They never did solve the Anselmo case, by the way. In the final episode of Moonlighting: Season Five - The Final Season, Dennis Dugan, the director of this final go-around with Maddie and David, making a cameo appearance as a Hollywood producer, says, "Romance is a very fragile thing." He also says about Maddie and David, "A case of poison ivy's more fun than watching you two lately." It's a pretty accurate assessment of the troubles that afflicted the Blue Moon Detective Agency during the prior fourth season, as I wrote about in my review of that particular DVD set (click here to read that). The sad thing about Dugan's two statements is that the former is accurate for this final season, but the latter is not. After a horrendously tasteless, ill-conceived fifth season premiere episode, Moonlighting seemed to be headed back to the good old days of wacky mysteries, improbable fourth-wall breaking, and some heated energy between Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. But there was no way curious viewers were coming back after that premiere, and with the constant starts and stops to the series the year before, as well as this final season, viewers finally just had enough. They faded away, and the once powerful Nielsen ratings winner Moonlighting disappeared not with a bang, but with a barely heard whimper. Nobody cared anymore.

Well, actually, some people still cared - at least when the fifth season of Moonlighting finally showed up on the ABC schedule in December, 1988. As all fans of Moonlighting remember, the producers and writers of the series absolutely screwed things royally for the show when they had David and Maddie not only consummate their love (at the end of the third season), but then had Maddie become pregnant (Shepherd was pregnant in real life, and they decided to incorporate it into the show). That indefinable something in the chemistry between David and Maddie disappeared, and Shepherd's frequent absences from the set resulted in some really harebrained choices on the part of the producers to make the whole thing work. It didn't, but at least by the end of the fourth season, the loyal viewers (including myself) wanted to know who the father of Maddie's baby was: David, or her other lover, Sam Crawford (Mark Harmon).

Well, they found out on in December when the belated first episode of Moonlighting's fifth season, entitled A Womb With a View, premiered. Unfortunately, they had to wade through certainly the series' most tasteless, unfunny episode to find out the father was indeed David. As I've said in other reviews, the premiere episode of a new season for a series that's on the ropes, is critical. It can convince loyal viewers who may be wavering to stay, and it can grab some of the new viewers who have read about the publicity (and there were tons of articles on Moonlighting's troubles and possible demise) and who have tuned in to see what all the fuss is about. Imagine both sets of viewers' surprise when they were confronted with a Moonlighting episode that not only started with a big, dumb musical number that was just too "cute" for words, but that had David, dressed in a diaper, jumping around in a plastic blow-up approximation of Maddie's womb (I kid you not), dancing to Motown hits, and talking with a representative of God. If that isn't stupid enough, this sequence grinds on, with the angel giving baby David and us photographic montages of what supposedly is good in the world (Leonard Bernstein made the cut, but not Michelangelo?), but also what's evil in the world, including horrific, real images of the Holocaust. The Holocaust? I tuned into Moonlighting, the funny, sharp, sexy, romantic comedy mystery, to watch images of the Holocaust, and to be given a pseudo-Capraesque retread of It's a Wonderful Life? I need a lesson from Moonlighting?

If that final montage wasn't bad enough, an utterly unfeeling, uncaring, tasteless, crass little writer's trick is thrown in to solve the sticky problem of getting rid of Maddie's baby - the one plot development that fans of the show unanimously hated, and which spoiled the whole tone of Moonlight's fourth season. They have her miscarriage. Now, if it had been handled sensitively or with a modicum of compassion, the producers might have carried it off, and the show could have continued on by ignoring the mistakes of the fourth season, and getting on with the whole thing. But this isn't any old miscarriage. It's played for whimsy and laughs. Baby David leaves the womb, after hearing he won't be a baby for David and Maddie, and after some exaggerated fake-crying that's truly awful, and in true Busby Berkeley fashion, the miscarried baby David dances up a curved set of white stairs with his angel, singing On the Sunny Side of the Street. On the commentary track, the producer of the show and the episode director can't understand why people reacted negatively to this episode. Well, I suggest they talk to the millions of people who tuned into the show, who had children of their own, and see if they thought it was funny to see the death of a fetus interpreted as a big, splashy Hollywood musical number. Or more to the point, talk to the millions out there in TV land that had unfortunately suffered their own miscarriages, and ask them if it was a whimsical or comedic experience.

After that disastrous episode, even hard-core fans began abandoning Moonlighting in droves. Which is really too bad, because the next episode, Between a Yuk and a Hard Place seemed like the old Moonlighting, with some great, stupid chase scenes, funny Willis mugging, and even a suggestion of returning banter that made David and Maddie must-see TV on Tuesday nights. It all started to feel right again. Sure, there were problems with resolving Dave and Maddie's relationship, but wisely, the writers tried to concentrate on stuff that made the show fun in the first place. The mysteries were corny and contrived again; the fourth-wall breaking was amusing again, and most importantly, David and Maddie were actually in the same frame together for most of the episodes (the previous season saw Maddie virtually alone in her shots, made necessary by Shepherd's erratic shooting schedule). Chemistry between Willis and Shepherd was always the backbone of Moonlighting, and it appeared to be back and fairly healthy.

