Full House was a '90s staple — and rightly so. With Uncle Jesse's Elvis impressions and Uncle Joey's Popeye imitations, the Tanner house was always filled with exciting characters. With those two goofballs and the rest of the Tanner family crew, picking a favorite character on the show is no easy task. One Full House character never gets enough credit though, and that is Aunt Becky, played by Lori Loughlin.
If you ask anyone who their favorite Full House character is, they'll likely list one of the uncles or the Tanner girls — or even the hilarious Kimmy Gibbler. Few would tell you Aunt Becky, though, and that's because she's the un-sung hero of Full House. Ironically, one of the reasons why people overlook Rebecca Katsopolis (née Donaldson) is also what makes her so glorious: she's incredibly down to earth. In a household filled with Danny Tanner constantly cleaning, two grown men performing impressions, and three young girls navigating adolescence, Aunt Becky kept things as chill as possible.
Don't you dare call her "boring," though, because she definitely wasn't that. In addition to co-hosting Wake Up, San Francisco with Danny, Becky sweetly adopted a maternal role with the three Tanner daughters after becoming close to the family. From thriving in a high-powered career to open-heartedly joining the Tanner household, Aunt Becky was always the furthest thing from boring.
Not only did Aunt Becky balance out the Tanner family's full San Francisco house, but she added her own hilarious perspective to the family's antics. in Season 5 of Full House, Aunt Becky becomes pregnant with twins and, as you can imagine, she experiences intense discomfort towards the end of her pregnancy. Her not-so-doting husband, Jesse, responds by complaining about his own issues, like how hard it has been for him to sleep lately, and so Aunt Becky takes it upon herself to hilariously teach her apathetic husband a lesson. Cue the fake pregnant belly, aka a "sympathy belly," that Uncle Jesse wears for a grand total of three or less hours.
While he later complains to Danny about the back pains that the fake belly causes him, Aunt Becky sneaks up behind him and wins the bet that he cannot, in fact, handle pregnancy. In the end, she only earns the authority to determine which wallpaper they use for the babies' bedroom — circus themed, rather than Uncle Jesse's Elvis pick — but she deserves a lot more. Fans of Full House owe it to Becky to recognize her for her silly but important act of feminism.
In a show where the male characters are sometimes portrayed more as man-children than adults and the women are typically the ones who have to say "no", Aunt Becky is a shining light. The fact that she earns her family's main source of income while Jesse tinkers away at his struggling music career puts her on par with Danny, the character most known for doing his best to provide for his family and keep things under control. Becky is a great depiction of a successful working woman, and she really should be everyone's favorite character from the show.
Thankfully, Netflix's Fuller House gives audiences a chance to realize their deep, previously untapped love for Aunt Becky, and you'd be wise to take the opportunity to look closely at the matriarch of the Tanner fam. Since Fuller House has been renewed for a fourth season, there will be plenty more reason for Aunt Becky appreciation in the future, too. So if you haven't checked out the sitcom yet, don't worry — you still have so much time to watch and see how great a character Becky truly is.
