Although The Conners season 7 has a lot of characters to follow, it is an underrated Roseanne duo who will define the show’s trajectory in its final outing. The Conners season 7 is set to bring the series to an end over 35 years after Roseanne began in 1989. Roseanne’s original run lasted nine seasons before the series was canceled in 1997. Roseanne was revived in 2017, but the show’s title character was killed off after star Roseanne Barr went on a racist Twitter tirade. The Conners moving on from Roseanne changed the focus of the reboot’s story.
The Conners centers on the surviving members of Roseanne’s family, including her widower Dan, her children Becky and Darlene, her sister Jackie, and Darlene’s children Mark and Harris. The Conners’ cast of characters has grown since the series began, with Dan gaining a new love interest in Katey Sagal’s Louise and Jackie marrying Nat Faxon’s likable vet Neville. With so many characters, it can sometimes be tough to work out the show’s intended protagonists. Fortunately, The Conners season 6 finale already made it clear that an unlikely duo would be at the center of season 7’s action.
Laurie Metcalf’s Jackie standing in the kitchen looking stressed in The Conners season 6 finale
Roseanne’s focus on real-life working-class issues returned when The Conners season 6 finale centered Mark’s attempts to save up for college tuition.
The Conners Season 6 Relied Heavily On Dan and Jackie’s Dynamic
The Pair’s Relationship Has Improved Since Roseanne’s Death
The most important pairing in The Conners season 7 will be Dan and Jackie, rather than Dan and Louise, Becky and Tyler, Darlene and Ben, or any of the show’s romantic couples. Season 6’s episodes 2, 5, 7, 12, and 13 focused on Dan and Jackie’s bond, accounting for over a third of the season’s outings. Ever since Roseanne’s tragic death in The Conners, Jackie and Dan have grown closer thanks to their long history together and their shared loss. The duo relied on each other since Roseanne’s death, and Dan and Jackie’s relationship completely shaped The Conners season 6.
The spinoff used Dan and Jackie’s connection to Roseanne to bring back characters from the earlier show, whether it was Jackie getting Dan to help her with her mother Beverly or Dan revealing to Neville that he was taking care of his father’s widow, Crystal. Dan and Jackie’s shared stories provide a link between Roseanne and The Conners, something the show needs now that it has been six years since the original title character’s off-screen death. Not only that, but The Conners season 6 finale underlined the importance of Dan and Jackie’s role when they intervened in Mark’s subplot.
The Conners Season 6 Finale Implied Season 7 Will Center Dan and Jackie
Mark’s Job Search Needed Dan and Jackie’s Involvement
Ames McNamara’s Mark frowns annoyed in The Conners Season 6 Episode 4
In episode 13, “Less Money, More Problems,” Dan and Jackie helped Mark try to work as a repo man and supported him when he quit. Dan was also the only one who raised suspicions about Mark’s lucrative new job later in the outing and Jackie is a former cop, so they’re likely to unearth Mark’s involvement in an email scam. Mark had turned to desperate measures to overcome his family’s financial hardship before, abusing ADHD medication to study and selling admission essays to other students to save for college. Now, The Conners can revive this plot via Roseanne’s best pairing.
