The newest episode of “Rescue Me” opens with Sean Garrity still in the hospital, recovering from kidney surgery. As he did with last week’s amusing vegetable number, Sean continues to dream in musicals. This time, he sings  to a beautiful woman who, quite literally, takes his breath away.

“You take my breath away, leaving me winded, gasping for air. Well, the newness of you has me clearly completely ecstatic, speaking respiratorially, I’m asthmatic, for you.”

“Take your place at my side and together our future we’ll tailor, just as long as we keep close at hand an inhaler.”

Sean wakes up to Teddy trying to cover his face with a pillow and Teddy instructing, “Don’t fight it kid. Walk towards the light.”

Sean convinces his angel of death that he doesn’t want to die, but quickly reconsiders when Teddy mentions that Sean’s ex-wife, Maggie, will be visiting soon.  ”Teddy,” Sean says. “Get the pillow.”

The department responds to a two-car accident, which seems run-of-the-mill until the body of a young girl is found. While Lou and the others can’t bear to look, Tommy takes a blanket and slowly wraps up the burned little body.

A devastating scene for sure, even more so because we never actually see the body. With shows like Bones and the half-dozen CSI’s seemingly delighting in showing us the guts and gore of everyday life, this simple scene, showing only Tommy’s devastated face as he wraps up the child, is quietly powerful.

Back at the hospital, Sean is visited from his ex-from-hell who says she both loves and hates him. She tells him that she is sober now, though she does ask if she can get “a couple hits” off his morphine drip. She talks about how selfish she was while they were married and how she’s making sacrifices now and is ready to make the ultimate sacrifice – making love to him right here and now.

Tatum O’Neal continues to dazzle (and, at the same time, repulse) as Maggie. She seems to have found a nice niche - considering the myriad ups and downs she’s endured, both professionally and personally - playing a role virtually written for her.

Lou is stunned when he arrives home to find Candy and a nearly spotless apartment. He opens his heart up to the former prostitute who previously stole $26,000 from him. She tells him she feels the same way and asks that they take it slow, leaving one to wonder, just what exactly is this crazy woman up to?

I like Lou as a cynical, sarcastic, grumpy Robin to Tommy’s Batman. I don’t need to see him forgiving and falling back in love with the ho who took him to the cleaners. We all know this is a trainwreck-in-the-making. Hopefully, the writers will quickly put the cars on the tracks, and give us a quick crash, and Lou can return to being himself.

Tommy goes to the bar to work on leaky pipes. He’s quickly sidetracked by the booze and begins to watch his family DVD. He’s then visited by his late son, late cousin, late brother and late father. He shuts off the DVD and goes to work with a blowtorch and accidentally burns himself, which leads to what, to me, is maybe the show’s most painful scene ever. The scenes in which Tommy’s son and brother were killed were heartbreaking, but in those, the pain was inflicted on him. This time, he does it to himself.

In the show’s final scene, Tommy and his crew are back at the hospital, waiting to talk to Sean, when they see a group of kids afflicted with cancer walk by. The firehouse members follow them and watch mournfully as the kids play games in their small room. A nurse sees the group outside the door and asks that they don’t stand around looking so sad because it affects the children.

While his friends walk away, Tommy turns and walks into the room to join the kids, leaving his ghosts, at least for the moment, behind him.

So what did you think of the episode? How much lower can Tommy go before he hits rock bottom? Do you think Franco is going to win the boxing title? What is Candy up to? How many more musicals does Sean have in him?