The Conners Review: Peter Pan, the Backup Plan, Adventures in Babysitting, and a River Runs Through It (Season 4 Episode 5)

If there is one thing that The Conners is good at it’s putting on the Halloween scares. Unfortunately, The Conners Season 4 Episode 5, “Peter Pan, the Backup Plan, Adventures in Babysitting, and a River Runs Through It,” much like the title, is a mess of disconnected storylines with not a Halloween scare in sight.

It’s always disappointing to realize that the TV sitcom family who have redefined Halloween episodes over the past few decades barely even acknowledge the momentous holiday. If not for a mention of candy and a Tinker Bell costume, the episode could be happening at any time of year. 

Not only is there no Halloween to this billed “Halloween episode,” but there isn’t much purpose to it either. Every single one of the characters go around living their lives without making any headway toward their issues. Which would be fine if this episode had solely focused on the holiday, but it didn’t.

The worst offender of this ho-hum storytelling is Darlene. I understand that she is on her own journey toward enlightenment and acceptance, but can’t we pick up the pace a little? What is the point of her trying all these different schools of thought if she’s not actually giving any of them much effort?

For something that takes up most of the episode, Darlene’s journey with Daoism sure is boring. She’s not even really trying so the purpose of spending so much time and effort on this really goes over our heads.

Instead of really trying her hand at letting things go — like with Harris for example, Darlene is actively trying to see how she can manipulate a school of thought to fit her current status quo. That is not the point of growth. And, Darlene needs to be moving forward not staying firmly in one place.

If not, then why do we even care about her spiritual journey? When this started, it seemed as though she was going to actually put forth some effort — so much for that. 

Harris is almost 20 years old and yet Darlene continues to treat her as though she is a 15 year old dating a much older man. I’d actually love to see Harris pursue this relationship and possibly fail at it, turning to her mother for comfort and validation. 

Instead, we are treated to Darlene continuing her streak of not liking anyone Harris dates, which is getting old very fast. It’s like the show doesn’t really know what it wants for Darlene from one episode to the next.

The last few episodes have been great in terms of character development and forward progression. Then we have “Peter Pan, the Backup Plan, Adventures in Babysitting, and a River Runs Through It,” which takes her back so many steps from where she’s been working toward.

Then there is Becky and Emilio, who can’t seem to figure out who they want to be toward each other. Spoiler alert, neither can we. 

We don’t get to see Emilio very often and so it’s nice when he does grace us with his presence. Him announcing a new girlfriend should be defining moment for his relationship with Becky.

Instead, Becky suddenly acts like she is in love with him, which she’s very hot and cold about, making things weird. Becky needs to work on being alone and not making things awkward with Emilio before she can try to lay claim on any kind of relationship. 

These two could really work well as a family, but not until Becky has been sober long enough to know who she is alone rather than with someone. I want to see them come back together because they are cute and have good chemistry, but not before Becky puts in the work. 

As for what the purpose of Harris babysitting Aldo’s kids is for the episode as a whole your guess is as good as mine. I don’t think it was necessary to catalyst Darlene into a mission against the relationship, she was already there at her dad’s wedding. 

That moment at the end with Dan trying to scare Melvin and Marvin (what name choices those are) is probably the only great moment of the whole episode. If only this Halloween could have had a bunch more of that and less of Darlene’s stubbornness — we all deserved a break.

What did you think of this episode of The Conners? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Conners airs Mondays at 9/8c on ABC.

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