As all fans of The Conners know, things have never been easy for the hard-working, Midwestern clan. But, when Jackie and Becky decided to take over the former Lunch Box a few weeks ago, the situation reached an all new low when they realized that mom / grandma from hell Bev owned the building and Darlene had her power of attorney and the opinion that signing the property over to them would be the worst of bad ideas.
This decision pitted Becky and Jackie firmly against Darlene, led to some massive arguments and Becky moving out of the Conner family home to get away from Darlene. All the trouble reached fever pitch during last week's Thanksgiving episode (which also had a semi-showdown between Jackie and Dan's lady friend Louise), but after some (relatively mild) Conner on Conner violence, Darlene gave in and let the two try their hand at running their stew-themed restaurant there.
In a new, exclusive video which shows a sneak peek of tonight's episode, though, we learn that all will not be smooth sailing even now that Becky and Jackie finally have their hot little hands on the old Lunch Box. Take a look:
Man, alive. Can these two not catch a break or what? After a disastrous relationship with a cheater named Peter (Ha!) last season, Jackie has spent most of Season 2 simply trying to get her life together and help her nieces with their messy lives. She tried to help Darlene with her very ill-advised secret love triangle, and has been there for Becky as she weathered becoming a single mom to a preemie. Speaking of Becky, she's still on shaky ground after her daughter's dad got deported and is doing everything she can to stay sober and provide a good life for little Beverly Rose.
I think it's probably not going too far to say that both Becky and Jackie feel like opening I Can Dream About Stew (or whatever stew-based pun they choose for the restaurant's title) is their one, great shot at delivering themselves from the doldrums of life and securing something positive for the future. So, you can imagine that finding out they can't open the restaurant without sinking a ton of money that they really don't have into it, is going to crush them.
While the mold isn't toxic, there is enough of it that Dan would still have to open all the walls to get rid of what's there, just so that the building will be safe for customers. And, while he's willing to cut them a bit of a deal, he'll still have to pay for materials and his workers, so it's going to take all of what Jackie has saved for her entire life to get it done.
I can only really think of two potential solutions to this new Conner conundrum: either everyone pitches in to help pay for the work, or Becky and Jackie convince Beverly (who's been socking away rent money from owning the building for decades) to give them a loan. Either way, 'tis about to be a tricky time for the budding restaurateurs.
Well, we can all see if this setback ends Becky and Jackie's dreams for Stew Send Me when The Conners airs tonight on ABC at 8 p.m. EST.
