TIMO & ANGIE: MISSING IN ACTION

This week on 'Rescue Me', Mike Gavin decreed that the funeral for his son, NYPD detective Johnny Gavin, should be a celebration of his life, not a mournful remembrance of his death. And what capped the ceremony off at the graveyard was the impromptu wedding of Sean Garrity to Maggie Gavin, the new Mr. & Mrs. Gavity.

Rosemary Gavin, a Gavin sibling who had been shunned by her parents most of her life because she had been born a deaf mute, flew in from California. (But that was more for the chance to piss off her Dad than to say good-bye to her brother Johnny.)

Rosemary, a character we've never met before, one who was never mentioned on 'Rescue Me' previously, was able to show up for the funeral, but Johnny's other brother (and brother cop) Timo and Johnny's ex-wife Angie couldn't make it? They were apparently missing not only from both of the graveside services as well as from the wake/wedding reception afterwards.

Timo hasn't been seen on the show for several seasons; he probably got less screen time than his cousin Eddie the lawyer. We were introduced to Angie this season when she and Tommy hatched a plan of revenge against their exes (Johnny and Janet) for dating each other.

Now I said "apparently missing" earlier for a reason. We don't see them at the cemetery because neither actor involved, James Badge Dale and Marisa Tomei, was hired just for the cameo appearance.

But that's the cost-cutting Real World splainin, and where's the sport in that?

It's my contention that both of them were there at the service. It's just because of the size of the crowd and due to camera angles that we never saw them. The exact same situation occurred (will occur?) this year in the alt. dimension of 'The West Wing'. We never saw Jordan Kendall during the funeral for Leo McGarry, but that was a huge cathedral filled to capacity.

And the classic example is that of Ensign Pavel Chekov of 'Star Trek'. The character didn't appear in the episode "Space Seed", yet Khan Noonian Singh claimed to remember Chekov from that encounter when they met in the movie "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan".

O'Bviously, they ran into each other on a different deck and during the commercial breaks.

Now, as to why we didn't see Timo or Angie at Tommy's apartment? That place is like a rabbit warren! Full of corridors and plenty of bedrooms. And several of those had visitors squirreled away during the party already (Mike and the priest; Maggie and Sean consummating their marriage... in a bunk bed).

I'm not suggesting that the two of them might have slipped off together for a quick one, but hey! You never know. Especially with this family! Hell, I'm expecting that during the fourth season, Damian Keefe will end up banging his second cousin, Colleen Gavin. (Now that he no longer has Mrs. Turbody as an outlet for release, Damian's going to need to bust a nut soon. And let's face it, that Bible-thumping storyline for Colleen wasn't going anywhere.......)

So Timo and Angie were there at the funeral, and probably at the wake afterwards as well.... at least for a little while. (Timo might have gone to work at the precinct after the funeral instead, and perhaps Angie just didn't want to face her former in-laws at such a difficult time.)

You just didn't get to see them.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby