Much of The Conners’ comedic and dramatic moments are born of relationship conflicts. Obviously that includes parent-child and sibling strife, but we’re specifically talking about romantic relationships in this case. Season 5 is starting off in relatively strong places for its respective couplings, though Emma Kenney’s Harris isn’t in that group, having chosen to step away from her impulsively crafted plan to marry Aldo for Season 4’s wedding-filled finale. Her reasoning was sound, but that doesn’t mean the character is necessarily pumped about being single again after getting so serious.
Speaking with CinemaBlend’s Sarah El-Mahmoud, The Conners star Emma Kenney talked about where Harris’ mind is at in the early weeks of the fifth season, by way of her single status. In the actress’ words:
Well, we’re only on Episode 4, and she's been going through the post-breakup, and kind of watching the other characters’ relationships. Like Darlene and Jackie, who are newly married, being kind of happy in love. And it makes her kind of sad, I think, a little bit.
To be clear, we’re talking about Harris Conner, who rarely shows any signs of emotional vulnerability in that sense, and especially not to all the dysfunctional nitwits in her family. By all means, she had every right to tell Mark to gain a little perspective when he started griping about seeing his ex Logan with another guy. As much as it was Mark’s first big hurrah, his fling with Logan was fleeting and not healthy for his addictive personality. Which isn’t to say the ditzy Aldo and his family situation were 100% perfect fits for Harris, but he made her happy and wasn’t at all abusive, and that goes a long way. If anybody deserved to drink an entire minibar’s worth of booze, it was Harris.
Not in the sense of “Wahhhh, I don’t have a man,” either. But rather in the sense of “Oh my God, both my mom and my aunt have found true love, and not only was it before me, but it also happened so late in their lives that it may take me decades to hit similar benchmarks.” Laurie Metcalf’s Jackie would be a gold medal winner if bad relationships were an Olympic event, after all. To say nothing of Darlene’s track record just with David and Ben.
Emma Kenney, who recently celebrated her 23rd birthday, doesn’t disagree with Harris’ instincts, though she does miss acting opposite Tony Cavalero, who also shares the screen with The Conners’ John Goodman in HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones. She continued, saying she hopes to see him return in Season 5:
I think it was a great decision for Harris to make, although I did love working with Tony Cavalero. He was so much fun on set. So much fun to watch, and just a good addition to the group. I hope that he tries to get her back this season, and maybe has a Romeo moment.
For what it’s worth,The Conners’ showrunner Bruce Helford told me earlier this year that Aldo wasn’t going away completely, saying:
But Aldo's not done. He's still in love.
At that point, Helford brought up the fact that Harris is staying within the main family home instead of moving in with Darlene & Co. So does that mean Harris will start sneaking Aldo into the house late at night like Darlene used to with David? Also, is Aldo capable of climbing trees and/or sneaking around without talking?
The Conners airs Wednesday nights on ABC at 8:00 p.m. ET, heading up the network’s comedy block now anchored by Abbott Elementary’s full-length second season, While waiting for the next episode, head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what else is yet to start up.
