S03.E02: Halloween & The Election vs. The Pandemic

[Pallas]

Halloween episode. 'Nuff said. Except. Michael Fishman directs. 

 

 

[greekmom]

I wish there was more about DJ. Seriously need a backstory about him and Geena, and he seems like he's being kicked while he's down. Glad they moved Mary in. Wishing they can fit DJ as well. 

The political stuff was like what?? 2 minutes total.

[Annber03]

"Oh, no, the voting machine is broken! I'll go out in the dark, all alone, and fix it myself...aaaaaah!"

LMAO, I loved that. Same with Dan's "horror movie" comment. I would watch that movie :D. I also loved the bit with the body parts coming down that conveyor belt :p.

Oof, that scene with DJ was tense. I get his frustration over them not talking to him about this (though, they did try, they just couldn't get a hold of him), but I am glad that Mary won't be alone for the time being. I hope she will be able to be back with DJ soon, and Gina will be home soon as well. I did love her and Mark getting to hang out together for a while-I always enjoy their interactions. The in-house trick-or-treating was a really cute, fun idea :).

And I very much sympathize with Mark's struggle over whether or not to say something. Regarding Dan and Darlene's debate at the end, in theory I agree with Dan, and would love for that kind of discussion to be commonplace. In reality, however, I'm with Darlene. Without wading further into politics, people can think they're right all they want, but there are some things that are just objectively not true, and there are some people for whom trying to talk to them is futile. 

But I do very much agree regarding the importance of voting in and of itself (and LOL at Dan's end line about the ballot :p). And I'll just leave it at that. 

[AgentRXS]

Poor DJ. It really is what is best for Mary, especially in these times when social interaction between children has been so heavily adjusted from the norm. I hope he sees that soon.

Loved Dan and Darlene's talk. I agree with Dan, but also see Darlene's point as well, especially with the effect social media has on society.

Loved the in-house trick or treating and loved Mary and Mark's initial costumes, especially the gumball machine. 

[TattleTeeny]

This conflict felt unnatural and forced, especially for this show, which always did reality pretty well. Like why wouldn't the family as a whole not just decide, when DJ took this new job, that Mary would just go to the house after school and DJ pick her up later?

Or, for that matter, why some people from Dan's don't just go live at DJ's, at least while his wife is gone.
 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

If DJ normally gets home by 8 each night, why can't he pick Mary up by 8:15 from the Conner's house, (dinner eaten, homework finished, ready for bed)  take her home, spend a little time with her, and get her off to school in the morning?  Then he'd see her about as much as he does now and she'd never be alone.  She could stay over one night a week, maybe.

Also, Halloween is on Saturday, so I don't get why he wouldn't take her home for Sunday at least (then get her off to school Monday morning and she'd go to the Conner's after school.)  I'm assuming DJ and Mary don't live far away, because otherwise there wouldn't be a bus to Mary's school from the Conner's house (is she in school with Mark?)

I just don't see why DJ can only see her on the weekend.  And if everyone thinks that picking her up after 8 on a school night is too late (and she wants to stay where she is for the Sunday after Halloween), I still don't see why he would say that he'll pick her up next Saturday.  Why not Friday night?

Edited October 29, 2020 by ItCouldBeWorse

[readster]

I'm trying to figure out why DJ's voice mail would be full. I mean, Mary calling is one thing, but as both Darelene and Becky commented on: "Who would be calling him constantly?"

[ESS]

I was so sad Louise wasn't in this episode, wonder where she was?. She was supposed to be according to the press release. 😢 hmm strange.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

34 minutes ago, readster said:

I'm trying to figure out why DJ's voice mail would be full. I mean, Mary calling is one thing, but as both Darelene and Becky commented on: "Who would be calling him constantly?"

Yeah, it seemed like he was hiding something.

[Irate Panda]

I wonder if this is just a way to give Mary more screen time or this will turn into an actual storyline for DJ.  I get them bringing Mary for the night but to just take somebody’s child especially when they can barely raise their own and then moving yet another person into a house they just got evicted from or is DJ supposed to pay all the bills now? Also, wouldn’t DJ talk to his wife about this before just saying Mary could live there?

