The Conners Kills Off [Spoiler] in Twist
![The Conners 3x16 - [Spoiler] Dies](https://tvline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/the-conners-3x16-becky-jackie-darlene.jpg?w=600&h=400&crop=1)
A sudden loss rocked Darlene’s world on The Conners.
Early into the second of the series’ back-to-back episodes on Wednesday, Darlene discovered that next-door neighbor Molly Tilden (played by Roseanne vet Danielle Harris) died of brain cancer. The shocking death was revealed soon after Darlene reconnected with her teenage rival, who encouraged her to live life to its fullest — something Molly had done ever since she found out she was dying. To wit, she went ahead and purchased two first-class tickets to Hawaii for herself and Darlene.
Asked about the decision to bring Molly back for one episode, just to kill her off, showrunner Bruce Helford tells TVLine, “We were really thinking about what would change Darlene’s life. What would have a major effect on Darlene that would have some true effect on the relationship with Ben heading towards the end of the season? [pmc_inline_gallery]
“Molly back in the day tried to get Darlene to come out of her shell, and took her to her first concert. So we thought that’d be interesting, if they kind of lived the same life, they both got married too young and they just never had their twenties and thirties,” Helford explains. “Molly comes back into her life and they become friends, which is a real twist on what was going on between them [before]. And that something major could happen that would bring Darlene to reevaluate how she’s living her [own] life [was] kind of the genesis of all of it.”
In the end, Darlene and Ben agreed to get a refund for the plane tickets and put the money towards an apartment — but Darlene seemed ever so reluctant when she called the airline to inquire about reimbursement.
Helford confirms that Molly’s death catapults Darlene into a “midlife crisis” as Season 3 draws to a conclusion. “It’s all of a sudden being really aware of [her] mortality, combined with the fact that she actually went out and had a great time and realized she could let herself do that,” Helford says. “She carries the burdens of the world on her [back]. Her personality doesn’t allow for much different than that… It will definitely have an effect on her relationship with Ben.”
Asked to elaborate, Helford would only say that tensions between Darlene and Ben “definitely will come to a head, one way or another,” before season’s end.
![‘Presumed Innocent’ Finale Shocker: Is Jake Gyllenhaal’s Rusty Sabich Guilty or Innocent? The Killer Is Revealed to Be [SPOILER]](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Presumed_Innocent_Photo_010803.jpg?resize=232,175)
Michael Myers finally got her!
Hahahaha after two sequels and a recast
This comment is about 12 years too late.
Michael already killed Danielle on screen in Halloween II (2009)
I pretend that movie doesn’t exist. The first remake was fine but that second got it all wrong
Both remakes was bloody awful. Rob Zombie screwd them up so bad.
Well obviously this leads to a breakup with Ben which is to bad I love his character
That was quite a shocker, yeah. Poor Molly. I was hoping she’d stick around a while longer, I was liking the way she and Darlene were bonding.
.
But yeah, I can totally see where this is going to cause some issues for Darlene and Ben going forward. I very much sympathize with Darlene’s desire to get away, but Ben’s also right about needing the money.
.
On another note, everything with Becky is breaking my heart. I’m glad that the others convinced her to go to rehab-I hope it works out for her. I’d love for Becky to be able to go back to school and get back on her feet and everything.
I really want Darlene and Ben to work through their issues. Staying together and dealing with differences is something I don’t see enough of. I also want to see Becky go back to school and be more successful or at least happier
So apparently, Molly’s dad got married again? Otherwise, I don’t remember a Mrs. Tilden from the Roseanne episodes. And it was a shame they couldn’t bring Mara Hobel back as Molly’s sister Charlotte.
It’s not a big issue IMO. They probably couldn’t get the original dad back and they need someone to tell Darlene that Molly has passed away. It’s been 30 years so not that surprising her dad remarried. The casserole conversation also wouldn’t really work with the dad.
Did they ever say how Charlotte was doing?
This is supposed to be a comedy right? The writers are forgetting the funny. It’s just depressing to watch.
I totally agree. The show was always about a family trying to make ends meet, but there were also plenty of laughs. This reboot is just a total downer. Everything about it is completely depressing at a time when we need things to lift us up. I was actually glad to see the Molly character brought back – only to see them immediately kill her off. I also hate the way that the show focuses more on Darlene than any other character. Suddenly she’s the head of the family – the martyr trying to hold the family together – a far cry from her original character. For that matter, the whole show seems to have lost whatever used to make it work – whether that was Roseanne, or just better writing.
