Ironside: 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 Ironside 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
Priest-Killer
Sep 14, 1971
A police chief who is confined to a wheelchair and a former cop who is now a priest team up to discover who has been committing a series of murders of local priests. (Note: This wa
Contract: Kill Ironside
Sep 21, 1971
Due to give evidence, the Chief discovers that there is a contract out on his life, and that the chosen killer is a highly dedicated man. Whilst the authorities see only the lethal
The Professionals
Sep 28, 1971
A phoney cab driver is taking men to so-called parties, where they are drugged and robbed; but when one of the victims winds up dead, the Chief takes on the case. When he and his t
The Gambling Game
Oct 5, 1971
After the murder of Police Captain Belding, his daughter, a rookie cop, is anxious to prove that the allegations of corruption against him were false. She hampers the Chief's inves
Ring of Prayer
Oct 12, 1971
A prisoner is denied parole for no clear reason, and the Chief's investigations lead him to a woman who seems to have supernatural powers. With his team clearly taken in by the app
In the Line of Duty
Oct 19, 1971
A policeman is shot and killed by an assailant. The evidence points to the murderer being a local thief, currently enjoying a reign of terror in San Francisco, but soon the investi
Joss Sticks and Wedding Bells
Oct 26, 1971
Chief Ironside's sponsored "daughter" arrives from Korea, intending to marry a fellow Korean now living in San Francisco. Before he can be fully happy about the marriage, however,
Murder Impromptu
Nov 2, 1971
An actor/producer is murdered during a series of comic improvisations, and all of the actors present at the time seem to be suspects. Given a number of aliases and false leads, the
Dear Fran
Nov 9, 1971
Fran Belding's cousin Bobby commits suicide, and a note left behind seems to suggest that he could not live without her love. A series of other notes then follow, suggesting either
If a Body See a Body
Nov 16, 1971
On a day out with Mark, Ed finds a body in the park, but when Homicide arrives it has gone. Teased by his rival, Homicide Sergeant Larry Mullen, Ed is anxious to prove that there r
Good Samaritan
Nov 23, 1971
Ed is shot during a raid on a jewellery store, and his life is saved by a stranger who vanishes as soon as the authorities arrive on the scene. When it later transpires that the st
Gentle Oaks
Nov 25, 1971
A string of deaths at a convalescence home leads the Chief to go undercover as a patient, whose two children (Fran Belding and Ed) hint that they wish he were "no longer their prob
License to Kill
Dec 2, 1971
A policeman is killed, and his murderer is subsequently shot by the dead man's partner; and when it transpires that both officers were at the Police Academy with Ed, Ironside becom
Class of '57
Dec 16, 1971
Ed discovers that a man sought on assault charges is Bernie Simmonds, a man who was in his class at school. Whilst pursuing the investigation he meets again with Ann Garfield, his
No Motive for Murder
Dec 23, 1971
The son of an old friend, fearing that his father's life is in danger, asks the Chief to go to Tokyo. Once there Ironside finds his old friend wheelchair-bound as a result of an ac
But When She Was Bad
Dec 30, 1971
The Chief is sure that a man just released from prison is responsible for the murder of a policeman, but as determined as he is to prove it, the man in question is equally determin
Unreasonable Facsimile
Jan 6, 1972
A string of bank robberies are being committed, all with the exact hallmarks of a certain thief recently released from prison. Having a liking for the ex-con, however, the Chief wi
Find a Victim
Jan 13, 1972
A Mob numbers racket suffers a series of robberies, but is understandably unwilling to report the thefts. The Chief, feeling that he knows who might be the guilty party, sets out n
And Then There Was One
Jan 20, 1972
A military-issue fragmentation grenade is used in an attack on two Vietnam veterans, one of whom - a friend of Mark's - is killed. When it transpires that another of the pair's old
Death by the Numbers
Jan 27, 1972
A string of murders is committed, and in each case the victim has a numbered disk in their possession. After number four is found dead, it transpires that the Commissioner is the o
Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Murder
Feb 3, 1972
The small daughter of a friend of the Chief's dabbles in witchcraft, and becomes convinced that she is responsible for the death of her parents' landlord. Taking to the case to sho
Achilles' Heel
Feb 17, 1972
The son of a judge involved in a fraud case is framed for the murder of a young actress, in the hope that this will force a lighter sentence in the fraud trial. The Chief sets out
His Fiddlers Three
Mar 2, 1972
A violin tutor at a conservatory in San Francisco is murdered, and the suspects include an eclectic mix of talented musicians. The only clue possessed by the Chief is a message sen
A Man Named Arno
Mar 9, 1972
Alone in the office, Fran Belding is attacked by an escaped convict, and helped by a mystery man who refuses to tell her his name. The next morning he is reported missing by his wi