Rescue Me (season 7)

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Rescue Me (2004–2011) is an American comedy-drama TV series, airing on FX, about the professional and personal lives of New York City firefighters after the trauma of the September 11.

Ashes [7.09]

Tommy: [reading Lou's letter] Dear Tom. If you're reading this, it probably means I'm dead. It might have come as a shock to you, but I'll tell you now. I was living on borrowed time. My heart went bad a while back. I won't bore you with the details, but at this stage of the game, I'll be lucky if I finish this goddamn letter. If it wasn't my ticker that did me in, please tell me I died after eating fifteen pizzas, or during sex with either multiple women or one really big one. Either way that works for me. But seriously, I hope I went on the job doing the work I was meant to do surrounded by you and the guys. Since it was mostly about food with me, I gonna leave you guys with a recipe. Take one self-absorbed pretty boy Puerto Rican. [Off Franco's look, he points to the letter] Add one long on attitude, short on experience black guy. Then add two morons, one more stupid than the other. Mix together and let sit. Then, finally, add one battle-scarred, haunted, formerly drunken Irish asshole who screws up his life like other people breathe. Blend all the ingredients together, turn on fire, and hope for the best. Sounds like shit, doesn't it? Well, brother, I've tasted it. I've eaten it up these last few years, and it's delicious. Okay, cornball, I know. But you guys together, you have something great. Me being gone doesn't change that. Find yourself another good-looking, slightly overweight spoiler of women, and you're back at strength. Keep the crew together and keep fighting the fight. Don't worry me, Tom. I had a good life. I knew brotherhood. I knew being good at something. I knew what it meant to have a friend. Yeah, we had our ups and downs. We're in a major down mode at the moment. But with you, the ups are good enough. I'll take the downs. I love you, Tom. Not in that way. Okay, maybe a little that way. I'll always be with you. Your pal, Lou. P.S. don't forget what the bagpipers are supposed to play. If you mess up, I promise I'll haunt you forever, asshole.

Tommy: [to a group of rookies like in the first episode] You are staring at the names of 343 heroes. 343 American heroes. 343 men who ran in while the entire world stood waiting and watching. First responders on the front line of a war that may never end. I want you to stare at these names. I want you to memorize them. Go home tonight, get on the Internet and look up these names. Find out who these men were and what they did on that day. And then you'll realize this ain't a job. It ain't an occupation. It's a calling! A need. A desire that you feel in your bones and your brains and your nutsack! [One husky rookie chuckles a little] What's so funny, asshole?

Husky Rookie: The...the nutsack thing, sir.

Tommy: The what?

Husky Rookie: The nutsack thing! Sir...

Tommy: Ah-ah-ah, did I ask you another question?! Anybody else?! I didn't think so. I know you assholes have passed the written test and you passed the physical test. But that don't mean nothing. Just a bunch of civil servant bullshit! 'Cause the real test of whether you're chickenshit or not will come the day you get to do what these men behind me did. 'Cause if you're lucky, one day soon, you'll get to run into a burning building while everybody else is running out. And you'll take the stairs, two at a time. With steel in your eyes and ice water in your veins. And you'll come back down with a civilian on each shoulder. And instead of puking or crying or pissing your pants, you'll wipe your brow and run right the hell back in. That's the day, that's the moment you're gonna find out if you're a real firefighter or just one more asshole who bit off more than he could chew. 'Cause maybe one day you run in, and the guy you ran in with, your buddy, your best friend, your cousin, your brother, maybe you come out but he don't. 'Cause he got crushed or incinerated or burned to a crisp. And you're gonna ask yourself, why did I walk away, but not him? I'll tell you one thing. The answer to that question is not at the bottom of a bottle. You can't drink or fight or screw your way to figuring out the answer to that question. People die. We're firefighters. We die a lot. I lost my buddy, my best friend, my cousin, my brother. Some people say it's God's will. I don't know. I don't even know if there is a God. I hope there is. 'Cause that would that one day, all this shit is gonna make some sense. That's all I got for you assholes. I'm gonna turn you over to one of my brothers right now, my new commanding officer, Lieutenant Franco Rivera. [Franco approaches and the two men exchange salutes] Good luck, douchebags.

[The series' last lines]

Lou: You know you're gonna have to get that fat kid as the new probie, right? I mean, none of you assholes can cook. Looks like the kid knows his way around food. You know, you could've mentioned me by name out there. You're talking about heroes and brothers, blah, blah, blah. Oh, and one more thing. When you pick a photo of me, you know, for the plaque in the firehouse, can you find something that doesn't look so chinny?

Tommy: Chinny?

Lou: Yeah, get one from when I was younger and thinner.

Tommy: When would that be?

Lou: Like freshman year in high school.

Tommy: Really.

Lou: Yeah, I was a buck-10.

Tommy: Yeah, maybe at birth.

Lou: You know, that's no way to talk to the dead. But I'm gonna let it slide since you named my godson Shea Gavin.

Tommy: Pretty cool.

Lou: Very cool. Good name for a restaurant.

Tommy: Or quarterback.

Lou: I'm gonna go restaurant. So are you gonna sit here staring at me or are we gonna drive someplace?

Tommy: [starting the truck] Oh, right. Yeah.

Lou: Duncan Hines cake mix, huh? Well, I guess that's kind of symbolic or ironic. Not quite sure which.