By Cathal Gunning Published 12 hours ago
The Conners season 6 remembered a Darlene character detail that hasn’t been central the show’s storyline since Roseanne season 5, 31 years ago.
Summary
- Darlene's character in The Conners season 6 reflects her past as an animal rights advocate, showing her consistent beliefs over time.
- Season 6 shows Darlene facing similar struggles as her mother, Roseanne, highlighting the generational challenges they both face.
- The recent storyline in episode 3 demonstrates Darlene's resilience and growth, moving away from her usual cynical outlook.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Warning: Spoilers for The Conners season 6, episode 3
Although The Conners has been known to ignore Roseanne’s canon from time to time, season 6, episode 3 brought back a largely forgotten detail regarding Darlene's character. During Roseanne's original run, Darlene was the sardonic counterpart to her optimistic sister Becky. She was intelligent and ambitious but also a morose outcast who bemoaned life in Lanford. Darlene seemed destined for big things and many of the character’s conflicts stemmed from her frustration with small-town life. However, The Conners proved that Darlene wasn’t all that different from her family.
The Conners season 6 has left Darlene in a similar situation to her mother some decades earlier. Stuck in a dead-end job that she dislikes, Darlene mostly finds meaning in her relationship with her husband and her children. Like Roseanne, Darlene hopes that her children will be able to pursue their dreams in adulthood, but is all too aware of how difficult this can be. However, The Conners season 6, episode 3, “Moms and Rats,” featured a B-story which indicates that Darlene’s well-disguised idealistic streak is still alive and well beneath her sarcastic veneer.
The Conners Season 6 Remembered Darlene’s Love of Animals
Close
In “Moms and Rats,” Jackie discovered that there was a rat in Darlene’s kitchen, leading Darlene to insist that Ben only set non-lethal traps for the animal. Although this is easy to forget, Darlene was a passionate advocate for the fair treatment of animals in Roseanne. The last time that the series focused an entire storyline on her animal rights cause was 31 years ago in Roseanne season 5, episode 15, “Lanford Daze.” However, The Conners’ cast of characters has not forgotten this element of Darlene’s persona as Ben and Becky were not surprised when Darlene insisted on non-lethal rat traps.
Although Darlene did date a fellow vegan in The Conners season 4, she also cooked a turkey for the family during the same outing. This sort of compromise means it is easy to forget how closely held Darlene’s beliefs were in the original series. David’s fake interest in a vegetarian diet even sparked a fight between him and Darlene in “Lanford Daze,” which makes Darlene’s insistence on non-lethal traps feel rooted in a consistent character trait. Darlene later admitted that her issue with the traps was secretly coming from how hard it was to be a vegan while working as a lunch lady in Mark’s college.
The Conners Episode 3 Continued A Great Story Trend
Although Darlene struggled with the ethical qualms of serving meat to students, she didn’t lose hope and abandon her convictions in “Moms and Rats.” This reflected a welcome change also seen in Darlene’s earlier Conners season 6 storyline, where she confronted Dan about exaggerating her career successes in conversation. Both of these storylines focused on Darlene’s problems without seeing her succumb to her usual doom and gloom nihilism. Although Darlene was a pessimistic teenager compared to Becky, Roseanne’s heroine grew into a more resilient version of herself, and her storylines in The Conners season 6 are a testament to this.
Cast John Goodman , Sara Gilbert , Macaulay Callard , Laurie Metcalf , Lecy Goranson , Michael Fishman , Emma Kenney , Ames McNamara , Jayden Rey , Maya Lynne Robinson , Jay R. Ferguson Release Date October 16, 2018 Seasons 4 Network ABC Streaming Service(s) Hulu
