“The Conners” sisters have a week they’d rather forget on the episode that airs Wednesday night, with Darlene’s attempt to spice up her and Ben’s sex life not going so well — badly, in fact — and Becky’s parenting misdeeds are questioned after Louise accidentally sends a rude message in the family text thread. And there is no bigger button to push than suggesting Becky is an incompetent mother.
“Becky is always doubting herself whether she’s spending enough time with Beverly Rose, whether she’s being a good mom,” Lecy Goranson tells TheWrap. “It’s a great point of insecurity for her. And I think part of her knows that she isn’t completely present because she’s [going to school and working], but I think she, in her mind, she’s doing all these things for her daughter. It’s just in the meanwhile, she feels like it’s not enough. I’m not a mother myself, but I think that that’s a pretty normal feeling.”
This marks the first Easter that Becky’s daughter, Beverly Rose, is not with her father and she wants to make it extra special. “I want her to go back and brag about how much fun she had so his new wife can choke on it,” Becky says. She admits that she shared a ton of pictures of Beverly Rose with the Easter Bunny on the family text thread, which Louise has pretty much had enough of.
Louise quickly types something on her phone, only for Darlene to point out that, uh oh, Louise sent a text to the wrong thread. The message left on the Conner Family thread was how Becky was blowing up her phone with pictures of Beverly Rose: “How about spending more time with your kid instead of posting 1000 pictures to make it look like you’re a good parent?”
There’s never been any kind of friction between Becky and Louise, and Goranson believes Becky really likes her. “They worked together at Casita Bonita, but it’s different when your dad’s married to her, you know? It’s a different relationship. And I think she really admires her. But I think the timing of [the texts] was really painful for her because [Becky] was kind of on the upswing as a mother. She felt like she was being this great mom. And then that’s when this text happened and it just kind of went right to her Achilles heel.”
The economically struggling plight of the Conners – both now and the incarnation of the family during the “Roseanne” years – is what has made them relatable. And Becky, well, her evolution from rebellious, alcoholic teen (and adult) to mom going back to school and trying to get on the straight and narrow.
“Being relatable is definitely as important if not more than the comedy, you know? That’s why people watch, right?” Goranson asked. “It’s understandable, her fear of getting off track. Some of the shame involved in some of her past in her alcoholism, I think is still with her. I think these are things that are really hard to shake. So I don’t think it takes much, for her because she’s already living in this state of fear and anxiety that she’s going to go off path or she’s not going to be present. But I think that her intentions are really good and she really loves her daughter.”
Watch the exclusive clip above for tonight’s episode of “The Conners,” which airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. and on Hulu the day following their premieres.
