S03.E05: Friends in High Places and Horse Surgery

[tribeca]

Becky was wrong but the boss did seem to not like her.  There was no reason to make that comment about her age, where she lived or talk about her being written up during dinner.  Becky should have written the boss up for working off the clock.  
  At my work place you are allowed to take your masks off in the beak room. Only five people at a time and you can’t sit close together.  We also can’t have a family member as a supervisor so that part was unrealistic to me. 

[Virtual]

On 11/26/2020 at 10:14 AM, RunningMarket said:

It's obvious that Becky slacks at work generally, not just when she's spending 45 (!!) minutes a day Facetiming her kid. There was the scene near the beginning where they were all late getting back to the floor. Millions of women manage to work all day with young children at home/daycare/school, etc. Becky is not special, nor does she deserve special treatment - especially given her work ethic.

Agreed. It should be easy to figure out why the boss wrote her up if she was spending 45 minutes Facetiming her daughter when she should have been working. Any work place, that will get you into a lot of trouble (especially when you have co-workers who will tell the bosses on you because they have to cover for the work you're not doing, or to take any negative attention away from them). I didn't think Darlene was wrong at all, and she did Becky a favor by not causing her to lose a shift like the manager wanted to do. Also, Becky could very well have been the influence to everyone else who was late getting back on the workfloor in that beginning scene.

It's funny how Darlene wasn't concerned about keeping Ben in her life before, but now suddenly is.

 

[Lili]

That argument Darlene and Becky had at the end was brutal. I wonder where that will go in the next episode. Also, I think Jackie made the right choice in not hooking up with Louise's brother when he asked her to. I mean, they barely even knew each other.

[Starchild]

21 hours ago, rmontro said:

My problem with the masks is that they are such a distraction.  Apparently they have to wear masks at work but they lower them around the neck when they go into the break room.  What's the point?  Doesn't the virus travel in the break room? 

 

18 hours ago, tribeca said:

At my work place you are allowed to take your masks off in the beak room. Only five people at a time and you can’t sit close together.

It's interesting you guys bring this up. I was speaking to a hospital nurse recently and she said that they've noticed this second wave is hitting staff harder than patients. They figure it's because they take off their masks in the break room. Hopefully they can nip that in the bud.

[peacheslatour]

18 minutes ago, Starchild said:

 

It's interesting you guys bring this up. I was speaking to a hospital nurse recently and she said that they've noticed this second wave is hitting staff harder than patients. They figure it's because they take off their masks in the break room. Hopefully they can nip that in the bud.

[CrystalBlue]

8 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Isn't the taking off the masks in the break room when other peeps are there or will walk in at any moment like taking off your condom in the middle of the hot passion heated action and wondering why she still got pregnant?

To bring it around to this specific episode, the Becky and Darlene fight was brutal and low blows thrown.  Neither made any sense.  Darlene cannot help that she is like every other woman on the planet in the aging process, plus she did birth two offspring.  Becky isn't a fountain of flowing fertile youth (or whatever she said) and had her fertility/IVF/surrogate storyline issues.

Also, I think Louise is inhaling fumes coming from Harris' room if she thinks it's OK for her brother Neville to be rabidly pursuing Whacky Jackie.  Is she trying to marry her off, or her brother?  😁

Edited November 29, 2020 by CrystalBlue
On topic musings.

[Cherpumple]

On 11/26/2020 at 1:17 PM, iMonrey said:

I like Nat Faxon so I'm happy to see him on the show but he is 45 and Laurie Metcalf is 65. I'm not sure if the show is trying to play her as younger or if they are going to address the age gap.

They addressed the age gap briefly in the last episode when Louise made a comment about Neville having a crush on Jackie when he was a kid and she was a cop. I remember because it surprised me that they were going with such a large gap (they could have easily made his character older). I actually think it was smart to give Louise and Neville the backstory of having childhood/teenage crushes on Jackie and Dan. I love original recipe Jackie and Dan, but they're not great catches anymore, and frankly these pairings only really make sense to me knowing that Neville and Louise are viewing the situation through nostalgia-tinted glasses.

