In Tuesday’s episode, Dan wrestles with his feelings for Louise as the family gets ready to welcome baby Beverly home.
This week’s episode of The Conners was full of major moments for our favorite Illinois fam -- and one very special guest star!
Not only did we see the return of Katey Sagal, but Dan also had a very special guest at his regular poker game -- John Goodman’s Blues Brothers 2000 co-star, Dan Aykroyd.
From Becky (Lecy Goranson) having a breakdown while preparing for baby Beverly to come home from the NICU to Dan’s (Goodman) future with Louise (Sagal) to Darlene's (Sara Gilbert) secret romantic double life starting to crack, there was a lot for each member of the Conners to deal with!
Let’s break it down by character:
Becky Conner
The new mom has been spending nearly every waking hour at the county hospital with her premie baby girl, Beverly Rose, and it’s wearing her down. Granted, so is her aunt Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), who can’t stop trying to solve every problem, to the point where she’s even driving the hospital staff crazy.
The bigger problem is that Becky has just found out that Beverly can come home in a couple of days, but she was denied financial assistance because she apparently makes too much in tips as a waitress at Casa Bonita. "I failed at being poor!” she exclaims while going over the list of premie supplies with Darlene. Rather than recuperate, she goes into work two weeks early, but she’s clearly exhausted and overwhelmed. She tries to get bigger tips out of the guests and ends up lashing out and knocking things off tables before ultimately huddling on a bucket behind the bar.
Darlene rushed down to the restaurant to talk Becky off the ledge and tells her that she and the baby will move back home and the family will help out. In a truly beautiful Conner moment, we get to see that the whole clan has helped transform the basement -- which happened to be Roseanne’s old writing room for a time -- into a beautiful space for Becky and Beverly. The episode wraps up with Becky FaceTiming Emilio, who’s saving money and trying to get back to the States to rejoin them and meet his daughter.
Dan Conner
While Dan tries to make Becky’s life a little bit easier, the Conner patriarch has his own feelings and traumas to cope with. While visiting Louise at the Casa Bonita, his maybe-future lady love tries to poke the bear a bit, suggesting that she could and should be his girlfriend and also that she’d like to support Dan and join him at the hospital, but an unsteady Dan declines.
Louise called Dan to come down to the bar/restaurant to help Becky, which he greatly appreciates. After Becky’s breakdown, Dan asks Louise to join him for his shift at the hospital. Dan talks to the baby through the incubator, telling Beverly that she’ll be living in his house, which he jokes isn’t much. Louise tries to cheer him up, telling him he’s a good provider for his struggling daughters, just “not much of a motivator.”
“You know, Rose...” he catches himself saying to Louise, realizing he’s just used his pet name for his late wife. The moment stops them both in their tracks, but Louise tells Dan it’s OK. He still says he’s sorry, explaining that he feels “so comfortable with you,” which Louise says he doesn’t have to apologize for. Dan then reveals that it’s been very hard to cope since Roseanne’s death, but he’s been keeping it a secret. He does really like Louise, though, and in that moment, seems to realize he needs to begin moving on. Dan suggests that they begin to see each other on a regular basis. Even covered in hospital protection, they’re pretty darn adorable together.
Darlene Conner
Also pitching in to help Becky with the hospital visitation shifts, Darlene has a very adult problem on her plate. After going back and forth between seeing her ex-husband, David, and current boyfriend Ben, she’s also wearing herself thin. After her daughter, Harris, sarcastically snaps back about the lack of toilet paper in the house, Darlene tries to find out what’s making Harris even more sarcastic (not exactly a rare trait for the teenager -- or anyone in the Conner family) right now. It turns out that Harris has figured out what her mom’s been up to, and despite Darlene’s pleading to give her time to sort out the situation, Harris threatens to tell her father what’s been going on.
When she returns from helping Becky, Darlene has another sit-down with Harris, explaining that she needs to figure out which guy will be best for their family as a whole. “I promise I’m going to take care of this as quickly as I can,” Darlene says, and Harris replies that she believes her mom. Harris somehow agrees to keep this big secret, but let’s just assume this will all blow up in Darlene’s face down the line.
We should be in for a lot more family mayhem now that both Conner sisters are back under one roof -- and hopefully a lot more Sagal, too!
For even more on The Conners, watch the video below.
The Conners airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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