The Conners: Jackie Is Wrong About Ben and Darlene
Despite sounding reasonable, Jackie’s claim that Darlene should have known Ben was over her in The Conners season 4 was not a fair assertion. Of all the relationships chronicled on The Conners, Ben and Darlene’s “on-again, off-again” romance might be the most tumultuous. This is saying something, as the love life of Darlene’s sister Becky has been complicated by both The Conners’ alcoholism plotline and her baby’s father being deported by ICE.
However, despite this, it is Ben and Darlene who have been dating, two-timing, broken up, almost engaged, reunited, and broken up again during their three-season run on The Conners. The duo can’t seem to make up their minds about their potential compatibility as a couple—something that Darlene struggled with in one Conners season 4 episode. However, Jackie’s misrepresentation of Ben’s signals did not help matters.
Related: How Losing Roseanne Made The Conners’ Dan A Better Father
In The Conners’ “Patriarchs and Goddesses” (season 4, episode 11), after Darlene says Ben told her he no longer wanted to be with someone like her, Jackie sardonically noted that “he left her some clues” to this fact. In short order, she then reels off the evidence that Ben and Darlene’s Conners romance was no more, namely their original break up, Ben's devastating rejection of Darlene’s proposal, and his moving on and dating another woman. The implication was that Darlene should have seen this coming and Ben was always forward and consistent in how he felt about her, but that’s not the whole story.
What Jackie’s rapid rundown fails to address is the part that Ben played in Darlene’s breakup with Nick, which occurred because Darlene’s new beau noted that the two still clearly had feelings for each other.
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