Few shows in TV history have been as consistently entertaining as FX's Rescue Me. The firefighter drama, which begins its final season Wednesday, July 13 at 10pm, gives fans everything they love about the show. There's crazy family drama, intense reflections on life and mortality, plus some wacky fire house debates.

It's the same formula that's worked for its seven-season run. Rescue Me hasn't had an off-year. Like the firefighters it portrays, the show effectively does its job time and time again, rarely getting the glory or respect it deserves.

The final season aims to wrap up the story of Tommy Gavin by setting itself against the impending 10-year anniversary of 9/11 (and in a fitting homage, the series finale will air four days before the actual anniversary). The 10-year marks lets Rescue Me look back and see how far the characters have come since that tragic day, or how little they've come.

Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) is still haunted by the ghosts of that fateful day, both figuratively and literally as he frequently sees his cousin Jimmy, who died on 9/11. The inability to let go of that day and the inability to try and live when so many others died is what drives Tommy, but it also drives him insane.

So does his home life, which now consists of a pregnant wife who has cut him off from sex at the start of the season. Tommy has the difficult job of dealing with both Janet and his crazy ex Sheila (Callie Thorne, who is competing against herself Wednesdays at 10pm as she also stars on USA's Necessary Roughness).

The final season premiere of Rescue Me includes a surprise marriage proposal that will inform the rest of the season, the return of Tommy's ghosts and a fascinating discussion of the racism of Jersey Shore. As the new season begins, it's been almost two weeks without a fire, so the house has resorted to more of its classic silly conversations about pop culture, and this week it's all about reality TV.

Rescue Me's final season, like all other seasons, is very entertaining and full of great drama and comedy. It has a deep well of emotional reflection about 9/11, there are plenty of Gavin family fights and feuds, and Tommy's fellow firefighters get into ridiculous debates and storylines (one of which will involve a hot chick with incredibly bad gas). If you've ever loved Rescue Me, the final season won't disappoint.

(Image courtesy of FX)