Raising Hope “Don’t Vote For This Episode” S1 E22 Review + Recap

Raising Hope is now officially my favorite new series of this past TV season. Like all good season finales, this episode left the audience wanting more, while also tying together and advancing many season-long plot arcs. I’ve noted before how impressed I am with Raising Hope’s stable of recurring characters, and many of them play great roles in making this episode a success.

For example, during the opening voiceover, we get a sequence of guests arriving at the Chance home. Recurring characters like Cousin Mike* (Skylar Stone) and Jimmy’s friends Javier (Ray Santiago) and Marcus (Jermaine Williams) appear. We also get a subtle visual joke: Barney (Gregg Binkley) arrives sheepishly with an empty 4-pack carton, while Sabrina (Shannon Woodward) and Frank (Todd Giebenhain) each bring in two bottles.

Another great sight gag was Burt’s shirt in the start of the flashback: “I’d Rather Be In Virginia,” indeed.

Raising Hope “Everybody Flirts Sometimes” S1 E20 Review + Recap

All hail guest/recurring stars. I’ve said again and again how much I enjoy the expanding universe of Raising Hope. New settings and new characters give the show a great sense of verisimilitude and keep the family’s quirks from being played out.

The one drawback (or benefit) of the influx of bit players is the diminution of the character of Sabrina, played snarkily by Shannon Woodward. I have no qualms with the character, or Woodward’s portrayal of her, but you guys probably know by now that I’m not a big fan of Will They Or Won’t They. Less Sabrina = Less Romance = More Comedy.

This episode was a prime example, with the three leads venturing off to explore the episode’s provocative (for network TV) theme: flirting.

Raising Hope “Sleep Training” S1 E19 Review + Recap

I’ve figured out what really makes a Raising Hope episode good, in my books.

A) Maw Maw (Cloris Leachman) is at least somewhat lucid. A coherent Maw Maw is funnier than a one-note senile woman.

B) Virginia (Martha Plimpton) and Burt (Garrett Dillahunt) actually treat Jimmy (Lucas Neff) like their child. Too often, Virginia and Burt seem to treat Jimmy as a friend who just happens to also live in their house.

C) Recurring characters… recur. (In this episode, Gregg Binkley as Barney and Todd Giebenhain as Frank, among others) The show can feel a bit suffocating when it focuses solely on the nuclear family, solely in their house, so episodes that showcase the quirky side characters are always welcome.

“Sleep Training” included all three of these factors.

Raising Hope “Cheaters” S1 E18 Review + Recap

30 seconds into “Cheaters,” and it’s already streets ahead* of last week’s episode. Any episode of Raising Hope that opens with the always-hilarious Shelley (Kate Micucci) mock-fighting Burt (Garrett Dillahunt) has to be a good one.

As often happens on Raising Hope, this episode featured two main stories, splitting Jimmy from his parents. Jimmy goes on an adventure with Sabrina, in hopes that she will catch her boyfriend cheating, opening the path to a future relationship with Jimmy.

On the flipside, Virginia (Martha Plimpton) and Burt argue over keeping Maw Maw (Cloris Leachman) from mentally cheating with her new senile boyfriend.

The catch is, Maw Maw’s husband has been dead for years now. Yeah, it gets weird.

Raising Hope “Mongooses” S1 E17 Review + Recap

Out of the many shows that premiered in 2010, Raising Hope has been one of my favorites.

The single-cam sitcom, helmed by My Name Is Earl creator Greg Garcia, is surprisingly funny and endearing. Martha Plimpton and Garrett Dillahunt are hilarious as the parents of the main character, Jimmy, played by a lukewarm (but improving) Lucas Neff.

The one qualm I have with Raising Hope is that the show never quite seems to know what to do with Cloris Leachman. In the first half of the season, her character, Maw Maw, was incoherent, a one-note gimmick that wasted Leachman’s comic talent. After the season break, the writers have been changing how they deal with the character. She’s coherent more often, which leads to some wonderful dry humor. She’s still mostly senile, but that still can lend to some good jokes.

Like most freshman shows, Raising Hope had some kinks to work out in the first half of the season. However, by episode 17, the show has a nice stable of recurring characters and in-jokes. The leads are fleshed out, and in general, the show works.

This episode, however, did not.