I've sometimes thought about it. Would she go into hysterics? Victim blame Jackie? Be in denial by saying "that can't be true Fisher is such a sweet lovely man?"
She would have victim blamed and then acted like it was a normal part of a relationship. Bev herself was the victim of abuse and didn’t do enough to shield her kids, but that’s what happens when you are the victim, as well. You have to think of it like a cult. You see others being treated poorly, but you accept it because that’s the way it is. It’s your “normal”. Some people manage to escape, but Bev never did.
Let's also not forget that, at the time Jackie and Roseanne were little, it was almost impossible for a woman to leave a man. Getting divorced was taboo and women weren't even allowed to have their own bank accounts. The system was set up to make women dependent on men and a lot of women suffered because of that
Oh yes, I agree.
I came here to say this, but you said it better.
I’m glad she wasn’t part of that. Her hysteria (naturally for a mother) would have distracted from the story. That reminds me of Parsons’ Oscar-winning role in Bonnie & Clyde. She played Blanche Darrow — the real Blanche referred to EP’s performance by including the phrase “a screaming horse’s ass.” 😏
I think Bev would’ve thought it was a normal relationship and told her to obey him better. She was the poster child of got married because she got knocked up and hated her life and family. I wish if that scene happened her mom would’ve been there to knock her down a peg!
I want to think that she would have bucked the expectation of the audience and immediately plotted revenge, but afterwards would have said something on brand like "well it's good you're rid of him, you shouldn't be with a man like that...and just think, Jackie, if you hadn't driven him to it, then you never would have known he was that kind of man"
I would assume (maybe wrongly) that the kids weren't the only ones getting beaten but Bev probably was getting her fair share when the kids weren't around
I think there was at least one passing mention of that in 'Roseanne', but it was basically confirmed in 'The Conners.'
Speaking from experience, men who beat their kids, typically beat their wives, too, and they have no compunction about beating their wives in front of their kids. Helps increase the fear and sense of helplessness all around.
On The Conners, Bev's elbow was broken because she didn't want him taking it out on the kids. You were correct in your assumption.
I hope it would make her appreciate Dan more
As others have pointed out, she probably would have vascilated between hysteria and blaming Jackie. If not that, she would have made excuses for Fisher. "Oh Jackie...that's just part of a relationship with a man, it's how they are"...because I don't believe for one second that if Al was beating Roseanne and Jackie that he never laid a hand on Bev, even if we never saw it or heard her talk about it.
The girls said all they ever heard through the vent was yelling and crying, and that might be part of why she just didn't seem too terribly upset about his affair and had to be pushed toward divorce. Bev is old school, people didn't split in "her day", but she was content to be rid of the man who abused her and her family.
My thought is she would've blamed Jackie for seeing that as normal because of her father, but also would've wanted her to leave him before it got worse.
Blame Jackie, for sure.
I think she would have surprised everyone and saved Jackie. She protected her girls from their dad and had to send them away once after getting abused by her husband. She didn't want her daughters to be hit.
This is a tough one because after watching The Connors, they really paint Bev in a terrible light. Bev was abused as well but we don't find that out until The Connors.
I don't know if it's me, but it seemed like Bev wasn't nearly as bad on Roseanne. She probably would have tried to dismiss it though.
Omgosh. I totally don't remember this! I've started a rewatch last week! What season?
She probably would have blamed Jackie somehow.
I think at first she would've blamed Jackie but then realized that's what as done to her when her husband beat her. She would've had a break down and a break through with Jackie but then in the next episode they'd be back to their usual schtick
I feel like Bev would have blamed Jackie and sided with Fisher and encouraged him to keep beating Jackie.
She'd probably blame Jackie, tbh.
She'd been deferential to her husband all her life and altered her life choices and behavior in tandem with what her husband wanted.
She also "let the belt hang there" and essentially looked the other way when her husband hit them as kids. It wouldn't surprise me if she'd blame Jackie.
I think victim blaming Jackie would have been very on brand for her. Probably what she did after their father had been at them with that belt of his, too.
She definitely wouldn't have been supportive to Jackie no matter what - and probably would have waffled between upset hysteria, as another poster stated, and trying to blame Jackie somehow. "What did you do to make him hurt you? Why can't you learn to get along with a man?"
Yeah I want to believe that she would be kind and supportive but knowing Bev, I feel like you’re probably right.
This is the right answer. Unfortunately bev would not have supported Jackie.
Bev would have definitely blamed Jackie for Fisher's abuse. Just like she didn't protect Jackie and Roseanne from their father's abuse.
We do learn in The Conners that she did try, she suffered an arm injury that was not known about until she had a medical exam from trying to stop him from beating Jackie.
I was just coming here to say that. She protected her in the past, I would like to have thought she would have been supportive but she was just so awful most of the time.
I agree she wouldn’t have been supportive or compassionate. Idk if she would have blamed Jackie fully for the abuse but I bet she would have blamed her for her taste in men. And then make it about herself somehow, a pitty party about how if she would have done x differently than it wouldn’t have happened or if Jackie would have come to her. Man, she was the worst