Episode Guide

Season 5

Episode 65- Lunar Eclipse

The Case

There isn't one.

What's Really Going on Chris?

Annie is thinking about moving to LA and getting her real estate license. David comments that it sounds like she is in a hurry. She assures him that she is not doing this for him, but for herself. Her life back in Connecticut in pleasant but stuck, and in LA she feels unstuck.
At the office, Bert and Agnes announce they're getting married. Bert talks with David and Agnes talks with Maddie, and both admit they're nervous about making a lifelong committment. David tries to comfort Herberts fears of monogamy and Maddie assures Agnes it is normal for her to think of other men. Maddie is asked to be the maid of honor and David is asked to be the best man and to give Agnes away. Macgilicuddy buries the hatchet with Bert due to their impending nuptials and his recently discovered heart condition.
Annie's husband shows up to Blue Moon, and talks with Maddie and David in Maddie's office. He's in LA on business and wants to spend some time with his wife. Annie shows up and David has Bert do some fancy maneuvering to get them both out of the office without them seeing each other. After they all leave (Bert takes Annie to Disneyland) Maddie yells at David in her office. She asks, "a hot little fling, then ship her back to Connecticut with a smile on her face, was that the plan?" He replies that the smile part was correct. Maddie asks him if he is prepared to watch Annie dismantle her marriage because of him. David responds that it is her marriage and her decision. Maddie says, "how convenient." David responds that it is none of his business and that it is none of hers. Maddie asks him if he really believes that and he replies yes. She gets angry and throws him out of her office. When Annie gets back to David's from Disneyland, he tells her that Mark is in town. She says that it's good, now she can get all of this in the open. David asks if that's really what she wants to do. She says yes, but she's more sure of it sometimes than other times. One thing she is sure of, that she couldn't stand to be away from him all afternoon. David hugs her but looks concerned.
The next day, Mark wants to meet David for lunch. David meets him at a bar thinking Mark knows about him and Annie. It turns out that Mark knows she's having an affair but doesn't know with whom. He's hired a detective to find out (he wanted to used Blue Moon but decided to leave Maddie out of it) who it is and wanted David's opinion of Lou Lasalle's agency. Mark explains he wants to meet the guy to see if the guy is better for Annie than he is. If that is the case then Mark insists he will step aside. David suggests that this is just a fling and maybe this is just a 'laugh' to the other guy. Mark says that is not like Annie and this guy better not break her heart, or he'll kill him.
The detective Mark hired follows Bert thinking he is Annie's lover. They tussel in the garage at the mall and Bert needs an ambulance. Meanwhile Annie returns to David's to find him in the shower with another woman. It turns out it's Jamie (in a bathing suit, so is David) from Blue Moon who thinks she's doing undercover work on the Anselmo case. Annie packs her bags and leaves David.
At Bert and Agnes's wedding David gives them a remote control helicopter and then runs up to Maddie insisting that she kiss and hug him. She yells at him for what he did to Annie (she doesn't know it was Jamie) She tells him that at least Annie found out how vile, venal and hateful he is. David tries to kiss her but she pushes him away. Mark approaches the detective he hired (who has Bert and Agnes's wedding under surveillance) that his services are no longer needed. Bert sees the detective, attacks him and everyone ends up in the pool, then in jail.
While they are all being released from jail, Maddie finds out from Jamie what really happened in the shower. David sees Annie picking up Mark and they exchange glances (hers angry, his sad.)
David goes to the office the next day and finds all of the furniture is gone and an ABC executive tells him thay have been cancelled. MacGilicuddy is 'dead' (he has no more lines) and Bert leaves carrying MacGilicuddy over his shoulder crying that he should've done the honorable thing and left the show. Dave and Maddie frantically try to save the show and run into Agnes leaving the set. She can't rhyme anymore, blames D & M for the cancellation because they never figured out "their nitwit relationship" and says if there is a God in heaven she and Bert will get their own spin off and then leaves. Dave and Maddie decide to go to Cy, the most powerful producer in Hollywood for help. He tells them that the audience wants romance, not Dave and Maddie being friends. He says that America fell in love with Dave and Maddie falling in love, but they had to land sometime. He tells them that romance is a fragile thing and that when it's over, it's over and for them it's over. Maddie and David cared and cared until they couldn't care any more. He says it's too late and tells them to leave. Maddie and David decide to get married and run to a church. The priest refuses to marry them because they seemed desperate, not in love. Maddie and Dave are left alone on the altar and reminisce. Flashbacks of the past 5 years are shown while the song "We'll Be Together Again" plays in the background.

