{alltv} 'Rescue Me' roars in with the urgency of a five-alarm fire

Time is running short for Tommy Gavin.

He has only 19 more episodes to go, stretched over two shortened summer seasons, and this troubled, alcoholic firefighter so brilliantly and honestly played by Denis Leary has never been in sadder shape. We've always known Tommy was a horribly flawed hero. But the question so unflinchingly posed this season is whether he really is a hero at all.

That's a shattering step for Rescue Meto take, as this series — created and run by Leary and Peter Tolan — has always cherished the heroism that lies beneath the ribald antics and often-bad behavior of Tommy and his fellow New York firefighters. Yet from the opening, bracing image we're shown of the afterlife from Tommy's perspective, we're forced to consider whether any man, even one who routinely risks his life for others, can be called a hero when he has become so reckless with the lives of those around him: his friends, his wife and, worst of all, his children.

Nor is Tommy the only one in need of rescue. His wife, Janet (Andrea Roth, who has never been better), has become, in her words, "coated in anger and cynicism and ash." His eldest daughter is following in his alcoholic footsteps. His best friend, Lou (the terrific John Scurti), risks dying from overeating.

And, worst of all for Tommy, his beloved firehouse is threatened with closure, a victim of cost cuts and his own foibles, including the drinking binge that got him shot by his Uncle Teddy (Lenny Clarke, still fabulously on edge) at the end of the last season.

In a sense, five seasons of bad behavior have caught up with Tommy, and it shows in Leary's worn, weary, perfectly attuned performance. Indeed, anyone who has ever complained that Tommy gets away with too much, or charms too easily, should enjoy seeing him get his comeuppance, as he's forced to confront a crowd that has grown tired of his antics.

And there you have what sets Rescue Me apart. Most series play renegade, rebel drunk either for laughs or tragedy. Rescue Me mines both, giving us the biting humor of a smart drunk at his acerbic best while revealing the costs to be paid and the anger he reveals and provokes. Best of all, while it's clear only sobriety can bring Tommy and the series any sort of a happy ending, it's far from clear that he, or we, are going to get one.

Yet while the subject matter is heavy, Rescue Me is seldom heavy-going. It still makes times to revel in the boisterous camaraderie of its firefighters, and it still takes great advantage of one of the sexiest, funniest casts on television.

Times may be tough for Tommy, but for his show, things have seldom looked better.

Rescue Me FX, tonight, 10 ET/PT * * * * out of four

Rescue Me
* * * * out of four
FX, Tuesday, 10 p.m. ET/PT