8.4/1069 votes#1 - On the Street
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 9/30/1985
A teenager has run away from her wealthy home, preferring prostitution to Princeton. Cagney and Lacey need her to testify against her pimp
Director: Alexander Singer
Writer: N/A
8.0/1058 votes#2 - Ordinary Hero
Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 10/7/1985
Cagney and Lacey have no trouble with a case, thanks to their star witness. Alas, he's an illegal alien, who can only stay in the country until the trial ends. When the baddy takes a plea bargain, the witness and family are going to be deported
Director: Reza Badiyi
Writer: N/A
7.6/1048 votes#3 - The Psychic
Season 5 Episode 3 - Aired 10/21/1985
A psychic is hired to find a missing woman (hired by the family of the woman). Cagney senses trouble.
Director: Ray Danton
Writer: Scott Rubenstein, Debra Frank
7.3/1052 votes#4 - Lottery
Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 10/28/1985
After the New York State Lottery has paid out millions, here comes another ticket. Somebody has a fake, but who? In the B story, Harvey and Mary Beth must face an IRS audit
Director: James Frawley
Writer: N/A
7.9/1054 votes#5 - Entrapment
Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 11/4/1985
Cagney and Lacey try to nail drug dealer Mansfield. But their case rests on Chris' unsubstantiated conversation with him. Mary Beth would rather go bowling than lie, but she has to stick up for Chris.
Director: Al Waxman
Writer: N/A
8.0/1057 votes#6 - The Clinic
Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 11/11/1985
Cagney and Lacey escort a poor Latina to an abortion clinic, as she's afraid to run the gauntlet of protestors. When the clinic is firebombed and someone dies, it becomes murder. When the baddy is discovered, Lacey points out that since she's pregnant, attacking her is just like killing a baby. This was a controversial episode, not shown by every affiliate.
Director: Alexander Singer
Writer: N/A
7.8/1051 votes#7 - Mothers & Sons
Season 5 Episode 7 - Aired 11/25/1985
There's good evidence against a suspect, but his mother insists that he was at home with her. As long as the suspect has an alibi, he's all right
Director: Ray Danton
Writer: Frank South
7.6/1055 votes#8 - Filial Duty
Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 12/2/1985
Charlie Cagney's drinking begins to catch up with him and he winds up in the hospital. Lacey, now well advanced in her pregnancy, wants to get off the street and into a desk
Director: Sharron Miller
Writer: N/A
7.8/1048 votes#9 - Old Ghosts
Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 12/9/1985
Cagney sees a robbery in progress, gives chase, loses the perp, and then gets into trouble because she didn't catch the guy. She doesn't like being accused of cowardice. Brother Brian shows up from L.A. to see how Charlie is doing.
Director: Georg Stanford Brown
Writer: N/A
8.2/1051 votes#10 - Power
Season 5 Episode 10 - Aired 12/16/1985
Samuels' absence gives Cagney a chance to shine as temporary commander. Inspector Knelman gives her her orders - put Lacey on maternity leave. This is considered a classic episode because it is the one in which Cagney takes her turn as watch commande
Director: James Frawley
Writer: Patricia Green
6.8/1051 votes#11 - Play It Again, Santa
Season 5 Episode 11 - Aired 12/23/1985
A Christmas episode, where Cagney is teamed with Newman to solve a dispute over who has rights to a song. Since Chris just had a fight with David, maybe Newman will be a romantic prospect? See Cagney dressed up as a Santa with big elf shoes on
Director: Charlotte Brown
Writer: N/A
7.9/1049 votes#12 - The Rapist (aka Rebukes)
Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 1/6/1986
Also given to me as ""The Rapist, Part 1"")"" As a temporary replacement for Lacey, Sara Jones seems like a fine detective, and very gungho on finding a rapist. Too gungho - she decides to take matters into her own hands when it seems it is taking too long to nail the suspected rapist. A very, very sad ending to this episode.
