The BEST episodes of Without a Trace season 5

Every episode of Without a Trace season 5, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Without a Trace season 5!

Without a Trace is a fast-paced procedural drama about the Missing Persons Squad of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The sole responsibility of the special task force is to find missing persons by applying advanced psychological profiling techniques to peel back the layers of the victims' lives and trace their whereabouts in an effort to discover whether they have been abducted, been murdered, committed suicide or simply run away. The team reconstructs a "Day of Disappearance" timeline that details every minute of the 24 hours prior to the disappearance, following one simple rule: learn who the victim is in order to learn where the victim is. Senior agent Jack Malone heads the dedicated team that knows too well that every second counts when someone vanishes.

Last Updated: 11/7/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
Share:
The Beginning
star
7.86
157 votes

#1 - The Beginning

Season 5 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/10/2007

A teenage girl disappears after joining a cult. In the office, Elena encounters problems with Carlos in their custody battle for Sofie.

Directors: Jeannot Szwarc
Watch Now:Amazon
Primed
star
7.83
172 votes

#2 - Primed

Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/21/2007

When a young artist disappears, the team is concerned that one of her subjects may have been unhappy with her work.

Writer: Jan Nash
Watch Now:Amazon
Eating Away
star
7.76
201 votes

#3 - Eating Away

Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/14/2007

Barry Rosen goes missing shortly after being poisoned with bleach in a chili eating contest. While investigating Barry's disappearance, the team soon learns that he had been approached to throw the eating contest, and also that he had been spending a lot of time with a local prostitute in an effort to learn how to act around women. Danny is caught in the middle when Carlos asks him for a letter of reference in an upcoming custody review, and Elena informs him that Carlos is actually suing her for sole custody of Sofie. Danny warns Carlos that he is not going to be caught in the middle.

Directors: Martha Mitchell
Watch Now:Amazon
Desert Springs
star
7.73
198 votes

#4 - Desert Springs

Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/18/2007

The team searches for missing water plant supervisor Jason Turner, and learn that he had become the target of a lot of anger after recent layoffs at the plant. Carlos comes to the office looking for Elena.

Directors: Eriq La Salle
Writer: David Amann
Watch Now:Amazon
Without You
star
7.73
201 votes

#5 - Without You

Season 5 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/4/2007

Elena is frantic when her daughter Sofie goes missing, and the team has a full schedule as they must also search for a missing female tourist named Jenny.

Directors: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer: Jose Molina
Watch Now:Amazon
Two of Us
star
7.69
172 votes

#6 - Two of Us

Season 5 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/6/2007

A high school student goes missing after leaving her prom early to get some rest in her hotel room, leaving behind a bloody dress and a lot of questions about what may have happened to her.

Watch Now:Amazon
Deep Water
star
7.68
227 votes

#7 - Deep Water

Season 5 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/11/2007

A newly elected senator goes missing and Jack immediately turns his attention towards her husband.

Directors: Paul McCrane
Watch Now:Amazon
The Thing With Feathers
star
7.67
223 votes

#8 - The Thing With Feathers

Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/3/2006

Vivian thinks about her recent surgical problems while searching for a missing woman with a terminal condition.

Directors: Scott White
Watch Now:Amazon
Crash and Burn
star
7.66
170 votes

#9 - Crash and Burn

Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/15/2007

A former soldier, now stuntman, goes missing and the team learns that he changed his will only short time before he went missing which makes them wonder who needed the money.

Directors: John Polson
Watch Now:Amazon
At Rest
star
7.66
167 votes

#10 - At Rest

Season 5 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/25/2007

Sam's darkest secrets are revealed when her sister goes missing she decides to search for her without the team's help.

Directors: Jonathan Kaplan
Watch Now:Amazon
One and Only
star
7.66
134 votes

#11 - One and Only

Season 5 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/29/2007

The team searches for Chris Manning, a family court judge with a soft side who went missing after meeting with a young boy caught between his mother and his abusive father. Suspicion initially turns anyone Manning may have riled up due to his court rulings, but after his clerk is shot in what appears to be an attempt on Manning's life, the team learns that the secret behind Manning's disappearance is tied up with something that happened over twenty years earlier.

Directors: Kate Woods
Watch Now:Amazon
Tail Spin
star
7.62
234 votes

#12 - Tail Spin

Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/7/2007

The team tries to determine whether or not the recent disappearance of an air traffic controller has connections to the Middle East. The team soon learns that his wife died in an automobile accident and he was having an affair with her sister.

Directors: Peter Markle
Watch Now:Amazon
Connections
star
7.57
201 votes

#13 - Connections

Season 5 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/18/2007

The team searches for a fifteen-year-old girl who lived with her grandfather and was last seen at an Internet café. Sam gets an unexpected visit from her estranged sister.