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, ESS said:

I was so sad Louise wasn't in this episode, wonder where she was?.

Hopefully back home enjoying some peace and quiet; it makes no sense she'd spend all her time in the Conner house, even without it being packed to the rafters, when she has her own place.

Which brings me to Mary:  Seriously, show, moving another person into an “over-crowded flop house”?  Wanna talk to D.J. about that?  What an offensive storyline that she's somehow endangered as a latchkey kid so that they need to abscond with her on the sly; why does she have to live there during the week, why can’t she just hang out there after school and D.J. picks her up when he gets off work (which is at 8:00, not midnight)?

And Dan can miss me with his false equivalency; it’s a lovely sentiment, but one that is no longer reality, as Darlene said.

Becky and Darlene with their masks off at Wellman was distracting; sure, they’re only standing close to each other, and they live together, but they’re indoors with a bunch of other people and probably shitty ventilation for an entire shift - they should be masked.  This is the difficulty in acknowledging pandemic life but wanting to show actors’ faces (like medical shows with unmasked doctors).

But I like that cancelling trick-or-treating was presented as a bummer but a necessary, temporary thing and they showed safe and fun ways to do Halloween this year.  “A bathroom used by six people!” as a horror cracked me up in the promo and still made me laugh tonight.  I also like how Ben got into the family tradition.

“We had one favorite and two back-ups; you kids figure it out.” Heh.

[tessaray]

The longer hair suits Michael Fishman.  I was Team DJ for the most part - being blindsided like that was pretty awful.  And I attributed the voice mail being full due to DJ being new in his job. Though they didn't say what exactly the promotion was, did they? Other than the longer hours, which I guess is pretty typical for supervisors.  But I'm glad he put his feelings aside for Mary. She must have been seriously lonely to prefer the chaos at her grandfather's house. (And did Becky and Darlene even run this by Dan first?) 

While I agreed with most of the sentiment of the Mark mask discussion, it was tedious to sit through.  I don't think that was MF's fault though, the writing was clunky and I'm not sure anything could have made it entertaining. 

 Jay Ferguson was a real trouper with all that monster make-up.

 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

15 minutes ago, Bastet said:

“We had one favorite and two back-ups; you kids figure it out.” Heh.

And with that remark, they killed off Jerry.

[bybrandy]

11 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

And with that remark, they killed off Jerry.

That was my first thought, too.  Like... "hey," that's sort of funny... if you're not Jerry.

 

[rmontro]

4 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Regarding Dan and Darlene's debate at the end, in theory I agree with Dan, and would love for that kind of discussion to be commonplace. In reality, however, I'm with Darlene.

I was really impressed with Dan's speech at the end, I thought for a moment we were actually getting some truly objective, unbiased, and even bridge building statements.  But they turned it into a  copout at the end with the crack about the mailbox, which I gather was supposed to be a crack against a certain candidate, even though it wasn't an accurate one, but I got what they were trying to do.  It seemed like they were trying to say they were objective, but wink wink not really.

[pinkandsparkly13]

3 hours ago, readster said:

I'm trying to figure out why DJ's voice mail would be full. I mean, Mary calling is one thing, but as both Darelene and Becky commented on: "Who would be calling him constantly?"

Maybe he gets a lot of robocalls that he doesn't delete? Lol I know I do. I rarely go through my voicemail and delete messages. But I don't get a lot of actual important calls either so it doesn't matter that much to me. 

[DB in CMH]

I honestly don't even think I can watch this. Why does the show insist on retconning Andy and Jerry? It's so incredibly stupid and petty. If they're trying to appeal the fans of Roseanne, which still airs quite a lot, why recon important parts of that show (aside from season 9)?

 

They don't have to bring them on as characters. Just mention that they exist. That's it.

[ESS]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

Hopefully back home enjoying some peace and quiet; it makes no sense she'd spend all her time in the Conner house, even without it being packed to the rafters, when she has her own place.

