Party of Five

- Season 5

(1998)

The creators and cast of PARTY OF FIVE look back at the highlights of their first four seasons.

Charlie's constant worrying about Daphne's pregnancy upsets her. Julia starts college at Stanford, and Bailey and Sarah take Claudia to her new school in Massachusetts.

Sarah receives some unsettling news about her parents. Julia's secrecy about her marriage causes problems at school. Charlie searches for Daphne.

Charlie delights in learning the sex of his unborn child, but Daphne has no interest in anything about the baby. Meanwhile, Julia seems incapable of interacting with Josh, especially after finding out that Griffin is trying to move on with his life without her when he moves into the Salinger house while looking for a new place to live, and pretends to have a new girlfriend. Sarah tries reconnecting with her birth mother, much to Bailey's chagrin. But after Sarah learns of her birth mother's sudden death in an accident, she instead tries seeking out the woman's parents...

Charlie and Kirsten are nothing but supportive of Daphne when her doctor orders her to bed rest for some time. Meanwhile, Julia hopes to avoid Ned at a Halloween party, but realizes that she can't get him out of her mind, while she continues to avoid Maggie. Bailey's old friend, Will, pays an unexpected visit to him and Sarah's loft and brings a lot of excess emotional baggage with him over running away from college, and a pregnant girlfriend named Hannah following him there. In Massacusetts, Claudia's former boyfriend, Jamie Burke, arrives at her school for a visit, ...

Charlie struggles to remain strong for Daphne, whose complications with her pregnancy has landed her in the hospital and jeopardized her life and that of the baby. Meanwhile, Julia and Ned decide to tell Maggie about their blossoming relationship, but they are delayed by her announcement of her dead pet dog. Bailey helps Hannah make an important decision about her future with or without her baby, or Will in her life. In Massacusets, Claudia hits every imaginable delay while waiting to catch a plane back to San Francisco to be with Charlie in his time of need.

While Charlie, Kirsten, Bailey, Julia and their friends take turns for a bedside vigil for Daphne who's still in the hospital, Claudia delays returning home to her boarding school to help Charlie around the house. Meanwhile, Maggie's anger overflows at both Ned and Julia after she learns from her visit to the Salinger home about their affair. Also, Sarah begins to have second thoughts about intimacy with Bailey over the pregnancies of Daphne and Hannah.

Fearing that little Owen has been abducted grips Charlie to a point to panic, who lost the youngster at a mall on Thanksgiving Day. Meanwhile, Daphne tries to prepare the dinner for everybody... alone at the house. In Massachusetts, Claudia feels alone at not being able to travel back to San Francisco for Thanksgiving, and fears something's wrong due to Daphne's tone of voice over the phone. Bailey tries to ease Sarah's fears over missing Owen, while Griffin and Ned verbally square off against each other over Julia. Also, Kirsten and Paul have a minor argument over ...

As a new father to Daphne's baby, Charlie is afforded little quality time with Owen, which brings out jealousy in the five-year-old. Meanwhile, a would-be-competitor has Bailey running scared with threats to open a trendy new eatery across the street from Salingers. So Bailey resorts to an all-out war to prevent the restaurant from opening near Salingers, much to Sarah's and the former restaurant owner, Joe's chagrin. Julia thinks that Ned is not all he says he is after catching him in a lie, and discovers that he's trying to prevent her from meeting his visiting ...

Kirsten steps in once again when Daphne seems unable to handle the tasks of motherhood in responding to the baby's constant crying fits and Charlie's demands. But Paul finally puts his foot down after Kirsten misses a few too many nights of them together to be with the Salingers. Meanwhile, Julia's efforts to get to know Ned's autistic brother, Richie, upsets not only Ned but Richie as well. Griffin flies to Boston to come to Claudia's rescue when the rest of her siblings won't. Also, Bailey goes on a wild spending spree after receiving a large tax refund check. But ...