On 11/26/2020 at 2:16 AM, Yeah No said:

What I'm not buying is that management would be so impressed with Darlene.  It usually doesn't work that way in such work environments.  Over qualified employees are usually looked upon suspiciously, like "What's wrong with you that you couldn't get a better job?"

Also, I don't really understand how Darlene thinks she is so qualified to be a manager in a factory. We know little about her work history, but I recall that her degree and known work experience are all related to writing and editing. Does she have any experience actually managing employees? Budgeting? Navigating labor laws regarding health and safety? Overseeing the maintenance and use of specialized machinery? Organizing large scale product distribution? I don't know what kind of position she's actually going for, and she could probably get her foot in the door at some point, but her attitude was laughable.

Regarding the inconsistent mask usage, it doesn't really bother me. I'm glad they're addressing the effects of the pandemic on their lives, but I don't expect them to reflect real life situations perfectly. I tend to think of it the same as watching a movie set in Paris; even though the actors are speaking English, I understand that the characters are actually speaking French. Or watching actors fake their way through an eating or driving scene. Even if the actor never takes a real bite, or spends the whole scene staring at the person in the passenger seat, I still get what the character is doing. In this situation, even though the actors have their masks under their chins, I usually interpret that as a means to convey emotion and clear diction, with the understanding that the characters are actually wearing their masks properly. YMMV.

[Yeah No]

1 minute ago, Cherpumple said:

Also, I don't really understand how Darlene thinks she is so qualified to be a manager in a factory. We know little about her work history, but I recall that her degree and known work experience are all related to writing and editing. Does she have any experience actually managing employees? Budgeting? Navigating labor laws regarding health and safety? Overseeing the maintenance and use of specialized machinery? Organizing large scale product distribution? I don't know what kind of position she's actually going for, and she could probably get her foot in the door at some point, but her attitude was laughable.

Yes, that too, but even if she had a great attitude, how realistic is it that she would be seen as a good match for such a position when she has no experience doing anything related to that?  Once again it's completely the opposite in the real world.  A position like that is not unspecialized and easily walked into without any background in it or at least a few moves up the ladder first.  You don't just go from a low level factory position to management in one step even if you look like you might be capable of it at some point.  There is a lot to learn before that's possible.  They would be much more likely to hire from the outside than "recognize" someone in a menial position based on "raw talent" and give them such an opportunity unless they had some really tangible transferrable experience to bring to the position.  I have never seen it work any other way.

[qtpye]

On 11/26/2020 at 1:27 AM, Marley said:

Why would Darlene care that much about having a baby. So stupid. She knows she has 2 right? The baby storyline is going on too long for me. Also Darlene is just so miserable I thought she was like at least 50 anyways so didn’t know why she thought she had a chance to have a baby. I know she’s not that old but she bugs me.

Becky is wrong. You can’t just FaceTime your kid all day.  

 

On 11/26/2020 at 2:38 AM, Marley said:

I’ve never understood why Ben wanted to be with Darlene anyways. She’s a miserable killjoy who cheated on him. He could do way better.

 

On 11/26/2020 at 2:58 AM, Caseysgirl said:

I’m not really enjoying this show at all. I remember Dan as being a bit more charming on the old show - now he’s a surly curmudgeon who somehow has attracted someone way over his pay grade. I never liked Darlene, even as a young child, but as an adult she’s grumpy, arrogant and completely unlikeable. Becky seems to have lost all of her charm and brains.  But the worst character change of all has been Jackie.  She’s so unlikeable and her hate for herself is just not enjoyable to watch. This may be an unpopular opinion but without Roseanne this show actually sucks.

 

On 11/26/2020 at 3:57 AM, geauxaway said:

And I’m sorry to say she’s not pretty or sexy either.  I know that’s shallow but seriously.  Unemployed mom of a bitchy 18 year old and a preachy screechy needy whiny teen.  Ah no

I think the one thing the Connor's have going for them is that they all seem to attract people that are way better than them.

