Moonlighting - Season Five - The Final Season
<Moonlighting: Season 5 - the final season (1988) - is now out on DVD in a three disc box set that contains the final 13 episodes including the surreal season finale. Cybil Shepherd, Bruce Willis, Curtis Armstrong and Allyce Beasley star as the wacky crew of the Blue Moon Detective Agency started by Shepherd’s character Maddie Hayes, a former fashion model, after her business manager stole all her money. Forced to make a living on her own, Maddie discovers that she owns the money-losing sleuth company and is about to shut it down when she meets the agency’s cheesy private-eye and part time lothario David Addison (Willis). Addison persuades her to keep the agency open because it will give her some place to come to every day and something to do. For the entire run of the series these two characters spar and clash as sparks fly the sexual tension rises and, all in high style and with lots of laughs.
Joining Maddie and David are the agency’s office manager Agnes De Pesto (Beasley) and her boyfriend and fledgling detective Burt (Armstrong) who are a couple of misfit low rent lovers who add their share of high-jinks to the episodes. The cast of Moonlighting is the main reason to watch these still very funny episodes because the stories and cases the agency tries to solve only serve as backdrop to give this hilarious set of actors the chance pile up lots of laughs in each episodes. Moonlighting was smart, slapstick and sophisticated all at once. TV could use a show just like it now days.
Although this final season only contains 13 episodes they are choice ones. You get the feeling watching them that all bets were off and they knew they were about to be cancelled so the cast and crew just decided to have a lot of fun on the way out. This set contains the following episodes along with the original screen tests by Shepherd and Willis and audio commentary on selected episodes:
A Womb with a View - Although he isn’t even born yet, Baby Hayes already knows the scoop on his wild and crazy parent’s relationship - courtesy of an angel who visits him as he waits to enter the universe.
Between a Yuk and a Hard Place - Trying 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 in his past.
The Color of Maddie - Trying to get their relationship on some sort of stable ground, Maddie and David take a case for a woman whose husband has returned after a ten year absence that started one week after their marriage.
Plastic Fantastic Lovers - Maddie and David get hired by a recluse who claims that a plastic surgeon maliciously disfigured him during an operation - but they can’t find anyone who remembers what the man looked like before the operation.
Shirts and Skins - Maddie defends a woman who claims she shot her boss for destroying her career by refusing his sexual advances in a case that pits the women against the men at the agency.
Take My Wife, For Example - Maddie tries to find the right present for David while taking on the case of a cold-hearted defense attorney who helped split up a couple and is now trying to reconcile them.
I See England, I See France, I See Maddie’s Underpants - David and Maddie find themselves spending time with a popular corpse when a celebrity seeking a bodyguard suddenly drops dead in their office.
Those Lips, Those Eyes - Maddie and David are at odds with each other over helping David’s brother hunt down his fiancee’s ex-partner who ran off with their company’s assets.
Perfect - Wanting to prove to the world that he once committed the perfect crime, a dying burglar’s plea for help is met with a resounding "yes" by David a the exact opposite reaction from Maddie.
When Girls Collide - Maddie’s cousin Annie comes to town for a visit and David’s overly enthusiastic reaction to Annie makes Maddie realize that David may no longer be interested in her.
In ’N Outlaws - Agnes gets called to jury duty at the same time that she and Burt are suppose to go to Burt’s family reunion.
Eine Kleine Nacht Murder - Maddie cousin returns to try to sort out the state of her marriage with a lot of help from Maddie and David.
Lunar Eclipse - David breaks it off with Annie, Burt and Agnes get married and the Blue Moon Detective Agency closes its doors in this last episode with a surreal ending sequence that is the perfect end cap to all the madness that preceded it. BRAVO!
- Original screen tests by Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd
- Audio commentary by cast and crew on selected episodes