I miss Roseanne! That’s what’s missing!
Agrree !
I agree. The original Roseanne was always able to balance the comedy with the heavy drama (when Roseanne’s dad died, Jackie got beat up, etc) but The Conners are just way too depressing. No one can ever catch a break.
I think it’s the unfortunate result of a power struggle between Sara and Roseanne. This show gets good ratings, but it’s not the same and it’s not for me anymore.
You’re right. It reminds me of Good Times, when it seemed like the family could just never catch a break.
I’m going to be a bit pedantic here: Yes, it’s a comedy, but it’s not a farce. All that’s required for something to be a comedy is a happy ending, while something that’s a farce is designed solely to make you laugh. To clarify, Romeo and Juliet Is one of the world’s great tragedies, but if they had both lived at the end, it would have been a comedy (and if the swords were replaced with rubber chickens it’d be a farce).
Why am I going on about this (got THAT right, I hear you say). Simply to point out that having tragic things happen in the course of an episode of The Connors fits in with the type of show it is: There are laughs, but sad and tragic things can happen. I’m sure it’ll lighten up again in the near future.
Absolutely. We’ve seen enough crap in real life.
Not only that when I was very young watching Molly I remember thinking, wow, the hottest female EVER on that show! Lol. Had a big crush on her. Most of all we have seen enough bad news. The original Roseanne was the trophy trailer park dysfunctional family however the Conners have become a very depressing of disjunction covering every bad luck, down on luck, failures, drug and alcohol addiction, broke up relations ships and do their best to make light of it. Enough is enough. I’m personally not watching anymore. I’m sure that heartless messed up society viewers will keep it alive. And just a note, how can that girl go from The Talk, the ultimate I Am Woman Hear Me Roar show to those scripts she is reading. Too weird.
Thanks for putting a spoiler in the headline.
Yeah that was disappointing for me too because clearly more people watch stuff on streaming networks or own season passes where we have to wait at least one day to see it So of course when I see a headline saying somebody died I read it so I didn’t get the naturally be surprised So yeah I’m a little mad at the site. But it’s their business to do what they want It’s going to make me kind of have to go back to the old days where any time there’s a current show out that I have to wait until I watch the episode before I can go on their website again So they want those less page views You got it dude!
Can’t be objective for this episode. I really enjoy the Conners but this was a bit too much. Lost my father to brain cancer 6 months ago. There was almost nothing left of the man I knew… If they had to kill her off I just wish they used a different disease, even a heart attack. Just this particularly got me and I couldn’t even finish watching…
Oh, I’m so very sorry for your loss.
Did anyone else notice that the writers (apparently) made it official that Jerry, the last Connor child born during the original Roseanne run, does not exist? This is evident by the fact that Darlene makes fun of Ben’s obsession with The Greatful Dead whose lead singer was Jerry Garcia and no mention is made of Jerry Garcia Connor.
In my comment above I spelled Conner incorrectly. I couldn’t figure how to edit it. Thank!
Also Andy Jackie Son they made it like he didnt exist either. That really crazy though!
So they’re admitting they fridged her? She was killed off just to further Darlene’s story.. is it progress when a female character is killed off to further another female characters storyline and not just a males?
Yeah, no, it’s not the same thing. Women being killed to further a woman’s story is not a common and overused cliche, the way women being killed to further a man’s story is. There’s specific issues involved when women are killed to further men’s stories that aren’t there when it’s done for a woman’s story.
Once again, Sara Gilbert showed just how bad an actress she is. Why the producers continue to make her the center piece of this show continues to astound me. They have incredible actors like John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf and underrated talents like Jay Ferguson and Lecy Goranson and they continue to make Gilbert the focus of the story??? Her reaction to the news that her friend “suddenly” died was as if her friend had gotten a 24-hour flu bug. I keep hoping that this show will get better and let the real actors take over but not sure how much longer I can wait.
The producers continue to make Sara Gilbert the center piece of the show because she is an executive producer. So the show will continue to be the focus of this show, unfortunately.
