Tommy and Kelly's relationship continues on 'Rescue Me.'

Like a swift kick to the gut, the season finale of one of the best shows on television took our breath away.

The impeccable fifth season of “Rescue Me” came to close in stunning, jarring fashion with Uncle Teddy shooting Tommy in the shoulder and leaving him to bleed to death on the floor of the bar. This while Tommy’s friends and family can do nothing but sit and watch.

“Drink” opens with Tommy and Mick meeting Teddy as he comes out of an AA meeting, apologizing for their roles in the death of Teddy’s wife, Ellie.

The former Father Mickey always has been one of my favorite characters, a flawed man trying to hold onto some sort of faith as it slips through his fingers. He always has been Tommy’s rock, but, of course, rocks can’t float and it was inevitable that Tommy would pull Mick down and he eventually would drown right along with his cousin.

Mick tells Teddy to hit him if it will make him feel better, which he does. Teddy, however, quickly apologizes and says he blames himself for the death of Ellie and his now facing life as a widower with Cupcake, the Pomeranian he so desperately loathes.

While this scene obviously is a harbinger to what comes later, we believe that Teddy does blame himself, not others, for his wife’s death. We believe this because this is good ol’ Teddy, the ne’r-do-well drunk uncle who wouldn’t hurt anyone, save for the poor soul who hurt his family and led to Teddy’s prison stint.

At the firehouse, Tommy tells Lou all about Kelly, how she lost a child and how he comforted her. Unfortunately, for Tommy, Damian overhears the conversation and tells his mother. Sheila, of course, feels threatened and enlists the help of Janet to 86 the interloper.

They go to Kelly’s apartment and confront her about her budding relationship with Tommy. While Sheila is on the offensive, Janet takes the highball road and bemusedly watches Kelly reject all of Sheila’s threats.

Kelly admits that Tommy held her when she needed comforting, which confuses Janet to no end.

“This is Tommy Gavin we’re talking about – evil smile, complicated eyes, girl hair,” she says of her soon-to-be-ex. “My Tommy Gavin doesn’t hug.”

Because Sheila is, well, psychotic, she resorts to asking Kelly about her daughter. After leaving Kelly’s apartment, Janet and Sheila get into an amusing fight that results in Sheila throwing a brick through a jeep and pummeling a good samaritan with a trash can lid.

After he learns of their visit and that Kelly now blames him for revealing her secret, Tommy gets revenge on Sheila by first, um, restraining her and then doing away with her pill stash.

The Revenge Tour continues with a trip to Janet’s home, where Tommy kidnaps his all-too-willing daughter.

Tommy has little time to celebrate getting back at his women/tormentors, however, when Teddy comes into the bar and pulls out a gun. He says he’s going to use the one bullet in the gun to kill himself, while urging Tommy to drink a shot.

And then another.

And another.

Teddy then talks about a long-ago local criminal who was shot several times, but because he was so drunk and his heart was slowed down so dramatically, it took him forever to bleed to death.

It’s funny how even though you’ve watched a show for five years, you still don’t see things coming. You’re still stunned. You’re still horrified. You’re still blown away. I’m not afraid to admit I was all three as Teddy fired two slugs into Tommy’s shoulder.

As he lay bleeding on the floor, Tommy sees Jimmy, who comforts him. “I’ll see you when you get here,” the ghost tells his fallen cousin. “It all makes sense when you get to the other side.”

As Transglobal Underground’s haunting “Army of Forgotten Souls” plays, Tommy slips away to the chorus of Forgive me, father, for I have sinned.

Tommy’s definitely sinned and, for the first time in his life, he’s the one paying the price.