While Roseanne’s Jackie was always an easy character to root for, The Conners season 5 proves that she has improved her outlook immeasurably since that earlier sitcom. Laurie Metcalf’s Jackie was one of the most unfortunate characters in ’90s sitcoms, which is quite an achievement. Perpetually high-strung, Roseanne’s well-meaning sister was subjected to a string of failed relationships, abandoned jobs, and more minor humiliations throughout her tenure on the show. Worst of all, Jackie’s lack of self-belief meant she often blamed herself for her failures.
As such, the news that Jackie’s story in The Conners season 5 would be darker rang some alarm bells when the showrunners announced this a few months ago. However, Jackie’s encounter with her abusive mother Bev’s dementia diagnosis in The Conners season 5, episode 8, “Of Missing Minds and Missing Fries,” proved how much she has grown in recent seasons. Jackie would never have been able to handle Bev’s dementia in Roseanne — or even in earlier seasons of The Conners — but despite the risk that this poses to her comic potential, the storyline proved that the show has made Aunt Jackie a more resilient and self-actualized version of herself.
The Conners Gave Jackie Hope
It would have been easy for Jackie’s dream of reviving The Lunchbox to go up in flames. After all, The Conners addresses workplace hardships more than most family sitcoms, and depicting the challenges of keeping a failing business afloat is exactly the sort of bittersweet story the spinoff and Roseanne are famous for getting right. However, instead, The Conners took an unexpected tact and made The Lunchbox a surprise success for Jackie, much like her relationship with Neville. Early in their courtship, Jackie appeared to be self-sabotaging again by allowing her insecurities to get between her and Neville.
However, in another surprising twist, Jackie overcame these insecurities, communicated her needs, and improved her relationship with Neville as a result. The pair ended up getting married in The Conners season 4 finale and, unlike Jackie’s earlier marriage in Roseanne, this one didn’t end in a divorce. With Jackie’s life looking so positive, The Conners teasing a devastating character death looked like proof that the good times couldn’t last. However, this tragedy instead gave Jackie the chance to forgive her mother, a choice that would have been unthinkable for earlier incarnations of the character.
Why Jackie’s Character Change Worked
It is tough to make a compelling comedy protagonist out of a character who has their life figured out. Generally, sitcoms rely on the comical failures of their characters to generate laughs, so seeing a character commit to self-improvement and succeed is antithetical to the genre. However, fortunately for the creators of The Conners, Laurie Metcalf is a singularly strong performer who can ensure that a less neurotic, more self-confident version of Jackie remains as funny and lovable as ever. While The Conners revisits Roseanne‘s best dynamic with Harris and Darlene, the spinoff also builds on the earlier series with Jackie’s character development, a plot that only works thanks to Metcalf’s star power.
New episodes of The Conners air Wednesdays on ABC
