Mama has two good reasons to watch FX: the “Rescue Me” (Wednesday, 10 p.m., FX) 80-minute series finale and “Sons of Anarchy” (Tuesday, 10 p.m., FX) 90-minute, fourth season premiere. Here’s why:
Dead-on funny: The best part of both of these edgy series is the dark humor that flourishes amid a danger-seeking firehouse and tough-as-nails biker gang. “Rescue Me” has always leaned toward screwball comedy with a healthy dose of sarcasm, while “Sons” requires a little more brewing time before you appreciate the humor in a group execution. But both series grasp the importance for a drama to make you laugh so that the darker moments are that much more effective.
Life is hard, but what’s the alternative?: “Rescue Me” has been filled with characters who refuse to care for each other or themselves. But when someone dies, it is profoundly felt by many characters and through multiple seasons. And the ghosts that haunt Tommy allow a unique insight into the living, earning the series the right to include the 9/11 attack. The drama never made the tragedy a drop-in for a plot one week only to forget about it the next.
“Sons,” on the other hand, seems to be obsessed with holding onto the living — by force, if necessary. But when a character dies, there is a sense that there’s no looking back — Mama barely remembers some of the dead referenced in the first episodes of the new season. The seemingly casual approach to violence and murder could make a viewer question the value of a life until you see the look on Gemma’s (Katey Sagal) face when she desperately hugs one of her grandsons.
Fighting suburban
sprawl: The thing that “Sons of Anarchy” and “Rescue Me” appear to fear most is “normalcy.” You want the big lawn and 2.5 kids? Go sell it someplace else. The bikers of Charming like their small town — drugs, guns, porn and all — just the way it is. In the “Rescue Me” finale, Tommy Gavin delivers a diatribe against playground rules that is easily the best scene of the season for Denis Leary.