The Fifth Season

Wings is a fun sitcom that first aired in 1990 and ran for eight seasons until 1997. The show was about the daily lives of several neurotic airport employees who worked at Tom Nevers Field, a small airport in Nantucket, Massachusetts. The series was created by the same individuals (David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee) who were responsible for the hit television series Cheers and Frasier. For more details about this series, please refer to DVD Talk's reviews of seasons one and two, season three, and season four.

Season five continues with the same tone as the last season. The storylines focus on the cast getting into a myriad of situations that involve relationships, careers, old flames, and just silly situations. The result is light-hearted fun comedy that is worth a chuckle. However, there are some moments when the laughs are absent. Regardless, this season will offer decent entertainment value to fans of the series.

One of the bigger focuses throughout season is about relationships. In the season premiere "Stop In The Name Of Love", Brian and Alex are ready to hop in the sack. However, Joe and the gang point out that Brian's normal modus operandi is to end the relationship after sleeping with the woman. So, Brian tries something different and convinces Alex it is best to wait. As the season continues, their relationship gets more serious. Some of the interesting events include Joe fending off the attention of other women, finally doing the deed, visiting Alex's family for the holidays, getting an apartment together, and the break-up at the end of the season, which results in Alex's departure from Nantucket (and the show).

In the spirit of relationships, Helen meets a special guy. In "Business Or Pleasure", Joe brings Davis Lynch to Nantucket to wine and dine him. Sandpiper Air is in desperate need of financial backing. Joe hopes to save the airline by getting Davis to invest in it. When Davis arrives, he seems to have little interest in the airline. Instead, he focuses his attention on Helen, who turns out to like him. Davis does not invest in the airline, but begins a relationship with Helen. It gets pretty serious at the end of the season.

Another relationship-related development involves Lowell and his overly friendly wife Bunny. Lowell asks Bunny for divorce with the hope she will say she wants to get back together (they've been separated since season three). Unfortunately, she picks door number one (the divorce). Bunny continues to show up in season five, which includes a crazy Christmas holiday episode where she and Antonio share more than a cab ride!

The season has other fun developments and simply crazy character antics. In the two-part episode "Joe Blows", Joe has a hectic day and calls it quits. After being bombarded by everyone's problems, he gives up on the airline and walks out. He "retires" on a vacation island and enjoys a carefree life. Brian is forced to take over and run the airline when Joe refuses to come back. In the aftermath, Joe finally returns and he and Brian become partners. As for other events: Joe is visited by his high school stalker Sandy Cooper (Valerie Mahaffey), Joe falls for Fay's nineteen year old study partner, Fay enrolls at the community college to study psychology, Carlton Blanchard returns with his nephew, Joe and Brian prank their high school football coach; not realizing he is dead, Roy's ex-wife pays him a visit, and more.

Overall, Wings' fifth season is another decent collection of episodes. The show continues with its light-hearted comedy and there is a good chemistry amongst the main cast. However, at times the content feels a little generic from episode-to-episode. If you are big fan of the series, you will want to check out season five. For everyone else, it will make a decent rental.

