A quick review of the “Raising Hope” season finale coming up just as soon as I get to meet Ed Begley Jr. …
At the time Greg Garcia and company made “I Want My Baby Back, Baby Back, Baby Back,” they had no idea whether the show would be renewed for a third season, and based on the ongoing low ratings, I’m sure they feared this would be the last episode ever. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, which not only means that we get more of this very, very funny comedy, but also that they won’t have gone away forever with this as their last episode.
The structure of the episode felt a lot like the infamous “Seinfeld” finale, with the Chances in a courtroom forced to confront one person after another whom they had offended, beaten up, stole from, or in some other way upset. And though the execution was a bit better here – I particularly liked David Krumholtz’s racial confusion – on the whole it felt like exactly what it was: a trip down memory lane in the event of cancellation, rather than just a good episode of “Raising Hope.” In terms of nostalgia, I thought last week’s Part 1 of this story did a much better job of revisiting old territory while still being funny.
And even though they played it as a joke by putting blind Krumholtz behind the wheel of the bus that ran over Lucy, eliminating a problem character/story by running it over with a bus is among the laziest, most overused TV cliches in recent years. Better they hadn’t brought Lucy back at all than to bring her back and do it that way.
Very good season. Not-so-great finale. But at least we get more, thanks to the beneficence of FOX.
What did everybody else think?