Television: All Fired Up

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(3 of 3)

Sometimes Rescue Me's humor and drama clash, as in the pilot, when the affecting penultimate scene--Tommy drinking alone at the beach, being joined by the specters of his cousin, other 9/11 casualties and two kids who died while Tommy was trying to save them--is undercut by a scatological punch line. But the nervous dance between the two is generally fitting for nervous times, when the warm consensus that followed 9/11 has faded but the anxiety has not. Rescue Me's firemen are processing mixed signals ("You're heroes! You're bums!"), much like the rest of us ("Duct tape your windows!" "Go out and shop!"). They--and the country--are on edge, the place where Leary has spent most of his career. "These guys deal with life and death every day," he says, finishing his lunch. "They walk past memorials [to 9/11 victims] every time they walk into the firehouse. They have to be able to laugh, or they'll fold in on themselves. It's a hell of a job. Hell of a job."

Then he heads back toward the set, pulls out another cigarette and fires up.