**Spoilers**
Don’t get me wrong there’s some pretty bad episodes in season five. Plus in my opinion probably the worst of the entire series… “Easy Slider”. But there is some relevance to this season. Hear me out.
Although we lost Quinn and Colin, the writers still threw in a character named Mallory. They made the best of both worlds, instead of us seeing someone trying to be Jerry O’Connell, they used some brains and scifi, eventually coming up with a fraternal twin merged with Quinn. Yes it wasn’t pretty but it could have been a lot worse.
Sporadically the Sliders would refer to Quinn and Colin, discussing the possibility of having them back again. There was discussion and episodes of how to get Colin back and unmerge Mallory from Quinn. You may say it was a lost hope, maybe it was, but at least the writers gave us that hope and kept peaking our interest of the good times. That’s one of the nice things about this season, they never forgot about their past. The Sliders never turned their back from the lost Sliders, especially Rembrandt Brown. Rembrandt was played by actor Cleavant Derricks and I believe he gave some of his most passionate acting in this season for Sliders.
Take for example Cleavant’s performance in “Requiem”, which is flawlessly done. The episode entails Rembrandt connecting with Wade telepathically and eventually slides to her world in hope of reuniting with her. He beats himself up in this episode, regretting the time he left her at a Kromagg prison alone. His performance is incredibly genuine in this episode, I can’t say it enough. Oh and by the way did you know that the real Wade (Sabrina Lloyd) presented a VoiceOver for her character here? You may say they just made it worse by having Wade’s head in a jar, but at least they tried to resolve a plot that was previously dead in the water.
There’s a few nice gems in season five including episodes like “New Gods for Old”, “Requiem”, “A Thousand Deaths” and “Dust”. A last thing I want to touch on is the tension and passion in season five. It’s clear Rembrandt is frustrated of the fact that his friends are lost while “Mallory” is trying to fit in with the others. Take for example, these quotes from “Applied Physics” and “New Gods for Old”:
“Applied Physics”
Maggie: “Quinn’s body is remembering who he is. He’s trying to come back.”
Mallory (angrily): “That’s what you want, isn’t it? To get your Quinn back. That’s the only reason you brought me along, right?”
Diana: “If there’s a chance that we can separate you from Quinn, we can…”
Mallory (interrupts): “And what if there’s not? What if you only get one Quinn per customer? Which one do you want?”
(silence among the Sliders)
Mallory: “That’s what I thought.”
(Mallory immediately exits the room)
“New Gods for Old”
Mallory: “Quinn is gone, for good.”
Maggie: “I know. I’m beginning to like Mallory.”
Rembrandt: “You believe that?”
Mallory: “Yeah. I feel it.”
Rembrandt: “I don’t… and I won’t.”
If there are any diamonds in the rough of season five it is certainly the stellar performance by Cleavant Derricks, the frequent reference to our long lost friends, and the passion this season brought out. Here’s to Arturo, Wade, Quinn, Colin, and of course the man who endured it all, Rembrandt.