Thomas Michael "Tommy" Gavin is the main character of the FX television series
Rescue MeRescue Me is an American television drama series which premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictional Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse....
. He is portrayed by
Denis LearyDenis Colin Leary is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. He is known for his often biting comedic style and his chain smoking. Leary is the star and co-creator of the television show Rescue Me now in its fifth season....
. Leary was nominated for a Golden Globe (2004) and for two Emmys (2006, 2007) for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Tommy. The character was created by Denis Leary and Peter Tolan.
Thomas Michael Gavin is a New York firefighter of
IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
descent. He is a tortured character and a relapsed alcoholic.
Season 1
Throughout the first season of
Rescue Me, Tommy is living across the street from his estranged wife Janet.
Thomas Michael "Tommy" Gavin is the main character of the FX television series
Rescue MeRescue Me is an American television drama series which premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictional Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse....
. He is portrayed by
Denis LearyDenis Colin Leary is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. He is known for his often biting comedic style and his chain smoking. Leary is the star and co-creator of the television show Rescue Me now in its fifth season....
. Leary was nominated for a Golden Globe (2004) and for two Emmys (2006, 2007) for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Tommy. The character was created by Denis Leary and Peter Tolan.
Biography
Thomas Michael Gavin is a New York firefighter of
IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
descent. He is a tortured character and a relapsed alcoholic.
Season 1
Throughout the first season of
Rescue Me, Tommy is living across the street from his estranged wife Janet. His cousin Jimmy, a firefighter who died on 9/11, visits him as a ghost. Tommy starts an affair with Jimmy's wife Sheila. When confronted about this relationship, he refuses to end it because Sheila is pregnant. At the end of the season he requests a transfer after a breakdown during a rescue that threatened his co-worker Franco's life. His wife and children leave their home.
Season 2
Tommy is working at a different firehouse at the start of the season. Sheila miscarries but does not tell him. He and his brother Johnny discover that during their childhood, their father had a long-term affair that produced two children. They suspect that their half-brother, a priest, is a pedophile. Tommy and his family reconcile. His son Connor is killed by a drunk driver. Johnny finds out that the driver may not do time, so Tommy's uncle, Teddy, kills him.
Season 3
Tommy is again living on his own. He discovers that Johnny is having an affair with Janet, and that his co-worker Sean is having an affair with his sister
Maggie GavinMaggie Gavin Garrity is a character on the FX drama Rescue Me. The character is played by Tatum O'Neal.Tommy's sister, who recently came back around after she found out that their father was supposed to inherit money from his recently deceased wife...
. Janet becomes pregnant. Johnny, a detective, is killed while investigating a drug case. In the last episode of the season, Sheila drugs Tommy and accidentally sets her house on fire.
Season 4
Tommy is living with his wife and children. Janet is suffering from postpartum depression, and Tommy sells her son to Sheila. Tommy then shares custody with Sheila. The last scene in the last episode shows Tommy and his father watching a baseball game in which Tommy tries to get the attention of his father only to realise that he has passed on, so Tommy puts his arm around his father and continues to watch the game. Meanwhile, Chief Feinberg writes him up for a
section 8The term Section 8 refers to a category of discharge from the United States military for reason of being mentally unfit for service. It also came to mean any serviceperson given such a discharge or behaving as if deserving such a discharge...
.
Season 5
Tommy has his section 8 hearing and the doctor, who has a bitter history with Feinberg, lets Tommy off without thinking twice.
His wife, Janet, has a new lover, Dwight,
Michael J. FoxMichael J. Fox is a Canadian actor, author and voice-over artist. His roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
who has a disability set on from an accident years previosly. Tommy is disdainful towards Dwight, but does not accept Dwight's drug addicition. Tommy has completed one full year without a drink and relapses at a restaurant nearby the site of the September 11 Attacks he leaves his honorary medal at the bottom of his glass.
Season 6
Not yet Created
Controversial storyline
The character was involved in a controversial storyline in
Rescue Me's third season. In the episode "Sparks", first aired on June 20, 2006, Tommy sexually forces himself on Janet. Janet fights back, but then appears to accept the situation and appears to enjoy it. Tommy smirks when he leaves the house. Television reviewers, bloggers and fans complained about the scene. There was debate about whether Tommy had raped Janet. Janet's reaction and Tommy's expression caused as much reaction as the assault itself, with critics saying that it made rape look unimportant and that Tommy's actions were condoned. Leary did not apologise, saying that what happened between the characters was not rape, and that the scene made sense in the context of Tommy's dysfunctional relationship with Janet. In a later episode, Tommy is drugged and sexually assaulted by Shiela.
Peter Tolan, co-creator of
Rescue Me and co-writer of the episode, discussed the storyline in a forum on the website Television Without Pity. He defended the scene, but acknowledged that some viewers may not have interpreted the scene in the way he and Leary had intended. John Landgraf, the president of FX, stated that he knew that the scene might be controversial when the scripts were being written. Leary stated that he was glad the show was on FX rather than a broadcast network that would not have supported the storyline.
External links