or the traditions firemen embrace (Dalmatians, drinking, etc) giving the nod to our favorite public servants. The comedy short and gag reel were splendid too as was the practical joke in the form of Going to the Gay Place where a couple of the cast were slotted to have a gay lover scene with most of the cast in on it. There was also a location map that gave some geographical reference points on the DVD as to where the major spots were (NYC is a large place and it helps to have an understanding of the city when the characters talk about where they live, where Station 62 is, and the other parts of the show). I was disappointed that the season 4 preview did not provide anything of substance and the Behind the Hose documentary could have shown more but the combination of this treasure trove of goodies was sweet. Oh, and the boxes each had a quick look at the episodes contained in the 4 disc set, as previous seasons have provided.

Final Thoughts: Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season did not push the series as far in most ways as the previous seasons did and it took less leaps of faith to follow much of what went on. The characters were all allowed a chance in the spotlight, some of them getting a lot of extra attention with the themes presented as well as they were. If you ever thought rape could be handled in a mature manner on television without the two dimensional melodrama; proving just as obnoxious by members of either gender, this was perhaps the only series to do so in a manner more realistic than I thought would work (and the media had a field day last year on it too). Further, for all the crazy characters and their quirks, I never got the impression that anyone involved with the show was suggesting all firemen were so flawed or hopeless losers as those squad of Station 62 was presented here (showing the strength of the characterizations far better than a glossy cheerleader piece ever could have done), making Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season the type of show that TV on DVD is best at. Look for the fourth season to start airing next month as simply a means to hold you over until next year comes along (the boxed sets are better than the original airings) but don't miss out on the show as one of the best reasons to own a DVD player.