I realized Tuesday night that I've been misspelling this show for weeks. I went through all of my old blog articles and fixed what I could find. But I really prefer "The Conners" with an "o" instead of an "e." Just putting that out there...
Roseanne Conner died shortly before the premier of the program. She died in her sleep, initially perceived to be the result of a severe heart attack. But we quickly learned that she died from an opioid overdose. Which we already knew because Roseanne Barr had already spilled this secret.
Lots of Roseanne's fans were pissed that she died from opioids. Including Roseanne Barr herself. She initially tweeted "I AIN'T DEAD, BITCHES!!!!" She later wrote that the "opioid overdose lent an unnecessary grim and morbid dimnesion to an otherwise happy family show."
As opposed to the time when "Roseanne" killed off Dan Conner with a heart attack shortly after Darlene's wedding. For that matter, "Roseanne" has always been an attempt to more realistically portray working class struggles in a sitcom format. Given that Barr created this show, it's a bit disconcerting for her to pretend that an opioid overdose is completely out of character for either "Roseanne" or "The Conners." She needs to remember that Roseanne Barr =/= Roseanne Conner. One is a real person and the other is a fictional character.
Beyond that, Roseanne Barr sold off the rights to "Roseanne" the show, along with all of the characters and the spin-offs. She didn't have to do that. She got paid handsomely to do this. She didn't have to do that. But she did. I've been told that she was pressured and pushed out of the show. Which makes Roseanne Barr into some sort of victim. And I just don't see her as a powerless victim.
Back to the opioid overdose... I understand that people are upset that Roseanne Conner was killed off. But it really wasn't out of the blue for her character to overdose of opioids. Roseanne Barr was involved with the program last season when it was revealed that she was severely abusing pain meds. This is an extension of a story line that she herself created.
Anyway, Jackie told the family that Roseanne's autopsy revealed that she'd died from opioid overdose. She continued to struggle with managing her pain after her knee surgery and managed to get some pain meds from one of her neighbors. The family -- Dan in particular -- were left reeling as they struggled to cope with this revelation.
Dan initially took his anger out on the neighbor. He placed a sign on his truck telling the world that his wife overdosed on drugs given to her by that woman. This made him feel better -- until he discovered more pain meds hidden around the house that Roseanne had secretly gotten from other people. He finally realized that Roseanne's death wasn't caused by that one neighbor. Her addiction had been bigger than any of them.
That realization helped him turn the corner a bit. He's still grieving his wife, obviously. He's just not blaming others for her death.
There was some developments in Tuesday's episode involving young Mark. He's gone from being Darlene's genderqueer kid to Darlene's genderqueer gay kid. He's starting to crush on other boys and turned to Dan for some advise on how to make a choice. It was an interesting shift in their relationship -- and one that I want to see more of!
I saw a lot of people on Twitter commenting about how heart-breaking it was to see the family grieve and cry and talk about their loss. Honestly, John Goodman's grief seemed the most realistic and touching to me. Jackie was a bit over-the-top (which I guess is in character) and the show's new matriarch Darlene has spent so many years being the sarcastic and gloomy character of the family that crying just doesn't seem genuine to me.
Which isn't to say that I didn't like "The Conners." I actually did. Quite a lot. I like seeing the family again. I look forward to seeing Dan and Darlene partnering with Jackie to keep the family together. And I really want to see more of new generation of Conners. And will we ever get to meet Jerry, the Conner's long absent son??
Have no doubt. I will be watching "The Conners" as long as it remains. And I'll even watch "Roseanne" if the powers-that-be at ABC ever change their mind and decide that Roseanne Conner's death was a huge blunder and pull a "JR Ewing!" See you next Tuesday!