That's true. I'm too am hoping she had some peace and quiet, just saying I was sad she wasn't in the episode that's all, at least they did mention her.

[Arcadiasw]

1 hour ago, AgentRXS said:

Poor DJ. It really is what is best for Mary, especially in these times when social interaction between children has been so heavily adjusted from the norm. I hope he sees that 

Loved the in-house trick or treating and loved Mary and Mark's initial costumes, especially the gumball machine. 

The costumes distracted me because last week they were stressed about money and losing the house but now they have enough money for Halloween. 🤨🤷‍♀️😅

I felt bad for DJ. I thought they handled the situation wrong. 

27 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

This conflict felt unnatural and forced, especially for this show, which always did reality pretty well. Like why wouldn't the family as a whole not just decide, when DJ took this new job, that Mary would just go to the house after school and DJ pick her up later?

Or, for that matter, why some people from Dan's don't just go live at DJ's, at least while his wife is gone.
 

Maybe DJ doesn't want them living with him. Would you want Darlene and her family or Becky and her kid moving in? I would take Harrison and Mark but not Darlene. From the original series they weren't close with DJ. I know it's writing but you know there's family where you lived with them growing up because you have no choice but when you move out you don't want to be living with them again.

[qtpye]

8 hours ago, Bastet said:

Hopefully back home enjoying some peace and quiet; it makes no sense she'd spend all her time in the Conner house, even without it being packed to the rafters, when she has her own place.

Which brings me to Mary:  Seriously, show, moving another person into an “over-crowded flop house”?  Wanna talk to D.J. about that?  What an offensive storyline that she's somehow endangered as a latchkey kid so that they need to abscond with her on the sly; why does she have to live there during the week, why can’t she just hang out there after school and D.J. picks her up when he gets off work (which is at 8:00, not midnight)?

And Dan can miss me with his false equivalency; it’s a lovely sentiment, but one that is no longer reality, as Darlene said.

Becky and Darlene with their masks off at Wellman was distracting; sure, they’re only standing close to each other, and they live together, but they’re indoors with a bunch of other people and probably shitty ventilation for an entire shift - they should be masked.  This is the difficulty in acknowledging pandemic life but wanting to show actors’ faces (like medical shows with unmasked doctors).

But I like that cancelling trick-or-treating was presented as a bummer but a necessary, temporary thing and they showed safe and fun ways to do Halloween this year.  “A bathroom used by six people!” as a horror cracked me up in the promo and still made me laugh tonight.  I also like how Ben got into the family tradition.

“We had one favorite and two back-ups; you kids figure it out.” Heh.

I was a latchkey kid and I loved my alone time. I was responsible and had no desire to spend more time with my fucked up extended family. A lot of family is toxic and there is nothing wrong with being independent.

DJ seems to be doing well ( I hope he is not having an affair) and maybe does not want his kid to spend time with sisters who never particularly liked him and have not made the best choices in life.

However, Mary is adorable and I will enjoy her getting more screen time. She also makes a good partner for Mark, who I am beginning to think is the smartest Connor.

Edited October 29, 2020 by qtpye

[readster]

28 minutes ago, qtpye said:

I was a latchkey kid and I loved my alone time. I was responsible and had no desire to spend more time with my fucked up extended family. A lot of family is toxic and there is nothing wrong with being independent.

DJ seems to be doing well ( I hope he is not having an affair) and maybe does not want his kid to spend time with sisters who never particularly like him and have not made the best choices in life.

However, Mary is adorable and I will enjoy her getting more screen time. She also makes a good partner for Mark, who I am beginning to think is the smartest Connor.

Right and I think Mary said it best: "I go to school, I can't really talk to anyone, ect." It also seems that Mary doesn't have her own phone and even with kids that are "on their phones all the time". As a teacher, they tell me they really hate not being able to interact with people on a regular basis. It's one thing to be on social media or playing games, but at one point, they want to go to: houses, parks, movies, ect. As COVID has shown, we are social by nature and even introverts hate the fact they are reclined to going places because "they have to" instead of "they want to". 

