Raising Hope returned this week with “Gambling Again”, an episode that explored Burt’s long-standing problem with gambling. We’ve heard a lot about this problem on previous episodes, like season one’s “Blue Dots” and the Vegas episode from earlier this season, but we haven’t actually seen the gambling take a hold of him before now.
It turns out that a gambling Burt is something to behold, as he turns into a twitching, thieving mess. I’m always a fan of seeing flashbacks of the family, and seeing Burt pilfering his wife and son’s valuables to sell for his gambling habit was really funny. I also love seeing Burt with his shoulder length hair, and I think Martha Plimpton was way cuter with long blonde hair!
Anyway, Burt quickly gets the rest of his family hooked, and the result was funny, if a bit predictable. You could call it as soon as Jimmy and Virginia got into it that they would let it take them over, only to all come together and learn a valuable lesson in the end. I’m fine with this show being predictable, as this is basically the formula for every episode, so all that I ask is that they bring the laughs. Thankfully, this episode brought plenty of laughs, as well as some great performances from the main cast. Jimmy and Virginia yelling at each other about why they have money burning a hole in their pocket that they aren’t gambling with right now was hilarious. Also, seeing Burt’s facial ticks and tongue twitching habits catch on in the rest of his family was a great running gag.
Overall this was a solid episode of Raising Hope, and it earned a place alongside the other great episodes of the season. I’m excited to see more in the coming weeks!
Random Thoughts:
- Can we see more episodes with “Not-as-big-as-you-have-been-in-the-past Judy”?
- I loved Frank telling all of the kids to call that little kid dumpy-pants. The kid just threw his arms in the air as if to say “Thanks a lot, jerk!”
- Why did that old lady dressed up like the Statue of Liberty have two different colored eyes? It freaked me out.
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