Directed by Gary Halvorson
Written by Roseanne Barr & Allan Stephan
The Conners and friends gather when Darlene and David bring home their baby girl. The series finale aired on May 20, 1997.
Examples
- All Just a Dream: Or in this case, all just a part of the book Roseanne was writing. As it turns out, the happy moments of the Conner family winning the lottery never happened and Dan really didn't survive his heart attack. At least until the series Retcon in 2018.
- Babies Ever After: Along with the plot's focus on David and Darlene's daughter Harris, the finale also reveals that Mark and Becky are expecting, so it seems like it will end this way - before the switch.
- Bait-and-Switch: Just when it seems like the show's going to finish with a happy ending and the Conner family all gathered around the table laughing, it pulls a switcheroo.
- Cure Your Gays: Roseanne laments how her sister Jackie was gay in real life so she had written her as straight in her book and always imagined her better off with a man instead.
- Dead All Along: Dan.
- Downer Ending: And how! The series ends with Roseanne revealing that Dan actually died from his heart attack a year ago, her family never actually won the lottery and all the events from the last year have all been a part of a book she had been writing as a coping mechanism. Until the series Retcon revival.
- Fond Memories That Could Have Been: The ending, the previous year and the entire ninth season. Roseanne wrote a book about how her life would've turned out differently, had her family actually won the lottery and had Dan not died from his heart attack.
- Hide Your Lesbians: In-Universe. For years Roseanne knew Jackie was gay but she felt that Jackie was better off with a man.
- Hypocrite: Multiple times during the show Roseanne claims she has no problem with homosexuality, and even says outright if any of her children were gay she would still love and accept them without question ... fast-forward to the final episode where Roseanne reveals her sister, Jackie, is gay and admits she's never been able to truly accept it, preferring to think Jackie would be happier with a man.
- It's a Wonderful Plot: The whole ending was revealed to have been part of a book Roseanne had been writing for a whole year, wondering how good life would've gone if her family had won the lottery and if Dan hadn't died from his heart attack.
- Parent-Preferred Suitor: In her book, Roseanne notes how she preferred David with Darlene and Becky with Mark. Over the real life pairing of David with Becky and Darlene with Mark.
- Pair the Spares: As Roseanne wrote in her book, she reveals that she didn't like Mark/Darlene together. As she preferred David/Darlene and Mark/Becky to be paired with each other.
- The Reveal: Plenty.
- Dan was dead all along.
- Everything of season 9 was all part of Roseanne's book.
- They still were rather poor because there was no lottery.
- Jackie, and not Roseanne’s mother, was a lesbian.
- Darlene was with Mark.
- And Becky was with David.
- Settle for Sibling: When Roseanne wrote her book, she didn't like Mark being paired with Darlene and thought he was much better off paired with her other daughter Becky.
- Shipper on Deck: The final episode revealed that Becky and Darlene were actually with David and Mark, respectively. Roseanne switched them around because she thought they would be more interesting. This was retconned at the start of the revival, though.
- Shout-Out: The title is from a poem by Dylan Thomas, which begins "Do not go gentle into that good night, / Old age should burn and rage at close of day; / Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
- Solemn Ending Theme: After the reveal, the episode ends with the show's theme song sung acapella by Phoebe Snow while a depressed Roseanne sits on the living room couch all alone.
- Straight Gay: In Roseanne's book, her mother Bev came out as a lesbian. But in real-life, her sister Jackie was the one who came out as a lesbian.Roseanne: (narrating) My mom came from a generation where women were supposed to be submissive about everything. I never bought into that, and I wish mom hadn't either. I wish she had made different choices. So I think that's why I made her gay. I wanted her to have some sense of herself as a woman... Oh yeah, and she's nuts... My sister, in real life, unlike my mother, is gay. She always told me she was gay, but for some reason, I always pictured her with a man. She's been my rock, and I would not have made it this far without her.
- Unreliable Narrator: This episode reveals Roseanne as having been one for most of the series, especially during the ninth season but stretching back long before that in order to cover the changes to Jackie, Mark, and David. While the finale made it clear that, in that continuity, Dan definitely died and Darlene and Mark definitely had a baby, it was never clear what else from the show was meant to be 'true'.
- Voodoo Shark: The revelations raised a huge number of questions that would never be answered, especially since the whole storyline was eventually retconned. If Becky "brought home" David, did that mean David and Mark's ages were also switched, or did she pick up a boy who was only fourteen or so at the time? And so on.
- What If?: The whole original final season was basically a book written by Roseanne who wondered what life would've been like if her family really did win the lottery and if Dan had survived his heart attack. They didn't, leading to the Downer Ending (up until the show's 2018 revival retconned the original ending).
- Wham Line: As Roseanne narrates during the family dinner, everything changes with this sad reveal:Roseanne: (narrating) ...I lost Dan last year when he had his heart attack. He's still the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep. I miss him... My writing's really what got me through the last year after Dan died. I mean at first I felt so betrayed as if he had left me for another women. When you're a blue-collar woman and your husband dies it takes away your whole sense of security. So I began writing about having all the money in the world and I imagined myself going to spas and swanky New York parties just like the people on TV, where nobody has any real problems and everything's solved within 30 minutes. I tried to imagine myself as Mary Richards, Jeannie, That Girl. But I was so angry I was more like a female Steven Segal wanting to fight the whole world.
- Wham Shot: At the family dinner table, the camera pans over to Dan's chair; it is empty.
