I just got through binge-watching the TV show Rescue Me.

I remember watching it on and off in the first season (I was working 60+ hours and flipping shifts twice a week), and really liking it, but due to time and one scene of the show, I quit watching it.

So when I watched it in order, and all at once, my previous favorable impression went to a very impressed impression.

There were three things that impressed me as enduring themes of the show

• The effects of 9/11 on the people that suffered it
• Duty
• Balls (a.k.a. courage)

How about that? The introduction has it all ;>

9/11

The series went into great detail about the effects of 9/11 and the people that lived through it. Episodes showcased how the firefighters had a code about sleeping with the 9/11 widows, the money those widows received, the firefighters' rage + depression + sadness at what they lost that day, how the firefighters' families suffered though their firemen, contempt for those that tried to glom onto the the tragedy for emotional or financial gain, what the firefighters considered as fake respect from the city for the price they paid, and how the media used the terror act to pprofit themselves.

Almost every single episode mentioned 9/11.

9/11 conspiracy theory was also showcased, in addition to the firefighters' reaction to that. One fireman, Franco, even explained the theory. Overall, I think the show discounted various theories, BUT I do think it presented the conspiracy thinker fairly...Franco was one of the more respected smoke-eaters in the house.

Other firefighters mainly held truther argument in contempt...maybe not in itself, but because they felt it lessened the honor for the brothers they had lost. The following scene covers this fairly well:

And I have to say that immediately following this argument, that these same guys got into a brawl with other firemen that came to beat up Franco

Duty

If you have read me consistently over the years, you know that duty plays a large part in the way that I think. This is probably why I liked the show so much.

A constant refrain is that the job required running into burning buildings while others were running out

But there is more to duty than heroics. Some jobs require grim tasks In the following scene, Gavin removes with dignity the corpse of a babykilled in a car accident; the child was in several pieces, so not only was he covering the baby, he was gathering the baby (earlier in the series, his own son has been killed by a drunk driver):

Balls

If you are going to be doing dangerous and grim tasks over and over, it takes much more than the usual quota of personal and moral courage.

This is often tested daily by what we call...ball-busting.

I have two scenes regarding blowback from a related incident in one episode where the Lou the Lieutenant cussed out a female firefighter for failing her duty.

So, of course they all get sent to sensitivity training, a useless endeavor which prevents them actually doing their duty...

..but funny all the same ;>

Just a reminder on all three themes, here is Dennis Leary talking about the 9/11 memorial

The show past it's three themes

Well, it had all the things I like

• Action
  Some of the fire scenes are great. Later in the series, they start adding scores or songs to these, and although I did not like these additions at first, some of them were incredible...like the scene where they go into a burning building to rescue cats of all things...and the floor collapses

• Sex
  Calle Thorne in stockings...nothing more to say ;>
  
  I really have to restrain myself from digging up every picture of this broad...que bella!

• Humor
  Not just jokes, but cynical black humor. One example was turning the sensitivity trainer asshole's own garbage against him. I am not a nice person, so I really like humor that mocks stupid or parasitical people

• The theme song
  

Von Bondies Lyrics
"C'mon C'mon"

On another day c'mon c'mon
With these ropes tied tight can we do no wrong
Now we grieve 'cause now it's gone
Things were good when we were young

With my teeth bite down I can see the blood
Of a thousand men who have come and gone
Now we grieve 'cause now it's gone
Things were good when we were young

Is it safe to say? (c'mon c'mon)
Was it right to leave? (c'mon c'mon)
Will I ever learn? (c'mon c'mon)
(c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon)

As I make my way c'mon c'mon
Through these battered nights that seem too long
Now we grieve 'cause now it's gone
Things were good when we were young

With my teeth bite down I can see the blood
Of a thousand men who have come and gone
Now we grieve 'cause now it's gone
Things were good when we were young

Is it safe to say? (c'mon c'mon)
Was it right to leave? (c'mon c'mon)
Will I never learn? (c'mon c'mon)
(c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon)

Is it safe to say? (c'mon c'mon)
Was it right to leave? (c'mon c'mon)
Will I never learn? (c'mon c'mon)
(c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon)

And on this day these deepened wounds don't heal so fast
Can't hear me croon of a million lies that speak no truths
Of a time gone by that now is through

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