- A gruesome accident has the guys fighting to stay strong. When Tommy is the only one to remain stoic, he seeks a violent outlet for his emotions.
- The crew enters a building, including Sean. He goes off to a darkened room by himself, he flips a light and suddenly it's the scene from "Singing in the Rain" with Gene Kelly on the soundstage. Sean's singing a riff on "The Nearness of You." He starts coughing mid-love song, as he serenades an ingénue. He develops into a full coughing fit mid soft-shoe.
He wakes up with Teddy holding a pillow over his face, explaining he's helping put him out of his misery. Sean opts to live. And then Teddy tells him Maggie (his ex) would be dropping by soon. Sickly Sean pulls Teddy close, "Do me a favor, get the pillow."
The truck pulls up on an overturned car in flames, with two others crumpled nearby. Lou tells Tommy he's making his move on Candy tonight. Tommy says he'll clear out, but to make sure she doesn't go through his stuff before she leaves.
Tommy's winding down the digs when they look near the car and see a kid's mangled body. Shawn and Franco see that Tommy and Lou have stopped dead in their tracks and come over to check it out. Whatever they see makes Shawn lose his lunch. Needles tells everyone to take a minute to collect themselves then do their jobs.
Tommy covers the kid with a blanket as everyone else keeps their distance. It takes some time because he has to collect the pieces.
The guys watch Tommy carry the body away, shaken and wondering how he does it.
In the hospital, Terence does crossword puzzles out loud. Maggie arrives. Terence immediately makes eye contact with her rear. Sean's mom and brother clear out to give them time alone that Sean doesn't really want. Maggie, saying she's clean and sober, leads Sean to believe he might be dying, and also that she loves and hates him. Then she starts unbuttoning her shirt, to make love to him one last time. He declines. Then she notices his morphine and asks if she can have some. She explains it'd level the playing field for the sex, and it's about sacrifice, which is what was wrong in their marriage. Yes, he says, it was all about her. She agrees, but somehow he's still lost the argument. He's saved by the doctor coming in.
Franco hits the heavy bag limply as Needles and Carla watch. She asks how bad the crash that day was and Needles explains the fireman's code not to talk about it. She asks Franco about the kid. Burnt? Charred? Eyes melted out? When Franco shouts at her that he doesn't want to talk about it, she tells him to use the anger against the bag, like he's punching God in the face for what he saw. Franco goes back at the bag like he means it.
Lou (Ken) comes home to his apartment, but doesn't recognize it. Candy has cleaned the place from top to bottom and organized. It's spotless. She even organized the books and DVDs into alphabetical order. Turns out Lou has a coin collection and a chess set.
Tommy settles in with several bottles of booze.
Lou tells Candy he's been thinking about a lot of things, including her. Especially given things like he saw today, the last thing he wants is to come home to an empty house. He's been working on his anger and resentment and thinks he's reached the next phase: pizza. And also forgiveness. He also brought champagne. He tells her his first impulse was to take it slow, but he's reconsidered that. She kisses him. She says his impulse was right, they should take it slow (and also she quit drinking). She suggests a game of chess. "Nude?" he asks.
Tommy preps his DVD viewing area. He cracks open a bottle and drinks from it, watching home movies of his kids, including Connor. He leans back and sees the older version of his son, sitting behind him, narrating the movie. Then Jimmy's there, too, worrying about Damian in the academy and if he'll make it. Then his dead brother Johnny is there, telling him to have one more drink and he'll finally cry. Tommy takes a swig and then his dad's there, saying he can drink all he wants, there aren't any tears left after Connor. His dad goes on that Tommy can't feel anything, he's dead inside, the original Iron Man. Tommy gives up.
Then he grabs a blowtorch. He tests it on his hand. He sits down and takes off his pants and takes another drink. He grabs the torch and holds it against his thigh. He grimaces, but no tears come. He chars his skin, finally cheers. He looks for a first aid kit. His phone rings. It's his sponsee Derek. He tells him about his conversation with all the dead relatives and that he just burned a hole in his leg. Derek thinks he's joking. Tommy calls Sheila, asking if she has a first aid kit. He's coming over.
She wants to take him to the emergency room, but he won't go. She tells him his behavior isn't healthy and, worse, they're not going to be able to have sex because of where the wound is. He tells her to take off her clothes and he sits her down on his lap. She's grossed out at first but gets into it. When they're done, he asks for 12 Advils and a sandwich, plus a bottle of whiskey.
In the hospital, Terence's crossword puzzling is irritating the guys in the hall. They see a group of "cancer kids" walk by. They follow them to their ward and stand outside and stare until a nurse comes out and tells them to stop standing there looking sad. She tells them if they want to come in they literally have to put on a happy face. The guys walks off, but Tommy pauses then goes in, all smiles. The guys come back and watch as he reads to the kids.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content