The Conner's

I want to address something that I think the show missed as a huge opportunity on this week's episode.

The matriarch of the family just died of a drug overdose due to an addiction that the family knew nothing about. This week, we watched Becky admit that she couldn't go an entire day without drinking. Instead of Dan taking this chance to offer help with an addiction, he told her that he'd have to let her go from the construction site if she didn't correct the issue in a specified amount of time.

What a missed opportunity. She's telling you she has a drinking problem. She's telling you that she's an addict. Instead of addressing any of the number of ways or programs that she could get help with that addiction, he just puts a timeline on it.

I thought that the drug overdose of the previous main character was well done. I hoped that with Becky's indications on that episode (where she pockets the pills and declares that's the only thing in her mom's closet that she wanted), there would be a great discussion on the horrors of addiction. I had hoped that when Becky said she couldn't go through this again after losing her husband (who also died of addiction although I'm not sure if that was just in real-life or if that's what they say happened to him on the show), the show would take advantage of this huge platform that they have to address the real-life struggles with addiction.

I'm disappointed that they didn't. I do hope that this week's episode is really over yet. I hope that they take the opportunity that they have been given and go a little deeper and talk about addiction and resources. The show has an audience that can handle these issues. The show has never shied away from hard topics before. A comedy show can address real-life issues while still being funny. Isn't that what the whole premise of the original show was about?