Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Conners season 7, episode 1, “It’s Gonna Be A Great Day”
WhileThe Connersseason 7, episode 1 seemingly started with great news for Darlene’s career, I fear that this plot will ironically lead theRoseanneheroine away from her best series ending.The Conners’ large cast of charactersis both a blessing and a curse for theRoseannespinoff. On the one hand, the show’s multi-generational family means that, between Dan, Louise, Jackie, Neville, Darlene, Ben, Becky, Tyler, Harris, Mark, and Beverly-Rose, viewers of all ages have someone to root for and identify with.
On the other hand, ever sinceThe Connerskilled off Roseanne, the show doesn’t have the same central focus that it did back when Roseanne Barr’s title character was still its protagonist. BothRoseanne’s original nine-season run and the show’s 2017 revival focused on Roseanne’s children too, but the titular heroine gave the series a main character that the sitcom could regularly return to. In contrast,The Connersspreads its focus evenly, resulting in some characters getting plots that feel pointless and drag out interminably.
Darlene’s Promotion In The Conners Season 7, Episode 1 Explained
Darlene Received A Promotion From Her Cafeteria Worker Position
As her multi-season love story proves,Roseanne’s death inThe Connersafforded Darlene plenty of screen time and story focus. That said, Darlene still ended up stuck in a job that she hated for the entirety of season 6. Since her son Mark couldn’t afford college tuition fees, Darlene became a cafeteria worker at a local college to get him a free ride. She resented this job, but couldn’t quit because Mark needed to attend college. However, Mark dropped out late in season 6, opting instead to save up and attend the University of Chicago a year later.
Darlene never mentioned what her new job entailed or whether she even wanted it.
The Conners season 7, episode 1, “It’s Gonna Be A Great Day,” changed Darlene’s job before the cold open even endedas she announced that her boss died, and she immediately got their job. This promotion inevitably felt rushed, particularly since Darlene never mentioned what her new job entailed or whether she even wanted it. Darlene hated working as a cafeteria worker beforeThe Connersseason 7 premiere and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible now that Mark no longer needed the free ride.
I Really Hope The Conners Season 7 Prioritizes Becky’s New Romance Before It Ends
The Conners season 7 has a lot of characters to keep track of, but the Roseanne spinoff’s final outing must give one family member a happy ending.
Since Mark was saving up for another university in “It’s Gonna Be A Great Day,” Darlene should theoretically have been free to look for a new job. Instead, she celebrated a promotion that gave her better hours and later bemoaned Ben’s inability to spend this newfound free time with her, but she never even mentioned finding work that was more fulfilling.Jackie’sThe Connersseason 7 storysees her attempt to rejoin the police force, so Darlene making a career move would have been perfectly timed both thematically and tonally.
How Darlene’s Promotion Makes Her Writing Dream More Difficult To Achieve
The Conners Season 7’s Promotion Takes Darlene Further From Her Roseanne Dream
Ironically, Darlene’s new job could make her dream fromRoseanneeven harder to achieve due to her inertia and her comfort zone. Darlene runs the risk of becoming comfortable enough in this cafeteria job to no longer pursue her true passion, which is writing. As noted byVanityFairin a 2018 article,Darlene wanted to write before she had children to support, and she quietly gave up on this dream after the original series ended and David proved to be a poor support to his two children.
Ames McNamara
Mark Conner-Healy
Ben is a far better support to both Darlene and her children, and his purchase ofHardwareMagazine seemed destined to make Darlene’s dream come true. Bizarrely,The Connersseason 7 is busy adding new charactersto the sitcom’s cast instead of addressing this, but Ben is currently overworked trying to open a magazine at a tough time for the journalism industry. He could do with help from his life partner, who just so happened to work with him on another magazine endeavor earlier in the spinoff’s run.
The Conners Can Still Fix Darlene’s Story For A Happy Ending, But It Needs To Start Immediately
Ben’s Magazine Plot Must Intersect With Darlene’s Storyline
It would make perfect sense for Darlene to quit her current job and begin working at Ben’s magazine. This would allow the couple to spend more time together while also ensuring that Darlene doesn’t end up committing more time to a job that she has never been passionate about. Although Darlene’s old colleague,The Connerssupporting star Robin, thought she was management material,season 7 of the spinoff should give Darlene a chance to live her dream of becoming a writer.
Roseanne’s heroine Darlene quitting her job and iworking for Ben runs the risk of feeling just as rushed as her convenient off-screen promotion was in The Conners season 7, episode 1.
However, if the show is to pull off this twist,The Connersseason 7 needs to set it up right away. Otherwise, the welcome news thatRoseanne’s heroine Darlene has quit her job and is working for Ben runs the risk of feeling just as rushed as the news of her convenient off-screen promotion was inThe Connersseason 7, episode 1.
