The Conners season 6 must bid farewell to a beloved Roseanne character since their demise would tie together the overarching story of both shows.
While The Conners season 6 might be the last outing for Roseanne’s spinoff, this is all the more reason for the series to give one of its leading ladies the send-off that she deserves. The Conners has a longer history than viewers might assume. Originally titled Roseanne, the working-class family sitcom debuted way back in 1988. Roseanne lasted for 9 seasons, telling the story of the Conner family and their struggles. In 2017, ABC revived Roseanne for a belated tenth season that retconned much of Roseanne season 9 while bringing back the entire original cast. This revival earned positive reviews and superb ratings but didn’t last long.
In 2018, Roseanne Barr was fired from Roseanne (subsequently retitled The Conners) due to racist tweets directed at Valerie Jarrett. This left showrunners in the unenviable position of trying to write a show that is essentially “Roseanne sans Roseanne.” What the creators came up with was The Conners, a family sitcom that focused on the surviving members of Roseanne’s family. While the first episode of The Conners confirmed that Roseanne died offscreen from an opioid overdose, the show regularly incorporates a range of Roseanne characters into its narrative. It’s from this pool of much-loved figures that The Conners should extract a meaningful season 6 send-off.
The cast of The Conners sit on the couch beside an image of Katey Sagal’s Louise and John Goodman’s Dan embracing on their wedding day
The Conners is coming back for a season 6, but there is some bad news as this could be the final season. Here is everything to know about the finale.
The Conners Season 5 Already Set Up Bev’s Death
Her Issues With Jackie Are Now Resolved, & Her Health Issues Established
Killing off Roseanne left The Conners with a lot of supporting characters who no longer had a clear role in the new series since Roseanne defined their original connection to the family. The Conners featured cameos from Roseanne cast members like Estelle Parsons as Bev – Roseanne and Jackie’s mother. However, with Roseanne gone, Jackie’s relationship with the cantankerous Bev was fundamentally altered. Throughout Roseanne’s original run, Roseanne and Bev would sometimes stop their fighting to gang up on Jackie. This meant Jackie was never close with Bev and made Bev’s appearances in The Conners darker than her earlier Roseanne role. However, The Conners season 5 fixed this.
The Conners is available to stream on Hulu
In The Conners season 5, episode 8, “Of Missing Minds and Fries,” Jackie confronted her mother over years of abuse and mistreatment. However, after giving Bev a thorough dressing down, Jackie was horrified to realize that the aging Bev was suffering from dementia. Unlike most of The Conners season 5’s cameos, this guest appearance was a devastating and tragic one as Jackie came to terms with the fact that her mother’s mind was not what it used to be. No longer able to confront her mother over her history of abuse, Jackie decided to bury their longstanding beef after decades of feuding in the season’s most poignant scene. This heartfelt moment set the stage for a more final departure as The Conners draws to a close.
The Conners Owes Bev A Proper Death
As a long-standing character, her story should be concluded fully
Custom image of a frowning Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) and grinning Beverly (Estelle Parsons) in The Conners)
Now that Bev and Jackie have made peace, it makes sense for The Conners season 6 to kill off Roseanne’s mother. After she wasn’t seen at all in The Conners seasons 2—4, a proper death is the least that the Roseanne spinoff could do for this character, given her history in both the original show and its reboot. Bev was instrumental in the success of Roseanne during the ‘90s and remained a fan-favorite character even after Roseanne was killed off in 2018. As such, instead of The Conners prioritizing more celebrity cameos, season 6 of the spinoff should devote some substantial screen time to Bev’s final days and give the supporting star the send-off that she deserves.
Every Bev Appearance In The Conners So Far
S1. E1 Keep On Truckin’
2018
S2. E1 Preemies, Weed and Infidelity
2019
S2. E5 Nightmare on Lunch Box Street
2019
S2. E8 Lanford, Toilet of Sin
2019
S2. E17 The Icewoman Cometh
2020
S3. E19 Jeopardé, Sobrieté, and Infidelité
2021
S5. E8 Of Missing Minds and Missing Fries
2022
S5. E13 New Pipes and Old Secrets
2023
Bev’s Death Fixes 2 Conners Storylines
Her Financial Hoarding Allows The Family To Find Happiness
Becky Darlene and Jackie shocked in The Conners
While Jackie managed to settle her history with Bev before the character died, this is not the only lingering plot in which the character has a part to play. Bev’s financial situation has never been clear throughout both Roseanne and The Conners, with the sneaky character often hiding her investments from her children. Jackie was
understandably outraged in The Conners season 2 when she discovered that her mother still owned the deed to The Lunchbox, a restaurant that Bev had once operated, even though Jackie was paying significant money to house her mother in a home. However, Mark’s college plotline could benefit from this sly hoarding in a surprising way.
The inheritance that Bev leaves behind after her death could allow Becky to move out of Darlene’s house and Mark to go to college. This, in turn, would mean that Darlene could quit her job as a cafeteria worker in Mark’s college and return to the managerial roles that she finds more personally satisfying. Mark could attend college without having to worry about how much this will be costing his family, and Becky could gain the independence from the eponymous family that she claims she has wanted for years. As her daughter Beverly-Rose gets older and Becky’s romance with Tyler blossoms, it makes sense that Becky would want more room for herself and her family.
The Conners Killing Off Bev Ends The Spinoff Right
A Better Ending Than Roseanne Season 9
According to The Conners showrunner Bruce Helford, “It’s definitely a possibility” that season 6 could be the Roseanne spinoff’s last outing. If this is the case, killing off Bev would end The Conners the right way and fix some lingering plot holes. Not only would killing off Roseanne’s mother wrap up Roseanne’s story and effectively make Jackie the show’s new hero, but Bev could also fix another issue with Roseanne’s original ending. Bev’s death would solve the family’s financial woes much more believably than Roseanne season 9 did. Roseanne and her family becoming millionaires overnight after winning the lottery never rang true in season 9, but receiving a windfall after Bev’s death would.
Bev has never been honest with her daughters or anyone else. This made Bev’s role in The Conners and Roseanne a contentious one, and she often frustrated her family. However, The Conners season 6 could prove that there was a method to her madness with the revelation that Bev was secreting away money to secure the rest of the family’s future. This would redeem Bev’s flaws in death and prove that she always cared about the family. Not only that, but this twist after Bev’s death would also give Becky, Mark, and Jackie the more optimistic endings that the stars of Roseanne and The Conners thoroughly deserve after years of struggling.
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