Has Rescue Me Gone too Far?
Wednesday June 28, 2006
It seems like every day, the networks are constantly pushing the envelope in an effort to be the topic of conversation at that proverbial water cooler. Shows like The Sopranos, Nip/Tuck and The Shield are setting the bar from each jaw-dropping episode to the next to levels ranging from violently brutal to just plain raunchy (not that I'm complaining). A recent episode of Rescue Me has fans of the show up in arms over a rape scene that took place between Denis Leary's character Tommy and his ex-wife Janet. Tommy forced himself on his ex, but in the end, she seemed resolved over what had just taken place, even joking that the shirt he had torn off her wasn't her favorite. When a main character commits such an act, is it possible to ever recover and gain the respect of viewers?
One example of a character that was able to gain the viewers trust and admiration was Luke Spencer from General Hospital. Shortly after he raped Laura, they not only got married, but the wedding is still to this day, the most watched daytime event in history. Michael Ausiello from TV Guide revealed that a twist similar to the Luke and Laura storyline might be in the works for Rescue Me in the coming weeks. In this day and age, will viewers be as forgiving as they were back in the 80s?
Did Rescue Me Go Too Far with the Rape Scene? Vote Now!
(Photo of Denis Leary © 2006 FX Network/Larry Riley)
Comments
Come on people GROW UP!!! If the show bothers you don’t watch it. I love the show and Denis Leary is terrific. This show is based on true stories. I don’t miss an episode. It is a great show. Watch Sesame Street if Rescue Me bothers you
I agree totally with the first comment!! You have to be prepared for almost anything when you watch ‘Rescue Me’; otherwise, don’t watch it! That’s the great thing about tv & radio in this country; there are plenty of channels to choose from! If you don’t like a show, you can very easily just change the channel.
Haven’t seen this particular episode so I can only comment based on how it is described. I will say, I AM grown-up, thank you very much. I watch many shows/movies that depict rape scenes as well as other brutality toward women, men and children. I also watch General Hospital and can still to this day recall when Laura was raped…That’s one thing that has been good about GH - they have NEVER skirted the issue that what Luke did was RAPE! It has come up many times over the years in various instances for plot sequences and never have they tried to make the survivor the instigator which is probably why fans have been able to forgive Luke. He owned up to what he did. Not at first. Neither did Laura. In time they both realized, addressed what happened and called it what it was. Forgiveness and love abide much more readily within truth. Maybe that’s why so many fans watched their wedding, eh?
Am I grown up? Yep! Was I raped by someone similarly? Yep! My fiancé who had also been my best friend of 19 years previous to that particular night. I literally left myself in order to get through it. He…? Can’t exactly say. Took us both time to call it the “R” word to one another…that is, after being apart for a few years, etc. I still haven’t recovered ALL of the memories of that night even though he’s filled in most of the blanks. He hasn’t been able to see me as someone other than the person he thought was most precious in the world - porcelain, a rare blue robin’s egg, God’s countenance in hers - who he RAPED! He’ll love me until the day he dies. Me? I forgave him long ago. Yet he has never been able to honestly look at what really happened and why.
For this show to have Dennis’s character rape his ex and then just gaff it off with her off-handed comment and think it’s okay to leave it there…Funny…I used to wonder out loud if my ex-fiancé would really save me if I were in a burning building and when I was (the rape and aftermath) he was only able to save himself. Think this show will do the same?
Love Dennis Leary and everything he has stood for. Would hate to think he’d allow his character this flaw by saying it’s okay to treat women, any woman, in this manner whether she tries to pretend it’s wasn’t rape or not. We ALL know better. We ALL are GROWN-UPS here, right?
Thank you…as much as I had previously loved the show, I did stop watching after the rape episode. It was quite sickening, actually, and any man who was turned on by it needs chlorine in his own gene pool.