Jackie seems to have a nice educated younger man practically begging to go out with her. However, she is not required to return his feelings and he has no right to harass her about it.

Dan has Louise, who should have ran and never looked back by this point.

Darlene has Ben, who seems to find her surly attitude and financial stupidity extremely attractive. What happened to the money that had saved up last year to get a nice apartment? Did I mention Darlene cheated on Ben with her ex?

DJ has Gina. I did not care for how she forced everyone to go to church but she seems like a pretty together person when compared to the Connors.

Also, Darlene bitching about having a baby when she has two children (one grown) she barely acknowledges is an insult to the heartbreak of true infertility.

[Winston Wolfe]

On 11/27/2020 at 6:13 PM, peacheslatour said:

Not on Seinfeld. Their motto was "No hugging, no learning". They made no bones about what terrible people they were.

And like the Seinfeld gang, the Conners seem to feed upon each others' horrible-ness.

5 hours ago, qtpye said:

I think the one thing the Connor's have going for them is that they all seem to attract people that are way better than them.

Absolutely. The dating pool in Lansford must be beyond shallow.

9 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

To bring it around to this specific episode, the Becky and Darlene fight was brutal and low blows thrown.

Those comments were unspoken truths that both knew. However, those hurtful thoughts would have remained unsaid until they needed to be weaponized. And now Harris knows how her Mother and Aunt really feel about each other.

Edited November 29, 2020 by Winston Wolfe

[tribeca]

20 hours ago, Starchild said:

 

It's interesting you guys bring this up. I was speaking to a hospital nurse recently and she said that they've noticed this second wave is hitting staff harder than patients. They figure it's because they take off their masks in the break room. Hopefully they can nip that in the bud.

How would she know that ?  Over half the people who go into stores don’t wear their masks right.  At restaurant people take their masks off for long periods and when I have to cash them out they “forget” to put them back on.  Or the fun ones who come right up to you and pull down the mask to talk to you.   There are a lot of factors not just they people who worked during this whole thing. 
 

 Back to the show.    I can’t understand why anyone would want to date Jackie or why anyone’s sisters would encourage that. I would tell my bother to run. 

[ThatsDarling]

On 11/27/2020 at 5:10 PM, Irate Panda said:

I’m really trying to get into this show and I don’t know if it’s because I’m comparing it Roseanne or it’s just depressing and at times convoluted.  First, I think the cast is too big for a 30 minute sitcom, where basically everyone except DJ is getting major storylines, yet I always think Darlene gets way too much time.  She just seems so irritating, I have no idea why Ben would even be around her and why was the Boss so shocked Becky lived with her Dad, but it somehow seemed ok for Darlene.  I hope they tone Jackie down.    

The cast is too big, and the frequent additions of recurring characters gives me the impression that the writers are not sure where to take the show, so they are throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. 

I'm not holding my breath for a toned down Jackie. Laurie Metcalf said recently in an interview that she was given permission to play the character as broad as possible, and was taking advantage of it "because Jackie is a broad character...She's crazy." 

Metcalf is one of our finest actors, but every performer needs a director who can modulate their work, and she's not getting it on The Conners. Knowing what she's capable of and seeing her play a walking exclamation point every week is a shame, but I suppose she's laughing all the way to the bank. 

[Winston Wolfe]

9 hours ago, qtpye said:

Jackie seems to have a nice educated younger man practically begging to go out with her. However, she is not required to return his feelings and he has no right to harass her about it.

Although she's handling the situation erratically, Jackie trying to protect Louise's Brother (can't remember his name, sorry) is actually admirable IMO. Jackie has enough self-awareness to realize that she is, to quote Jake Tapper, "a hot mess, inside of a dumpster fire, headed towards a train wreck." Maybe the writers intend to bring these characters to better places eventually?  Hope so.

