While it’s curious that CBS chose to split Melrose Place, Season Five into two separate volumes, especially considering Beverly Hills 90210 and all the MP prior had been full season sets, it sort of makes sense. Season five was tumultuous with a huge hemorrhaging of the main cast and a big influx of new residents. While the show stayed as steamy as ever, the demographics certainly changed a lot between the first and second halves of the season. The adage of season five truly was “out with the old, in with the new”. Also leaving with the old, though, were viewers, and season five marked the start of a steady ratings decline after the peak of the explosive season opener in season four. Should fans who have collected the series thus far on DVD follow suit, or do the new season five residents more than pay their rent? They definitely do enough of it on their back, at any rate!
I’m going to spare the lengthy synopsis, since if you’ve made it to the second half of season five, you know your Melrose. That and I’ve already written about it at length for the previous volume of season five. Instead, I’ll try and dodge major spoilers and instead just give you an appraisal of the real estate for this season’s second half. Jane (Josie Bissett) is gone and Kimberly (Marcia Cross) will be making her exit shortly after, too, but even on her death bed she keeps the love triangle between her, my main man Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro) and Megan (Kelly Rutherford) alive and kicking. Just as soon as Kimberly is gone (and typical of Melrose’s ability to one-up itself, another person leaves the same episode!) there’s a new tenant in LA, Jennifer (Alyssa Milano) who happens to be of the Mancini persuasion. Like her older brother she isn’t afraid to scheme to get what she wants, and she’s got her eyes set on a few tenants on Melrose. Jake (Grant Show) and Alison (Courtney Thorne-Smith) are still falling in and out of love, Matt’s dealing with the sudden appearance of his abandoned niece, Taylor’s (Lisa Rinna) out of Kyle’s (Rob Estes) place and into the bed of many others and Sydney (Laura Leighton) settles down, first with one man and then another in white. Suave sonofabitch Peter Burns (Jack Wagner) is playing cat and mouse with Michael for control over Wilshire memorial, and Billy (Andrew Shue) and Sam (Brooke Langton) face hardship as her jailbird daddy comes back asking for favors. That leaves us with the queen of the show, Amanda (Queen Locklear), who tackles both marriage and divorce in the same season and a bunch of other side investments.
It’s in this season that the favorite Melrose hangout, Shooters, is finally retired and Kyle’s new dig, After Dark, takes its place in full jazz fashion. Other than Marcia Cross, all the other full-timers make it to the end, but whether they die or make it out of Melrose amicably (yes, it actually can happen!) , the end of the season sees the last of, count ‘em, Grant Show, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Leighton and, if you discount the one episode farewell at the start of season six, Doug Savant. That’s a big hit, but under the wing of Frank South, who was promoted to head writer after creator Darren Star left in season four, the season proves that big twists and sharp dialogue can always trump big changes and sharp exits. Because so much of the cast does leave this season that makes for a lot of good drama on its own, but the new cast certainly gives some new blood, too. Craig Field (David Chavert), who by my estimation provided the best drama for the first half of season five with all his office scheming with Amanda, continues to smarm it up, and bringing in Alyssa Milano as Michael’s sister was the perfect way to both flesh out Michael’s otherwise untapped family (every other main character has had some major run-ins with family) and to add in another feisty, passionate female lead. Kyle and Taylor really start to settle into their parts by the second half after the whole Taylor-Peter subplot finally resolves itself. While Megan is nice if not entirely exciting, the sore thumb is definitely Sam, who really drags Billy into the clenches of boredom for all their parts this season. It’s only at the end where she really, uh, crashes, the party.
While none of the major twists match the wig-tearing, building blowing, head-smashing rise-from-the-grave fun of previous seasons, this season, and particularly this half, certainly has its share of big twists. Even if there are more bumps in the road this season than ones past, it still comes together for a grand two-hour finale. The problem, though, is that the bar was just set too high with the wild and sensational seasons three and four, so by the time they hit five, where the focus shifted more to the spicy personal drama of season two, it just seemed a little…anti-climactic. There was no shortage of climaxing this series, though, with the bed hopping that made the series famous still in full swing. It all ends bittersweet as many of the characters say goodbye (either suddenly or not) to their longtime roomies, and don’t worry, Melrose fans, the last two seasons don’t really give you much time for remorse. From this half of Melrose Place onwards, each season has a completely different feel and cast, but bask in this, the last of the old and the start of the new. If transition is tough, don’t worry, Michael Mancini never changes his smug, selfish ways throughout the entire show, so as long as he’s aboard (and that stands again now for the recent revamp) I’m there. Consider this my deposit.
presentation...
The final 13 episodes are presented in their original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Sadly, they are also presented in their original interlaced exhibition, which makes for a less than flattering HDTV viewing experience. Other than that self-imposed softness, there’s added softness in the overall image too. It’s not the sharpest picture, and that might be due to the fact that each dual layer disc is pushing three and a half hours. Thankfully the image is nice and vibrant, so colors hold up quite well. Some scenes are darker than they should be, and every so often some grain permeates the frame, but overall it’s like most any other nineties show on DVD – watchable, but definitely no knock out. Chalk it up to old video tape archival.
Sound wise, the episodes are presented in English Stereo. Don’t go looking for some left to right separation, even during some of the inevitable explosions that happen throughout this second half. Dialogue comes through nice and clear, and the music is adequately mixed. It should be noted that again, music has been changed from the original airing. While I normally don’t have a problem with it, since I understand the complexities of copyright management in the digital era, a show like Melrose Place¸ which was always garnished with the hottest tracks, certainly suffers without them. Some of those post-opening credit music beds are really, really tacky. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when season seven rolls around, when bands like Tal Bachman and Hanson were playing live at Kyle’s bar.
extras...
Any extras that were planned for this second set have been evicted. Or maybe the whole extras department has been condemned, since there hasn’t been a supplement on Melrose Place since season three. Too bad.
wrapping it up…
While it’s sad to see so many regulars go at the tail end of this fifth season, the series hardly bothered to look back, moving forward with sexy, saucy and scandalous melodrama. New tenants like Rob Estes, Lisa Rinna, David Chavert and Alyssa Milano really add some good personality, and it’s fun to see how all the old favorites bid farewell. At only 13 episodes (compared to the 19 of this season’s previous volume) it’s kind of tough to recommend this set at the same price point (especially since previous full length, 30+ episode seasons retail for the same), but if you’ve enjoyed Melrose Place thus far, don’t jump ship. There are still plenty of delights in season six and seven. In Mancini We Trust.
 | overall... Content: A- Video: C Audio: C+ Extras: F Final Grade: B |
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