Chris's Obsessive Analysis

All good things must come to an end including "Moonlighting." I never saw the ending when originally run and didn't have it on tape, so I waited 11 years to see the last 7 episodes. In a way, I wish I had never seen them. They were too inconsistent in plot development and often out of character. They just don't do justice to the brilliance we were used to for the first 4 1/2 years. It just seemed like no one cared anymore. I prepared myself to hate "Lunar Eclipse" but it wasn't all that bad. Bert and Agnes got married, MacGuilicuddy dies, David does the right thing and sends Annie back to her husband (she was ready to divorce her husband, but to him it was "just a laugh" as he told her husband). Many things were unresolved, but I believe that the writers left it that way on purpose. I read somewhere that this episode was not originally supposed to be the last one. But ABC canceled the series suddenly and they rewrote the ending so that it would be the last one. And it sure feels like that's what they did. I'm sure in the original last scene Maddie would've confronted David about finding out about Jamie being in the shower with him and I'm sure we would've found out why after Annie leaves, David runs up to Maddie at the wedding and smothers her with hugs and kisses.
They really don't lead up to the last three episodes very well. We all assume David must be angry, but in the previous episodes to this it isn't dealt with at all. I don't really think he is angry about Chicago/Walter anymore. They dealt with that in "The Flesh Was Made Word." If David was going to marry Maddie and raise a kid that she told him wasn't his (as was implied in "Womb"), he has to have gotten over it to some degree. I think the anger referred to must be in reference to what we so affectionately call the "pals" crap (from "The Color of Maddie".) Imagine being David for a moment. After all that the two of you have been through, after planning to get married and raise a child, the woman you love, after losing the baby, tells you that your relationship is 'more than good friends', pals. I think David (as usual) takes this with a grain of salt, more of Maddie's foolishness. In the episodes in between "The Color of Maddie" and "When Girls Collide" David makes several attempts by asking Maddie out to dinner etc, but she always turns him down. By the time Annie comes to town David is pretty tired of this. Annie presents an opportunity for David to test Maddie, a final checkmate in their game. He knows that Maddie would not be threatened by one of his 'floozies.' He has to use someone who Maddie is close to. I think that is why David initially takes Maddie and Annie dancing. Then David receives a bonus, he actually likes Annie and decides to pursue it farther with her. That is when Maddie feels threatened. But she won't admit it. David desperately needs to hear her say it, but she won't. When she goes to his place he was willing to listen to what she had to say until she said she was worried about Annie. David knew why she was there and hits the nail on the head when he tells her that the reason she came over was because "this has nothing to do with you and that drives you crazy." David enjoys the time he spends with Annie and I believe he truly likes her. He enjoys even more the reactions he's getting out of Maddie. He's just pushing her buttons again. I believe that's why he let Annie go. To him this was a fun 'fling.' He tells both Annie and her husband this. When Annie is getting serious about leaving her husband, and the husband gives David more insight into Annie's behavior, he realizes he has to end it and he does. He does it in a way that Annie will think he is scum and there is no chance for them. He also involves one of the office staff. I think this was intentional. He must've known it would get back to Maddie. It reminds me of Maddie telling Agnes about the baby. Maddie is correct when she tells David that she thinks he is just playing games and "does things for the wrong reasons." Is this all very cruel and spiteful and just down right awful of Dave to do? Yes. Is it about time that we saw some anger from him? Yes. Did Dave have a right to be angry? Definitely! Did the "powers that be" lay the groundwork in the episodes prior to this for it to make sense? No. Those prior episodes were all 'stand alones.' "When Girls Collide" goes back to the you-have-to-see-it-every-week format. That makes it even harder. That is my guess about why David gets involved with Annie, let's her go and why he is angry with Maddie. Or maybe.......their trip to Paris ("Perfetc") was awful :)
I thought the idea for the last 10 minutes was very original and very "Moonlighting," but the only funny part of this episode was when Bert says that he should've done the honorable thing and left the show. I rolled on the floor when he said this. The most infuriating part of this episode was the speech by Cy about how romance is a fragile thing and when it's over, it's over. I almost threw something at the TV when he said that Maddie and Dave cared and cared until they couldn't care anymore. I really felt this whole speech was a slap in the face to the loyal viewers (the only people still watching) who thought (or hoped) they still did care. The speech by Cy was clever, but why did it have to be so cynical and bitter? The last scene in the church was a cute idea, but again, was so pathetic and sad. Of all the things Maddie and David could've said to each other........ it could've been so much more. The clips just made everything more sad, as if to remind you of the brilliant past and wonder why did it have to end this way? I didn't think Maddie and David would get married, but I thought at the least it would have a sweet and touching ending that was at least ambiguous about them getting back together. (Of course, I'm a sap and also would've loved some tearjerker romantic ending with them riding off into the sunset) This is fiction after all. They could've ended any way they wanted to. We all watched the show because in real life Dave and Maddie wouldn't work. America was rooting for them to make it work, and in TV land it should have. The fans deserved something that was more upbeat and funny and thanked the viewers rather than mocking them. Probably the most disappointing thing about this episode was that Dave and Maddie really only had 1 scene together (with Annie's husband) before the silly ending. How ironic that they end "Moonlighting" with what was really a Bert and Agnes episode! I now believe that the soul of "Moonlighting" died when their baby did and Glenn Gordon Caron left, even though the series went on longer.
By the way, the Anselmo case was the final case to reflect David and Maddie's relationship. Both were never solved and remain a mystery to this day.

Memorable Moments

Bert and Agnes' wedding
the ending is very clever in a "Moonlighting" kind of way

Links

Back to the Episode Guide main page
My eulogy to Moonlighting, aka what went wrong?
Brian's "Lunar Eclipse" page
Aubrey's Blue Moon Banter page for this episode