Watch Now:Amazon
Fade-Away
star
7.55
198 votes

#14 - Fade-Away

Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/10/2006

When 17-year-old Ted Soros goes missing after a basketball game, the team begins an investigation, soon learning that Ted was an emancipated minor who was living on his own to attend a school with an exemplary basketball program. Learning he had recently contacted his mother with a request for legal advice from an uncle, the team begins to suspect that Ted may have done something that he could face criminal charges for, and realise that Ted's secret is connected to a university recruiting party. While the team works Ted's disappearance, Jack learns from Ann that she lost the baby, and waits for her at the clinic while she seeks medical attention.

Directors: Jonathan Kaplan
Watch Now:Amazon
911
star
7.55
238 votes

#15 - 911

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/8/2006

The team searches for Jessica, a 911 operator who disappeared after a man called and asked for her by name.

Directors: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer: Amanda Segel
Watch Now:Amazon
Skin Deep
star
7.51
168 votes

#16 - Skin Deep

Season 5 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/8/2007

When a young, interracial boy goes missing, race and money appear to play the starring roles in the investigation.

Directors: Eric Close
Writer: Amanda Segel
Watch Over Me
star
7.47
251 votes

#17 - Watch Over Me

Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/19/2006

The team investigates the disappearance of social worker Eric Hayes, who had given thirty days notice to his job not long before. When their investigation leads them to a young pregnant woman who had already lost one child to the system, the agents begin to believe the disillusioned social worker may have been having an affair but soon discover that he may have been trying to right the wrong that drove him from his job. Danny has trouble with the investigation, as it reminds him of his own experience in foster care. Jack confides in Samantha about his relationship with Ann, but it may be too late.

Directors: Bobby Roth
Stolen
star
7.27
210 votes

#18 - Stolen

Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/24/2006

Bryan Parker is questioned by the FBI after being found alone on the road by a police officer, his hand bandaged. He tells them about a young boy his father had abducted, and soon the team is searching for Todd. The search initially goes nowhere, and Sam continues to question Bryan, but they get a lead when Bryan identifies a snapshot of the boy that reveals his identity to be that of missing boy Daniel Ellison. It isn't long before the squad realises that Daniel isn't the first boy that Parker grabbed, and follow his past to find him and the missing boy.

Directors: Randy Zisk
Writer: David Amann
Candy
star
7.16
237 votes

#19 - Candy

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/1/2006

Cindy Peterson, a mother who had become a stripper to support her family, goes missing after work one night, and Jack sends Elena in undercover at the strip club to learn what she can. Danny moves in to keep an eye on her after someone catches on to her spying, while Vivian discovers that Jim Peterson hasn't been completely honest with them. Jack faces censure from Olczyk over his relationship with Ann, and is angry with Ann after she admits to him that she thinks he let their relationship cloud his judgment in the Davis investigation.

Directors: Jonathan Kaplan
Win Today
star
7.12
237 votes

#20 - Win Today

Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/12/2006

Jack and the team investigate the disappearance of Alex Stark after his girlfriend reports him missing, and soon learn that Alex didn't own a cleaning business like he said he did but was actually involved in an illegal gambling operation. Jack goes undercover at a club that Alex would gamble at to find out what happened to him, and ends up being taken hostage by an associate of Alex's who becomes convinced that Jack is actually there to kill her. Unfortunately for Jack, his team believes that he has changed his cover story and has no idea that he's actually been kidnapped.

Directors: Jeannot Szwarc
The Calm Before
star
7.09
287 votes

#21 - The Calm Before

Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/29/2006

The team investigates when Aaron Gibbs ends up missing one night and soon learn that he had been lying to his wife about quitting his job, and had been working nights in a fight club. During the course of the investigation, Jack and the others learn that Aaron's disappearance was connected to events that took place during Hurricane Katrina, when Aaron was fighting to save his sons, and follow the trail of evidence, believing that the events of that night in New Orleans hold the key to finding the truth about the missing man.

Directors: Peter Markle
Writer: Jan Nash
The Damage Done
star
7.08
204 votes

#22 - The Damage Done

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/22/2006

Jack and the team investigate when Sadik Marku's son goes missing along with the boy's mother, and Samantha worries that Jack is more interested in settling an old score with Marku than with finding the missing woman and boy.

Directors: Diego Gutierrez
Writer: John Peters
All for One
star
7.07
238 votes

#23 - All for One

Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/15/2006

The team investigates when Malia Norton, a teenager at a detention center, disappears after being threatened by one of the other residents. Malia had been involved in a drinking and driving accident that had seriously injured her sister's boyfriend and killed another young man. The investigation at the detention center uncovers a lot of secrets that some of the residents would prefer to keep well hidden.

Directors: Kate Woods
All the Sinners, Saints
star
6.71
262 votes

#24 - All the Sinners, Saints

Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/5/2006

Martin brings the team in on the hunt for a young woman that went missing after a priest attempted to exorcise a demon from her. He begins to feel guilty when he finds out he used to work with her, but doesn't remember her.

Directors: Martha Mitchell
Writer: Jose Molina