The Conners Season 6’s Ben Twist Completely Changes Roseanne's Family & Sets Up Season 7's Ending

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for The Conners season 6, episode 11.

Summary The Conners season 6 sets up a potential conclusion with its focus on financial stability for blue-collar family heroes.

Ben's insurance payout may finally make the Conner family financially stable, setting up a happier season 7.

The Conners can provide a satisfying ending Roseanne failed to deliver, with a believable and uplifting storyline.

Now that The Conners season 7 will officially end the long-running family sitcom, it makes sense that season 6 of the Roseanne spinoff is setting up a potential conclusion. Roseanne always focused on the working-class status of its heroes, and The Conners is no different. The Conners has a large cast of characters, but all of the protagonists are blue-collar workers who struggle financially. This is a big part of what made both Roseanne and The Conners so relatable since the main characters faced issues that few other sitcoms addressed, like unemployment, poverty, and workplace pay disputes.

However, the news that The Conners season 7 will be the show’s final outing brings with it an expectation of a conclusion. Since The Conners is a lighthearted comedy at the end of the day, it is fair to anticipate that the heroes will get a relatively happy ending. For the Conner clan, more than any other sitcom brood, this would mean a level of financial stability that they have never enjoyed since Roseanne began in 1989. Now, The Conners season 6’s Ben story looks set to make this seemingly impossible dream come true.

The Conners Season 6 Episode 11 Sees Ben Come Into A Lot Of Money

The Conners Family Finally Looks Set To Become Financially Stable

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Season 6, episode 11, “Fire and Vice,” began with a disaster. Darlene's son Mark arrived home to tell the family that the hardware store that had been in Ben’s family for years was ablaze, and, by the time the family made it to the scene, there was nothing left but rubble and dust. This seemed like the latest in a string of hardships to face the eponymous family but, in a shocking twist, Ben’s insurance company paid out on the store’s lucrative insurance policy. Ben came into a lot of money via this insurance claim and this changed the family’s finances overnight.

The payout means the show’s central working-class family may finally become financially stable for the first time.

While The Conners heroine Darlene was asking her father to cover more shifts in the store only two episodes ago, she and Ben were suddenly in a position to buy Hardware, the magazine for whom Ben wrote a regular column. Dan spent numerous episodes in season 6 working himself to exhaustion so he could save up and pay off his mortgage, but Ben’s insurance payout meant that he could pay off the remainder in one fell swoop. In broader terms, the payout means the show’s central working-class family may finally become financially stable for the first time.

The Conners Season 6 Episode 11 Sets Up A Happier Season 7

Roseanne’s Spinoff Will End With A Shorter Final Season

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According to Deadline, The Conners season 7 will have only 6 episodes. As such, it would make sense for the season to already be setting up a happy ending, which could explain the timing of this fire. Ever since Roseanne’s 2017 revival retconned season 9 of the series, the show’s heroes have struggled with money even more than their counterparts in Roseanne’s original run. The Conners can finally grant its main characters a more sustainable lifestyle in season 7, thus giving the show a lighter and more hopeful tone as the series wraps up its story for good.

It is worth noting that Roseanne did attempt this once before, but the storyline was a disaster. The Conners won the lottery in Roseanne season 9, setting in motion an absurdly cartoonish string of episodes where Roseanne saved the First Lady from terrorists, met the stars of Absolutely Fabulous, and broke up with Dan over his cheating. This plot was so far-fetched and outlandish that the season 9 finale needed to retcon the lottery win just to salvage the series, but the last episode ended up making things worse by pivoting too far in the opposite direction.

The Conners Can Pull Off The Ending Roseanne Failed To Provide

Roseanne’s Infamously Bleak Finale Was A Mistake

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Roseanne’s finale revealed that not only had the family never won the lottery, but Dan had died of a heart attack at the beginning of the final season. Roseanne season 9’s lottery win was retconned because it didn’t fit the grounded tone of the series, but Dan’s death turned the show’s realism into straight-up defeatism. Whether it was The Conners heroine Jackie working as a life coach, or Mark learning the contraabassoon in a doomed attempt to gain a scholarship, the Conner family has never given up hope when it comes to changing their circumstances.

Roseanne season 9’s finale profoundly betrayed their irrepressible ambition with a brutally cruel twist, so it was no surprise when the show’s 2017 revival immediately retconned Dan’s death in its opening scene. In contrast, The Conners season 6 setting up the family’s newfound financial comfort ten episodes before the show ends makes this development feel believable. Roseanne season 9 simply dumped millions in the family’s lap via a lottery win, whereas The Conners season 7 can now gradually improve their prospects in a way that feels earned, if still uplfiting.

Episode # Title Release Date 1 The Publisher Cops Show Pilot February 7, 2024 2 Valentine's Day Treats and Credit Card Cheats February 14, 2024 3 Moms and Rats February 21, 2024 4 Shrinks Don't Talk and Kids Don't Sing February 28, 2024 5 When Sisters Collide and The Return of the Grifters March 13, 2024 6 "Hanging in Dorms with Boys and The Secret Life of Men" March 20, 2024 7 "Smash and Grab and Happy Death Day" April 10, 2024 8 "Toilet Hacks and The Management Track" April 17, 2024 9 "Manifesting, Marriage Testing and Cheeseballs" April 24, 2024 10 "Campaign U-Turn and a Hard Write" May 1, 2024 11 "Fire and Vice" May 8, 2024 12 "Flying, Applying and Rassling Gators" May 15, 2024 13 TBA TBA