While The Conners season 5 finale was a fitting end for the Roseanne spinoff’s latest outing, the episode left season 6 with a few major storylines to resolve. It was not easy for The Conners to follow Roseanne. When Roseanne’s season 10 revival proved a huge success in 2017, few viewers could have predicted that its titular heroine would be killed off before the next season began. However, Roseanne Barr’s racist tweets led the network to fire her and retool Roseanne into The Conners. As a result of this, The Conners began with Roseanne’s offscreen death via overdose. This was a grim note to start a sitcom spinoff on, seemingly setting the show up for failure.
Despite the odds, The Conners managed to recapture the bittersweet tone of its predecessor for the most part. By The Conners season 5 finale, the show felt like classic Roseanne, mixing charming character comedy with some harsh insights into the reality of working-class family life. While The Conners is good at reviving the spirit and tone of Roseanne, the spinoff is less adept at keeping its long-term plot lines ticking over. The Conners, like Roseanne, has abandoned a lot of promising plots without explanation over the years. However, The Conners season 6 can now fix this by wrapping up these unfinished stories in a satisfying fashion.
The Conners Season 6 Must End Bev and Jackie’s Story
The Conners season 5 revealed that Jackie and Roseanne’s abusive mother Bev had dementia. This led to a poignant showdown between Jackie and Bev that ended when Jackie expectedly forgave her mother for her failures in one of the season’s strongest scenes. However, The Conners season 5, episode 22, “Grad Finale,” didn’t mention Bev’s existence. Whether The Conners season 6 is the last outing for the spinoff or not, Bev needs to die while Jackie and she are on good terms. This would give the longest and darkest plot shared by Roseanne and The Conners a fitting, surprisingly uplifting ending.
Furthermore, in a show that addresses the realities of working-class life, the financial impact of Bev’s death can’t be overestimated. Not only would the Conner family no longer need to pay for her care home, but Bev could be hiding a sizable fortune from them. She managed to hide the fact that she still owned The Lunchbox from the family for decades, meaning there might be a surprise in her will in The Conners season 6. Darlene’s work struggles in The Conners saw the heroine take a role she was over-qualified for to get Mark into college, but an inheritance from Bev could fix this issue.
The Conners Season 6 Must Send Mark To College
Mark’s many struggles throughout The Conners seasons 4 and 5 need to pay off with a smooth transition to college in season 6. The Conners managed to milk a lot of drama out of Mark’s fear that he would be unable to afford college, with the character selling admission essays, abusing prescription drugs, and even learning the contrabassoon for the sake of a scholarship. As such, The Conners season 6 needs to finally pay off all this setup. Mark’s arrival in college would improve Mark and Darlene’s Conners relationship and show what the family’s struggles throughout the last five seasons have been in service of.
The Conners Season 6 Must Let Becky Graduate College
While Mark needs to start college in The Conners season 6, Becky needs to finish her tenure in higher learning. Her college story has been largely forgotten in The Conners season 5, but graduating could mean that she would be able to move on from working with Jackie in The Lunchbox. This, in turn, could allow her to move out of Ben and Darlene’s house and starts working in the field of psychology. A better-paying job could also guarantee her daughter Beverly-Rose a brighter future, all of which would help justify Beverly’s pointless The Conners season 5 story.
The Conners Season 6 Must Give Harris Some Purpose
Ever since her breakup with Aldo back in The Conners season 4, Darlene’s eldest daughter Harris has been adrift with no direction. With Mark moving out as he attends college, The Conners season 6 should give her a chance to reassess her future plans. While Harris was wise enough to avoid marrying Aldo, she has not shown much initiative since. This is strange since earlier seasons of The Conners depicted her as an ambitious, independent woman who wanted to get out from under her mother’s roof. While it is nice to see that Darlene and Harris are getting along, it seems strange that Harris has forgotten about her ambitions.
However, it is not too late for The Conners season 6 to fix this. Neville and Dan’s fight proved The Conners can revisit supporting characters who have been ignored for some time and still give them compelling stories. Now, The Conners season 6 could do this for Harris by giving her currently formless ambition shape, whether this means pursuing a new career path or moving out of Ben and Darlene’s home. Harris could benefit from the independence, and her story needs more momentum, so setting a new goal in The Conners season 6 can only help with this issue and allow her character to grow alongside the rest of the eponymous family.
The Conners Season 6 Needs To Bring Back Season 5’s Best Guest
Sean Astin’s Tyler was a compelling love interest for Becky in The Conners season 5, episode 20, “What’s So Funny About Peas, Love, and Understanding?” However, he then vanished after only one appearance. Luckily, this isn’t a problem in the world of The Conners. One episode of The Conners season 5 brought back a Roseanne supporting star who hadn’t been seen in decades, so it is clear that in the small town of Lanford it’s hard to avoid old flames. As such, Astin’s role in The Conners is not necessarily over. The Conners could solve the romantic woes of Roseanne’s remaining single star through this arc.
