Warning: SPOILERS forThe Connersseason 7, episode 1, “It’s Gonna Be A Great Day.”
It’s thrilling thatThe Connersseason 7 opens with Darlene getting promoted, but it also completely ignores her storyline in season 6. There’s a lot going on forThe Connerscastright now, but it should be no surprise that Darlene’s storyline takes precedence since her character has been deeply involved in some ofThe Conners’ best episodes. Nonetheless, her character arc in season 7 might already be on the path to rubbing fans the wrong way.
There’s already a lotThe Connersseason 7has to accomplish. Between Mark’s email scamming job, Jackie’s potential return to the police force, Becky’s relationship with Tyler, and the strange absence of Harris in the final season’s premiere,The Connersseason 7 has a lot of plotlines to juggle in just six episodes leading up to its finale. That said, maybe it isn’t too surprising that they wrote off one Darlene storyline in a few sentences. But when you look at it closely, it becomes obvious there was a better way to handle things.
Darlene’s Promotion In The Conners Season 7 Premiere Explained
It Doesn’t Happen How You Might Have Expected
The very first scene ofThe Connersseason 7 premiere shows Darlene returning home from a funeral. It’s immediately clear that not one person in her family knows why she’d be attending a funeral right now. But, as Darlene explains,she’s just attended the funeral of a boss whose position Darlene will be taking over. There’s not much more exposition beyond that. The series doesn’t even address Darlene’s new job title but merely states that she’ll now have more time to spend with Ben and the rest of the family.
Seth Green’s Role In The Conners Season 7 Makes Me Worried About Ben & Darlene’s Future Following Her Romantic History
Seth Green’s appearance in The Conners season 7 is no doubt exciting for his fans, but it bodes poorly for Ben and Darlene’s final character arcs.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t exactly play out according to Darlene’s expectations. Ben’s so busy with his new job running a hardware magazine that he has virtually no time for her, so she spends most of her extra time drinking at the Lobo.Louise tells Darlene that her current path won’t be a happy one, but Darlene seems unaffected. And given that it’s already been revealed she’ll eventually meet a character named Chad (Seth Green) and connect with him more than she connects with her husband, things look rather grim. But that’s not the only problem with this storyline.
Darlene’s Promotion Undermines Her The Conners Season 6 Journey
Harris Made All Those Hamburgers For Nothing
It seems pretty obvious thatZoe Perry’s role inThe Connerswill pay off Mark’s illegal employment, but Darlene had her own season 6 plotline to follow up on. Darlene was already told she’d be promoted if she cut the cafeteria budget by 25%, and failure to do so would mean getting fired.Darlene used Harris to fulfill most of her immediate orders for the sake of saving money, but this new development leaves open the question of whether that plan had any chance of working.
Harris spent all that time and stress on those orders for literally no reason.
Now that Darlene’s been promoted simply because of someone else’s death, none of her efforts to reduce the budget actually matters. And while it’s bad enough that this underlines Darlene’s major season 6 arc inThe Conners,Darlene’s sudden promotion should have an effect on Harris as well. Harris is just getting used to the idea of taking over the Lunch Box, but she spent a lot of that time making burgers and coleslaws for Darlene. If cutting the budget didn’t ultimately matter, then that means Harris spent all that time and stress on those orders for literally no reason.
How The Conners Season 7 Could Have Promoted Darlene Without Cheapening Her Arc
It Didn’t Even Require Extra Screentime To Pull Off
Not everyone was invested in Darlene’s arc inThe Conners' final season since it already appeared she was on the road to success. Many cared ’s new romance inThe Connersinstead, since that’s a storyline that could actually go somewhere. However,Darlene becoming a manager by lowering the budget was never an impossible story to tell, and the fact they disregarded it entirely feels wrong as a result. All it took was just one line of dialogue, the same way they used a single line of dialogue to establish her boss’s death.
What The Conners Cast Is Doing Next After The Roseanne Franchise Ends
The Conners is coming to an end with its seventh season, and the main cast members of the ABC sitcom already have their next projects lined up.
Instead of walking in and declaring her boss dead, Darlene could have just as easily walked in and declared that she’d successfully lowered the budget enough to be promoted. Considering the money she must have saved by using Harris as presumably free labor, it would have made perfect sense. And the fact that Harris doesn’t even appear inThe Conners' final season premiere makes it even worse. She’s gone through a lot to help Darlene get there. Establishing that her effort benefited her in some way shouldn’t be that much to ask.
The Conners
Cast
The Conners is a continuation of the Roseanne series, focusing on the iconic family members Dan, Jackie, Darlene, Becky, and D.J. Released in 2018, the series explores the family’s challenges with parenthood, dating, unexpected pregnancy, financial pressures, aging, and in-laws within working-class America.
