Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie Review

For those dying to see Denis Leary's spittle in high definition...

For anyone who isn't already familiar with the compelling, critically-acclaimed FX Network drama Rescue Me, the show follows the exploits and misadventures of Tommy Gavin (actor/comedian Denis Leary), a short-fused firefighter whose inner demons continually threaten to unravel his personal life. Pouring every ounce of strength and sanity into a career few people outside of his unit truly understand, Tommy struggles to prevent emotional breakdowns -- spurred on by frequent visitations from dead family members -- and physical outbursts at every turn. With his marriage in shambles, his children growing ever-distant, and his health and well-being in question, the firehouse becomes his lone sanctuary. Shooting the breeze with his gruff Chief (Jack McGee) and longtime friend Lou (John Scurti), he mentors a promising but temperamental young pro (Daniel Sunjata), tolerates a wide-eyed dimwit (Steven Pasquale), and tries to impart his wisdom to a comically-clumsy rookie (Mike Silletti).

While the setup will undoubtedly strike some viewers as a contrived, in-house attempt to replicate the grim-n-gritty character drama of The Shield, Rescue Me effectively fuses dark storylines, side-splitting humor, and unsettling imagery into an infectious and cohesive whole. Leary portrays Gavin as a bottomless pit of a man; a lost soul whose addictions and volatility only serve to feed the unrelenting turmoil consuming his every thought and decision. At the same time, each episode spends a significant amount of time with his friends, family members, and colleagues. The firehouse often takes center stage, crafting endless subplots that dissect the other firemen as they offer various insights through at-times hilarious banter. Sure, with so many characters, subplots, and relationships, Rescue Me rooks will be lost in the avalanche, but faithful fans who've been with it all since the beginning will take everything in twisted stride.

On an odd side note, several season three episodes inspired a few thin-skinned critics to accuse Leary and company of glorifying domestic violence. However, I imagine anyone who's legitimately offended by the content in question will also have a difficult time navigating the series' comedic bits and unsettling drama. I'll admit that a few episodes are tough to watch, but each uncomfortable confrontation or situation manages to ground the story in a perverse, but familiar sort of reality. These moments would have upset me as well if the writers didn't saddle Gavin with severe consequences to his every decision. He doesn't simply get away with his abuse and misdeeds... he suffers endlessly as a result of them. Seeing as those who fall prey to addiction and grief often behave in an irrational and self-destructive manner, his actions actually make an uncomfortable amount of sense. Honestly, if the show presented Tommy in any other light, I'd cry foul. Leary's character would no longer feel like an authentic and inherently flawed human being and the series would lose its surreal grasp on reality.

As far as I'm concerned, Rescue Me continues to dig into its characters psyches and explore the depths of some very familiar emotions, all while wrapping itself in biting humor and self-deprecating laughs. Anyone trying to jump on with The Complete Third Season will have a hard time adjusting to the series' at-times jarring tonal shifts, fans will appreciate the continued evolution of the series' characters and storylines.

Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season features a surprisingly impressive 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that faithfully renders the series' unattractive visuals, grainy aesthetics, and washed out palette with ease. While colors are drab and primaries rarely pop, on-screen flames, warm interior spaces, and skintone saturation looks fantastic. The show's stark contrast is spot on (despite its regularly overblown appearance), injecting deep blacks, fittingly stark whites, and convincing depth and dimensionality into each episode. Moreover, compared to the show's stilted HD broadcast and murky DVD presentation, detail has been noticeably improved, fine textures are more refined, and delineation is far more revealing. Aside from a few soft shots here and there, the technically proficient BD transfer is consistent and reliable. Compression artifacts, banding, and ringing have also been drastically reduced. It may be difficult to tell since grain and noise are regularly encouraged to swarm the picture, but the image itself is cleaner than it's ever been before. While I still caught glimpses of minor blocking and banding (particularly when heavy smoke would invade a scene), it rarely detracted from the discs' overall quality.

As it stands, the majority of Rescue Me's rough presentation can be attributed to the show itself rather than the Blu-ray edition's technical transfer. Considering the style and tone of the series, fans should be extremely pleased with how good it actually looks in high definition.

Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season includes a rousing PCM 5.1 surround track that does a fine job representing the series' original sound design. Each episode has been shot using authentic environmental ambience, street chatter, and chaos to enhance the tone of the series and, as a result, air noise, unintelligible lines, and overwhelming bass thooms are the norm. However, the result is an unexpectedly believable mix that offers natural channel movement, rich acoustics, and precise directionality. When characters make their way through the crowded city streets, New York's active alleys and enveloping locales extend throughout the track's immersive soundfield. It helps that dynamics are quite strong. LFE support is weighty and aggressive, treble tones are crisp and stable, and the track exudes serious power during the season's more intense scenarios. Scenes in which Tommy's crew has to wind their way through a burning building are perhaps the most involving -- staircases offer convincing echoes, survivors cough in the distance, and hidden flames seem to crackle off-camera in every direction. When the firemen encounter the source of the blaze, activity swarms every speaker and provides a fitting sense of panic and chaos. Sure, prioritization takes a dive in every instance, but the muffled voices and channel inconsistencies deftly enhance the already disorienting visuals.

I do have a few minor nitpicks. Pans sometimes lack subtlety, hiss and noise distracting during a few rough exterior shots, and interior acoustics sound a bit pinched in two of the season's quieter episodes. Still, considering the tone of the show and the nature of its production, these are small, inevitable mishaps in an otherwise commendable presentation.

Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Evenly spread across four BD-50 Dual-Layer discs, the Blu-ray edition of Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season includes all of the special features that appear on the DVD version. It's a relatively passable supplemental package, but I was disappointed with its complete lack of cast and crew audio commentaries, its short and shallow featurettes, and the fact that all the video content is merely presented in standard definition.

• Behind the Smoke (SD, 25 minutes): This behind-the-scenes documentary includes dozens of interviews, character dissections, production tidbits, and candid footage of the production. The participants discuss the show's themes, humor, casting, character motivations, and more.
• Deleted Scenes (SD, 19 minutes): Extra character beats, exorcised subplots, and additional conversations make this collection a treasure trove of cool cuts and revealing deletions.
• Rescue Me Comedy Short (SD, 13 minutes): A hilarious horror-spoof of sorts that finds the firehouse gents trying to survive an encounter with a supernatural visitor. It's good for some hearty laughs, but not much else.
• Location Tour (SD, 9 minutes): A series of nine webisode-styled shorts that detail the series' locales and sets.
• Behind the Hose (SD, 9 minutes): Fly-on-the-wall footage of the cast and crew doing working.
• The Bravest Traditions (SD, 6 minutes): A brief overview of the New York City Fire Department, its history, and its generational impact over the decades. It's a great featurette, but it's unforgivably short.
• Fighting Fires in a Vertical City (SD, 6 minutes): This equally interesting (and truncated) featurette documents the unique challenges the city presents to real firemen on the job.
• Gag Reel (SD, 6 minutes): A fairly predictable bunch of flubs, blunders, and outtakes.
• Going to the Gay Place (SD, 5 minutes): Documents a practical joke Leary had to endure at the hands of his co-workers. It's too involved and complicated to explain without spoiling the gag, but be sure to take five minutes to see this one.
• Being Denis Leary (SD, 3 minutes): A faux-interview with Leary's stand-in that's more than a little reminiscent of the infamous Mission Impossible 2 with Tom Cruise and Ben Stiller that aired on the MTV Movie Awards.
• Season Four Preview (SD, 1 minute)

Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rescue Me is an engaging FX Network drama that continues to draw me further and further in with each passing season. While I wouldn't recommend you introduce yourself to the series with its Complete Third Season, the four-disc Blu-ray edition is sure to please fans who have been on board since the beginning. It not only includes the best season of the show to date, it features a sharp and faithful video transfer and a precise and immersive uncompressed PCM audio track. As it stands, the only downside is the inclusion of a short and superficial supplemental package that doesn't deliver a single audio commentary. Ah well, Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season is a solid release that deserves some attention. If only Sony would only get to work on releasing the other three seasons in high definition...