I’m always impressed when a show manages to pull off a jaunt into tricky territroy. In this case, it could have very easily felt maudlin, forced, or stupid…but the whole thing worked. It was a very in-character way to reach that “cards on the table” moment, and the “stage a play” solution was completely fitting with the general tone of the show, the characters as established, and solved the “how does Jimmy hope to ever have a real relationship with Sabrina with all these weird quasi-stalker moments in their past?”
Well-executed, sweet as heck, and a really good payoff for folks who’ve followed this show.
I gotta say I’m a big Raising Hope fan in general. I found Earl to be funny, but the characters were all too awful and ignorant to be likeable in my eyes. Hope is the same sense of humor (and neo-70s visual style), but the characters are all likeable and the story is lot more relatable. It’s a bit more sitcom cliche as well, but the whole thing is unique enough to be completely forgiveable. It reminds me of a perfect mix of My Name is Earl, That 70s Show, and a dash of Malcom in the Middle.
As somebody who grew up in a Midwestern nowheresville, Earl always reminded me of the people I couldn’t wait to get away from, whereas Hope is all about the people I miss.
I liked the Valentine’s episode. The actress Jimmy hired to play his girlfriend was pretty cute, I was thinking there for a while that things might go in a different direction.
I agree - well done episode. I was wondering how they were going to get out of the mess Virginia put them in, and they did a very good job of not going the typical sit-com route.
I’ve been a big fan of “Raising Hope” since I heard about it on another ungulate-themed message board. It was only a few weeks into the season, but I was able to catch up.
My favorite episode to date has been the one where Virginia read tarot cards. The cards told people to cut off their rat tails, remove the rubber scrotum from their trucks, and mostly “call your mother.” That’s the type of thing I’d do!
And I agree, the Valentine’s Day episode was very sweet.
I’ve said this before: my favorite thing about this show is the family obviously cares about each other. They’re all idiots, yes, and they make fun of every one, but you can still see that they care.
“Or, you can just go for guys.”
“Dad, I told you, I’m not gay.”
“What? You’re not going to get the guy. You’re just going to pine over him for a year, not make you move, and annoy us.”
I like her better this season now that she’s slightly more lucid more of the time. I mean, she was funny before, but now she’s more of a real character, and she’s still plenty funny.
