Review: Raising Hope, Season 1, Ep. 16 "The Cultish Personality"

AIR DATE: Tuesday, March 8, 2011 8/9C on Fox

Rating: ★★★★★

You know, Virginia (Martha Plimpton) tries pretty hard to be a loving, doting mother, and she succeeds more often than not. She’s learning to play hide and seek with Jimmy (Lucas Neff) and baby Hope, and she’s actually pretty cute! But, there’s an unwelcome surprise lurking around the corner.

Review: Raising Hope, Season 1, Ep. 16 "The Cultish Personality" 1

J.K. Simmons guest stars as Uncle Bruce

That surprise comes in the form of Uncle Bruce (J.K. Simmons), who drops by for some unclear reason. I’m not sure why Burt (Garret Dillahunt) is hiding from him in the pantry, but it becomes amusing when he cries out that he’s getting a cramp. If Uncle Bruce’s arrival is suspicious, maybe the fact that there is sibling rivalry between the two is not. It’s clear that Burt doesn’t want to see him, but Virginia obliges and does the “proper welcome” by offering Bruce food and drink. Bruce replies curtly, “No need to spray cheese on anything.”

I recall J.K. Simmons from his role as Vern Schillinger in the very dark HBO prison series, Oz. I must admit, it’s a bit disconcerting to find him in a comedic role, though he handles it well enough. Most of his television roles have been dramatic, though, and I do believe he is a much better dramatic actor than comedic. This is largely why I did not give this episode a higher rating. I expected an actor who could match Dillahunt’s comedic skills to play Burt’s brother, because Dillahunt is laugh-out-loud funny. Simmons’ portrayal of Bruce sort of borders on simpering, which niggles at me.

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Cousin Mike (guest star Skyler Stone, L) introduces his new wife (guest star Mary Lynn Rajskub, R) to the family

On the bright side, cousin Mike (Skyler Stone) returns! As you may recall, he used to live in a tent in the Chance household. He’s not been seen for a while, so this episode answers the question of where he’s been all this time: he’s been living the life of a polygamist. He has a wife, Tanya (Mary Lynn Rajskub), and three “brother husbands” Chester, Rodney, and Jeff (Kent Avenido, Christopher Frontiero, and Paul F. Tompkins, respectively). Tanya calls them “reverse gender polygamists.” You can imagine the Chance family’s reaction, can’t you? Virginia is aghast and Burt can only mutter “Neat. Neat. Neat stuff.” Baby Hope finds it all amusing. Say what you want about the Chances, but they subscribe to monogamy and aren’t keen on telling Bruce where his son has been all this time.

There’s a reason Mike has come back home, though. Tanya informs him that she and the “brother husbands” want to divorce him because he doesn’t care about the brothers, only about her. The entire riff on polygamy is played for laughs here, and while I’m not pro-polygamy, I didn’t find this storyline funny or even slightly amusing. It was off putting, though I didn’t take offense at any of it. Writer/creator Greg Garcia seemed to want to poke fun at it, but I think it falls flat because of the one wife/four husbands angle. Why are the husbands so deeply unattractive? I don’t find Mike attractive, yet he is handsome in comparison. Even in the HBO series, Big Love, the wives are dowdy and the husband unattractive. What gives?

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L-R: Jimmy (Lucas Neff), Virginia (Martha Plimpton), Sabrina (Shannon Woodward) and Shelley (guest star Kate Micucci) say good-bye to Cousin Mike

Sadly missing in all of this action is Maw Maw (Cloris Leachman). You see her here and there, but only uttering a new phrase, “Boo ya!” The writers do Ms. Leachman a disservice in underutilizing her in this ensemble show.

All in all, this episode didn’t disappoint but neither did I really enjoy it. More of Maw Maw could have saved the mildly silly polygamy storyline.

Check out Raising Hope on Tuesdays at 8/9C on FOX Network.