The week before Christmas, Daphne's routine of quiet desperation is interrupted by an unannounced visit from her parents. Although Daphne is dubious, Charlie insists that her parents stay. But Charlie has other things on his mind when he gets angry at Claudia and Griffin after he brings her home for the holidays and she refuses to go back to her school. Meanwhile, a dejected Owen stays with Bailey and Sarah which leads to an incident when Owen is suspected of stealing a baby doll from a nativity scene over his growing resentment over Daphne's baby. Also, Julia tries ...

Daphne, upset with herself for ignoring baby Diana, pays a visit to a priest for answers when she sees her own sanity beginning to crack over her maternal responsibilities, while her puzzling behavior begins to worry Charlie. Meanwhile, Bailey tries to find common ground with Owen by taking him out on a camping trip which doesn't go well as all. Julia begins to see a new side of Ned when he begins acting moody and angry over his former girlfriend, Maggie, having a new boyfriend and starts taking it out on Julia. Also, Kirsten volunteers herself as a supervisor to the ...

Charlie must cope with the fact that he's now alone and raising baby Diana on his own after Daphne leaves. Meanwhile, Sarah becomes traumatized after being attacked at knife point by a robber at the restaurant which requires her to seek therapy and Bailey feels helpless about the incident and takes out his frustration by investing in high-tech security systems. Julia moves back into the Salinger house to escape from Ned's sudden outbursts. But a sudden visit from Ned, who appears very apologetic, makes Julia wondering if she really knows him. Paul tells Kirsten about ...

A courthouse confrontation between Sarah and her assailant spooks her, but it changes when decides not to testify much to Bailey's chagrin. Meanwhile, Julia decides to make up with Ned and tries to forget about his abuse. But Griffin gets bad vibes from Ned over Julia when he learns about Ned's short temper. Claudia decides to shed her naive image and walk on the wild side with some advice from Griffin's band mate Cody. Also, Charlie seems oblivious to his effect on women when three of them mistaken his kind gestures for advances. Paul's news to Kirsten about trying ...

The arrival of Julia's former boyfriend, Justin, fuels Ned's jealousy and anger during an anniversary party for Justin's parents. Despite Bailey's objections, Sarah insists on seeking a bond with her attacker, and soon regrets it when the man robs several apartments in the building. Meanwhile, Kirsten makes a major decision in her life on ending her marriage with Paul, and turning to Charlie for help. Also, jealousy prompts a creative performance from Claudia during her first gig with Griffin's band when a new lead singer, named Melanie, turns out to be an old ...

A recently rediscovered file on Daphne about her troubled childhood sends Charlie to Los Angeles to find her which arouses jealousy and fear in Kirsten. Meanwhile, Griffin gets no help at all from Bailey or Charlie who refuse to believe that Julia is being abused and controlled by Ned, especially when Julia convinces them that Griffin is the problem. So, Griffin takes matters into his own hands by beating up Ned and ends up in jail for it. Bailey considers a risky partnership concerning the restaurant with a sleazy entrepreneur who wants to open a chain of restaurants...

Julia goes into therapy, with Ned in tow, after she vows to remain with him if he agrees to get help. But when the psychiatrist tries probing into the source of Ned's anger, he backs out while at the same time, he also manipulates Julia into moving with him into an apartment in order to keep his abuse a secret. Meanwhile, Owen's kindergarten teacher tells Bailey about a suspected learning disability Owen may have, which leads Bailey to consider raising Owen by himself. In Los Angeles, Charlie urges Daphne to return home with him to get psychiatric help to overcome ...

All of the Salingers come to mean frustration that threatens to tear the family apart starting when Bailey and Charlie begin to verbally quarrel over custody of Owen since both brothers do not want to back down on trying to raise Owen by themselves. Meanwhile, Julia feels left out when Bailey and Charlie take out their frustration on her. But due to Claudia's suspicious, and after a meeting with Maggie, both Bailey and Charlie confront Julia on an alarming truth about Ned's abuse. For Sarah, family means something new about which she doesn't see eye to eye with her ...

