Even though Ben and Darlene have provided The Conners with 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.
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, proving she’s not yet over her former partner.
It was an out-of-character moment that betrayed Darlene’s insular, “me against the world” attitude, something made worse by the subplot’s conclusion. Rather than the date interruptions resulting in an explosive confrontation, the duo simply placidly decided to remain friends in The Conners episode’s flat ending. The Conners season 4 already wasted a chance to have Mark’s addiction problem affect Ben and Darlene’s relationship, even though this was exactly the sort of real-life issue that could have snapped the pair out of their self-absorption and led them to work together. As a result, it is even more disappointing to see The Conners season 4 regress further and turn Darlene into a jealous harpy.
During their time together, Darlene grew as a character thanks to Ben’s frankness, going from someone who was secretly seeing another man on the side to a character ready to settle down and get married. However, The Conners season 4 is undoing this newfound stability and making Darlene a less recognizable character as a result. The relatable sourpuss seemed outright unhinged when she ruined the date, and the hopes that The Conners season 4 stoked for Ben and Darlene’s reunion were dashed by the uncomfortable dynamic between the pair. Bringing the couple back together or writing Ben out could help the Roseanne retooling, but whatever The Conners does, season 4 needs to fix Ben and Darlene’s story soon.