[qtpye]

32 minutes ago, readster said:

Right and I think Mary said it best: "I go to school, I can't really talk to anyone, ect." It also seems that Mary doesn't have her own phone and even with kids that are "on their phones all the time". As a teacher, they tell me they really hate not being able to interact with people on a regular basis. It's one thing to be on social media or playing games, but at one point, they want to go to: houses, parks, movies, ect. As COVID has shown, we are social by nature and even introverts hate the fact they are reclined to going places because "they have to" instead of "they want to". 

Yes, Covid changes the game, because it is so easy to become socially isolated and yes, the introverted kids are taking it much better than the extroverted ones. I know a family who has an adorable little boy who is already a people person. He had to go into therapy because his social interactions have been so toned down since the pandemic.

I guess the whole thing with Mary being in the house did not really need to be so dramatic. She could have easily been there every day (it is not like there is not already a million people living there) and her dad could pick her up at night. Honestly, DJ should take advantage of the free childcare and Mary could help out (like sometimes babysitting little Bev Rose, like Becky joked about). It is nice for Mark to also have some company at home.

 

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

Maybe DJ doesn't want them living with him. Would you want Darlene and her family or Becky and her kid moving in? I would take Harrison and Mark but not Darlene. From the original series they weren't close with DJ. I know it's writing but you know there's family where you lived with them growing up because you have no choice but when you move out you don't want to be living with them again.

OK, well, maybe you're right that he doesn't want them living with him (or maybe he has a really tiny home)? Whatever, though--we can't know because it's not a topic that was ever brought up. I personally think that if it had been, DJ wouldn't say flat-out no, considering that he sees how crammed full his dad's home now is. All I was saying was that this was a clunky and convoluted way to shoehorn this storyline/issue into the show.

I have never seen any indication that they were not close with DJ in the original series, in which DJ was pretty much a child. 

Edited October 29, 2020 by TattleTeeny

[bunnyface]

3 hours ago, qtpye said:

I was a latchkey kid and I loved my alone time. I was responsible and had no desire to spend more time with my fucked up extended family. A lot of family is toxic and there is nothing wrong with being independent.

 

I understand that, but Mary admitted she wasn't enjoying her time alone, so that puts a different spin on it.  

I admit I didn't quite understand what DJ was so upset about.  It wasn't like the state was taking his child away.  His family was helping.  They TRIED to talk to him first, but when not able to reach him, they helped Mary out.  I guess it's just a matter of different families.  I myself have called family members and said "I have your child."  And they have done the same with me.  There is total trust in that area.  Different strokes, I guess, but it has always seemed like the Conners were pretty much a group and I wouldn't have expected much different from what we've seen in the past.   (Although I did wonder how they were taking in another person in a home they were a week away from losing a week ago.)  

On the other hand, maybe DJ remembers Jerry and Andy better than the others and he's worried Mary will disappear the same way.  HALLOWEEN.

[tessaray]

5 hours ago, Arcadiasw said:

The costumes distracted me because last week they were stressed about money and losing the house but now they have enough money for Halloween.

Becky said she was Elsa from the first Frozen because she was too broke to buy a newer Frozen 2 Elsa costume. The rest were pretty generic, I think and could already be in their Halloween stash.  I can see where Mark and Mary's might be the only new ones.  And DJ probably paid for hers.

And going all out on Halloween and ignoring real life issues seems to be a Conner tradition. :-) 

 

[TWP]

I only hope that the rest of Hollywood learn from The Connors that rehashing the pandemic as a form of "entertainment" is going to leave their ratings in tatters.  The pandemic is horrible in so many ways.  If we want to see those ways and we aren't daily experiencing them ourselves, we can watch the news. The whole idea of television fictional shows is escape from reality, not to have it thrown in our face yet again.  I could not get past 5 minutes, even though last year I found the show somewhat tolerable.  If the producers happen to read this, I'm not coming back, and please let this be a lesson to the rest of your shows, LOL. It's really okay on fictional television to pretend one of the especially bad horrors of life doesn't exist.  It really is.  

