When it aired, Season 5 suffered from a audience perspective since the
climax of the series had already occurred in our minds, with the resolutions
of the Shadow War & the Earth Civil War.  Anything that came afterwards had
to feel like an letdown.  Seen now in retrospect, Season 5 does have it own
logic and narrative power -- even if elements of it are completely out of
sync.  I guess, for me, the real problems in Season 5 are things like the
telepaths' clothing and personality affectations, which do seem very
specifically tailored to appeal to a certain viewer demographic that perhaps
TNT was urging JMS to court.  If you compare the dress & mannerisms of the
telepath resistance members from Season 2 to this new group from Season 5,
the contrast is all too apparent.  Certain elements of the show appeared, in
least in my mind, to have changed and become much more formulaic.  That
said, once Bryon becomes "toast" and the telepath's disappear from the
scene, the show begins to regain its form.  Obviously, if the uncertainty
around the series cancellation were not a factor, I have no doubt that
Seasons 4 & 5 would have flowed a bit differently.  Personally, I could have
done without the Telepath saga altogether, and would have preferred to see
JMS resolve the loose ends around Sheridan's & Delenn's appearance in
Londo's future (as foreshadowed in WWE) in Season 5...

Matt C