This is "Roseanne" on drugs: "Netflix & Pill" is a prime example of the revival's mistakes
Given how the series handles other tough issues, its lack of depth on opioid crisis is not new. Few things would make me happier than if I were able to share definitely positive analysis about ABC's "Roseanne." Believe me.
If we were simply served a revival of the "Roseanne" of yesteryear, a series that treated all of its subjects with true dignity and grappled with political and social topics deftly, and with a measure of pensiveness, I would have simple sung a few hosannas in its general direction and moved on to greener fields.
But with the debut of each new "Roseanne" episode, the flaws in the sitcoms central narrative grow simpler to verbalize.
Tuesday's episode, "Netflix & Pill," finally brings the season's overarching problem into the spotlight, finally explains why a character and a series that used to speak to the broadest swath of America instead contents itself with screaming at the choir and turning its back on so many folks lining the pews.
In that episode, we find out that this entire time Roseanne Conner (Roseanne Barr) has been struggling with a prescription pill addiction, a secret that slurs its way out during the Conners' relatively modest 45th wedding anniversary celebration.
At first Roseanne just seems overly amorous, playing spin the bottle with Dan (John Goodman), noshing on honey baked ham and laughing a little too hard and long at his inebriated jokes.
Then she starts biting his leg and barking at him before letting it slip that she's hidden pain pills around the house.
This would be a convenient point, I suppose, to attribute Roseanne Conner's personality change to her being in a perpetually altered state. Anyone who knows an addict has had a few of those "that explains it!" moments.
But the truth of it is the changes in Roseanne Conner circa 2018 have far less to do with her painkiller fix than the political and social paradigm shifts and general lunacy of Roseanne Barr herself.
But pill-popping isn't an adequate explanation of why new "Roseanne" feels less kindly than old "Roseanne. " It's just a symptom of it.
A more significant problem begging for amelioration in the comedy's second season is an inability to follow through on the myriad tensions presented this season.
Only in the penultimate half-hour of Season 1 does a person realize that "Roseanne" isn't simply a revival, it's a throwback to the topical one (or two)-and-done episodes, resolved quickly and via facile execution.
Granted, it wouldn't be fair of me to refrain from acknowledging that executive producer and showrunner Bruce Helford only has nine episodes to play with this season.
That said, Helford is a seasoned executive producer surrounded by other veterans, including fellow executive producers and writer Whitney Cummings. One would think they would know better than attempting to take on so many political talking points within a single pass.
So in its simplistic efforts to make the Conners the every-family of the American working class, the writers selected a limited array of screeching hot-button topics — the Muslims next door! Gender fluidity! Surrogacy! Political tribalism! — and dispense with them, swiftly and sanitarily, within the space of one or two 30 minute slots, glossing over other issues that are equally at the forefront of our national conversation.
We still barely know you, and the season is nearly done.). The end product is that this entire season has amounted to one Very Special Episode after another.
That said, at least "Netflix & Pill" doesn't drop the opioid crisis into the Conners' house out of a blameless blue sky.
Wisely Season 1 steadily builds to its grand reveal, camouflaging Roseanne's substance abuse in a larger subplot about the Conners' lack of access to affordable healthcare.
Starting with the season premiere Roseanne and Dan (John Goodman) vacillate between good-naturedly swapping prescription medications to dealing with Roseanne's worsening knee pain.
Never do we forget about her debilitating pain; indeed, the couple's growing list of ailments and shrunken coverage under the government's subsidized health care problem is as frequent a house guest as Jackie (Laurie Metcalf).
Living through such scarcity informs Dan's admonishment of Darlene (Sara Gilbert) when she initially turns up her nose at the offer of a casino waitressing job that comes with full benefits.
The only catch is that she'd have to dress up like an old-timey riverboat hooker. Darlene eventually does a 180 degree turn for the sake of her kids just as Roseanne heads around the bend.
Dan confronts his wife about her deception and substance abuse, agreeing to do whatever it takes to get her the surgery she needs to get better.
The final scene of "Netflix & Pill" hints that letting go of her pharmaceutical crutch will not be so easy.
Planting the noxious weed of addiction within an iconic character is a bold move that speaks to the necessity of facing the menace.
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