Sorry, I meant she will continue to be the focus of this show.
Omg exactly!!
I’m not sure how you can think Sara is a bad actress (she is), but at the same time think Lecy Goranson is a good actress. Both are terrible, but where Sara underacts, Lecy overacts. I cringe at the horrific scenery-chewing every time she has a scene.
I thought it was a great episode, however the writers really need to fix the continuity issues. The audience is not dumb and the fans hate that they conveniently ignore past cannon. My biggest question from this episode is – how could they trade the plane tickets in for a refund? Molly said she charged them to her x’s credit card. If they got refunded, wouldn’t the money go back on that card? It wouldn’t be a cash refund to Darlene. And agreed with the other poster who asked where did Molly’s Mom come from. I don’t remember them having a Mom on the original Rosanne. I did like the flashback to the original series when Molly & Darlene were young. Gave the relationship between the two context. And where is DJ? His daughter gets more screen time then him. What happened to Dan’s half-brother Ed who was introduced last season? Why even introduce the character if there was no plan on using him? As far as Jerry and Andy, they could be acknowledged even if they aren’t on the show. They already explained Andy was on a boat. Can’t they just have Jerry and his Dad Fred be somewhere else too and only talked about occasionally for continuity’s sake? It’s just lazy writing as far as I’m concerned and kind of insulting to fans to just ignore it. Might be nice to see past main characters Crystal, Leon, and Nancy stop by or be mentioned once in a blue moon too. And if they can’t get Johnny Galecki back as David to see his kids in person, in cases when Mark isn’t in the episode (like last night), couldn’t they say he’s with his Dad, so we know David is still in the Connor’s universe?
I hope the people on the show really read these comments and take them serious because I agree I have watched the original series many times over and the writing is not the same the continuity is not there and it definitely is not balanced correctly between the members the comedy the drama etc. I understand that Kobe might have kind of put a wrench in some of their plans for the show but I hope that for next season as things start to get a little bit more back to normal that they can plan that out differently I mean come on they didn’t even use a zoom joke to bring the grandma to the show at all like how much work would that have really been? I just don’t want to see the show over the place anymore I want to actually see DJ and it would be nice to see the arguments be a little bit more mature. Having been suddenly just be upset and sleeping at the 10 at the store It doesn’t seem very realistic. I mean they could have made up and he could have came back to the house but said it was temporary or something. Issue is is that they want everybody to interact so having everybody live at the same place pretty much makes it work and if they do move out and have their own place will they be able to balance two different households well on the show? I definitely plan to watch for however many years to show remains on I just want them to actually think about storylines and cohesiveness.
You completely mixed up Andy and Jerry.
Jerry was Roseanne and Dan’s kid and he is on the fishing boat.
Andy is the one nobody talks about and he is Jackie and Fred’s kid. Producers said he might be in college if he exists at all. I think it’s safe to assume at this point that he is not.
Also, this is the last show that could possibly talk about continuity. Considering the constant shifting of stuff from them winning the lottery to not happening and it was all just a book except that it wasn’t and the real story was totally different except it wasn’t?
Not to mention Jerry was originally a girl but they decided he wasn’t and heck, David was originally called Kevin.
But leaving that aside, if you want to talk continuity in the reboot, the biggest mess is the money.
First Dan almost loses the house cause he can’t afford his mortage and now Ben says that him working in the store for 6 months will pay everything?
How much money can that store make? It’s insane.
P.S
I’m pretty sure the line about the ex boyfriend credit card thing was a lie. She knew she was dying so she blew up all her savings.
Still doesn’t explain how Darlene would get them into cash
In the original Rose when Molly and Darlene went to a rock concert. Charlotte mentions that her mother died.
If I didn’t know about her appearance, I wouldn’t have recognized her. Always thought she was very pretty, but she had some bad work done. Sorry, but that’s a fact! As far as the episode, I was sad they killed her off. I thought the pairing with Darlene was great. They could have done so much with that friendship and they killed her to make Darlene what more likeable? I always thought when they were younger she was trying to get Darlene’s attention because she was interested in Darlene not David.
Danielle never had any work done on her.
