Jack McGee Without Pity: Rescue Me’s Fire Chief Burns Bridges

Jack McGee Without Pity: Rescue Me’s Fire Chief Burns Bridges

By Matt Zoller Seitz on June 28, 2007 in Interviews, Television Jump to Comments (0)

By Matt Zoller Seitz
McGee says that Rescue Me star and executive producer Denis Leary demands deference from costars, ostracizes those who don't grant it, and avoids taking responsibility for unpleasant creative decisions, preferring to subcontract the delivery of bad news to his fellow executive producers, Peter Tolan and Jim Serpico. "He's a bully, is what he is," McGee says. "Bullies most of the time don't have the guts to do things themselves."

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What struck me as the oddest thing was the preview for the next episode. I thought at first perhaps they were trying to keep the audience guessing as to whether the Chief were really dead but now that I know he is, the tone of the next episode makes me really believe McGee's side of it since the tone of the previews didn't have anyone who appeared to be acting as if their loyal former chief and friend had just blown his brains out.
Posted by Edward Copeland on 2007-06-29 00:42:00 Nomi I had the same take as you did about shock for shock sake. It always irked me that they'd compare these maneuvers to The Sopranos which, to me at least, worked very differently. Chase would shock you with unpredictable turns of events, BECAUSE they rang true. They were very well supported by the facts as we knew them.

I liked the way you expanded on it Matt. Great article!
Posted by puck on 2007-06-28 19:33:00 Kudos on the scoop. I was very disappointed to watch last nights episode and the outcome. I too have read the rumors about Leary and may be starting believing them. C'mon, not inviting Jack to the premier? C'mon, not personally talking to someone who acted in 50% of your scenes for the series that you created? Bad taste...

I too am also astonished by Mr. Leary's wardrobe and the constant flashing of money on-screen. There is no way that is a true perception. So maybe after 20 years with overtime he could net 100k. That don't go far in NYC. That really don't go far supporting a family of four and your father.
Posted by Ethan on 2007-06-28 19:02:00 I also think Reilly would have had steak before doing the deed. Why count calories if it's your last meal?
Posted by Matt Zoller Seitz on 2007-06-28 18:42:00 Yeah, what's really interesting to me about this whole thing isn't the "Leary's a jerk/McGee's a crybaby" thing, but the insight it provides into the writing process on that series. Both McGee and Tolan's characterizations of Reilly's suicide ultimately confirm that on "Rescue Me," surprising and shocking the viewer is a paramount concern -- that it's not a series like 'The Sopranos' or "Deadwood," which generally tried to make plot flow from character. McGee predictably doesn't agree with the reasoning behind writing his character out because he feels that it was inconsistent, or at least insufficiently justified, based on the character as he'd been established over three seasons. Tolan's quote doesn't refute that, exactly, but in explaining why it was done, he seems to be saying, "We did something similar last season, and it really shocked the audience, and we wanted to do something like that again this season." It's tied into the overarching theme as Tolan explains it -- Season Four is about the firefighters confronting the fact that their lives and identities are defined by their jobs, and if they can't have that job anymore, and they've screwed up everything else, they're left alone. Tolan admits they killed Reilly in order to push that theme to the forefront and (presumably) rattle the other characters. But that doesn't quite answer the more immediate question, which is, "Did it seem dramatically believable for Reilly to kill himself, based on what we knew about him?"

People kill themselves all the time for all sorts of reasons, and often people are surprised, and say things like, "He seemed so happy" or "He had so much to live for." The difference between life and drama is, in drama, we're privy to details of the deceased's life that their friends probably were not, and as viewers, we have a better sense of their mindset than any other single character. Within the context of the firehouse, I can see the other characters saying, "That sucks that Reilly killed himself. I guess he must have been more tormented than we thought." But we saw Reilly over three seasons, with a totality of vision that no other character had, and from our perspective (from mine at least) he seemed like one of the toughest and most reasonable characters, and the most responsible toward people who depended on him emotionally or financially. And despite the behind the scenes drama surrounding McGee's exit, I didn't get any sense from watching the show that Reilly's colleagues didn't like him or were growing apart from him, and he certainly proved willing to discuss whatever problems he might have been having with other characters on the show. By which I mean, whatever demons were plaguing Reilly in the third episode of season four, I don't think it's plausible to say, "He felt totally alone -- he felt as if all hope was lost -- he had nowhere to turn." In fact he was already building a relationship with the firehouse despite having no direct connection to it anymore, as evidenced by him using his new position in order to magically neutralize Tommy's arson issues with a few computer keystokes. So he was already on the road toward making something productive out of a shitty situation. Given all that, I'm not convinced that he would have killed himself at that particular point in time.

