Peter Reilly

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Peter Reilly is a fictional character on the FX drama Rescue Me. The character is played by Neal Jones.

Peter is the gay son of Chief Jerry Reilly. Peter is also a firefighter. Peter and Jerry are not close, as his father is a homophobe.

In season one Jerry was almost fired for beating up a gay firefighter in a gay bar. The firefighter had told the newspaper that about 20 of the firefighters who died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks were gay, igniting a fist fight in which Jerry beat the gay firefighter into a coma. In the ensuing trial, Jerry enlisted his son as a character witness to say that he was not homophobic. Jerry thanked him but was too ashamed of Peter to introduce him to his crew.

In the second season, Jerry's wife, Jeannie, fell victim to Alzheimer's disease. Jerry asked Peter to come home to help take care of Jeannie temporarily, and briefly tried to accept his son. One day, Peter brought his boyfriend, Steven, over to have sex. Jerry overheard them, and rejected his son in disgust.

Soon after, Jeannie threw a birthday party for Steven at their house. Peter assured Jerry that only a few friends would be invited over for steaks and beers. Instead several dozen of their gay friends showed up and had a huge block party. Jerry was enraged, and got into a huge fight with his son.

Peter eventually went back to his life in Boston once he went through his vacation hours.