[Starchild]

4 hours ago, tribeca said:

How would she know that ?  Over half the people who go into stores don’t wear their masks right.  At restaurant people take their masks off for long periods and when I have to cash them out they “forget” to put them back on.  Or the fun ones who come right up to you and pull down the mask to talk to you.   There are a lot of factors not just they people who worked during this whole thing. 
 

 Back to the show.    I can’t understand why anyone would want to date Jackie or why anyone’s sisters would encourage that. I would tell my bother to run. 

Here in Canada, people are generally better (though not perfect) at following the health guidelines on masks. I think the nurse was referring to how the hospital staff may be more likely to be giving it to each other rather than getting it from patients, due to being more lax with the rules when not around patients.

As for Jackie, I was under the impression that Louise did not want her brother dating Jackie. And Jackie knows that. It's really kind of sad, I feel bad for Jackie. Just going by the backstory presented in this revival, she's had a rough life that's impacted her self-esteem, and it would be nice to see her get some wins.

[peacheslatour]

11 minutes ago, Starchild said:

Here in Canada, people are generally better (though not perfect) at following the health guidelines on masks. I think the nurse was referring to how the hospital staff may be more likely to be giving it to each other rather than getting it from patients, due to being more lax with the rules when not around patients.

As for Jackie, I was under the impression that Louise did not want her brother dating Jackie. And Jackie knows that. It's really kind of sad, I feel bad for Jackie. Just going by the backstory presented in this revival, she's had a rough life that's impacted her self-esteem, and it would be nice to see her get some wins.

It really would. When did they decide to her the perpetual loser? I can hardly stand her any more and she used to be my favorite character.

[CrystalBlue]

9 hours ago, Winston Wolfe said:

And like the Seinfeld gang, the Conners seem to feed upon each others' horrible-ness.

Absolutely. The dating pool in Lansford must be beyond shallow.

Those comments were unspoken truths that both knew. However, those hurtful thoughts would have remained unsaid until they needed to be weaponized. And now Harris knows how her Mother and Aunt really feel about each other.

Knew to be facts or knew to be each other's weakness or insecurity?  Calling your sister essentially a dried up old prune with cobwebs in her womb is stupid because she can't help that she is aging and heading into menopause like every other woman, including Miss Becky, in the world does, unless you die young first.  Becky bragging about her Fertile Myrtle status is stupid because Becks in getting older too, and isn't likely to come up pregnant again.  Unless the Show is hell bent on giving us another crying mouth to feed, and turn to Becky to be another one-night stand mishap!  😃  Yes, Harris knows her mom and aunt can be bitches; so what's new?  😄

[CrystalBlue]

1 hour ago, Starchild said:

As for Jackie, I was under the impression that Louise did not want her brother dating Jackie. And Jackie knows that. It's really kind of sad, I feel bad for Jackie. Just going by the backstory presented in this revival, she's had a rough life that's impacted her self-esteem, and it would be nice to see her get some wins.

I thought Louise called her brother the veterinarian to help out with the neglected malnourished chickens and introduced Jackie to Neville, whereupon Jackie immediately dismissed him as a love interest.  Louise tried to explain Neville's point of view in his attraction to her but did not tell Neville to stay away from Jackie.

[chediavolo]

On 11/25/2020 at 9:38 PM, ams1001 said:

I kinda hated this episode.

Darlene whining about not being able to have kids...um...did you forget you've already had two?

What kind of assignment is "ask your parents where your family was during the Revolutionary War"? Why is that something today's kids' parents would be likely to know? (Especially if they are members of certain groups, or more recent immigrants. Is there so little diversity in Lanford that it doesn't occur to a teacher that such a question is kind of stupid to ask of a lot of kids?) People spend years doing that kind of research on their ancestors.

Sorry, but screaming Jackie is not the least bit entertaining, and why the hell would this guy want to keep pursuing her, anyway?

And Louise? Your brother should learn to take no for an answer; Jackie shouldn't need to tell him she's a dying lesbian to get him to stop. You should be having that little heart-to-heart with him, not her.

