The Conners Is Wasting Ben and Darlene’s Potential

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Even though Ben and Darlene have provided The Connerswith relationship drama for three seasons now, the Roseanne retooling has repaid the characters by wasting their story. The Conners has struggled to replace its former star Roseanne Barr ever since the actor was fired from the show in 2018 due to her real-life racist remarks. While losing Roseanne made Dan a better father on The Conners, the change also cost the sitcom its most dramatic central character.

Roseanne was an obstinate whirlwind who attracted chaos wherever she went, guaranteeing that the sitcom’s storylines would never become too bland. Since Roseanne’s exit, The Conners has struggled to match her madcap energy, although the on-again, off-again antics of Ben and Darlene come close to finding the right balance. This makes it doubly frustrating when The Conners season 4 has wasted the couple’s potential.

Related: The Conners Season 4 Episode 12 Release Date (Hiatus Explained)

Dan’s strong-willed co-worker Ben and sardonic single mom Darlene have had consistent chemistry ever since their relationship began while Ben was still Darlene’s boss. The two have been through a lot of fights since then but despite (or perhaps because of) this near-constant conflict, The Conners’ Ben and Darlene still make sparks fly when they’re together. As a result, The Conners’ biggest Ben and Darlene mistake has been the show’s insistence on keeping Ben as a series regular without having him and Darlene romantically reunited. This imbalanced dynamic results in ill-fated experiments like The Conners’ “Patriarchs and Goddesses” (season 4, episode 11). One of this episode’s frustrating subplots saw Darlene walk into Ben on a date with a new beau and proceed to harangue the pair,