Well, folks, we knew it would come someday; we just really hoped it would be a year from now or two or three years from now. CBS has decided not to move forward with another season of The Equalizer, so this Sunday’s Season 5 finale also served as the series finale. A reboot of the 1985 series of the same name, The Equalizer starred Queen Latifah as the re-imagined titular character (played by Edward Woodward in the original series), trying to dole out justice to those unable to do so for themselves.
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Even though the reboot ran for five seasons, it was still 14 episodes shy of the original series’ total of 88 episodes, which ran for four seasons. Blame it on the pandemic, industry strikes, as well as shorter seasons that seem to be the norm across television series today.
There were brief hopes of a spinoff with characters introduced in the 16th episode of this season. Characters played by Juani Feliz and Titus Welliver were introduced as potential leads for the unnamed spinoff. But within 48 hours after the episode aired, news came down that the spinoff would not be moving forward. This seemed like the first nail in the coffin for the fate of The Equalizer, but no news is good news.
So fans held out hope there would still be another season of Robyn McCall (Queen Latifah) and her team, including Mel (Liza Lapira), Harry (Adam Goldberg) and Marcus Dante (Tory Kittles), fighting for justice for those who could not. With Dante and McCall finally expressing their mutual admiration for one another, the romance was just beginning after four long seasons, and fans were excited to see what would come next.
Related: Everything You Need to Know About The Equalizer Season 5
There were rumors that CBS was close to closing a deal for a truncated sixth and final season and that it all came down to budgets. Alas, a sixth season did not come to pass, and the show aired its last episode on Sunday, May 4.
Premiering after the Super Bowl back in 2021, The Equalizer was a ratings boon for CBS. Even with the pandemic and industry strikes, The Equalizer managed to produce 18 episodes each season (Season 1 and 4 only had ten episodes each) and regularly won its time slots on Sundays.
As mentioned in my preview of this week’s now-series finale, the episode can easily work as not just a season finale, but a finale to the entire show as well. In the episode, Harry contemplated getting out of the equalizing business, but he and Mel ultimately decided they still have plenty of equalizing left in them. Dee (Laya DeLeon Hayes) went to a book signing of her favorite author, Kara Jogunosimi (Kellee Stewart) and impressed her so much that the author offered to help her get into her dream school: Howard University, a HBCU that can count Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Vice President Kamala Harris, Pulitzer and Nobel-prize winning author Toni Morrison, and actors Chadwick Boseman, Phylicia Rashad, and Taraji B. Henson among its alumni.
Meanwhile, Dante and McCall finally made it to their first romantic getaway – a secluded cabin up in the Poconos. They were reminiscing about the first time they met, when she pretended to be a public defender. Before things could get any spicier, a knock on the door revealed their cabin neighbors down the way: An annoying pretentious couple, Glenda (Sarah Stiles) and Gary (Ken Barnett), who invited themselves in and started drinking their wine.
Harry and Mel discovered Salazar (Juan Javier Cardenas) was likely tracking Marcus to get to Robyn and had flown into an airport near the Poconos. Unable to reach them or the police station near them, Harry and Mel decided they should go up there and ensure they are safe.
When another knock on their cabin door disturbed their post-coital haze, Dante answered to find Gary there looking to retrieve something he had left behind. Before he could barge in, he was killed by Salazar’s men, with Dante barely getting out of harm’s way. Dante headed to the other cabin to get Glenda to safety, but he was taken by Salazar before he could follow behind her.
Curtis (Christopher B. Duncan) came over to cook for Aunt Vi, and it took all her willpower not to take over. He soon asked her to move in with him. Not sure she was ready for the next step or if she even wanted to take that step, the dinner quickly went downhill. She later came to a compromise – instead of moving in with him or he with her, they look for a new place together.
Robyn went to save Marcus, who is beat up pretty badly and shot. She and Salazar got into a fight out in the woods – one guess who won. Even though he was in pain, Dante was even more in love with McCall and got on bended knee to propose. Before she could answer, he passed out from his injuries. After he was in the hospital, recovering from surgery, Robyn gave him her answer: YES! The two have a low-key engagement party to round out the series.
While fans of The Equalizer are surely upset by the show’s cancellation, I think they were satisfied with this episode serving as its last. The episode provided closure and a happy ending to the dedicated viewers of the series. Fans will have to turn to fan fiction to see McCall’s adventures continue.
In one of the final scenes, Dee tells Aunt Vi about the inscription the author wrote in her book, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. We can’t wait to see what staircases Queen Latifah, Torry Kittles, Lorraine Toussaint, and the rest of the cast take their next steps. Maybe a reboot in a couple of years called The Equalizers?
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