"Raising Hope" – "What Up, Bro?" Review

 
Daniel Kendi ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff

One of the things Raising Hope has always done well is poke fun at the differences between the Chances and average American families. While most parents would take their children to an aquarium, the Chances bring Hope to a lobster tank in a Chinese restaurant or a pet store instead of a zoo. This difference is one of the main themes in this week’s episode “What Up, Bro?”
Throughout the course of this show, the writers have been able to surprise the viewers with new and hilarious revelations about the Chances. In this episode, Jimmy (Lucas Neff) learns that his parents had briefly given him up for adoption when he was younger. For a short amount of time, Jimmy lived with an entirely different family. He briefly had different parents and an older brother, something he had always dreamed of. After seeking out his “almost” brother Brad (guest star Chris Klein), Jimmy learns that he could have been a wealthy and successful man if he had been brought up by different parents. Unlike Burt (Garret Dillahunt) and Virginia (Martha Plimpton), Brad’s parents took an interest in their son’s education and recreational activities. They took their son to the actual museums and parks as a child. Because of this, Brad grew up to be a wealthy real estate agent while Jimmy became a poor grocery store bagger. While Jimmy spends most of this episode trying to make up for lost time with his “almost” older brother, Virginia and Burt wonder if they are the reason why Jimmy turned out the way he is.
This episode was filled with some great moments. The Chances’ differences from other families continues to be hilarious, and guest star Chris Klein had some great moments as Brad. His real estate commercial with hat puns and a flat tire gag is especially memorable. This episode also has one of my favorite lines in the series so far. When Jimmy asks his mother who his parents really are, she assures him by saying “we’re your real biodegradable parents.” While this week we did not see any of Maw Maw (Cloris Leachman) who is one of the best parts of the show, this was still a very memorable episode. Like most Raising Hope episodes, this week ended with a life lesson Jimmy learns. While i’m not one hundred percent happy with how the writers ended this episode’s conflict and led into this lesson, I still enjoyed this episode very much. In its third season, Raising Hope is still as clever and hilarious as when it began.