HOW'S SEASON 5?
DRAMA
Denis Leary's firehouse saga took off 18 months between seasons 4 and 5. The result of that long wait is a terrific run of episodes that rank among the show's best. Michael J. Fox has been giving a gnawingly sharp performance as the new lover of firefighter Tommy Gavin's ex, but there's also a seductive turn by Karina Lombard as a French journalist writing about 9/11—the incendiary nightmare underpinning everything. The fast but impeccably constructed narrative brings us crises both scary (drinking binges, cancer) and farcical (snobbery at a bed-and-breakfast). The show is on fire right now.
