Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for The Conners season 6, episode 9.

Summary

• Harris's work woes spark Jackie's comedic life coach past in The Conners Season 6, bringing back a great forgotten storyline.
• The show tackled serious themes when Becky explained Mark's death, and even Jackie's life coach subplot shows character growth.
• Jackie's vision board displays maturity in relationships, mirroring Becky's character development in The Conners season 6.

While The Conners season 6 doesn’t always rely on Roseanne's history, the sitcom spinoff brought back one of Jackie’s funniest forgotten storylines in episode 9. Since The Conners has a large cast of characters, the show rarely has time to dwell on its past. Occasionally, the family will reference events that occurred in Roseanne’s original run or its revival, but most of the time they are too preoccupied with their lives to reminisce. Although The Conners season 7 might be more nostalgic, season 6 of the series has ensured that the lives of its heroes are too busy and eventful.

Despite this, The Conners does lean into the show’s long history on occasion. One of the most moving moments in season 6 saw Becky explain the death of her Roseanne interest, Mark Healy, to her daughter Beverly-Rose. This was the first time The Conners addressed this real-life Roseanne tragedy, and the scene was all the more poignant because it had been years since the series mentioned Mark. In a similar vein but on a lighter note, a later season 6 outing reminded viewers of Jackie's wackiest job. Over the years, the Roseanne heroine worked in all manner of unlikely occupations.

The Conners Season 6 Episode 9 Brings Back Jackie’s Life Coach Job

Harris’s Work Problems Revived Jackie’s Funniest Occupation

Roseanne’s sister was a trucker, a theater clerk, a waitress, and a cop, but Jackie’s funniest job was her short-lived tenure as Lanford's most unlikely life coach. Since Jackie’s life was a mess for decades, it was ironic and hilarious to see her doling out terrible advice to her few customers. She even penned a few self-help books in this era, as she reminded viewers in season 6, episode 9, “Manifesting, Marriage Testing, and Cheeseballs.” The outing saw The Conners fix one of the Roseanne revival’s worst jokes by revealing that Harris wasn’t lazy but suffering with undiagnosed ADHD.

Before Darlene’s daughter found out why she struggled to focus on her ambitions, Jackie and Becky attempted to use their divergent professional experiences to help her out. This proved disastrous as Jackie relied on corny life coach techniques and Becky, an inexperienced Psychology student, dredged up all of Harris’s traumas and couldn’t help her deal in the aftermath. However, while her attempts to help Harris were laughably bad, Jackie’s life coaching subplot did illustrate a surprising amount of growth for the Roseanne character. Despite her messiness, Jackie proved that she had gotten her life together since this earlier ill-fated career.

The Conners Season 6 Uses Jackie’s Forgotten Story Perfectly

Jackie’s Vision Board Displayed Her Character Growth

Jackie couldn’t help Harris, but her vision board from a few years earlier showed that she had gone from obsessing over a TV weatherman to having a happy marriage. Much like Jackie and Dan’s The Conners season 6 relationship displayed that Roseanne’s sister had grown more mature and stable episodes earlier, this subplot acted as evidence that Jackie’s life coaching techniques really did work for her. Meanwhile, her coaching prompted Becky to jealously psycho analyze Harris, bringing back her character’s largely forgotten college course. Thus, The Conners reviving this largely forgotten Roseanne subplot ended up being good for all three heroines.