While The Conners season 4 seemed to forget that Harris and Darlene were fighting, this approach could allow Harris to see Aldo's flaws for herself.

Although Harris and Darlene’s season 4 feud appeared to be going nowhere on The Conners, the season finale may finally pay off the storyline. The Conners season 4 has struggled with a variety of storytelling issues. After keeping the show’s central couple apart for weeks, The Conners rushed Ben and Darlene’s reunion to set up a wedding for the season finale.

Earlier in the season, The Conners ran into a similar issue when the sitcom wasted a dramatic plot revolving around Darlene and her daughter Harris’s long-lasting feud. Darlene didn’t want Harris to continue dating the irresponsible, immature Aldo, fearing that her daughter would squander her potential on the far older man. This led to a fight that eventually resulted in Harris moving in with Aldo and seething with resentment towards her mother.

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However, The Conners then seemingly forgot about the pair’s fight so that the show could keep both Harris and Darlene around. For long stretches of season 4, The Conners gave Harris screen time in every episode of the series, but rarely mentioned her fight with her mother. In a few episodes, the characters spoke civilly without either of them even mentioning the massive, drawn-out feud. While The Conners appeared to simply forget the plot, the show’s plan is starting to become clear—and to pay off. Darlene's decision not to intervene in Harris and Aldo’s wedding plans led Aldo to shoot himself in the foot when he informed Harris at the last second that he wants another child as soon as they are married. This could be the conduit for Harris to finally break up with him in her own time, now that her mother gave her the space and time to do so.

One of Harris’s biggest plots on The Conners season 4 was her repeated refusal to follow the advice of older people trying to tell her what to do, whether it was Darlene, Dan, or Aldo’s father Jesse who lectured her. Even in “Three Ring Circus” (season 4, episode 19), the episode where Aldo and Harris got engaged, she refused to listen to Louise and Becky’s attempts to talk her out of the marriage. As such, The Conners season 4 made it clear that Harris would never stop dating Aldo as long as her mother and the rest of her extended family disapproved of their relationship.

Since Darlene stopped talking to Harris about Aldo and seemingly forgot all about their fight, this could have given Harris enough space to realize she and Aldo share different values and have divergent plans for their relationship. Harris’s shock and dismay at Aldo announcing he wanted another child immediately proved The Conners season 4 could fix Harris’s story by having the character herself decide she didn’t want to be with him. However, Harris could never have reached this conclusion if her mother was still actively haranguing her about breaking up with Aldo and trying to convince her their relationship was bad. As such, The Conners might finally be able to fix Darlene and her daughter’s feud by letting Harris be the one to break up the relationship.

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Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies and TV online since 2020. His obsessions include The Simpsons, Stephen King, the Scream series, and the horror genre in general. He has spent more time thinking about Stranger Things than the writers of Stranger Things, and he has never seen a Star War.