Episode Guide

1. Stop In The Name Of Love: Brian gets word from Alex that she's ready to consummate their relationship. But Joe, Helen, and the others tell him he better not, or he'll ruin a good thing.
2. Terminal Jealousy: When Brian injures himself, Alex volunteers to take his shifts and spends a little too much time with Joe. Helen's health inspector turns out to be her nemesis.
3. Bye-Bye, Bunny: Lowell reluctantly asks for a divorce from Bunny, but after it becomes final, they start acting like newlyweds. And Antonio finds a philanderer's cellphone.
4. Business Or Pleasure: Joe courts Davis Lynch, a potential investor, who takes an immediate liking to Helen. Meanwhile, Antonio works overtime at the lunch counter.
5. An Affair To Forget: Brian arranges for a romantic getaway, but it gets interrupted by Joe and Helen. And as Lowell records hi thoughts ton tape, Roy gets a makeover.
6. A Black Eye Affair: Helen frantically prepares for her last-minute date with Davis. But with green hair, red blotches and a black eye, she's finding it hard to keep calm.
7. Joe Blows (Part 1): While dealing with an angry customer, Joe's bombarded with everyone's problems and finally explodes, walking out on his job.
8. Joe Blows (Part 2): Brian tracks down Joe on an island, but Joe says he doesn't want to return. So he sells the airline to Brian, who has to run it all by himself.
9. 2 Good 2 B 4 Gotten: Joe's convinced that a female ex-classmate has come back to talk him, but no one will believe him. And Antonio sells his belongings for cash.
10. Come Fly With Me: Bored and restless on a Saturday night, the gang make their way to a party in Boston, where all the attractive women can be had...for a price.
11. Happy Holidays: While Fay and Helen try to organize a party on Christmas Eve, Brian is forced to visit Alex's family, and Antonio is seduced by Lowell's ex-wife Bunny!
12. Ready, Teddy, Go: Helen is shocked when she finds a gift from Davis in his suitcase, a black negligee from Paris she finds way too revealing.

13. Oh, Give Me A Home Where The Mathers Don't Roam: Tired of Lowell's controlling ways, Joe and Brian finally get the mechanic to move out of their house, but aren't prepared for the fact that he has never lived alone.
14. The Faygitive: A privative detective comes looking for Fay, but won't tell her why. Meanwhile, Antonio gets--then loses--illegal cable television.
15. Say Uncle, Carlton: The obnoxious old man Carlton Blanchard is back, and he hires Antonio to chauffeur him around. Only now he's joined by his equally obnoxious nephew.
16. Hey, Nineteen: Joe is smitten with Fay's new study partner, a 19-year-old beauty who Helen used to babysit. And Roy and Antonio find a dog that women can't resist.
17. Exclusively Yours: Brian and Alex make it official. They will only see each other from now on. But then a planeload of models arrives, and they're partying at Brian's house!
18. Moonlighting: During the off-season, Alex is forced to take a job in a theme restaurant. So the others regale her with stories of their previous jobs from hell.
19. Sleepless In Nantucket: Brian and Alex move in together, but aren't prepared for each other's annoying sleeping habits. And Lowell has to come up with the perfect name for a baby.
20. Boys Will Be Girls: Joe and Brian get revenge of their old high school football coach by dressing him up in drag while he's asleep, not realizing that he's actually dead.
21. Roy Crazy: Roy's ex-wife arrives on the island, and she's giving him strong signals that she wants to get back together. And Helen has a not-so-secret admirer.
22. Long Distance Lament: Alex convinces Helen to dump Davis after he repeatedly breaks their dates, and urges her to go out with a pilot. But then Davis flies in to apologize.
23. Call Of The Wild: Brian's old skirt-chasing buddy, now a successful author, is in town and ready to carouse. But when Brian joins him, it causes a rift in his relationship with Alex.
24. A Decent Proposal: Brian regrets breaking up with Alex and tries to win her back. And while Helen's prepared for a break-up, Davis proposes! But then Joe comes a-knockin'.

The DVD

Video:
The video is given in 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. The picture quality is rather good and only suffers from minor compression artifacts. However, there are a few occurrences of low frame rate, where the picture gets slightly choppy and more grain than usual.

Audio:
The audio track in this release is an English 2.0 Dolby digital stereo sound track. The audio in this release comes off fairly flat. However as found with most TV on DVD releases it's not necessarily bad, since the majority of the audio is spoken dialogue. This release also supports closed captioning.

Extras:
There are no extras included with this release.

Final Thoughts:
Wings is a pretty fun sitcom with a likeable cast that has a nice chemistry together. There are some pretty silly moments this season, with the cast doing and saying silly things. There are also several dramatic developments for the cast. However, while the show tends to be fun, it does not have the highest replay value. The show gets to be very formulaic and has little to differentiate itself.