And Becky? You're at work. Facetime your kid on your break. She's not going to forget who you are in nine hours. "I'm a mom" isn't an excuse to slack off your job and then get mad when your boss notices and does something about it.

What kind of vet does surgery on a horse with no assistants in the room...and then puts random visitors to work helping?

 

This show sucks.  That’s why. Who is writing this shit? Not a moment of reality. The horse operation really pissed me off. And hey assholes, many kids families were in another country during the revolutionary war.  Everyone is unlikeable. WTF? 

Edited November 30, 2020 by chediavolo

[chediavolo]

On 11/25/2020 at 9:35 PM, ShortyMac said:

I agree, and maybe Becky can join a mom/parenting group, and maybe she's dealing with postpartum stuff. 

I agree also but that was a shitty thing to do to her own sister. Maybe Darlene could have asked the manager to have a sit down, all three of them, about the situation and the stress that Becky is under. Assholes. 

[chediavolo]

On 11/26/2020 at 9:08 PM, rmontro said:

That's what I was thinking.  How many people have even followed their family trees back that far?  And even if they have, how many have ancestors that were in the US at that time?  I know mine didn't get over here until around 1900.

Darlene was clever to ask the supervisor to mentor her, that can put her on the fast track to management.  I'd hate for her to not get the position after having to mess up her relationship with Becky, although I agree Becky was clearly in the wrong.  But it would look really strange to see Darlene succeeding at her job.

Family tree...takes too much time to get the info. Especially when most of your family is gone and you have lousy Internet   Just make something up! Who cares ?😄

[chediavolo]

On 11/27/2020 at 9:19 PM, tribeca said:

Becky was wrong but the boss did seem to not like her.  There was no reason to make that comment about her age, where she lived or talk about her being written up during dinner.  Becky should have written the boss up for working off the clock.  
  At my work place you are allowed to take your masks off in the beak room. Only five people at a time and you can’t sit close together.  We also can’t have a family member as a supervisor so that part was unrealistic to me. 

Yes thank you. Abhorrent behavior from the manager.  Becky should report her to her HR.  

11 hours ago, RocknRollZombie said:

The show/writers just  seem hell bent at this point to amp up the hate fans have towards characters after every damm episode. Darlene is getting all these storylines, that in all sense at times  will make sense with other characters not her but they will use the rest of the characters/family make them do horrible decisions or mistakes to push her into the spotlight. It’s not even the conners at this point it’s Darlene this Darlene that, oh yeah let’s throw this in for the hell of it.

Becky’s character has become nuanced since season 2 with all the baby/Emilio drama that is dragged to S3.

Isn’t “Darlene” running the show, literally ? Apparently the actress knows nothing about being lower middle class. And Darlene is just an unlikable character what a nasty bitch. 

[chediavolo]

13 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

It really would. When did they decide to her the perpetual loser? I can hardly stand her any more and she used to be my favorite character.

Yes! I remember liking Jackie in the original series. Was she always this insane? Because I don’t remember that. Now she really seems to be off the rails. Although I did feel bad at the end with the backstory on the stuffed  giraffe. Think she needs just a bit of therapy to help deal with some things. 

[UYI]

8 hours ago, chediavolo said:

Isn’t “Darlene” running the show, literally ? Apparently the actress knows nothing about being lower middle class. And Darlene is just an unlikable character what a nasty bitch. 

Sara Gilbert (Darlene) is one of the executive producers of the show, yes. And I've talked about this here before, but considering that she grew up in a big Hollywood mansion (I think in Bel Air), with family connections that--other than her half-siblings Melissa and Jonathan Gilbert, of course--includes her grandfather Harry Crane, who created The Honeymooners? Yeah, no, she doesn't know a thing about the lower middle class. (And Melissa's Little House co-star, Alison Arngrim, wrote in her book Confessions of a Prairie Bitch about how going over to visit Melissa at her house was such a culture shock, since she grew up with struggling actors for parents who were ALWAYS trying to find work and keep the roof over their heads.)

