Batman and Robin, Transvestite Ninjas and TP - Raising Hope "Happy Halloween" Review

Raising Hope continues its streak of horrible and heartfelt humor with their first Halloween episode.  Jimmy let his deadbeat friends watch his baby as he kept walking the line between Sabrina's friend and lover, while Virginia took Maw Maw trick-or-treating and Burt egged houses with 12-year-olds.

The cute flirtations between Jimmy and Sabrina went further in this episode, as she seductively lured him to the dance floor at a house party, but also kissed him. Granted, she thought he was her boyfriend, but hey, at least Jimmy knows he's a better kisser that Wyatt. Who's an assface, by the way. I don't care how good the guy "just friend" seems, you do not leave your girlfriend alone on Halloween.

I was happy with what they did with Maw Maw this week. First off, they gave her a solid story, not like her background story of the pseudo-birth, or plot-device story of "Constantinople" Jenga.  This week, she was a 9-year-old octogenarian kitty with a sweet tooth, and she was lucky enough to be paired off with Virginia.  I liked how sweet Virginia was to her grandmother in taking her trick-or-treating.  The woman at that house was clearly a heartless bitch for not even caring that this poor old lady was demented, and she and her ass of a policeman husband deserved to be TP'ed.

Burt's story this week was the clear winner, however.  Unlike most other shows, where you find out at the end of the episode that the dad did the bad thing to win the child's love, we knew from the start that all Burt wanted was a hug from his son.  Even if he is 23 years old. It's kind of sweet, even if he does scare the bejeezus out of him just for some father-child love.

You do have to give it to him, though.  His plan this year was pretty solid, and effective, and evil.  Faking the kidnapping of your own granddaughter? Bad person. But this is Raising Hope, and no one does anything without good intentions. Not even Maw Maw. And even though it was ill-gotten, Burt got his son's love, just like he wanted. And when Jimmy felt himself being the comfort to Hope's fears, it was that much sweeter.

Fun Moments:
-Jimmy's Batman was even better than Wyatt's, because it was so bad and janky, just the opposite of the real Batman.  Sabrina's Robin was pretty spot-on, however.
-"She looks like a transvestite ninja!" I kinda liked the cat suit on backwards better, anyway.
-Burt wanting "chest-on-chest" action.
-Jimmy's friends are the worst babysitters ever. Even without the food in the pantry, one of them could have run to a store for a jar of baby food!
-I'm liking the different triggers for Maw-Maw's senility. A few weeks ago, "Constantinople" made her a Jenga master, and this week candy makes her 7 years old.
-"Can we do a trick, mommy?"
-The referee. Oh god, the referee...

GRADE: B+
It was a little sappy at the end with Jimmy figuring out what his dad liked about scaring him, but otherwise this was a pretty solid episode.

MVP Garrett Dillahunt. Burt was at his trashy-sappy best.  For a man who gets drunk with 12-year-old pranksters, he's got a huge heart.
Runner-Up Cloris Leachman, for making the old-person-as-a-kid routine fun again. This time with kitty ears!