*I am aware that technically speaking, there is Roseanne, and there is The Conners. For the purpose of this post, I will refer to The Conners as a continuation of the original series.

Background:

I’ve learned over the years that you love the show or you don’t. There doesn’t appear to be an in-between. I grew up watching Roseanne. It was one of my favorites until around Season 8. The comedic relief was something I could relate to as a blue collar family in a small town. I remember there being a rumor that it was filmed in a nearby city. That was obviously false, but it was fun to think about since Lanford was supposed to be a fictional town in Illinois.

I consider myself a purist. I liked the original show and rolled my eyes when it was announced that a modern version was coming back to primetime. I actually refused to watch it because it sounded about as lame as all the other TV shows and movies from my youth that all the sudden were being revamped. The first episode of Season 10 did not impress me. Despite the fact that the original sitcom portrayed open-minded views for its time, the situations presented here felt forced.

I don’t want to get into all the details, but I think everyone is aware why Roseanne’s character was killed off. I agree that Barr’s comments were wrong and ultimately damaging to the show’s future success. It was unclear at the end of Season 10 if the Conner family was gone for good or not. Seeing potential, producers decided to move forward with Lanford’s favorite family by releasing The Conners. The majority of the original cast stayed on even if for sporadic small parts.

Before I get into my review of the final episode, I want to mention the small details that didn’t mesh with the original series. If you too were a Roseanne fan, you know what a disappointment the last episode of the first sitcom was. It was clear they were running out of material, but ending the series out with the last few seasons being a manuscript written by Roseanne Conner was lame. And this is were things get tricky. By backtracking and saying that years of material only happened in Roseanne’s imagination left viewers confused by what actually transpired on the show.

Contradictions:

I had to refer back to the episode to make sure I got the facts right. In Season 9, episode 24, Roseanne explains what details were fictional for her book. She announces Jackie is gay- not Bev, Darlene and Mark were a couple, and Dan died from a heart attack. These revelations make it difficult to pinpoint when Roseanne’s new narrative began. However, when the second run of Roseanne came back, Dan was very much alive, Darlene married David, while Becky had a romantic relationship with Mark. There was not a clear cut answer if Jackie identified as gay at some point, but she ultimately ended up marrying a man later in the show. There are other references throughout The Conners series that don’t match up, even with Roseanne’s declaration at the end of Season 9. As someone who continued to watch Roseanne reruns well into the 2000s, this did not sit well with me.

The final episode:

Attention: spoilers ahead.

The Truck Stops Here aired on April 23rd on ABC. The episode centers on Dan Conner’s legal battle against the pharmaceutical company responsible for Roseanne’s opioid overdose. Despite delivering an impassioned deposition condemning the company’s negligence, Dan receives a meager settlement. Becky calls out Ben for being emotionally absent in his marriage to Darlene, which sparks a tense exchange between Darlene and Ben about her new friendship. In my view, this storyline felt rushed and underdeveloped. In a real-life relationship, working through issues like these would require significantly more time, communication, and emotional effort.

Becky secures a stable, well-regarded job and, after some initial doubts, decides to combine her finances with Tyler’s. Jackie applies to the Lanford Police Department and officially becomes an officer again, reclaiming a sense of purpose. Louise faces a difficult truth as she comes to terms with possibly never being the great love of Dan’s life. The episode culminates with the family gathering at Roseanne’s grave to open the $700 settlement check, with each member taking a moment to update her on where their lives have gone. I felt like this scene was lacking the emotion you would expect from an entire episode devoted to vindicating Roseanne’s opioid addiction.

The episode closes with the family gathered in the Conner living room, sharing heartfelt goodbyes. Dan delivers the final moment, turning to the audience with a tearful farewell — a powerful gesture that felt deeply genuine, reflecting the real emotions of actors who spent years living as these characters. While I found the finale, like much of the series, fairly underwhelming in terms of plot, I truly appreciated the final scene. There was no dramatic twist or attempt to neatly tie up every storyline — just a raw, honest farewell that captured the emotional weight of saying goodbye.

As The Conners concludes, it marks the end of a long-running series that captured the ups and downs of a working-class family. Whether you’ve been following the show from the start or caught it later on, it’s clear that the show stayed true to its roots, focusing on real-life struggles with a mix of humor and honesty. The finale didn’t tie everything up with a neat bow, but it gave us a simple, fitting farewell to the characters we’ve watched for so long. Let me know your thoughts on the finale in the comments.