Denis Leary is nothing if not polarizing. But he’s built a career out of controversy, and for better or worse, he’s still at it, prolific and polemical as ever.

Rescue Me is the kind of series that could have drowned in its own testosterone right out of the gate, but under Leary’s notoriously brash stewardship it has succeeded beyond all expectations. Several shows have yielded that elusive Sex And The City-for-guys tag— most notably, perhaps, former Showcase mainstay The Mind of the Married Man—but five seasons in, Rescue Me has emerged as the true holder of that elusive title. Anyone who’s spent a little time with the program should be well aware that this is as much a show about sex (and alcoholism, and family, and immobilizing depression) as it is about fighting fires. It should come as no surprise, then, that some male viewers might experience the same kind of vicarious fun by way of Tommy, Garrity, Mike, and Franco that so many women once channeled from Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha.

Season five comes to Showcase on Sunday, April 19 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, and at 22 episodes, it’s a big one. It’s been a year and a half since we last caught up with the crew at 62 Truck, and plenty of new developments are underway. Tommy, still mourning his father’s passing which occurred in last year’s season ender, is waiting to find out whether he’ll be deemed mentally unfit to continue his work with the fire department. Meanwhile, an embedded French journalist is stationed at the fire house and working on a book about the tenth anniversary of 9/11, though the jury’s out on which character she’ll wind up sleeping with. Not to be outdone, Mike, Garrity, and Franco buy a bar, which gives the show a fresh new setting that’s bound to be good for a laugh, to say the least. We’ll be watching for shades of Paddy’s...

Once the new season kicks off, be sure to come back to showcase.ca for full episode streaming and a weekly blog about the previous night’s episode.