Trama

A terrifying vision of the afterlife leaves Tommy shaken as he attempts to reconnect with his friends and family back on the outside. At the firehouse, the crew's fate hangs in the balance when the department decides to cut costs.

After Uncle Teddy shot Tommy in the bar, Tommy's finally in the ambulance with his family and Lou. He flatlines.

We flash back through Tommy's greatest hits, his kids, Sheila, the World Trade Center still standing...

Cut to rows upon rows of bodies covered with sheets in a hockey rink. A guy sits up, he's got blood on his face. Followed by another and another, all firemen. Somebody takes the sheet off Tommy's face, they help him up.

Nobody says anything. Dead cousin Jimmy welcomes him. There's a bright light and they head for it. Jimmy tells him about all the guys he's going to see there. But suddenly Tommy is yanked downward, into a burning building with fire chasing after him.

People are there, asking why he didn't come back to save them. We see the towers.

(roll credits)

Chief Feinberg tells the guys at the house that they're covered for the shooting, thanks to Tommy's dead brother Johnny's old partner, but they've attracted attention to the house in the face of planned budget cuts.

Feinberg says if they close the house it's going to be with his full cooperation. Needles tries to argue, but Feinberg reminds him he was in the bar for the shooting, too. Someone else has to legally own the bar. He tells them to look for a new house.

Mickey picks up Tommy from the hospital. He says it's just clothes in the bag he's holding. Mickey opens a bottle and starts drinking behind the wheel. He starts weaving then gets on the freeway going the wrong way, demanding that Tommy open the bag. Mickey dodges cars, yelling at him for always breaking the rules.

Mickey finally pulls over and grabs Tommy's bag, which he finds has pills in it. Tommy grabs Mickey's liquor bottle and takes a swig. It's water. He tells him Katie, Janet and Colleen are all afraid of his drinking. Mickey says he hasn't had a drink since Tommy got shot. Teddy wants to see him.

In the house kitchen, Lou says the only houses he's known to survive the chopping block have had huge community protests. He proposes a huge cookout to rally the neighborhood. His bubble is soon burst when Black Shawn comes in raving about a flyer he saw for another house's cookout.

Teddy tries to tell Tommy he's sorry, but he's not. Teddy tell him to go to Hell, or Heaven, however he wants it to play out.

He tells him in the hospital it was just Maggie, him and the crew, not Janet and not his kids. Teddy pulls out a gun.

He tells Tommy he's not going to shoot him. He's got a second chance, but if Tommy drinks, Teddy's driving.

Back in the car, Tommy can't believe Janet didn't visit while he was in the hospital. He heads home. Janet hits him in the bad shoulder then tells him he's only allowed to drink while she supervises. She says the guys in the house were a huge help, especially Franco who cooks and does everything. Colleen wanders into the room and pours herself a drink. She assures her parents she doesn't have a drinking problem.

Katie brings her dad a whiskey. Janet encourages him to drink. "We have gin, too, but that's what Colleen drinks," Katie tells him.

At the house, Franco asks Lou if Tommy ever told him what he saw when he died. Lou says Tommy said it was like taking a nap, but he doesn't believe him. The guys wonder about the afterlife. Lou thinks heaven is "free hot donuts, on floating trays." Hell is Barbra Streisand, just standing there.

Tommy drops by. He asks Franco about his stopping by. Franco says he was there almost every day and even stayed the night.

The guys tell him about their house being up for being shut down. Tommy volunteers to sacrifice himself for the sake of the house. They take him up on it. Not what Tommy was expecting. Then they finally tell him they were kidding.

Tommy asks Lou for booze, but he says the house is clean. He tells Tommy he doesn't believe he saw nothing when he died.

The guys go out on a call. Tommy naps. He sees Jimmy.

He asks Tommy where he went in the rink. Tommy tells him something exploded. Jimmy urgently asks him where he ended up.

Tommy describes fire in a hallway. It stopped when he woke up, came back to life. Jimmy tells him he has to do something to turn this around. "If I was you I'd stock up on some prayer," Jimmy tells him.

Sheila appears, asking Tommy if he loves her. She tells him about visiting him in the hospital. She thought about pulling his plug. And he would have gotten his death wish.

But then she remembered he was going to be his second life. He says he made no promises, but she says he did in the way he kissed her.

She goes to kiss him but bites him instead.

She wants Damien out of firefighting, she doesn't care how.

Later, at the bar, the hot female bartender brings him a drink. He spits it out. It's water. Cousin Eddie points out the Tommy chalk outline on the floor. He doesn't want to bring Tommy a drink. Eddie calls for attention, announcing that Tommy is the guy that died. People crowd to take cell phone pictures with him.

He sees Teddy across the bar. Eddie points him out as the shooter. Tommy disappears.

He walks into a church late at night. He contemplates Jesus on the cross. He takes out a bottle and drinks. A little at first, then more. He makes a face. Jesus looms. He walks up to the altar. He takes a seat. He drinks some more, his back to Jesus. He lights a cigarette off an altar candle.

Pan around to see Tommy sitting in the pews watching bad Tommy drink and smoke on the altar. He drinks.