The Conners Season 6 Made Darlene & David’s Roseanne Relationship Far Darker Than Initially Thought

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for The Conners season 6, episode 6.

While The Conners always implied that times were hard for Darlene and David, the Roseanne spinoff waited until season 6, episode 6 to fully reveal their struggle. Darlene and David had a hard time making their relationship work throughout Roseanne’s original run, and the revival proved that all their efforts came to nothing. Although The Conners season 7 could technically bring back David, Darlene and her original love interest broke up long before Roseanne became The Conners in 2018. The duo tried to rekindle their romance but, instead of finding happiness, they only ruined other romantic relationships in the process.

While the entire cast of characters in The Conners have faced some serious struggles, Darlene and David’s situation was particularly tough. David’s abusive mother made his home life hellish and Darlene’s ambitions to leave Lanford were hampered by the birth of their first child, Harris. By the time The Conners began, it was clear that David and Darlene would never be able to make their relationship work. Roseanne’s spinoff never revealed how hard their time together was, perhaps because the many tragedies of The Conners meant a sad backstory would have been overkill for the sitcom’s tone.

The Conners Season 6 Episode 6 Acknowledged Darlene and David’s Poverty

Darlene revealed that she and David struggled to raise Mark and Harris

In season 6, episode 6, “Hanging in Dorms with Boys and The Secret Life of Men,” Darlene openly admitted that she and David lived in “abject poverty” when Harris and Mark were born. It was always implied that the pair struggled to make ends meet, but this confirmation still came as a bleak surprise. David and Darlene both worked to support their children but remained poor, and their dire financial straits undoubtedly contributed to the eventual breakdown of their relationship. While this possibility was never denied by Roseanne’s revival, it was the first time Darlene referred to their living situation in such a manner.

In earlier seasons of The Conners, jokes about David not making enough money to support his children seemed to be rooted in his unreliable nature. When Darlene berated her ex, it seemed like an extension of their dynamic throughout Roseanne’s original run. However, much like Dan and Neville’s The Conners feud proved that the family still struggles with money even in times of relative stability, Darlene’s comment shows that her fights with David weren’t motivated solely by a desire to move out of Lanford. Instead, the episode revealed Darlene and David were struggling to feed their small children.

The Conners Avoided David and Darlene’s Circumstances For Years

Roseanne’s spinoff focused on their messy personal drama in earlier seasons

Darlene and David’s dynamic was unhealthy in both Roseanne’s original run and the show’s revival, with the sardonic Darlene often pushing David thanks to his timid demeanor. For years, it was implied that this is what drove the pair apart in the end, something that David all but announced when he said that Darlene didn’t think he was good enough during a couple’s therapy session. However, money struggles were always central to Roseanne‘s story since the show was a relatively grounded look at working-class family life in America. As such, Darleen’s revelation does make sense of the couple’s post-Roseanne lifestyle.

The idea that Darlene was pushing David because the pair needed to provide for their children is much more sympathetic than her simply challenging him for its own sake. Darlene and David’s financial hardships killed their relationship, allowing the pair to raise their children at the expense of their own romantic connection. Darlene unfairly got the blame for their downfall in earlier seasons of The Conners, but it was their lack of income and support as young parents that doomed their attempt to make things work. This makes their breakup all the more tragic since they weren’t really at fault.

Darlene’s Revelations Fit With The Conners and Roseanne Canon

Both shows depicted their working-class heroes struggling to make ends meet

Even though these events took place offscreen between the original show and its spinoff, Darleen’s comments fit with the grounded tone of both shows. From Darlene’s son Mark struggling to afford a dorm room on campus to Dan using Neville’s loan to pay for his stepmother’s medication, the Conner family has been plagued by believable financial hardship throughout Roseanne and The Conners. As such, it wasn’t jarring when Darlene mentioned this period of “abject poverty,” even though it was a sobering reminder of the family’s struggles compared to her sillier fights with David. These usually concerned trivial personal differences.

David and Darlene’s inability to see eye to eye wasn’t outright hilarious, but it was usually a case of Darlene haranguing her partner before he finally stood up for himself. Darlene and David’s dynamic wasn’t different from many sitcom couples, so this revelation that they struggled with serious hardship during the early years of parenthood was poignant. Since a teenage Darlene became a vegetarian in Roseanne, the heroine has always been determined to forge her own path in life. Finding out that she and David couldn’t do so together because of money was bleak, but in keeping with the show’s universe.

Darlene’s Roseanne Backstory Proves David Can’t Return To The Conners

The spinoff can’t bring back David after this brutal bombshell

While David could have returned to The Conners season 6 before this episode, this twist would now be too bleak. Since viewers know just how much Darlene and David couldn’t handle the responsibilities of parenthood, seeing the pair bitterly squabble over ancient feuds would be heartbreaking. What might have been a nostalgic cameo would inevitably be colored by the reality of their breakup as, until now, the audience wasn’t privy to just how hard their circumstances became. Mark calling Ben his real father in the season 5 finale made David’s return unlikely, but this outing reaffirmed his absence in coming episodes.

As a result, it would be better if The Conners season 6 didn’t bring back David. Already, the show surprised longtime viewers with the return of Dan’s stepmother Crystal, who was revealed to be seriously ill in the preceding episode. David’s comeback would only compound the sadness of Crystal’s storyline by reminding viewers of another Roseanne fan favorite whose offscreen life turned out much worse than viewers might have anticipated. Since The Conners proved just how hard David and Darlene’s breakup was, the Roseanne spinoff can now retire Darlene’s original love interest for good after this disquieting revelation.