Tommy Gavin Off the Wagon

So if you are a fan of Rescue Me you know that Tommy Gavin is off the wagon and man oh man he is the classic  “I was an alcoholic, but now I’ve got it all under control” guy.  For those of you who are not fans, Dennis Leary plays Gavin, a NY firefighter who went through 9/11, lost close friends to the Towers, and sees dead people.  He has a sponsor, his cousin who incidentally got drunk a few episodes earlier, then got right back to the rooms (and weirdly enough, seemed to think he could still be Tommy Gavin’s sponsor).

Rescue Me is classic family drama – actually family chaos – and they capture the out-of-control insanity of the Gavin brood particularly well, from his utterly self-destructive sister to his scarringly mean father.  But what it captures better than anything is the way addiction, particularly alcoholism, insinuates itself into every relationship, every decision, and every consequence.

Tommy’s progression to full-blow alcoholic drinking on this relapse has been blindingly fast, and really pretty accurate. He stays in what he calls control for about two hours.  He gets an enabler – his on-again-off-again girlfriend (wife of his best friend who was killed in 9/11) who tells him her house is a safe place for him to drink, have sex with her, and then agree to watch out for her son who is a probie fire fighter. God knows why she would trust a drinking Tommy Gavin with her young son’s health and well being.  She tells Tommy the best way to stay in control is to let everyone know he’s drinking again – see, then he will have to control his drinking because everyone will be watching.  Yeah, that’ll work.

Last week the episode closed with Tommy closing his eyes, then realizing he needed another guzzle – and then he pours about a fifth into a glass and downs it. So much for control. You can see it in his face: oh no. I’m in that place again.

It will be interesting to see where it takes him this week.