Dragnet: 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 Dragnet 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
The Big Pipe
Sep 2, 1955
A young woman is beaten to death with a led pipe and left in an empty office.
The Big Lift
Sep 23, 1955
An organized gang of shoplifters is looting large department stores in the city.
The Big Confession
Sep 30, 1955
A man walks into the station and tells Friday that he wants to confess to a murder, but the cops have a hard time varifying his story.
The Big Gap
Oct 7, 1955
A pawn shop owner alerts Friday and Smith when a man claimed to have purchased an expensive ring that turns out to be junk and then asked the pawn shop owner to sell him a gun.
The Big Look
Oct 14, 1955
A woman is dragged from her home and badly beaten by an unknown attacker.
The Big Glasses
Oct 21, 1955
A housewife, Ella Ryburn, reports to Friday and Smith that she cannot contact her mother, who is married to Alfred Rudolph Shroder. When he is questioned, Shroder claims his wife l
The Big Bird
Oct 28, 1955
Sgt. Friday investigates a robber who only targets pet stores and homes that have pet birds.
The Big Laugh
Nov 4, 1955
A con man makes lonely women fall for his charms, then steals their money and disappears.
The Big Smoke
Nov 11, 1955
An elderly couple is brutally beaten and the trail leads police to a former handy man.
The Big Bounce
Nov 18, 1955
Joe Friday searches for a check forger who has been using the name of the old-time movie villain Parker Allington... who died three years ago.
The Big Shot
Nov 25, 1955
A night club owner is shot down and there are no witnesses to the crime.
The Big Locker
Dec 2, 1955
Friday and Smith happen to catch a man trying to sell a stolen ring at a pawn shop.
The Big Note
Dec 9, 1955
An anonymous note leads Friday and Smith to a group of teenage drug users and their neglectful parents.
The Big Genius
Dec 16, 1955
Friday and Smith investigate what seems to be the perfect crime.
The Big Reminisce
Dec 30, 1955
During a quiet New Year's shift, Friday and Smith remember some of their past cases and why it is they became cops.
The Big Sisters
Jan 13, 1956
An elderly woman fakes a burglary report so she can get attention from the police and the media.
The Big Fall Guy
Jan 27, 1956
Friday and Smith are on the trail of a robbery suspect that has robbed two stores.
The Big Set
Feb 3, 1956
A city councilman is beaten and robbed by two men outside a bar. When he dies from his injuries, Friday and Smith feel pressure to find the killers.
The Big Child
Feb 10, 1956
A two-year-old child after drinking bleach from under the sink. Friday and Smith are unable to locate the mother for questioning.
The Big Slug
Feb 17, 1956
A liquor store owner is shot and killed during a botched robbery, but police can find no trace of the fatal bullet.
The Big No Suicide
Mar 2, 1956
Friday gets a call from a former mental patient who is threatening to kill himself and his family.
The Big Siege
Mar 9, 1956
Police find themselves in a stand-off when an armed bank robber takes a woman hostage in her home.
The Big Revision
Mar 23, 1956
Friday and Smith hit a blank wall when a burglary suspect refuses to admit where he hid his stash.
The Big Ex-Blonde
Mar 30, 1956
Friday goes undercover to catch brothers who steal people's money by posing as real-estate agents.
The Big Bobo
Apr 6, 1956
A police officer is suspended from duty when he is accused of taking a bribe in exchange for a prisoner's release.
The Big Rush
Apr 13, 1956
Two bandits turn cop killer when they gun down an off-duty policeman during a tavern hold-up.
The Big Setup
Apr 20, 1956
An informant tips off police to a shipment of heroin coming into the country. Friday goes under cover to bust open the ring.
The Big Deal
Apr 27, 1956
Friday and Smith are investigating a rash of car thefts. The stolen cars are being sold with forged pink slips.
The Big Wish
May 4, 1956
A teenage boy turns himself in and confesses to being an addict, but he refuses to give up the names of his friends who supplied him.
The Big Hat
May 11, 1956
A young man is found hiding in an empty train car with the strangled body of an older woman next to him.