Marc Lawrence pens the season five opener, aired on 25 September, 1986. There have been some changes in the Keaton family, Alex (Michael J. Fox) is a sophomore at Leland, Mallory (Justine Bateman) and Skippy (Marc Price) are freshmen at Grant, Jennifer (Tina Yothers) is in junior high, and Andrew (Brian Bonsall) who was a baby in the previous season is starting pre-school, while Steven (Michael Gross) and Elyse (Meredith Baxter) are attempting to organize a family meal or two.

Things seem to be going well, Mallory is really digging her philosophy courses, but Alex, when he sees the compassionate, humanist and sharing approach the teachers use at Andrew’s preschool, and he attempts to take Andrew out of class because sharing isn’t a thing in Alex’s world.

After a confrontation with Steven and Elyse Alex admits that he’s only doing what he does because he loves Andrew, but when he sees the class in action, he becomes involved and realizes that Andrew will find his own way, and he’ll just have to be there to help as he goes along.

Bonsall is a cute kid, and he seems to slip in nicely with the rest of the cast. Of course, he’s a child, so you can’t expect super solid acting from him, but he’s a lot of fun, and his interactions with Fox are a lot of fun.

Starting Over was penned by Alan Uger and debuted on 2 October, 1986. Ellen (Tracy Pollan) is gone. It seems she got a dance scholarship for a school in Paris. Alex is shattered, and hasn’t left the house in a month (honestly they should have used this as a season-opener).

So Alex decides he needs to get back out there, and asks out Sharon (Haviland Morris), who is attractive, but not anything like Alex’s type, but that’s not going to stop him. He’s determined that he can modify Sharon to be Ellen, even if he has to adapt a little to her style (which sees him dressed in the Miami Vice style popularized by the show).

Of course, it’s no surprise that the whole thing blows up in his face during an evening out, and he has to return home, alone, and confront and deal with his feelings over his love and loss of Ellen.

It’s a nice episode, there’s some really fun stuff when Alex realizes that there are more women out there, but right now he’s only interested in them resembling Ellen. He’s not ready to be out there yet.

Making use of ‘At This Moment’ by Billy Vera and The Beaters, the episode definitely swings from very funny to melancholic, hinging on Fox’s performance, and it shows moments that almost all of us can relate to.

My Back Pages was written by Ruth Bennett and first debuted on 16 October, 1986. Steven gets a look at how his life has changed, from the idealistic young man he was fighting for change in the 60s, to the husband, father, and socially conscious man he is today.

When an old college friend, Matt (Sanford Jensen) shows up at the Keaton household, old memories resurface, including Steven and Elyse’s work on Matt’s paper The Scavenger. They were busy flirting, but Keaton showed a lot of promise as a write who voiced very strong opinions on a number of powerful topics.

When Matt offers Steven the chance to join him as he revives The Scavenger, the pair find that they have changed, and while they both may be committed to social change, Steven’s views have become more tempered by his experiences and his family. Matt’s have not.

They don’t have a real connection anymore, and it brings everything Steven believes in, and everything he’s done into question, wondering if he’s still the same person he was, or if he’s betrayed his core beliefs.

It’s a nice introspective episode, and features Timothy Busfield who is always a delight.