The Conners is good but I have to be honest and say I really miss Roseanne she had something that truly made it funny sentimental and you can relate on all levels I feel the Connors has gotten into a rut with just being the same thing this one’s having this problem that one’s having that problem but when Roseanne was there I just thought she kind of pulled the show together
They could have come to a compromise by turning the tickets in and buying cheap economy tickets. That way they would have leftover money. Molly left her tickets but what about the cost of the hotel, food and entertainment? Darlene couldn’t afford to go and would probably have to return the tickets anyway.
This would be a great way to bring back David!
Lecy Put on a really good performance so I definitely give her credit for portraying her drinking well and her reactions were powerful and I really like how they’re looking at her character in a realistic way and acknowledging her struggles who trying to be a mom and her past and being really busy trying to work and still wanting to go to school and do things for herself. I think that’s why it was hard to have an old character brought back and killed right away because it did kind of give us that remembrance of the happy times so I definitely hope that they’re able to find their way back to a better place
Sara Gilbert looks like Y0k0 0n0. Lol
I couldn’t agree with you More!!! Plus,…her drinking problem mostly stems from being widowed sooo young after getting together with Mark(16&18yrs old-met)(17&19yrs.old-married). I think her late husband Mark passed away only like 10yrs prior to Wednesday night’s back to back shows. I found out in last night’s episodes that Darlene is 44yrs. & Becky is 46yrs,…..I’m just sayin……..36yrs is tragically young to be widowed, having to start over, yada yadda yada. Don’t want to ramble, lol
Well, maybe Molly or the actress is a republican, maybe she made an inappropriate comment that the network didn’t agree with.. like Roseanne Barr it goes to show you that it’s not the Roseanne we knew, laughed at, were mildly offended by and still managed to laugh..I couldn’t get through the first five episodes since. The show has a political agenda now, is beyond repair and no good for anyone other than Gen E.. maybe Roseanne Barr and Donald Trump will do a spin off ;)
Does it make you feel good about yourself to come on here and ramble on like a troglodyte? Time to move on in life. You sound like a fool.
I like “The Conners” very much but I don’t think the Jackie character is being portrayed correctly. The old Jackie was much more positive, upbeat and fun albeit she was younger. Now she’s like an old hag, color her hair and make more fashionable and fun like original Jackie. I miss Roseanne and do not think she should have been terminated. Comedians joke about people to be funny, I think her remarks were taken out of context and not racist.
Of course the show would have been better if Roseanne stayed I mean it was based around her but the ship has long since sailed So bringing it up again is like beating a dead horse like we have to get over it at some point but as far as Jackie goes yes they could flush her out more but for some reason this version of the show really likes to stick to one specific trait for each character and I really wish they would flush them back out again. I mean they are kind of circling back to some of the issues which I understand right of a really solved but it doesn’t mean they can’t revolve multiple characters stories and interweave them a little bit better there just seems to be a lot of stuff that’s dropped or not revisited. They had a great chance to tackle racism with DJ and his daughter and then they just dropped that but I feel like they keep just showing us something seeing people respond to it and if they do they write more for it when it’s dead they should be introducing something and then keep doing something with it because if they keep introducing people and mentioning stuff and then letting it go we kind of makes it feel like the way people really are in this world they’re bothered by something but then they don’t really do much about it so maybe it’s a lot for the show to tackle but for me when I watch a story and they introduce certain people or story lines I expect them to do something with it and not like two or three years later so I hope that they up their game for the next season because I think they’re starting to head back in the right direction so long as they don’t break up Darlene and Ben if they do that I’m going to be probably the most mad I’ve been at the show
I love the show, but it’s so depressing and heavy, it’s just not as fun to watch.
I noticed the second episode was directed by Katy Sagal’s sister (former Doublemint twin).
The show has become the worst sitcom on television, killing Roseanne was despicable, and turned it into a left wing commie show that holds no moral values of America at all
When did jackie have a kid? I don’t remember her being pregnant. Who was Fred and what happened to him? Why would Jackie never talk about her kid? I wish they featured Jackie more. She’s the funniest of them all. Why focus on Darlene when even she admits that she’s boring and not fun to be around?
After Roseanne no one really cared. Oh well. Her remarks did it all.
The Connors is really a great show. I love how they rebounded after Roseanne got canned. Lecy Goranson’s arc is really fantastic.
Why do all of the characters have the latest iPhone when they are too poor to buy food and pay their mortgage?