Director: James Frawley
Writer: N/A
7.8/1057 votes#13 - Act of Conscience
Season 5 Episode 13 - Aired 1/13/1986
Cagney's new partner, Michael Moriarty, is famous - he ""ratted"" on some cops on the take. The other police officers will have nothing to do with him - in fact, Coleman has a ""book"" on how long the guy will last.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/1050 votes#14 - DWI
Season 5 Episode 14 - Aired 1/20/1986
To gain more command experience, Cagney commands the night shift, with its own bunch of wackos. The cop case is a hit-and-run drunken driver. Cagney must convince the driver's girlfriend to testify. This episode is one of the first to talk about Cagney's drinking
Director: Al Waxman
Writer: Susan Sisko, Les Carter
8.7/1078 votes#15 - The Gimp
Season 5 Episode 15 - Aired 1/27/1986
Handicapped people are being robbed, and a wheelchair activist wants the NYPD to do something about it. Cagney goes undercover by appearing as a handicapped individual in a wheelchair and falls for the activist.
Director: Sharron Miller
Writer: N/A
8.4/1061 votes#16 - Family Connections
Season 5 Episode 16 - Aired 2/10/1986
This is sometimes referred to as Cagney & Lacey's ""Lucy and Ethel"" episode for its comedic touches. At last, Lacey has baby Alice. (It did seem like the longest pregnancy on record, didn't it?) Cagney has to drive her to the hospital in the obligatory get-me-to-the-hospital-on-time scene. Chris has another problem - Charlie has a girlfriend, Donna.
Director: James Frawley
Writer: N/A
8.2/1055 votes#17 - Post Partum
Season 5 Episode 17 - Aired 2/17/1986
A West Point cadet is facing court martial and refuses to talk because of his honor code. David Keeler is sure that the cadet is innocent, so Chris goes up to help out. Lacey has a visitor - her long-lost father, who ran out on her mother when Mary Beth was a child. Now he wants to see his grandchildren
Director: Georg Stanford Brown
Writer: N/A
7.1/1048 votes#18 - The Man Who Shot Trotsky
Season 5 Episode 18 - Aired 3/3/1986
In a sequel to #62,Cagney and a back-on-duty-again Lacey go after Mansfield again. Cagney's informant is a street-smart Hispanic youth - is he tough enough to handle Mansfield?
Director: Alexander Singer
Writer: Peter Lefcourt, Kathryn Ford
7.3/1054 votes#19 - Exit Stage Centre
Season 5 Episode 19 - Aired 3/10/1986
An actress in a play has died, and it appears to be suicide. However, when the ladies start digging around, they discover that everybody in the play hates everybody else - plenty of reason for murder. We learn that Cagney tried acting in college.
Director: James Frawley
Writer: N/A
6.8/1044 votes#20 - Capitalism
Season 5 Episode 20 - Aired 4/7/1986
A Cambodian lawyer who specialized in helping his fellow countrymen is killed. Further investigation reveals that he made a lot of money off other Cambodian's misfortunes.
Director: Alexander Singer
Writer: N/A
7.2/1049 votes#21 - Extradition
Season 5 Episode 21 - Aired 5/5/1986
Cagney and Lacey get a sweetheart trip - to Los Angeles to bring back a bail jumper
Director: Charles S. Dubin
Writer: N/A
7.3/1052 votes#22 - A Safe Place
Season 5 Episode 22 - Aired 5/12/1986
A thief gets more than he expected, when the goods include plutonium. He needs to be caught quickly, so that his radiation sickness can be treated
Director: Alexander Singer
Writer: N/A
7.6/1045 votes#23 - Model Citizen
Season 5 Episode 23 - Aired 5/25/1986
A labor leader is killed. Once again, the victim seems to have led a blameless life, yet someone wanted him dead.
Director: Jeffrey Hayden
Writer: Patricia Green, Hannah Louise Shearer
8.6/1059 votes#24 - Parting Shots
Season 5 Episode 24 - Aired 5/26/1986
A labor leader is killed. Once again, the victim seems to have led a blameless life, yet someone wanted him dead. In the B plot, Cagney's niece (who we met in #78) comes for a visit.
Director: Georg Stanford Brown
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Cagney & Lacey Season 5
Every episode of Cagney & Lacey Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Cagney & Lacey Season 5!
Mary Beth Lacey and Chris Cagney are teamed up as NYPD police detectives. Their opposing personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) mesh to...
Genres:CrimeDrama
Network:CBS
Season 5 Ratings Summary
"On the Street" is the best rated episode of "Cagney & Lacey" season 5. It scored 8.4/10 based on 69 votes. Directed by Alexander Singer and written by N/A, it aired on 9/30/1985. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Ordinary Hero".