Rescue Me/Recap

Season One:

Picking up four years after 9/11, the members of FDNY Ladder Company 62 are still dealing with that day, especially Tommy Gavin, as he finds himself seeing his dead cousin's ghost, as well as dealing with his ex-wife dating his neighbor from across the street, while he dates Sheila, his cousin's widow. The station's chief, Jerry Reilly, assaults a former firefighter who claimed that 20 of the 9/11 firefighters were homosexual. Firefighter Sean Garrity starts to date one of firefighter Franco Rivera's many ex's, leading to his discovery of a daughter. Probie Mike Silletti secretly starts to date a "fat chick", and Lt. Ken Shea deals with 9/11 by writing poetry, and starts to have an affair. The death of another fireman causes the city to send female firefighter Laura Miles to the station, where she and Tommy start to clash. At the close of the season, Tommy's reckless behavior gets Franco injured, and he comes home to find his wife and children gone.

Season Two:

The season opens with Tommy at a station on Staten Island, his replacement Sully much more popular than Tommy. However, when the 62 Truck crew find him in a blazing sexual club, they discover that Sully is a cross-dresser and force him out of the station, clearing the way for Tommy's return. However, Tommy and his brother Johnny discover their father has, for much of their lives, had an extramarital affair, producing two sons, one of whom is a suspected pedophile priest. Probie Mike stalks his ex, the Chief Reilly's wife is deteriorating from Alzheimers, forcing him to contact his estranged son; Laura dates Franco, then leaves both him and the firehouse, and Lt. Shea is conned out of his life savings by a prostitute. As Tommy and his wife reconcile, their only son is killed by a drunk driver, who is then killed by Tommy's uncle Teddy.

Season Three:

As the third season opens, Tommy and his wife Janet are separated, Uncle Teddy is in jail for murder, and Tommy's cop brother Johnny is dating Janet. When Tommy confronts his wife over the relationship, he "rapes" her. However, her attitude afterwords suggests she did not mind, and possibly even enjoyed the experience. Lt. Shea is spiraling downwards after being conned, and Probie Mike starts a sexual relationship with his male roommate, while Garrity dates Tommy's sister. Tommy starts to see Sheila again, who drugs Tommy in order to have sex. Janet becomes pregnant by either Tommy or Johnny, and decides the boy will fill the void of her first son. Probie Mike's possible homosexuality is discovered by the rest of the firefighters, and Tommy is forced to come to his defense. Franco starts to date an older rich woman, but she takes away his daughter, who Franco cannot take back due to legal issues. Shea moves in with Tommy, and starts sleep with a nun who is intending to leave her convent, planning on taking her to Florida and becoming a hand on his cousin's fishing boat. Chief Reilly takes a second job to try and pay for his wife's healthcare costs, but suffers a heart attack when he takes Viagra to have sex with his wife's caregiver. Johnny is shot three times by an assassin, and at the funeral, Maggie and Sean announce they will be married. When Probie Mike mentions transferring, Tommy goes to the house he tried to transfer to and blatantly lies, saying Mike is a coward. With the rest of the house breaking up, however, Tommy decides to move in with Sheila. He changes his mind when Shea doesn't leave, Mike's transfer is denied, and Franco fails the Lieutenants exam. However, in an attempt to get Tommy to stay, Sheila lights her house on fire after drugging Tommy. The ending shows Sheila trying to wake Tommy as the house burns.

Season Four

The opening reveals both Tommy and Sheila were saved by volunteers, but both are also accused of arson and insurance fraud. Janet gives birth, but after initially warming to the child, it's jet-black hair leads everyone to believe it is Johnny's. Uncle Teddy is released from prison, but abandons his wife at a coffee shop. Chief Reilly, after being taken off active duty due to his heart attack, kills himself, to everyone's shock. The situation with the baby worsens, when it is revealed to not only constantly cry, but wails louder when it is held by Janet. This leads Sheila to offer Tommy money to give her the baby, which Tommy seriously considers after a long conversation with his brother's ghost, the spirit trying to convince Tommy to drown the baby in the Hudson. However, when Janet learns of the exchange, she beats Tommy with a frying pan, then runs him down with her car. After briefly (really briefly) checking to make sure he's alive, Janet uses her youngest daughter to get the baby back. Eventually, Tommy shares custody of the baby, using his oldest daughter, Colleen, as a middle man in exchange for a no-limits credit card. In turn, Colleen's boyfriend uses the card to buy an engagement ring for another girl. When confronted by Colleen on the matter, the boyfriend explains that Tommy scares him, making Colleen despise Tommy even more. Maggie and Sean are together on and off, but Maggie drifts away, making Sean desperate enough to fake alcoholism, just to be with her. Finally, the Gavin family decides to hold their own AA meetings, due to the mass of drunks in the family. Tommy begins seeing a woman who can't be touched after an orgasm, and Janet takes a job where she dates her younger boss. New firefighter Bart joins the house, though he prefers to be called Sean. Since he is Africa-American, the crew take to calling him "Black Sean", to tell the two Sean's apart. Negotiating to get him on the station's basketball team, Shea and Franco excuse him from Probie work, much to Tommy's chagrin. However, when Black Sean proves himself in a fire, Tommy gives him a begrudging respect. The final episode shows Tommy, his father, Uncle Teddy, Shea and Garrity at a Newark Bears game, where Shea equates life to baseball. At the game, as Tommy points out a line drive to his father, he discovers the eldest Gavin is dead. Not knowing what else to do, Tommy simply puts his arm around his father's shoulders, and watches the game.

Season Five

The season begins with Tommy and family dealing with the loss of Tommy's father at the end of last season, though Tommy (unlike the rest of his family) isn't willing to forgive the fact that his father was a bastard up until his death. The beginning of the season also showed the firemen taking ownership of a bar, Sheila seeing a therapist, and Janet dating a wheelchair-bound Michael J. Fox. Meanwhile, a French reporter named Genevieve begins to strike a fire in the house with her new book about 9/11, an event that some of the crew still have very deep-rooted feelings about. It is during this time that Tommy discovers his cousin didn't die during the fall of the first tower, but a little bit after that. Sean Garrity, meanwhile, learns he has developed kidney cancer and is forced into treatment. Franco enters a boxing tournament and hooks up with a girl who may or may not be a lesbian, Black Shaun continues to see Colleen, Mike (who is Probie no longer) begins a band, and Lou has another encounter with Candy, the woman who ripped him off earlier in the show. The rest of the season involves Damian becoming part of Tommy's firehouse, Katy drifting farther from her family, Sheila and Janet continuing to go off the deep end, and a new woman named Kelly coming into Tommy's life. The season finale involves the aftermath of a tragedy in the Gavin family, a plot by Janet and Sheila going haywire, and Uncle Teddy giving a surprise visit to the bar.