Season Five:  Wheel of Fire

I'm so tired of hearing this season's worth of episodes criticized.  Hardly anyone seems to have anything good to say about Season Five.  So here are a few things I think helped make it great:

1.  The fact that it happened at all.  Sure, the climax of the series was moved up from year five to year four, when it appeared there would be no year five. Even so, I find year five to be at least as good as year one, and close to year two in terms of quality.

2.  The great intro.  The combination of Christopher Franke's epic, sweeping music and the visuals and quotes from the past four years make this my all-time favorite intro for a show.  Far and away.

3. "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars."  Remember, year four would have ended with "Sleeping in Light" and we never would have seen "Deconstruction" if not for year five.

4.  "Sleeping in Light."  Okay, we would have seen this one, regardless, but capping off the entire series, after five years, with this episode, was just monumental.  Captain Kirk only wishes he had conquered the whole galaxy and then gone off to live forever beyond the Rim. 

5.  The second half of Season Five.  While Byron didn't do much for me (or anyone else I know), the second half, after "Day of the Dead," ratcheted the series back up to the lofty heights of years three and four.  Bang, bang, bang come the Centauri episodes, and the shocks.

6.  President Sheridan. Yeah, he's a democratically-elected president, but we all know that Sheridan was the conqueror of the galaxy and ruled it for about twenty years before "time to go."  He was just too nice to revel in his power.   Heh.

7.  Londo and G'Kar's reconciliation.  Some great moments between these two, toward the end.  Reminded me of the heads of the PLO and Israel getting together after the end of the Cold War and Gulf War.

8.  Stand-alones like "Day of the Dead" and "The Corps is Mother..."   I for one loved Neil Gaiman's "Day of the Dead," even with the annoying Penn & Teller miscast as Rebo and Zooty.  Seeing Morden and Dodger and Adira again--completely unexpected-- made this one a favorite.  The Psi Corps episode was fun, too, reminding us of just how bad Bester could be.

9.  The scene where Sheridan holds a ppg to Lyta's head and says, "You're not the only one who's been touched by Vorlons."  That was probably my single favorite moment of year five.

10.  The end of Londo's story.  We would only have had the flash-forwards from "War Without End" and a few other episodes if not for year five.  The series was as much Londo's as anyone's, and I'm glad we got to see the end of his story.