But it was a classic case of "too little, too late." The audience had moved on. As Dugan said in the final episode, romance is a fragile thing, and Dave and Maddie had theirs. It was over. Even if the writers had moved to make David and Maddie a romantic couple again, it wouldn't have worked; that ship had already sailed. So, as Dugan rightly scoffs in this episode, we're left with Dave and Maddie as self-described "pals." And really, who the hell wants that? It didn't help matters, either, that the legendary jinx that seemed to plague the Moonlighting series was in full swing this fifth season. How could viewers keep track of Moonlighting when it started so late in the year, was preempted constantly, and was yanked off the schedule in February only to return in April, in a new deadly timeslot (going against Nielsen Godzilla, Murder, She Wrote) on Sunday nights? All of these forces, and the fact that I bet the network just wanted the whole, expensive, troublesome nightmare to go away, worked against Moonlighting's fifth season ever having a chance to succeed. It wound up buried in the ratings, and when its not-particularly funny or original self-reflexive final episode aired, nobody showed up. One of the best series of the 1980s had ended on a sad, small note.

DISC ONE:

A Womb With a View
He isn't even born yet but Baby Hayes already knows the scoop on his wild and crazy parents' relationship -- courtesy of an angel who visits him as he waits to enter the universe.

Between a Yuk and a Hard Place
Trying not to drown in sorrow, Maddie gets wrapped up in her work and takes a new case where a woman is certain her husband still pines for someone from his past.

The Color of Maddie
Trying to get their relationship back on track, Maddie and David take on a case for a woman whose husband of one week returns after a ten year disappearance.

Plastic Fantastic Lovers
A reclusive man who claims a plastic surgeon maliciously disfigured him hires Maddie and David to help prove what happened in the operating room.

DISC TWO:

Shirts and Skins
It's the ladies vs. the men at Blue Moon as Maddie defends a woman who claims she shot her boss for destroying her career after she refused his sexual advances.

Take My Wife, for Example
A cold-hearted defense lawyer who helped split up a married couple now comes to Blue Moon for help in reconciling them, and Maddie tries to find just the right present for David.

I See England, I See France, I See Maddie's Underpants
Dave and Maddie find themselves hanging out with a popular corpse when a man seeking a bodyguard suddenly drops dead in their office.

Those Lips, Those Lies
Maddie and David are at odds over helping David's brother track down his fiancee's ex-partner who's run off with their company's assets.

DISC THREE:

Perfetc
Wanting to prove to the world he once committed the perfect crime, a dying burglar's plea for help is met with resistance by Maddie and a resounding yes by David.

When Girls Collide
When David goes more than a tad overboard entertaining Maddie's cousin Annie, Maddie comes to grips with the realization that David may be over her.

In 'N Outlaws
When Agnes won't find a man guilty who's accused of murdering his partner/lover, she is forced to skip Burt's family reunion, leaving a pouting Burt to solve a crime on his own.

Eine Kleine Nacht Murder
Maddie's cousin Annie is back in California, this time trying to ponder the state of her marriage with some entertaining help from David and Maddie.

Lunar Eclipse
In the star-packed final episode, David breaks it off with Annie, Burt and Agnes tie the knot and the Blue Moon Detective Agency finally closes its door, leaving everyone with memories they'll have forever.

The DVD:

The Video:
The full-frame transfers for Moonlighting: Season Five - The Final Season are improved over season four, with colors closer to the original broadcast quality, and less damage to the elements used here.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English 2.0 stereo mix is adequate for the presentation.

The Extras:
There are commentary tracks for two episodes on Moonlighting: Season Five - The Final Season. The season's first episode has a commentary track featuring series creator and writer Glenn Gordon Caron and director Jay Daniel. The final episode has a commentary track from director Dennis Dugan. As well, there's the screen test that Shepherd and Willis filmed, with commentary by Caron and Daniel again. It's interesting to see Willis here at the very start of his superstar career.

Final Thoughts:
Too little, too late, Moonlighting: Season Five - The Final Season saw a return to form for the beleaguered series, but the horrendous season premiere episode set the series' demise in motion, and the constant preemptions and time slot change tanked Moonlighting for good. Too bad, because there are some really funny episodes here in the fifth and final season of one of the best shows of the 1980s. Bruce Willis fans will definitely want this one (catch him screaming "Liposuction!" in Plastic Fantastic Lovers), and Shepherd is perfectly beautiful and perfectly timed in her line readings. They were such a great TV couple; it's both fun and sad to see them say goodbye here. I recommend Moonlighting: Season Five - The Final Season.