Were “Full House”'s Jesse and Becky Too Codependent? Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber on Their Big Breakup
The ‘How Rude, Tanneritos!’ hosts criticized John Stamos’s character for having the “emotional maturity of a middle schooler”
John Stamos’s Uncle Jesse came in for some harsh criticism from Full House co-stars Andrea Barber and Jodie Sweetin.
On the most recent episode of their Full House re-watch podcast How Rude, Tanneritos!, the co-hosts took a deep dive into the third episode of the beloved sitcom’s third season, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do (in 22 Minutes).” The October 1989 episode found Jesse Katsopolis and long-time girlfriend Becky Donaldson (Lori Loughlin) briefly splitting up after a minor disagreement — he doesn’t want to ride horses with her; she doesn’t want to see his band play again — spirals into a major fight.
Early in their recap, Sweetin, 42, and Barber, 48, joked that the whole breakup could have been avoided if the characters had simply agreed to enjoy their separate interests separately. But as Barber noted, “We're only on, like, minute two of the 22 minutes.”
The co-hosts were squarely in Becky’s corner throughout the episode, agreeing with her complaints about having to see Jesse’s band play the same songs in the same dive bars constantly.
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“It was very codependent,” Barber said of Jesse’s insistence that his girlfriend come to all his gigs. “But okay, so is everybody else in the Full House.”
“We could break down the psychological profile of this entire household and family, but we won’t,” Sweetin joked.
They also criticized Jesse for roping the entire Tanner family into the couple’s drama — including toddler Michelle, in a scene in which Jesse complains to his niece that Becky is “selfish.”
“Why would you talk to a toddler about your love life,” Sweetin asked.
“I feel like this is a running theme where Jesse's always talking to Michelle about deep problems that he had, like, throughout the series,” Barber noted. “She's 3 years old. She is not your therapist, Jesse. Come on. It’s just peak Jesse.”
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“It really is,” Sweetin added. “Just making his emotional problems some woman's issue.”
“Doesn't matter how old they are!” Barber said.
As Jesse and Becky’s conflict continued to balloon — with Becky overhearing Jesse’s harsh words about her and the couple agreeing to take some time apart — Sweetin criticized Stamos’s character for having the “emotional maturity of a middle schooler.”
“Jesse should be in the Olympics for all of the jumping to conclusions that he does,” Sweetin said of the character’s assumption that Becky is going on a date when she tells Stephanie (Sweetin) that can’t see a movie with her because she has plans.
Of course, it all works out in by the end of the 22-minute episode, with Jesse and Becky making up — even after he shows up to the Tanner house with a date of his own.
Despite their criticisms of what they called on of Jesse and Becky’s most ridiculous fights in the show’s run, Sweetin and Barber did extend a bit of grace to the characters. “To be fair, Jesse and Becky are still in their twenties,” Sweetin noted. “When I was, like, 25 it was that sort of dramatic all-or-nothing, like, you know?”
“And this is probably Jesse's first, like, real long-term relationship if you think about it,” Barber added.
Barber even acknowledged that many of the podcast’s fans have said she and Sweetin are too harsh on Jesse. But, she said, “We're in our forties now. We've been in toxic relationships, So we can see it.”
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“We love these characters, but sometimes, Jesse was a bit much,” said Sweetin. “But he's a 26-year-old man. He's learning. And Becky is iconic.”
“She's a great role model. This is this is how you need to defend yourself when you're in a relationship like this,” Barber agreed.
“It gives Jesse somewhere to go,” said Sweetin. “Like, if he wasn't like this, Becky wouldn't have anything to be like, ‘This is not how you behave.’ ”
“And that's the point of a rewatch podcast,” Barber added of their over-analysis of Jesse and Becky’s fight. “Just to get into the nitty gritty, take things way more seriously than you need to.”
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