After a brief holiday hiatus, The Conners is back with all-new episodes on ABC.
The fall finale left the Conner family facing new challenges both in life and love.
Darlene (Sara Gilbert) started dating her boss at the paper, Ben (Mad Men’s Jay R. Ferguson), and Becky (Lecy Goranson) found herself unexpectedly pregnant even though she had previously thought she was unlikely to ever conceive a child.
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Although her coworker Emilio, a busboy, was revealed to be the father, Becky intends to raise the baby on her own.
Dan (John Goodman), meanwhile, still recovering from Roseanne’s overdose death, found himself the object of a former classmate’s affection (Katey Sagal). While flattered (and not realizing at first she was even interested), he realized that he wasn’t over his wife’s death or ready to date.
The episode kicks off with DJ sick on the couch. He’s unable to work, so Dan is out handling his vending machine repair route.
Dan suddenly arrives home with his arm in a sling. A vending machine fell on him. He had to go to the emergency room, and ended up with a $6,000 bill. The machine should have been bolted to the wall.
Darlene decides they should sue. DJ says, “You can’t sue the company I work for.”
“Eat your soup,” Darlene shoots back. Dan doesn’t want to sue and is confident DJ’s company will pay his bill.
Darlene and Dan meet with DJ’s boss and the company owner (Phil Hendrie) to discuss medical reimbursement. The owner refuses to foot the entire bill because Dan was not an authorized technician.
He does offer to pay half but Darlene refuses and says they’ll get a lawyer. The owner ends the conversation abruptly once the word “lawyer” is thrown out.
Jackie updates her life coach website in hopes of drumming up more business. Becky, meanwhile, bemoans the fact that her boss has asked her to stop flirting so much with customers and coworkers.
Jackie offers to help Becky get a boundaries certificate but Becky declines. Then Jackie discovers that Becky actually went to her business rival, Rita Silver, for a certificate.
She gets upset and wants to know why Becky didn’t accept her offer and instead went to her competitor. Becky says she’s never actually seen Jackie with a client.
Dan gets a call from the ambulance company, letting him know he owes $800 for a two-block ride. Darlene says she called a lawyer, which Dan is angry about. He doesn’t want a lawyer.
“Why are you pushing this so hard?” he demands.
“If you can’t work for a long time, it’ll break us,” she says. Dan insists they’ll fine – he’ll sell his organs to science if he has to.
The lawyer that Darlene hired, Brian Foster (Peter Gallagher), shows up at the house. Dan says he’s not looking to win the lottery (a throwback dig to the original show’s disastrous final season, maybe?).
Brian thinks he can get Dan at least six figures, and believes that the jury (especially women) will eat up the fact that Dan was trying to help his sick kid.
The Conners start thinking about what they want to do with the money and toast their future wealth at Becky’s restaurant.
Speaking of Becky, she’s confronted by a woman at her bar who accuses Becky of texting with her boyfriend and sending him pictures. Becky says she didn’t know he was dating someone.
The girl starts talking trash and intentionally knocks over her margarita, at which point Becky tells her to leave.
“Watch your man, ladies, because this little slut will come after him,” she yells on her way out. Becky tries to charge after her, but Jackie restrains her.
She calms Becky down, telling her she tries to find validation through men, and that she used to do the same thing. They decide to work together to help Becky find her dream job.
It turns out Becky has always wanted to work in a field museum, and Jackie helps her find a contact through the museum website.
“He’s cute,” Becky notes. Baby steps for Becky here – no pun intended.
Back at the Conner house, Geena (Maya Lynne Robinson) lets Darlene know that the lawsuit is bad for DJ and he’s worried about losing his job.
Darlene tries to deflect with her usual sarcasm, but Geena isn’t having it, letting Darlene know that DJ was really excited about this job and has been seeing a military therapist for the last two years, which Darlene was unaware of.
Just then, Brian stops by to deliver some bad news: The company plans on fighting the lawsuit and is offering a settlement that will not only not be six figures, but after fees and bills, the Conners will end up short.
“You’re the last guy I ever hire off a gas pump,” Darlene says angrily. Dan interjects and says they’ll take the settlement, but Darlene insists on one condition: DJ gets to keep his job.
The Conners airs on Tuesday nights at 8/7c on ABC.