But this is an "Oh shit, I can't believe they did that!" kind of show, so different rules apply.
Posted by Matt Zoller Seitz on 2007-06-28 18:29:00 How mad could Dean Winters have been? He did a not-strictly-necessary walk-on last week as a ghost....

...That said, whether or not Leary is a jerk, this show has been floundering since the beginning of Season 3 in my opinion, and I defy anyone to explain the business of the insurance fraud.....
Posted by Simon Crowe on 2007-06-28 18:09:00 Excellent article.

The closing scenes with Chief had that plotless "why the hell are they showing me all this?" feel that tipped me off that death was on the way. But I never could have predicted the suicide. Definitely felt like a sucker punch to me, and I agree with McGee that it was completely out of character. The show is starting to lose me, and it's a real shame, because I loved it.

Commenter Jim Treacher at Sepinwall's site pointed out -- "It just occurred to me... why would he have a salad as his last meal? If he knew he was going to blow his brains out, why not do it with a belly full of steak or something? What was he worried about, another heart attack? The only reason to have him eat a salad was to misdirect the viewer, which stinks." Amen.
Posted by Patrick Walsh on 2007-06-28 18:06:00 Good piece, Matt.
Posted by Ellen Gray on 2007-06-28 16:50:00 Nomi: Yeah, I'm a reporter, too, though I haven't had much call to exercise those chops in a while.
Posted by Matt Zoller Seitz on 2007-06-28 16:40:00 Yes, although I don't watch this show, what struck me the most about all of this was Tolan's blatant admission that the suicide really didn't come out of any kind of truth, but was essentially a sucker-punch-the-audience move. Defying expectations is great, but only when it has the weight of truth behind it.

Matt, I didn't know exposes were in your repertoire.
Posted by Nomi on 2007-06-28 16:03:00 You know what they say, Sean, if you like Denis Leary's comedy act, you'll love Bill Hicks' act.
Posted by Bret LaGree on 2007-06-28 14:10:00 Woah.

That's a heckuva a scoop Matt, nicely done!

Living here in Boston, I've always heard rumblings about what a complete dickhead Leary is, but being such a fan of his comedy I tried chalking those up to some weird hometown jealousy syndrome.

Now suddenly I'm not so sure.

(I know I keep obsessing about this like a broken record, but Tommy Gavin's designer turtlenecks, pink shirts and penchant for wearing $500 sunglasses indoors during dramatic scenes speak far more to the performer's vanity and ego than any choice that makes any logical sense for the character. I swear I can't look at anything else these days besides what Leary is wearing.)

What's really killing me today is that I just ran a mixed-positive review of RESCUE ME in this week's PW, but because of deadline issues I'd only had a chance to check out the season premiere. After these past couple weeks, and particularly after last night's retarded nonsense - I doubt I'll even be watching anymore.

Most revealing was Tolan's admission that the Chief's suicide wasn't motivated by anything inherent in his character -- first they just really wanted to fuck with us during the season finale last year by giving him a heart attack and then killing Johnny instead -- and now they needed a plot device to rattle the rest of the guys in the firehouse.

I don't buy the Chief offing himself for one second. It's just typical RESCUE ME bullshit, left-field shock value twists that ruin all the fun I was having watching these guys sit around talking about jerking-off.

Thank God I've still got THE JOB on DVD. This crew was so much more fun before they got delusions of grandeur.
Posted by sean burns on 2007-06-28 12:49:00

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