Designing Women: Season 5
Season 5 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Designing Women Season 4.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 5 Progress Shield
A Blast From the Past
Sep 17, 1990
Sugarbaker's is beset by tourists when the building's Civil War foundation puts it on the Tour of Historical Homes, Mary Jo opens her heart to an old friend eager to make good on a
Papa Was a Rolling Stone
Sep 24, 1990
Charlene aims to make Anthony's 30th birthday a memorable one -- by hiring a private detective to find his long-lost father.
Working Mother
Oct 1, 1990
Resentment builds between Charlene and Mary Jo when Charlene wants to take a year off to look after her baby. The decorators cater to the whims of a rich, insufferable 10-year-old
Miss Trial
Oct 15, 1990
Julia's dinner plans with former President Jimmy Carter and his wife are put on hold when her slow-moving jury gets sequestered.
The Bachelor Auction
Oct 22, 1990
When organizational confusion leads to Suzanne winning a date with Anthony in a bachelor charity auction, the two reluctantly try to make the best of a very awkward situation.
Charlene Buys a House
Oct 29, 1990
As the proud new owner of a grand but ghostly mansion, Charlene hires the decorators to give the place a facelift -- not mentioning that it's haunted.
Old Rebels and Young Models
Nov 5, 1990
Charlene's baby, Olivia, auditions for a modeling job, Mary Jo finds one of her former teachers in a nursing home.
Nowhere To Run To
Nov 12, 1990
Mary Jo takes up jogging, and inadvertently helps turn Julia into a fitness zealot.
A Class Act
Nov 19, 1990
Anthony buys in to become a full partner; new student Charlene fends off an amorous psychology professor.
Keep the Home Fires Burning
Nov 26, 1990
With her husband away on a mission, Charlene guiltily draws close to a man in her support group for military spouses who wife is also away. Meanwhile, lottery fever sweeps Sugarbak
My Daughter, Myself
Dec 10, 1990
Mary Jo forbids her nearly 18-year-old daughter to date a 34-year-old, then dates him herself, Julia is forced to crash the men's room at a football stadium.
And Now, Here's Bernice
Dec 17, 1990
After Bernice gets a local public-access cable TV show, Mary Jo has her heart broken by a client and decides that Bernice's show is the ideal arena to air her views on men.
Pearls of Wisdom
Jan 7, 1991
Mary Jo borrows and loses a string of pearls flaunted by Suzanne, subbing as a lifestyles reporter for local TV news. Meanwhile, a recurring dream about Julia upsets Anthony.
High Noon in a Laundry Room
Jan 14, 1991
Anthony, concerned with his masculinity after working with the women so long, tries standing up to his bullying neighbor, and is further humiliated when the women come to his rescu
How Long Has This Been Going On?
Jan 28, 1991
Everyone at Sugarbakers is baffled to discover that sensible Julia has covertly been singing evenings at a nightclub, Anthony tries to muster the nerve to ask out a girl who works
The Emperor's New Nose
Feb 4, 1991
Bernice gets an extraordinarily bad eye tuck and rhinoplasty from a plastic surgeon whose work leaves something to be desired.
Maybe, Baby
Feb 11, 1991
Mary Jo, wanting a baby, turns to her friend and former beau; Suzanne takes up smoking as a way to diet.
This is Art?
Feb 25, 1991
Amateur painter Julia inadvertently becomes the darling of Atlanta's art scene when someone tries to buy her handbag while she's attending a gallery opening; Suzanne inadvertently
Blame it on New Orleans
Mar 4, 1991
When the gang attends a convention in intoxicating New Orleans, Mary Jo unwittingly sleeps with a married man.
I'll See You in Court
Mar 18, 1991
Mary Jo runs across the man who mugged her the year before, but faces horrendous judicial red tape to bring him to trial.
The Big Circle
Apr 8, 1991
Julia tries coping with her boyfriend Reese's death by looking after Randa Oliver, the supremely spoiled child of a client couple on an extended vacation.
Friends and Husbands
Apr 29, 1991
Charlene, readjusting to married life upon Bill's return from the Middle East, quits her and Mary Jo's children's-book project.
Fore!
May 6, 1991
Suzanne is jealous when Anthony is invited to be the first black (i.e., token) in the previously all-white Beaumont Country Club.
The Pride of Sugarbakers
May 13, 1991
Mary Jo and Julia demonstrate different coaching styles when their firm sponsors a Little League team.