The Roseanne Reboot did a second hard topic episode in a row, and excluded the kids for the most part which allowed the tone to take a dark, downward turn. It was Dan and Roseanne’s 45th anniversary, but that story line felt extremely ancillary to the real action. Though it was nice to see Tim Bagley and their spat with him in the hotel was funny, it didn’t hold a candle to the other two plots.
Roseanne – ABC
The less intense one: Darlene gets a job! Crystal makes another great cameo to anounce her retirement from waitressing at the casino, with full benefits. An impressive feat in Lanford, and she graciously offers to recommend Darlene for the job, cheesy demeaning uniform and everything. Of course Darlene feels too prideful for the job, but when Becky jumps at the opportunity for a better version of waitressing and calls Darlene out the tune changes. They feud but Becky ends up not applying and Darlene takes the job, and lets Becky know after also getting her a brochure to community college and how she could get a grant and become a manager like she deserves to be. It’s the kind of sibling feud episodes we love, because Roseanne allows the sitcom to go mean and then bring it back with a stronger punch.
Roseanne – ABC
Speaking of where other sitcoms won’t go all the way, Roseanne took inspiration from her own life and battle with painkillers to boldly address a facet of the opiod crisis on the show. After trying to get Dan to get more painkillers because her prescription had run low early and accused someone in the house of doing it. Jackie plays cop and poorly examines Darlene and Harris and says they’re clean, which made us eyeroll because with her history Harris would definitely sell her grandmother’s pills. Dan eventually finds (most) of her stash after he realizes she’s high on their anniversary night-in. Seeing Roseanne high was reminiscent of the classic Marijuana episode, but the gravity of the situation was far too much to be fun.
Roseanne – ABC
The conversation with her and Dan was almost too real, and John Goodman delivered his best performance of the reboot to date, and the final scene where Roseanne checks on her final private stash hidden in her ice pack was chilling [pun intended]. If you are tiptoeing around which episodes to watch we highly recommend giving this one a shit!
