With the rising star status of Roseanne from acclaimed female comedian to basic household name, Roseanne completely changed in season five from a light hearted show about a poor family trying to get by, to a darker but still very funny series revolving around family dysfunction, the pain family can inflict on us, and the struggles of women more than anything. Men became more evil and oafish as the series continued in to season five, and the lovable but hard working Dan Conner turned in to the lovable and somewhat moronic Dan Conner who still had good intentions. The shift is gradual but noticeable. And most of the season’s storylines revolve around the pain men can inflict, and how weak women can be around men they love.
The episode “Pretty in Black” is where you can feel the tide change drastically. In the beginning of season five Dan loses his beloved bike shop and has to shut it down while Roseanne still finds herself looking for a job. To add to the stress, the obnoxious and selfish Becky worries only about her relationship with Mark and elopes with him, running away to live with him in Minneapolis. This marked the exit of actress Lecy Goranson as big sister Becky. From there the series attempts to adjust itself with a formal exit of the character Becky and actress Goranson with a final goodbye, and then one of my favorite episodes entitled “The Dark Ages” where the Conners find themselves literally without power and must figure out how to pay the bill.
The episode basically ends with Dan accepting Becky has left and “Mommy Nearest” where the great Estelle Parsons appears as Bev Harris, the overbearing grandmother of the Conners, who ushers in the season five storyline of Roseanne and Jackie opening up their own business that would be the framework for many of the series storylines, for better and for worse. “Pretty in Black” is where the series begins to take a turn as now with Becky gone, Sara Gilbert’s character Darlene becomes primary focus among the children and the inclusion of her boyfriend David as played by Johnny Galecki, and new bad girl neighbor Molly (cult icon Danielle Fisher) make up many of the episodes to fill in the gap and provide friction and conflict for Darlene. David of course becomes a more prominent character and Molly is a much less interesting, complex, likable replacement for Becky.
From there on in the season is filled with hit or miss episodes, most of which are hit. The Halloween special episode is pretty dull, while most episodes revolved around the building of Jackie and Roseanne’s restaurant provide some fun and raucous episodes including Roseanne’s confrontation with a violent customer on opening night of the restaurant, Roseanne’s struggle with her dad’s death, and Roseanne’s love hate relationship with her long lost cousin. Mostly though the show takes a very dark turn focusing on dysfunction and how the past has damaged the main characters of the series. Up until now Dan, Roseanne, and Jackie were mainly just mal-adjusted people with long pasts between them, and as actress Roseanne learns about her abusive life behind the scenes, the show follows suit. After learning Jackie and Roseanne’s eccentric father was abusive and their mom an enabler in season four, we discover more about his apparent affair during his funeral, while Jackie is involved in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend Fisher.
Supporting character David also becomes a regular on the show moving in the Conners when he refuses to move away with his abusive alcoholic mother, and that becomes the general theme for many of the later seasons. Evil men! Weak women! Overall, season five is mostly worthy of a watch for the sharp hilarious writing and usually excellent performances, but it’s not as flawless or innocent as earlier seasons. There’s surely not an episode as stand alone and goofy as the Tax episode to be found in this season. One of the bigger flaws of the season is Tim Curry and Danielle Fisher, both of whom are introduced to the show while their characters as well as their sub-plots go absolutely nowhere resulting in awkward write offs. And for some reason Tom Arnold returns for one episode as annoying side character Arnie. Season Five is still worth the purchase for fans of the series, in spite of the flaws.