Heads up, 'Grace & Frankie' Season 5 takes a dark and bizarre turn

Warning: Light spoilers for Grace & Frankie: Season 5 lie ahead.

You thought Grace & Frankie Season 5 was going to be the same, tried-and-true series you've come to know and love? Think again, lady!

For the first twelve episodes, this new chapter is a relaxed visit to one of Netflix's most gleefully charming universes. More familiar comfort food than stale retread, the season's antics explore many of the series' known beats. Robert struggles to find his place among his younger gay friends. Grace embraces her blossoming inner romantic. Frankie beats the learning curve on some business 101. Sol gets a dog.

Then things takes a turn. In the season finale, Grace & Frankie tackles the rarely effective alternate reality format and things get weird really, really fast. Here's what goes down for the major characters in a world where Grace and Frankie never became friends.

Sol and Robert are still happily wed, but taking care of Frankie (who is rocking some pretty startling purple dreadlocks) full-time. Now, they're not-so-gracefully trying to foist her off onto one of the kids, comparing her to a dying hamster in the process.

Brianna never gets together with Barry and seems more pointedly mean than before. Mallory, who hasn't separated from her cheating husband, Mitch, is working as a very Stepford Wives party planner. Bud is becoming a rabbi, his daughter and Allison seemingly out of the picture. (How Grace and Frankie's friendship so greatly affected the romantic lives of their children I'll never know, but just chalk it up to butterfly effect.) In a particularly knife-twisting turn of events, Coyote reveals he is only two months into recovery from another major relapse.

And then there's the pièce de résistance of this disturbing alternate reality: the newly reinvented Grace Hanson. Sporting a cat-like, heavily remodeled face, the plastic surgery super fan is visibly haunted by her split from Robert. Her new partner, a patio furniture salesman with the personality of a brick, is undeniably the worst. Far from the fully imagined character Fonda has crafted over the show's run, this Grace is astounding to behold, but ultimately difficult to watch.

Luckily, this nightmare is quickly undone when we snap back to reality and Grace and Frankie make up, dispelling the feud that inspired the episode.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

As finales go, this is a weird one. Pointing out yet again that alternate realities belong in only very specific storylines, this bizarre group acting challenge is an unpleasant final taste for an otherwise wonderfully successful season.

But long-time fans can rest assured: Grace & Frankie will be back to take another swing at the present (read: correct) reality in the already confirmed Season 6. As for this bump in the road? Well, in the words of Grace Hanson, "Fuck it."

Grace & Frankie: Season 5 is streaming on Netflix now.