Watching this episode, I could see things from Becky's side AND Darlene's side--Becky DID more or less help Darlene get this job, because Darlene wouldn't have known about it without her, and she certainly didn't WANT it once she found out about it, either, whereas Becky SHOULDN'T be taking long breaks talking to her baby when she's on duty (and you would think her being a single woman with no kids for as long as she was would mean she would know better about trying to invoke parental privilege, but I guess not).

And Darlene did finally see the value of her job because of what it affords her to do now, and I can see how she would try to get into management based on that.

But really? I'm just left annoyed that they are laying waste to Becky's character like this at Darlene's expense. Whatever happened to her after Mark's death, the fact that she has a strong work ethic and the will to survive however she can seemed to be two things she's always hung onto, going back to when she was a teenager. So I'm really just left pissed off and angry by all of that and wanting to root for Becky by default. I'm stubborn like that sometimes. 

(I also hold the somewhat unpopular opinion that Lecy Goranson was in many ways a MUCH better actress on the original show than she often got credit for, and was pushed aside WAY too much in favor of Sara Gilbert--and after proving at the beginning of this show that she is just as good as Sara, maybe even better now, that seems to be happening AGAIN--but that's a rant for another day.) 

I do two positive things to say, though (yes, really! lol):

1. While Neville needs to back. the. hell. OFF. from Jackie, I will always applaud any signs of an older woman/younger man relationship, especially when it's the younger man pursuing the older woman. I like younger men, too, so I appreciate it, lol.

2. The closing credits tag didn't end on a jarring note this week! It felt just right! It finally happened! HUZZAH! 

And yes, I too liked the mock interview between Harris and Becky as Darlene, and agree with Harris that Darlene made it sad by imitating Becky. She...does that a lot these days, it seems. -_-

But like Harris also said, Becky made it funny again by imitating Darlene at the end, so that was good. :)

8 hours ago, chediavolo said:

Yes! I remember liking Jackie in the original series. Was she always this insane? Because I don’t remember that.

In a word...no. She always had her quirks, but she was always very cool--a single woman with a job and her own place, with plenty of friends and an active dating life--but starting in season 5 and ESPECIALLY in season 6, she started to turn into Wacky Jackie, a female Don Knotts (with Laurie Metcalf evidently getting pointers from the REAL Don Knotts--and I loved Don Knotts, may he rest in peace, he deserved all five Emmys he won for playing Barney on TAGS--but Jackie didn't need to be Don Knotts). And this is clearly deliberate on Laurie Metcalf's part, because she CAN still play Jackie as she used to be every once in awhile, and based on what others have said about her in other roles, she can still bring it, too--and in a way, that makes it even MORE frustrating, knowing she CAN still play the old Jackie, and has shown signs of her here and there even on The Conners, but she so rarely gets the chance to, and may not even be all that interested in doing so at this point. 

Edited November 30, 2020 by UYI

[tessaray]

8 hours ago, UYI said:

While Neville needs to back. the. hell. OFF. from Jackie, I will always applaud any signs of an older woman/younger man relationship, especially when it's the younger man pursuing the older woman. I like younger men, too, so I appreciate it, lol.

Well, Jackie did let out a little smile when he asked if he could be a friend who worships her from afar. (Or words to that effect.)  

[Pallas]

This is an episode topic. Posts that are mostly about a character's development belong in that character's topic. Posts that mostly refer to the show's forerunner belong in The Conners Past and Present. Please keep that in mind. Posts have been moved; future posts in the wrong place will be removed and/or warnings issued.  

[Kel Varnsen]

I liked Robin, she seemed like a pretty reasonable manager, which is a surprise for this show and sitcoms in general so I hope she sticks around. Also what the hell was Becky's problem. Especially since we know she works with other moms why does she think she need to video chat with the baby. Plus considering they work on an assembly line her productivity dropping could really screw other people over. Also is mobile data really that cheap that she can be doing 45 minutes of video chat a day?