[iMonrey]

I wonder what DJ does for a living that he got some big promotion. Last we heard, he was servicing vending machines. Also, he apparently lives on some military base. How far away is that from the Conner house? It might not be practical to have Mary go to the Conner house every day after school then have DJ pick her up every night if the base if like an hour drive or something. But then, Mary apparently goes to the same school as Mark so . . . WTF? They didn't explain this very well. I was kind of surprised to see DJ at all. He's been little more than an extra so far in the Conners reboot.

Quote

I only hope that the rest of Hollywood learn from The Connors that rehashing the pandemic as a form of "entertainment" is going to leave their ratings in tatters.  The pandemic is horrible in so many ways.  If we want to see those ways and we aren't daily experiencing them ourselves, we can watch the news. The whole idea of television fictional shows is escape from reality, not to have it thrown in our face yet again.

Some of the shows are ignoring the pandemic like it didn't happen. I can't decide if that's preferable or not. I suppose there's an argument to be made that it will date the episodes, but it's strange to watch TV shows where the characters live in some alternative reality we're not in (and wish we were).

I do think the political discussion between Darlene and Dan was a little ham-fisted though. Felt a little too meta.

[readster]

19 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I wonder what DJ does for a living that he got some big promotion. Last we heard, he was servicing vending machines. Also, he apparently lives on some military base. How far away is that from the Conner house? It might not be practical to have Mary go to the Conner house every day after school then have DJ pick her up every night if the base if like an hour drive or something. But then, Mary apparently goes to the same school as Mark so . . . WTF? They didn't explain this very well. I was kind of surprised to see DJ at all. He's been little more than an extra so far in the Conners reboot.

I agree, because Mary and Mark are very close in age too. It just was forced as drama in the situation and then of course the fact DJ is "doing the best he can" but he didn't bother asking Mary how she felt about it. Another thing, I don't think the full voice mail is a throw away line either.

[Axie]

I don’t care if they address the pandemic or not. I’m just grateful that there’s something else on besides game shows, or, as in the case of Bravo, 9 more months of Below Deck.

I’ve always liked how the Connors get into Halloween. 

[Whimsy]

14 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Yeah, it seemed like he was hiding something.

Nah. I think it’s more likely that even when we delete our voice Mai,s they’re still there until you permanently delete them, so they keep taking up space on the phone. 

[StaceyNotStacie]

Re the voicemail: I wonder if the extra voicemails were from Gina and he’s saying them just in case something happened to her. 

[ChicksDigScars]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Some of the shows are ignoring the pandemic like it didn't happen. I can't decide if that's preferable or not. I suppose there's an argument to be made that it will date the episodes, but it's strange to watch TV shows where the characters live in some alternative reality we're not in (and wish we were).

I do think the political discussion between Darlene and Dan was a little ham-fisted though. Felt a little too meta.

Blackish, which follows The Conners, also addressed it. It was kinda hilarious though. Showing the frustrations of getting your kids to e-learn from home, and think you're doing it right, but in actuality, you have no clue that they're screwing off and not turning in their assignments. Too real. 

Re the voicemail: I wonder if the extra voicemails were from Gina and he’s saying them just in case something happened to her.

BOOM. There it is. I can totally see DJ saying that if confronted by Becky and Darlene. 

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, TWP said:

I only hope that the rest of Hollywood learn from The Connors that rehashing the pandemic as a form of "entertainment" is going to leave their ratings in tatters.  The pandemic is horrible in so many ways.  If we want to see those ways and we aren't daily experiencing them ourselves, we can watch the news. The whole idea of television fictional shows is escape from reality, not to have it thrown in our face yet again.  I could not get past 5 minutes, even though last year I found the show somewhat tolerable.  If the producers happen to read this, I'm not coming back, and please let this be a lesson to the rest of your shows, LOL. It's really okay on fictional television to pretend one of the especially bad horrors of life doesn't exist.  It really is.  

There are plenty of movies and syndicated television you could watch. New, original content is going to address reality whether we like it or not.

