Review of Rescue Me

The events of 9/11 initially took the lives of 343 firefighters. I say "initially" because, even to this day, the toxic stew of jet fuel, building materials and vaporized body parts from Ground Zero has killed or disabled hundreds more in the ensuing years. PTSD-related and alcohol- and drug-fueled suicide is still killing more. But there's also another toxic stew in play on Rescue Me: survivors' guilt, a post-9/11 FDNY with a decimated command structure, and the alcohol and drugs to get through the little daily horrors of being a firefighter. The role of Tommy Gavin is the embodiment of all of this, played by Denis Leary (who has some FF bona fides: his cousin was one of the "Worcester 6" who died battling a warehouse fire in 1999).