Not sure what the deal with Louise's brother is? We know why Jackie is not into him but why is he so into her? Also my parents were friends with a farm animal vet, and those guys make serious cash. Because as much as people will shell out a bunch of money to their vet for their pet, it is even more for a farm animal that could be worth thousands and is their livelihood.

On the plus side at least this show is a nice reminder that Katy Segal has amazing comic timing. Especially after years worth of garbage she had to work with on Sons of Anarchy. Although I still think it is weird since Roseanne was the first choice to play Peg Bundy.

On 11/29/2020 at 3:33 AM, Cherpumple said:

Also, I don't really understand how Darlene thinks she is so qualified to be a manager in a factory. We know little about her work history, but I recall that her degree and known work experience are all related to writing and editing. Does she have any experience actually managing employees? Budgeting? Navigating labor laws regarding health and safety? Overseeing the maintenance and use of specialized machinery? Organizing large scale product distribution? I don't know what kind of position she's actually going for, and she could probably get her foot in the door at some point, but her attitude was laughable.

I am glad someone else mentioned this since it is really bugging me. Darlene keeps talking about how she is over qualified and the job is beneath her, but really? I know she has some sort of writing degree but I can't even remember what kind of job she had at the start of the show. And either way I doubt any of it translates to assembly line production type of work. It was also interesting that when she was talking about what to do instead of having a baby she never mentioned anything writing related. I mean if she wants to do that, do it. Start up a website and write something or write a novel and self publish it. Or write shit and submit to websites. If you are not going to do that maybe the writing ship has sailed.

[CrystalBlue]

3 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I liked Robin, she seemed like a pretty reasonable manager, which is a surprise for this show and sitcoms in general so I hope she sticks around. Also what the hell was Becky's problem. Especially since we know she works with other moms why does she think she need to video chat with the baby. Plus considering they work on an assembly line her productivity dropping could really screw other people over. Also is mobile data really that cheap that she can be doing 45 minutes of video chat a day?

Not sure what the deal with Louise's brother is? We know why Jackie is not into him but why is he so into her? Also my parents were friends with a farm animal vet, and those guys make serious cash. Because as much as people will shell out a bunch of money to their vet for their pet, it is even more for a farm animal that could be worth thousands and is their livelihood.

On the plus side at least this show is a nice reminder that Katy Segal has amazing comic timing. Especially after years worth of garbage she had to work with on Sons of Anarchy. Although I still think it is weird since Roseanne was the first choice to play Peg Bundy.

I am glad someone else mentioned this since it is really bugging me. Darlene keeps talking about how she is over qualified and the job is beneath her, but really? I know she has some sort of writing degree but I can't even remember what kind of job she had at the start of the show. And either way I doubt any of it translates to assembly line production type of work. It was also interesting that when she was talking about what to do instead of having a baby she never mentioned anything writing related. I mean if she wants to do that, do it. Start up a website and write something or write a novel and self publish it. Or write shit and submit to websites. If you are not going to do that maybe the writing ship has sailed.

I like Robin too.  I'd be down with a Wellman Plastics spinoff starring Alexandra Billings as Robin!

Becky probably has unlimited data on her mobile wireless plan, or perhaps the factory has free wifi in the break/lunch room, employees' lounge.

I agree with everything you've said, but I loved Katey Sagal as Gemma on SOA.  A completely different show, to be sure.

Yeah, Darlene.  Doesn't make sense because writers can always write.  (Unless they have writer's block -- hee.)

[tessaray]

5 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I liked Robin, she seemed like a pretty reasonable manager, which is a surprise for this show and sitcoms in general so I hope she sticks around. Also what the hell was Becky's problem. Especially since we know she works with other moms why does she think she need to video chat with the baby. Plus considering they work on an assembly line her productivity dropping could really screw other people over. Also is mobile data really that cheap that she can be doing 45 minutes of video chat a day?

I liked Robin too. 

