Directed by Philip Charles Mac Kenzie
Written by Kevin Abbott and Stevie Ray Fromsteine
Jackie is served with custody papers by Fred demanding access to his baby and is devastated, while Dan is horrified when Fred tells him he did it due to his advice the previous week. While Roseanne is ready to kill Fred, she soon finds out that Dan was the one who suggested it and still stands by his opinion. Mark agrees with Fred and Dan. David is forced to play tie-breaker.
Original airdate, February 15, 1994.
Examples
- Freudian Excuse: As Roseanne points out Jackie's refusal to trust men comes from not only her abusive ex boyfriend but their abusive father.
- It's All About Me: Jackie simply cannot wrap her head around the idea that Fred's motivation could be anything but to win her affections. In the end she only accepts Fred in her life because Dan fed her a lie about it all being over Fred's "jealousy of not being able to have a baby".
- Mars and Venus Gender Contrast: David, playing peacemaker, tries to invent an explanation for the difficulties between men and women. Which is ironic since both David and Fred are often coded feminine in the show.
- Straw Hypocrite: Roseanne and David state that mothers should automatically have final say in decisions regarding a child if the parents aren't married. The whole reason David lives with them is that his mom's an abusive monster, and Roseanne literally took him from her house.
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Unintentionally Unsympathetic: We're clearly supposed to side with Jackie or at least understand her because of her past experiences with her abusive boyfriend (and father) but she it's rather difficult when spends the episode acting like a self obsessed lunatic. While she does have a Freudian Excuse or two she never had a right to keep Fred away from his child in the first place and he does have parental rights as the father.
