It's three weeks after Roseanne's funeral, and the family is still dealing with her being gone. Jackie then tells Dan that she got a call from the coroner, and that Roseanne died of an opioid overdose. Dan doesn't believe her, but Becky then tells her that she found pills in the closet, and it turns out that the pills weren't even prescribed to Roseanne.
Dan puts up a sign calling out Marcy Bellenger, the woman that gave Roseanne her pills, basically calling Marcy a murderer. Darlene isn't happy and worries about a potential lawsuit, but Dan is insistent on leaving up the sign. Later on, Marcy Bellenger shows up at the Conner house, asking Dan to take down the sign and she tries to explain herself to Dan. Darlene comes out to tell Dan about Roseanne's hidden pill stash in the freezer, and Dan asks Darlene to take Marcy home.
Wrap-Up:
Without a doubt, this was the best comedy pilot I've seen this season, though it does have somewhat of an unfair advantage considering that it's basically just Roseanne without Roseanne. I actually didn't miss the Roseanne character at all, because she regularly was one of the weakest parts of the revival. I thought that the show handled the death of Roseanne Conner very well, nicely balancing both humor and emotional moments. John Goodman in particular did a fantastic job this week, and his scene with guest star Mary Steenburgen was one of my favorite scenes I've seen on broadcast TV this season, on any show. The rest of the characters, aside from Darlene and Jackie, didn't have all that much to do this week and they got relatively equal time on screen, but they all had some funny lines. Jackie was definitely responsible for most of the humor this week, though I did get a little chocked up when she spoke about why she didn't want to leave the Conner house. Laurie Metcalf, as always, was great in this week's episode.
All in all, despite the bumpy road it took to get to this premiere, it was a really strong episode and I'm excited to see what's in store for the rest of the season.
Score: 9.5/10
Grade: A