Since the reboot, Becky has had a pretty good work ethic.  Even as a drunk, she held down a job and took care of herself.  And she worked hard at the Lunchbox.  But she had the baby with her there and 9 or 10 hours a day away from her was probably more traumatic for Becky than Beverly Rose.  Separation anxiety is real. I hated going back to work when my kids were babies, so maybe I'm more sympathetic and see it as a temporary lapse. 

That said, I hate out of character writing that just serves to provide conflict or prop other characters so I didn't really care for the episode overall. 

[femmefan1946]

On 11/25/2020 at 7:10 PM, Chaos Theory said:

 And it might not be politically correct but my guess is if one of the kids is an immigrant the assignment would be changed mildly to where they might have been during that particular period of time.  

Langford is near Detroit right?
That has to be a town where almost every family arrived circa 1900, fleeing the czar or poverty or like Mary post-Reconstruction repression.
There can't be a very high percentage of Americans who can go back more than 100 years and still be in the USA.

Then there is DH who manages to be both a British immigrant and United Empire Loyalist, as the son of a war bride and a descendant of a New Yorker who came to Ontario circa 1785 with his third wife and his 21 kids. Which could be an interesting essay for Grade Seven.

And I was in high school with a girl whose dad was in a Canadian prison camp for all of WWII as an Italian national. And a guy who was born in an internment camp for Japanese-Canadians. Frankly, at my high school, very few parents spoke unaccented English.

Edited January 3, 2021 by femmefan1946

[Kel Varnsen]

15 hours ago, tessaray said:

Since the reboot, Becky has had a pretty good work ethic.  Even as a drunk, she held down a job and took care of herself.  And she worked hard at the Lunchbox

I am a little confused by Becky working at Wellman. I thought her and Jackie were partners in the Lunchbox since they came up with the idea together.

[Bastet]

5 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I am a little confused by Becky working at Wellman. I thought her and Jackie were partners in the Lunchbox since they came up with the idea together.

The Lunchbox can only do carry-out/delivery because of the pandemic, so business is down; whatever her share of whatever profit they eke out at this stage is not enough and she needs a steady paycheck.

[peacheslatour]

29 minutes ago, Bastet said:

The Lunchbox can only do carry-out/delivery because of the pandemic, so business is down; whatever her share of whatever profit they eke out at this stage is not enough and she needs a steady paycheck.

Plus her husband is working there and they need additional income.

[IDFfm0870]

I am a huge Roseanne fan, original series, and I did enjoy the reboot (season 10) a lot, then watched season on of the Conners on a regular basis, some episodes from season 2, but I stopped following the show, for no particular reason that I can remember now. 

Then a week ago I read somewhere that there is a season 3, and the integration of Covid, which made me kind of curious about how that would work within the show's reality.

So I have watched the first five episodes of this season now, and I liked it a lot, sort of like something that I didn't know I needed before I watched it. I love the Conner's very own special mindset concerning Covid, the re-introduction of Wellman plastics is a great callback to the original series, and I am good with Ben and (surprisingly for me) Louise.

I did enjoy watching the first five episodes, and episode 5 here is the very first episode of all Conners seasons that I seriously loved.

I loved the comedic timing, for example, Becky giving her Darlene expression and vice versa, and Harris reacting to it.

I do enjoy the new formed bond between Jackie and Neville, and the way it ended (so far in this episode), I do believe they will become an item on the long run. Here's a nice guy who does not judge Jackie for her past experiences. If Jackie starts feeling good about herself again thanks to a guy who is interested in her, why not? 

And the big fight at the end of the show did  remind me exactly why I seriously fell in love with the original series, because some of the best episodes back then centered around a huge fight between two main characters, be it Roseanne and Dan, or Roseanne and Jackie, or others. And the Becky vs. Darlene fight here IMO was ugly raw in the best way possible.

This episode here is the very first episode of all Conners episodes that made me feel like I am watching old times Roseanne, with the character of Roseanne missing (and I still do miss her) in the best way possible.

Looks like I am the only on this board who feels that way, so ... lucky me I guess 😉