It’s been nearly a year since Tommy Gavin was shot twice by his grieving Uncle Teddy. With four bullets left in his gun, Teddy held Tommy’s buddies from the firehouse and family hostage refusing to let them help but just sit and watch Tommy bleeding out on the barroom floor…and us to wonder if it was actually the end for Tommy Gavin.
As season 6 opens, we find Tommy in the back of an ambulance with Lou and Tommy’s cousin Mickey and it doesn’t look good. As Tommy flat lines, we enter into one of Tommy’s dream sequences. Tommy finds himself in firefighter purgatory. There are rows upon rows of body bags on the floor all containing firefighters that begin to awaken and stand one by one. Tommy among them awakens to a welcoming Cousin Jimmy excited to tell him of all the fallen firefighters he will see once Tommy heads towards the bright light and crosses over. Instead Tommy hesitates and ends up sliding down a shaft into hell, which for Tommy is a never ending hallway of a burning building haunted by people from his past that he was unable to save.
The guys in the firehouse are experiencing their own hell which is Chief Fienberg ripping them a new one for putting the house in jeopardy of being shut down by the Mayor by drawing negative attention to a house filled with known trouble makers as the city is facing budget cuts.
Tommy Lives! Cousin Mickey picks up Tommy, and learns he is sneaking out of the hospital early. He tells Mickey that he was bored with physical therapy but Mickey quickly discovers that he has stolen a duffle bag full of morphine as well. Tommy learns that his family has had it with his suicidal alcoholic tendencies. Mickey, pretending to swig vodka, enters the freeway going the wrong direction in an attempt to give Tommy a taste of what it feels like to witness to someone spiraling out of control. Mickey then forces Tommy to sit down with Uncle Teddy. Uncle Teddy lets Tommy know that he’d like to say he is sorry for shooting Tommy twice, but he’s not, he pulls out a handgun and let’s Tommy know that if he begins drinking and drugging again, he looks forward to shooting him gain. Teddy does, however, give Tommy a pair of cuff links with the bullets the hospital pulled from his shoulder as a parting gift and a reminder.
When Tommy finally makes it home he receives a homecoming Gavin style. Janet punches him several times in his wounded shoulder and informs him she will be residing with him until she is convinced her children are safe and that Tommy is welcome to drink at home under her watch, Katy attempts to play bartender for him, he learns that Colleen is also allowed to drink at home and is doing so liberally, and he finds out that the guys from the Firehouse have been by to help out while he was in the hospital but Janet especially appreciates the help that she’s received from Franco.
Not finding any peace at home Tommy decides to go to the Firehouse where he’s greeted happily by the guys and learns that the Firehouse might be shut down. His reunion is short lived as the Firehouse gets a call, before they leave a jealous Tommy let’s Franco know that he’d appreciate it if he didn’t stop by and ‘help’ out anymore. There is also a moment with Lou and Tommy where Lou presses Tommy to tell him the truth about what he experienced when he was medically dead. Tommy remains silent. In the peace of the firehouse he is able to close his eyes and get a little rest that is until Cousin Jimmy comes to him in a dream also wanting to know what happened to Tommy in the afterlife. Waking from his sleeping nightmare Tommy opens his eyes to find Shelia perched next to him informing him that she visited him in the hospital, contemplated about pulling the plug on his life support, but decided against it and he now owes her and what she wants is her son off the job.
Tommy now ventures to the bar where he learns that he can no longer drink for free there but he is now a patron attraction as the guy who got shot and as he earns a drink by letting bar patrons take photos with him Uncle Teddy is present to see if Tommy will in fact take a sip.
Tommy slips out of the bar, with bottle of whiskey in tow, and wanders into a cathedral where we he sits tortured wondering his fate….and finishing off the bottle of whiskey.
No comments:
Post a Comment