With a little of Maggie's help, Griffin whisks Julia away to try to talk some sense into her about her relationship with the abusive Ned. Julia still won't listen to Griffin or anyone. But upon returning to San Francisco, Ned's words may later ring true for her. Meanwhile, Claudia feels pressured to take sides when Bailey tells her to support him in his custody battle for the dyslexic Owen, and Kirsten feels the same after a visit from Bailey. The events lead the family gathering under trouble circumstances at the hospital when Owen is admitted with a broken arm after...

The Salingers become more anxious than ever to end the dispute between Charlie and Bailey over proper care for Owen. But Bailey remains a holdout when Charlie refuses to hand over Owen's guardianship to him which takes them to verbally fighting in a family court with everyone in their lives testifying for and against them. Meanwhile, Julia makes yet another telling observation about Ned when he begins stalking her after she moves out of his place. Also, both Kirsten and Griffin try to make a clean break from the Salingers and they accidentally lease an apartment that ...

A city-wide power failure traps Julia and Griffin alone in an elevator where feelings for each other resurface. At the same time, Charlie goes to the hospital to help baby Diana where he has a chance meeting with Kirsten's husband Paul. The blackout increases tension between Bailey and his new restaurant manager, Lauren, over how to manage Salingers due to the blackout and Lauren's domineering management techniques. Meanwhile, Claudia frets about some of the boys at her 16th birthday party that Sarah throws for her at the loft while she also tries to calm Claudia down...

Both Charlie and Julia express different thoughts on a second chance with their former mates, Kirsten and Griffin respectively: whereas Julia wants to keep her relationship with Griffin a secret, Charlie has conflicts about staring over with Kirsten. Meanwhile, Bailey senses unrest in Owen over living conditions at the loft, and may even have some within himself stemming from Lauren over feelings towards her. Charlie makes some confusing moves around Kirsten which takes a sudden turn when he finds out she is likely to be accepted into a foreign study program in Tonga ...

Bailey rejects Lauren's resignation as restaurant manager and asks her to stay, while continuing to avoid her. Sarah takes a nervous Claudia for her first visit to a gynecologist. Afterwards, Claudia's band mate, Melanie, tries to reunite her with Cody at a concert where the band R.E.M. is performing. Meanwhile, Perry Marks, a visiting English professor and well noted alumna of Julia's writing class, critiques her work as well as comforts and quarrels with Julia about her own writing. While Bailey and Sarah move back into the Salinger house, Charlie sees a gift for ...

Bailey asks Sarah to co-host a formal dinner party to promote the restaurant while she tries balancing her time with her human rights activist group planning to stage a campus protest on that day. Meanwhile, Perry and Julia exchange favors of going to social parties as well as helping each other with their literary work, which takes a sudden turn when an intimate moment happens between them. Claudia begins to avoid being alone with Cody fearing that he wants something more, which leads her to throwing a house party for her friends. Also, Charlie hesitates to stay with...

Charlie's romance and possible future with Kirsten is put in a dilemma when Daphne suddenly returns to town after the death of her mother and wants to see baby Diana. Meanwhile, Claudia adopts a new look to shed her good girl image to fit more in with Cody, much to Bailey's chagrin. Bailey is left by himself when Sarah goes away to write an introspective essay, but cannot get away from the stress and worry of her daily life. Julia, seeking to reevaluate her life, goes on a date with Josh, which gets disrupted when Julia lets a comment from Perry about her status ...

Both Charlie and Bailey make plans to propose marriage to Kirsten and Sarah respectively. But with Kirsten still wary over Daphne's return, and Sarah coping with schoolwork and scholarship pressures, only Bailey finds the right time to propose, but when it comes to the decision, only Kirsten says "yes." Time with baby Diana makes Daphne think about demanding custody of her baby. Meanwhile, a final biochemistry exam that's critical to her scholarship chances weighs heavily on Julia, who rejects her visiting former boyfriend Justin's tempting offer of help because she's...