The Conners Season 5 Episode 7 Review: Take This Job and Shove It Twice

There are career changes abound on The Conners Season 5 Episode 7, “Take This Job and Shove It Twice.” Which isn’t as frequent of an occurrence as you would think with this family of hard workers just barely getting by. 

Probably the most shocking of the evening is Darlene’s choice, but the more we sit and think about it the more it actually makes sense. 

Darlene Promoted, Then Demoted

Darlene might be the best character on The Conners, at least by my account, however, she isn’t the kind of character who does well talking to others. This is why it’s kind of shocking that anyone at Wellman’s would give her a position called VP of Public Relations. 

Oddly enough, Ben is the only one who doesn’t question it and spends the whole episode encouraging her to just go with it. The only other family member who comes close to that level of acceptance is Jackie — who tells her to take it like a man and scandal her way to the top.

While promotion is exciting for anyone, I am glad the writers make this a moment of clarity and discourse amongst the family. If the whole family blindly accepts this as a good thing it isn’t as believable.

It’s also great to see Darlene standing up for what is right and good in the world. At first, it seems as though her quitting her job is some big thing, but diving deeper we realize it’s exactly the sort of thing Darlene is known for.

If she hadn’t turned down her job to be the corporate puppet I don’t think I’d be giving this episode as positive a review as I am. Darlene never answers to anyone — it’s something she inherited from her mother and I’m most proud of that.

Season 5 has definitely been giving us some wonderful moments which remind us that while she is gone, Roseanne is never far from any of their hearts.

Jackie and the Sister-In-Law

It’s interesting to see the shoe be on the other foot with Jackie. The whole time we have known this character she has always been that incessantly annoying sister-in-law to Dan. 

Now, she gets a taste of her own medicine when she agrees to give Louise a chance at The Lunch Box. Honestly, Louise and Jackie are two sides of the same coin. 

They both have big ideas that don’t always pan out the way they imagine them and they both want to feel like they are in charge. This is very apparent during “Take This Job and Shove It Twice” because Louise is used to being a manager and Jackie doesn’t want to give her the satisfaction of that title in her new job.

The biggest moment comes when Jackie finally loses her cool and calls Louise by her late sister’s name. It’s a shock to the system for everyone and actually jump-starts the communication between the two warring sisters.

While I can see both sides of this situation, I do think Louise could do with stepping back a bit. However, I think their compromise of Louise letting Jackie feel like she comes up with all the big ideas works too. 

It’ll be interesting to see if they continue to get along as the season progresses. With The Conners you never can tell — and that’s what makes this show so fun.

Stray Thoughts:

• We love a Robin sighting. I absolutely adore Alexandra Billings.
• Becky psychoanalyzing people’s food orders is hilarious.
• We love to see Dan and Ben being all chummy.

 

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

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The Conners airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on ABC.

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William H. Macy to Guest Star on ‘The Conners’ Season 5