[bunnyface]

1 hour ago, RocknRollZombie said:

For the Jerry missing and or retconned, barely read an article that Bruce Hedford said that somethings from S8 are also ‘non-canon’ which kinda of sucks since it basically erasing some character history so they can have more creativity with the characters now which really sucks. But he also said that he doesn’t want Jerry completely erased that maybe there was sone type of fall out between Dan and Jerry. But with the way he said the same thing about Andy I doubt we will ever see them mentioned.

I did hear them say something about Jerry being on a boat or something in the first episode, so he did still exist at that point.  But I don't think Andy has ever been mentioned once.  So apparently Jackie had a hysterical pregnancy.  Which, Jackie.  

[ThatsDarling]

17 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

And with that remark, they killed off Jerry.

I know this adds another continuity problem to a series riddled with them, but I'm glad they've retconned Jerry. He was a baby at the end of original recipe Roseanne, never factored significantly into any plot lines, and was away on a fishing boat during the first season of the revival. Why continue with the concept that the Conners had four kids if the youngest is never going to appear? Casual viewers are probably unaware that Dan and Roseanne even had another son after DJ.

I'm not crazy about the choice to move Mary in with her aunts; there are too many characters already, and I tend to find scenes centering on the youngest Conners to be weak. The writing and direction for Mark and Mary is sitcommy in a way that it wasn't for the child actors on the original show, and I found myself wishing they would be sidelined to focus on the adults last night.

 

 

Edited October 29, 2020 by ThatsDarling

[peacheslatour]

Quote

I'm not crazy about the choice to move Mary in with her aunts; there are too many characters already, and I tend to find scenes centering on the youngest Conners to be weak. The writing and direction for Mark and Mary is sitcommy in a way that it wasn't for the child actors on the original show, and I found myself wishing they would be sidelined to focus on the adults last night.

We kept trying to figure out where they're going to put her. In with Dan? Darlene? Becky has the baby in the basement. I guess they could set up a cot for her in Mark and Harris' room. I don't know.

[Browncoat]

I can see DJ having a full voice-mail box -- I hardly get calls, but I also don't think about deleting voice mails, and mine has gotten full before.  That didn't bother me in the slightest.

If Mary goes to the same school as Mark, then she's only going two days a week.  That leaves her home alone the other three days, and depending on what the laws are where they live, and how old she is, that *might* be illegal.  I think around here, a kid has to be more than 13 to be left home alone even just after school for a few hours, much less all day.  I think DJ way over-reacted about that.  Darlene and Becky weren't trying to take his daughter away from him -- they were just trying to help Mary, and really, help DJ for that matter.  And they did try to call him before they did it.

I loved the body parts coming down the conveyor belt.  And I really loved the indoor trick-or-treating.  Reminded me of, "Welcome to the Tunnel of Terror.  Ha ha ha.  Please, join us." from DJ in one of the early seasons -- was it the first?  

I also appreciated the conversation between Dan and Darlene at the end.  

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

Quote

I wonder what DJ does for a living that he got some big promotion. Last we heard, he was servicing vending machines. Also, he apparently lives on some military base.

There is some military housing that is not on base. Some military families occupy large sections of multi-family apartments/condos that the military leases. And I think a lot of people work off their phones these days so maybe whatever DJ does requires lots of voice mails and contact that he just hasn't deleted. 

I loved the in-house Halloween experience. It had a small taste of the original show's Halloween flare. And I bet the Connors have a whole basement area filled with leftover Halloween costumes/ props. 

I get weaving pieces of the pandemic into the show. We are all dealing with it so it's become just life. Likewise the election stuff, but that speech at the end was a little too "After School Special" for me. 

[bybrandy]

I was a latchkey kid and loved it, as well, but I had school and in person and I'm an introvert.  Mary told them she was struggling.  I absolutely think this could have been handled better between the girls and DJ, like they didn't have to go get her stuff before taking her.  They could have sent him a text that his voice mail was full and to call them.    But I can totally get Mary not being prepared to be alone for large swaths of every day.

