Warning: SPOILERS for The Conners season 7, episodes 5-6.

Mark didn’t end his role in The Conners series finale, which had more than its fair share of ups and downs.

Nonetheless, it’s been a bittersweet, yet heartwarming goodbye to The Conners cast that meant a great deal to many viewers for the past seven years. Still others have been following their exploits for close to four decades. For many, Roseanne was one of the first popular shows that really spoke to viewers who could identify with a family struggling to make ends meet. The Conners has kept that theme alive throughout its run. In many ways, that’s why certain disappointments about Mark’s exit actually exemplify one of the series’ greatest strengths.

Mark Leaves For New York Ahead Of The Conners Finale

He Missed The Show’s Send-Off By A Single Episode

After the way season 6 ended, it’s hardly surprising that Mark’s The Conners season 7 storyline got off to a rough start. Jackie seemed like a big enough threat to his hacking gig already, but Mark ran away from home and blamed Darlene for David’s absence when she confronted him about his hacking midway through the season. He was bound to make his return at some point, but it was hard to predict just how things would ultimately be resolved.

Once he started living with Dan, things eased up for Mark slightly. Although he didn’t entirely approve, Dan found Mark’s work interesting and referred to it as a superpower. Dan also questioned if it would be possible for Mark to use his skills to do some good, which foreshadowed Mark’s ending. Rather than turn Mark in as she’d originally threatened, Jackie used her s at the Lanford PD to get Mark a job at a cybersecurity firm in New York. The only catch was that he had to leave just one episode before the series finale.

Although Mark was able to end his story on a high note, jetting off to pursue a grand new opportunity, it also felt like a massive punch to the gut that fans wouldn’t get to see him say goodbye to the entire family. The goodbye dinner that the family throws for him occurs entirely offscreen, and departing early means that he doesn’t get to share in the last two heartfelt family scenes of the series. But while it felt like there was a massive Mark-shaped hole in The Conners’ final scene, there were benefits to his premature exit as well.

The Conners Was Great Because It Teaches Gratitude In The Face Of Disappointment

It Never Mattered How Little They Had As Long As They Had Family

In a way, Mark leaving the show an episode early was great for his character. He and Darlene got to share one of the most emotional goodbyes in The Conners’ final season. She’d initially been so angry about him moving so far that she skipped his farewell dinner, but Mark ultimately explained that he wouldn’t have the strength to live on his own that far away if she hadn’t prepared him for life. Even if he wasn’t taking the collegiate path Darlene wanted, she’d still helped him become someone who could nonetheless find a path.

This kind of strength, developed by families sticking together throughout countless hardships, has been at the core of the series since the days of Roseanne. Although The Conners season 7, episode 2 revealed that The Conners’ best episodes.

Some characters receive definitive happy endings in the series finale, but many are only starting new ventures after a life of such things never panning out. But when Dan loses his case against the pharmaceutical company he blames for Roseanne’s death, the family is able to laugh away their disappointment and spend a heartfelt night together. The Conners has always celebrated family as the one thing remaining when we’ve lost everything else, even the hope of getting justice for a loved one. With a spirit that unbreakable, a letdown like Mark’s absence doesn’t have to derail the entire journey.

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