"Wheels" had all the appearances of being a straight comedy episode, with little room for the more serious themes that have dominated the past few weeks of Rescue Me. More than anything, it introduced a few key plot points that helped focus the final third of the season: Damien's about to become a probie, Franco's sleeping with a woman who is probably a lesbian, Sheila is officially hooked on mood-enhancing drugs, and Candy wants to marry Lou. Also, Garrity is recovering nicely -- for now.

But the meat of this episode came right around the final act, when the crew from 62 Truck visited the young cancer patients at the hospital. The light and funny lead-in made those scenes all the more memorable for their deft manoeuvering of territory that was painfully sad, and then hopeful, and then funny, and then scary, and then sad again. At the start of that sequence, who could have seen that troubled (and troublesome) patient taking off with the fire engine? If nothing else, this was a reminder that Rescue Me can get away with just about anything it wants -- stylistically, anyway -- seldom putting a foot wrong.

Today, I'd like to ask a question of our notoriously quiet commenters: How does everybody feel about Candy right now? Is she the real deal? Can she be trusted with Lou's heart? Let's hear it!

Watch "Wheels" again—or for the first time—at the Showcase video centre, where it's streaming for a limited time.