Rescue Me, "Iceman": Guy walks into a bar...

Spoilers for the latest episode of "Rescue Me" coming up just as soon as I cancel my trip to Cleveland...

"You never told us what to do after." -Tommy

One of the more frustrating parts of the two seasons of "Rescue Me" before this resurgent one was the sense that the show was making choices less for dramatic reasons than to feed Denis Leary's ego: more women throwing themselves at Tommy, more scenes of Tommy single-handedly saving the day, Leary solo in most of the advertising, etc., etc.

So an episode like "Iceman" -- which included that long (I clocked it at 15 minutes, which is an eternity in modern TV drama time) sequence of Tommy at the bar, arguing ghosts and getting into a shoot-out with what turned out to be the adult ghost of his dead son; and which climaxed with Tommy literally running through a wall of fire to save Damien -- should have made me worried that the series is starting to backslide into its bad habits.

But it didn't worry me.

I didn't love the bar sequence, even with the returns of Dean Winters and Charles Durning, but that's because I've never really been a big fan of Tommy's alcoholic nightmares, and those have been a part of the show since the pilot. And the scene in the aftermath, with Lou suggesting that a drunk Tommy is a more interesting Tommy, was terrific, and continued to prove that making those two roommates was a great idea (as well as an excuse for Leary to share a lot of scenes with his strongest co-star).

And the episode's second half made good use of the supporting cast, primarily, but not entirely, in comic relief. Mike's reaction to the Cleveland Steamer definition may be the funniest line of the season so far, but that scene also continued to show him not being a complete imbecile. (It also showcased Mike Lombardi's singing voice.) Franco's boxing subplot was amusing enough (albeit not as amusing as Franco explaining that, of the two times he had gonorrhea, once was as a carrier), and all in all the show feels like more of an ensemble this year, even in an episode where the first half was 90% Tommy.

What did everybody else think?