Rescue Me: So maybe that isn't it for me...

As I mentioned in my kiss-off review of the episode from three weeks ago, I was going to stick it out with "Rescue Me" through the rest of the season but didn't plan to blog about it. Then came last night's episode, "Seven," which featured several things I felt the need to either praise or damn (or both).

Spoilers coming up just as soon as I look up the nutritional content of edible panties...

Fair is fair, credit where credit's due, etc.: Last time out, I complained that the show had degenerated into a series of barely-connected scenes, some great, some awful, but all so tonally independent of each other that you could essentially edit each episode at random without changing much. But with the exception of the basketball game (and even that fit to a certain extent, if you look at it as a moment of respite for the guys), "Seven" felt all of a piece. The tragic events of the Baby Fire informed every scene that followed, whether it was Lou's sudden desire for children, Franco's reaction to the permanent return of Susan Sarandon and his daughter, or every single scene involving Tommy and his doubts about baby no-name. You can even justify Mike letting Garrity off the hook about the house fire under the "puts everything into perspective" umbrella.

The rescue sequence itself was harrowing (though I think it's one of those bits where the alt-rock soundtrack got in the way; it would have had even more impact if there was no score at all, just the confused shouts and calls and grunts of the characters), and Needles' speech about the guys being heroes was maybe the best speech on the show since Tommy's monologue at the beginning of the pilot.

But Tommy dangling No-Name over the railing? No. There is simply no way that Leary and Tolan can convince me that child-revering (albeit lousy-parenting) Tommy Gavin even entertains the thought of drowning a baby, let alone drives out to the river and holds the kid out while he makes up his mind. Probably not drunk and absolutely not sober. I don't care how opressive the atmosphere at Casa Gavin has become, how many ghosts (whether Johnny, or Tommy's own shade) talk him into it, it's about the only line I believe this guy would never, ever cross, even mentally.

(I won't say more than that because I made the mistake of going to FX's website to scrounge around for a photo to accompany this post, and the blurb about next week's episode completely spoils where this is going. Seriously, don't ever go there.)

What did everybody else think? Is my opinion of Tommy in this instance actually too high? For those of you who've been as down on the show as I have, did "Seven" redeem it in any way, or did it just remind you that Leary and Tolan can still knock one out of the park on occasion?