I don't want every show to be Covid central because my life is Covid central, but honestly this is the first time that The Connors has really 100% felt to me like an extenuation of Rosanne.  It had moments in the prior seasons but this with everybody struggling together.  That feels so much more grounded in what this series was.   

[Annber03]

3 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

There are plenty of movies and syndicated television you could watch. New, original content is going to address reality whether we like it or not.

This. I know some people want an escape, but the fact is that for some shows, it wouldn't make sense to not cover this, given the types of stuff they deal with (medical dramas, shows about people struggling with real-life issues, like the Conners, etc.). The original series, and the reboot, have always tackled a lot of the struggles that people deal with everyday, it really shouldn't be a surprise they're going to incorporate the virus here, too.

There's also the fact that while some people may watch TV to escape, others may find catharsis in a show addressing the stuff they're dealing with. Something about seeing other people, even if it's just fictional characters, going through what you're going through and acknowledging you're not alone can be comforting and helpful. Just because some people might be tired of shows touching on real life like this, that doesn't mean everyone will feel the same way. 

[CrystalBlue]

16 hours ago, rmontro said:

I was really impressed with Dan's speech at the end, I thought for a moment we were actually getting some truly objective, unbiased, and even bridge building statements.  But they turned it into a  copout at the end with the crack about the mailbox, which I gather was supposed to be a crack against a certain candidate, even though it wasn't an accurate one, but I got what they were trying to do.  It seemed like they were trying to say they were objective, but wink wink not really.

This totally.  Not going to get into a political discussion here, but it didn't go unnoticed by moi either.

[ButterQueen]

18 hours ago, DB in CMH said:

I honestly don't even think I can watch this. Why does the show insist on retconning Andy and Jerry? It's so incredibly stupid and petty. If they're trying to appeal the fans of Roseanne, which still airs quite a lot, why recon important parts of that show (aside from season 9)?

 

They don't have to bring them on as characters. Just mention that they exist. That's it.

Honestly, I don’t care.  I never think about them.  

[Bastet]

44 minutes ago, ButterQueen said:

Honestly, I don’t care.  I never think about them.

Same here; I know the original series like the back of my hand, but the line about three kids (one favorite and two back-ups) was one of my favorites of this episode.  It just doesn't bother me.

With Andy, I was initially a little surprise they'd retconned him out of existence, just because they were so clearly setting up Darlene as the new Roseanne and Becky as the new Jackie, and getting knocked up by a one-night stand who's bugging you to be part of your life was an obvious parallel they skipped by going that route, but that's the last time I thought about him.

Edited October 30, 2020 by Bastet

[txhorns79]

9 hours ago, bunnyface said:

I admit I didn't quite understand what DJ was so upset about.  It wasn't like the state was taking his child away.  His family was helping.  They TRIED to talk to him first, but when not able to reach him, they helped Mary out.  I guess it's just a matter of different families.  I myself have called family members and said "I have your child."  And they have done the same with me.  There is total trust in that area. 

I think it was because the call wasn't: "Mary came over to our house after school, and we are watching her," it was "We've decided for you that Mary will be living with us for the foreseeable future."  I mean, it was shocking to me how Becky and Darlene were just at their job making all these plans for Mary to live with them with zero consultation with her father.  And I mean actual conversations with him, not just attempted phone calls or texts.  It wasn't as though it was an emergency situation where Mary was in some kind of imminent danger.  She was just unhappy at being left alone so much.     

[theredhead77]

That was a fun Halloween episode. I love that they were able to pull something off at home that was in the spirt of past Halloweens and brought some joy to everyone. Who voiced the towel puppet?

Depending where DJ, Gina and Mary are living in base housing they may not be able to have other people move in. But I do want to know how far away they live from the rest of the family. I get why he was so upset, "moving" Mary in was abrupt and there wasn't any reason that they had to anything more than get some more clothes until they could talk to DJ.

I don't care that Jerry doesn't exist in this version. I forgot about him and Andy until it is mentioned here, and I watched the original series.

