(Spoiler alert: Please don’t read on if you haven’t watched Tuesday’s finale of “Roseanne.”)
The first season of ABC’s “Roseanne” revival came to an end on Tuesday with the Conner family on the brink of financial ruin… only to be saved at the last minute by a tweet from Donald Trump.
Tuesday’s season finale tied together Dan’s storyline about losing out on jobs because of undocumented workers and last week’s revelation that Roseanne had turned to opioid abuse as a replacement for the knee surgery they can’t afford. Dan tells his wife that in order for his business to pick up so they could pay for the operation, he had no choice but to lower his prices. “Don’t tell me you’re going to hire illegals,” Roseanne responds, horrified.
She also reminds Dan that hiring “those other guys” comes at the expense of Dan’s subcontractor and best friend of 30 years, Chuck (James Pickens Jr. of “Grey’s Anatomy” ).
To make matters worse, the Conners find themselves literally underwater when a rainstorm floods the basement, which Dan says will surely cause costly damage to their home’s foundation.
Aside from one quip (“After 40 years we finally got a pool”), the situation is played entirely straight, with Dan forced to confront Chuck while standing in ankle-deep water trying to salvage his family’s belongings.
“I spent my whole life hanging on by my fingertips, telling everybody not to worry, that I was going to make it OK. Because that’s my job,” Dan says. “Well, now I can’t promise that anymore. So yeah, it makes me sick. But I’m going to do whatever I have to do to take care of my family because I’m old, I’m tired, and I’m not sure how much longer I can hold on.”
“I always told you, if I’m eating, you’re eating,” he says to Chuck, reminding him that he has a growing family to provide for with Darlene and her kids back home. “I’m not eating.”
However, the Conners get a stroke of good luck just before the end of the episode, when all of their problems are solved by a tweet from Donald Trump.
The president has declared a state of emergency because of the storm, and the resulting FEMA payment will be enough to cover the basement repairs and the deductible for Roseanne’s knee surgery.
“The president spelled ‘Illinois’ wrong in his tweet, but it still counts, right?” Darlene asks.
Elsewhere in the episode, Roseanne and Jackie discover that a creepy doll from their childhood isn’t worth as much as their mother (and the internet) had them believe; DJ gets to practice his magic tricks one more time; and Darlene gets a lesson in how to flirt her way to higher tips from Becky, inspiring her to finally start writing again.
“Roseanne” is set to return for an 11th season in the fall.