Directed by Gail Mancuso
Written by David Raether
Roseanne breaks into Darlene's apartment to confront her about her new boyfriend Jimmy, but find out he's not as bad as she thought. Dan thinks David's trying to become a tough guy to impress girls, but it's actually about their relationship.
Original airdate, November 9, 1994
Examples
- Blatant Lies: Dan trying to insist that he respects David and admires his softer qualities, which everyone including David can see isn't true. In the end the best he can offer is that he does care enough about David to try.
- The Chain of Harm: DJ refuses to fight back against a bully because he knows it will hurt, but he gleefully kicks and punches David in the face, because he knows David won't fight back.
- Get Out!: After finally getting fed up with Roseanne's needling, Jimmy tries to throw her and Jackie out of Darlene's apartment. The women's reaction (including Darlene) is to laugh.
- Hypocritical Humor: First Dan tries to pretend that he can see the value of softer men, then he relentlessly bullies Fred in the basketball match by calling him a woman to which Fred uses DJ's conflict avoidance technique of curling up in the fetal position. Then Dan hears Roseanne coming home, and he curls up as well.
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Irony as She Is Cast: David's contrasts against other characters are played up in this episode, such as Jimmy's smoking (which Roseanne snarks he may have been doing since he was 10) and Dan's love of motorcycles (with David cluelessly asking about 'a Harley or a hog'). Johnny Galecki actually rode a motorcycle himself and had smoked since the age of 13, which the writers certainly knew. - Shipper with an Agenda: Jackie confronts Roseanne about her fixation with trying to make David and Darlene work as a couple.Jackie: Well, Darlene is gonna bring a lot of different guys into your life. You're not gonna love 'em all the way you love David.
Roseanne: I know that, but we were just all so good together.
Jackie: She's not coming back. He's not coming back. You're the only one left in their relationship.
