This is one of the great individual episodes of season six of Roseanne, which was a transitional season for the series.
In this episode we learn more about Dan's childhood. In fact, Dan learns more about Dan's childhood. Up to now, the audience has been led to believe that Dan's father, played by the wonderful Ned Beatty, was a somewhat selfish guy, a bit of a buffoon, and a man who enjoyed his life of traveling salesman to the point that he didn't care too much about the impact it had on his family. In this episode, Dan's mother goes to a mental hospital, and Dan blames this all on his father, gets drunk, and goes over to his father and Crystal's home slinging accusations, but Dan's father is not home. Roseanne retrieves Dan, and when he sobers up she tells him the truth about his mother, how she had mental problems even before she married Dan's father. Dan breaks down crying, having an impossible time of reconciling a lifetime of opinion with the actual truth - that his Dad took Dan's disdain all of these years so Dan would have no bad feelings toward his mother. Dan goes back to his father's house to patch things up, and fixing a toaster together and watching a football game, you get the feeling that Dan may be seeing his dad through different eyes for the first time and maybe this is the beginning of them mending fences. It was a truly great episode.
In this episode we learn more about Dan's childhood. In fact, Dan learns more about Dan's childhood. Up to now, the audience has been led to believe that Dan's father, played by the wonderful Ned Beatty, was a somewhat selfish guy, a bit of a buffoon, and a man who enjoyed his life of traveling salesman to the point that he didn't care too much about the impact it had on his family. In this episode, Dan's mother goes to a mental hospital, and Dan blames this all on his father, gets drunk, and goes over to his father and Crystal's home slinging accusations, but Dan's father is not home. Roseanne retrieves Dan, and when he sobers up she tells him the truth about his mother, how she had mental problems even before she married Dan's father. Dan breaks down crying, having an impossible time of reconciling a lifetime of opinion with the actual truth - that his Dad took Dan's disdain all of these years so Dan would have no bad feelings toward his mother. Dan goes back to his father's house to patch things up, and fixing a toaster together and watching a football game, you get the feeling that Dan may be seeing his dad through different eyes for the first time and maybe this is the beginning of them mending fences. It was a truly great episode.
