Friends in High Places and Horse Surgery is the fifth episode of Season 3 of The Conners, also the 36th episode overall.
Summary[]
Darlene begins to develop a friendship with a manager at Wellman Plastics, which lands her in an awkward situation between the boss and her sister, Becky. Meanwhile, Louise's brother, Neville, tries to win over Jackie by making a thoughtful gesture, creating uncomfortable tension.
Plot[]
Darlene is ready for a promotion at work, seeking Becky's support again. Unfortunately, the result is Becky now has two bosses, both of which are essentially Darlene. Now up against two Darlenes, Becky is overwhelmed. Jackie tells Neville to slow down or else. We get to know about several Conner ancestors.
In-Depth[]
Jackie continues to try to get rid of Neville. Darlene is tired of Ben and Becky talking about Beverly Rose all the time. Becky says that Darlene's children are old enough that Darlene should move on with her life. Harris agrees, and says that Darlene still gets to be a grandmother. Darlene says that it is impossible to get promoted at the factory that she still hates. Becky says that it is not impossible to get promoted. They now take turns switching roles with each other. Becky is Darlene and Harris is The Supervisor.
"Darlene": Hi I'm Darlene. "Supervisor": Oh! You're that weird little troll that walks around acting all superiour. "Darlene": Yes, but it's just a defense mechanism because I am not as pretty and as smart as my sister. "Becky": Hi! I'm Becky. I would have gotten here earlier, but I was busy avoiding the sad reality that I'm an average looking blonde who drank away my future! Oops! Harris: God, Mom! Way to take a fun game and make it mean! "Darlene": That's what I do. I am the killer of joy. Harris: There. It's fun again.
At work, it turns out that it is not going to be fun at all for Darlene to be the supervisor of Becky. Burnt out from recently working three jobs including that one, and believing that Emilio and Ben are hogging Beverly Rose, she wants to chat with Beverly Rose instead of work. When Darlene walks in to approach Robin The Supervisor, she sucks up on behalf of both her and Darlene. Everybody else gets to work, while Darlene still has a few minutes to talk to Robin. Darlene and Robin get along flawlessly. Darlene says one of the reasons why she wants more responsibility at work is to get away from her crazy family. Robin says that she can train Darlene to be a Supervisor.
Mark Junior has a Revolutionary War assignment to complete. Dan and Jackie tell him bad news. Neville stops by to give Jackie a pet chicken, which Mary adopts instead. Neville also gives Jackie a toy giraffe which is an exact replica. However, Jackie lost her temper like she never had before. She says that he missed the entire point of the story she tried to tell him. She says that the original giraffe ended up being eaten by her dog which like Metallica, got thrown under the bus twice. The dog died shortly after. With Neville being completely unfazed by the story, Jackie storms out of the room, irritating Louise.
Robin came over to eat dinner. Everybody is cordial, but tension slowly happens between Darlene, Becky, and their boss. Dan knew something like this would happen. Becky says she needs to take Beverly Rose to the Doctor, which Robin gives her only a few minutes before writing her up again. With Darlene and Robin having a similar personality, Becky excuses herself from the table.
Louise confronts Jackie at The Lunch Box. She says that her brother had limited mobility as a child, and had a small victory by making the track team. Jackie assumed that the story was a lie, but Louise says he didn't win nor become popular. But since he thinks he and Jackie have things in common, and given his devotion, he is not going to stop. When Louise says to find excuses to not see Neville, Jackie already told him every excuse.
At work, Becky is convinced that The Two Darlenes are treating her unfairly. When Darlene talks to Robin about this, Robin says that if she wants to be a Supervisor, Darlene needs to make this decision.
This time, Jackie sees the difficult job that Neville has, but is not disgusted with him. She gently tells Neville that a relationship will not work, but she could certainly have another friend. She also accepts Neville's request to secretly love her, hoping for the relationship to eventually happen.
Becky is not handling having two bosses well. Darlene says that she made the decision to dock Becky's pay. If Darlene did not talk to Robin, Robin would have taken Becky off of the schedule. Darlene says Becky needs to work instead of chat. Becky says her productivity is not an issue and reminds to stick by her side after Becky was by Darlene's side. Darlene tells Becky to stop making excuses, she was more than fair to Becky, but then Becky ridicules Darlene. Dan and Louise think that the fight is silly.
Mark Juinor found some of his ancestors, with mixed results:
Angus Conner who served honorably but was killed for cheating at cards in debtor's prison.
Archibald Conner who blew his head off after goofing around with a canon.
Horatio Conner from the U.S.S. Lexington got drunk on Kerosene, danced with a mop, got tangled with an anchor rope, and was dragged to the bottom of the sea.
"I've got more, but what's the point?"
Cast[]
Starring[]
- John Goodman as Dan Conner
- Laurie Metcalf as Jackie Harris
- Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner
- Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner
- Michael Fishman as D.J. Conner (credit only)
- Emma Kenney as Harris Healy
- Ames McNamara as Mark Healy II
- Jayden Rey as Mary Conner
- Jay R. Ferguson as Ben (credit only)
Special Guest[]
Guests[]
- Nat Faxon as Neville Goldufski
- Alexandra Billings as Robin
- Evelina Fernandez as Juanita
Trivia[]
- Despite being credited, Michael Fishman (D.J.) and Jay R. Ferguson (Ben) do not appear.
Quotes[]