‘The Conners’ Finds Dan Moving on, Darlene in Jail

Tuesday night’s episode of The Conners continued the ongoing storyline of Dan (John Goodman) and his attempt to move on romantically. It also featured some drama after Darlene (Sara Gilbert) spent the night in jail after mouthing off to a cop, although her night behind bars was the least of her concerns. Warning: mild spoilers for The Conners’ latest, “CPAPs, Hickeys and Biscuits” to follow.

The show wasted no time with Darlene calling Ben (Jay R. Ferguson) to let him know she’d been pulled over and decided to flout her taxpayer status. It didn’t go well, but Darlene opted for “the night off” rather than waste bail money. Unfortunately, Ben let Mark (Ames McNamara) have his friend, Harper (Carmina Garay) spend the night, and despite Mark being gay, the two ended up practicing giving each other practice hickeys instead of working on their school project. This led to a fight between Darlene and Ben, as the two struggle to reconcile exactly what they mean to one another.

Meanwhile, as Dan seems to have overcome his guilt to pursue a relationship with Louise (Katey Sagal) but is still struggling with revealing his shortcomings. Namely, his snoring. While he initially resisted, he started to let down his guard and even brought over his CPAP machine despite his embarrassment. Louise also did her part to make him comfortable, revealing that no matter how well someone carries themselves in public, most people look absolutely ridiculous when getting ready for bed.

And just when things started looking up for Dan, along with the rest of the Conner clan, he got a letter from the bank informing him they were foreclosing on the house. While the news came as a huge blow, Dan admitted business had been slow and the second mortgage had gotten away from him. Despite his circumstances, it sparked something inside him, as he was determined to keep his family under one roof.

While it only happened briefly, there was also a brief cameo from Ed Jr. (Noel Fisher), who showed up earlier in Season 2 to hash out his complicated relationship with Dan, his half-brother. Given that he was invited to the family card game, it seems that they were able to patch things up. It’s unclear how things will shake out for the Conner clan, who are no strangers to financial hardships. Find out more when The Conners Season 2 finale airs Tuesday, May 5 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.