I totally liked the ending, especially the part about the missing mailbox. People have forgotten about that nonsense yet the impact of missing mailboxes and removed sorting machines impacts way more than just the elections. Mail takes longer to get delivered, medicine shipped via mail takes longer to arrive. People may have to travel further to mail a bill, or rent. Not everyone banks by mail. Apparently some livestock is shipped via USPS and is dying en route now because it takes longer. What a sad, awful death. I'm glad we were reminded about the issues with the USPS in a completely non-partisan way.

[MrsEVH]

15 hours ago, Arcadiasw said:

The costumes distracted me because last week they were stressed about money and losing the house but now they have enough money for Halloween. 🤨🤷‍♀️😅

I noticed that too. Always broke but have money for other things. Reminds me of some of the people I work with. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

11 hours ago, bunnyface said:

15 hours ago, qtpye said:

I was a latchkey kid and I loved my alone time. I was responsible and had no desire to spend more time with my fucked up extended family. A lot of family is toxic and there is nothing wrong with being independent.

 

I understand that, but Mary admitted she wasn't enjoying her time alone, so that puts a different spin on it.  

Also, Mary's an only child whose mother is absent most of the time.  She's had plenty of alone time.

11 hours ago, tessaray said:

I can see where Mark and Mary's might be the only new ones.  And DJ probably paid for hers.

Jackie said she made Mark's, I believe.

It's Ben who had the most lavish costumes in the least amount of time.

5 hours ago, Annber03 said:

There's also the fact that while some people may watch TV to escape, others may find catharsis in a show addressing the stuff they're dealing with.

This was never a show that was meant to cheer you up, except perhaps by showing you how much better off you were than the Conners.

2 hours ago, ButterQueen said:

Honestly, I don’t care.  I never think about them.  

I agree. It would be best if the showrunners could just say that neither Andy nor Jerry exist, so that we would never have to debate their existence again!

[geauxaway]

10 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I do think the political discussion between Darlene and Dan was a little ham-fisted though. Felt a little too meta.

I felt like we were watching Sarah not Darlene on The Talk (which I immediately switch off when it come on after B&B).  So yah, no thanks.

Which also no thanks to Mark once again being a precocious little preachy kid.  Last season Mark was going after adults in the mall about voting or whatnot.  Now Mark is complaining about a peer not wearing a mask outside (possibly off campus).  News flash.  Kids get mask breaks. It’s not the end of the world.  Maybe I’m biased, our district has been in school full time with huge success.  Mark just seems to like to complain a lot about stuff.  🤷🏻‍♀️

[CrystalBlue]

1 hour ago, MrsEVH said:

I noticed that too. Always broke but have money for other things. Reminds me of some of the people I work with. 

I give The Conner Clan a pass at having Halloween costumes this year because they must have a sizeable stash of saved costumes and decos.  Like people who save their Christmas tree ornaments year after year until they become heirlooms.  Unless they bought new stuff early with their stimulus checks, as I suggested before here.  After all, the Halloween stuff is already on display in August and candy available after Labor Day!

4 minutes ago, geauxaway said:

I felt like we were watching Sarah not Darlene on The Talk (which I immediately switch off when it come on after B&B).  So yah, no thanks.

Which also no thanks to Mark once again being a precocious little preachy kid.  Last season Mark was going after adults in the mall about voting or whatnot.  Now Mark is complaining about a peer not wearing a mask outside (possibly off campus).  News flash.  Kids get mask breaks. It’s not the end of the world.  Maybe I’m biased, our district has been in school full time with huge success.  Mark just seems to like to complain a lot about stuff.  🤷🏻‍♀️

Mark is the show's Junior SJW.

[DB in CMH]

Sara is doing a good job, John and Laurie and fantastic as usual, and I think Michael Fishman did the best job in this episode that he's done so far in the revival.

Lecy needs acting lessons. That scene at Wellman was HORRID. She can't deliver a line naturally to save her life - zero nuance. Send that Mark kid in for some lessons too.

Edited October 30, 2020 by DB in CMH