Jimmy Chance

James "Jimmy" Chance is fictional character on Raising Hope. He is played by Lucas Neff.

Jimmy is a 23-year-old who is clueless about raising a child and everything else. One night when he was driving back to his home after picking up bubblegum ice cream, a girl named Lucy jumped into his van while he was at a stop light. She told him to drive since a man was chasing after her. Once they got back to the drive way at his house, she told him he was her hero and the two had sex. The next morning however, Jimmy and his family learned that she was a wanted murderer, and Jimmy's mother, Virginia, knocked her out with a mini TV set and they turned her in to the police. Eight months later, he was contacted and learned she had become pregnant with his daughter, Hope (originally Princess Beyonce).^[1]

Jimmy is generally a good natured, naive, and caring young man but is far from the sharpest tool in the shed. He often makes malapropisms, has horrible spelling, and takes a while to make logical steps. He lives with his parents, Virginia and Burt as well as his grand mother Maw Maw. The economic status would be low low low middle class (poverty) as the family struggles financially to keep up with things like working house hold appliances, health insurance, and house maintenance.

The most important thing in Jimmy's life is his daughter Hope. He is committed to raising her right and not making the mistakes his parents made with him. This has lead to him attempting to change the behavior of his family, making sure the remnants of her mother Lucy are intact, as well keeping a close eye on Hope's behavior for homicidal tendencies (like her mother.)

Jimmy's parents meant well but were very young when they raised him. This lead them to unorthodox parenting practices such as poor hygiene (as in dropping food/kitchen utensils/pacifiers on the floor and continuing to use them,) continual lies to Jimmy through out childhood and continuing into adulthood, to either keep him out of trouble or just to make him easier to handle. Such lies include that he's allergic to all fruit, an eel lives in his butt and will bite off his hand if he picks at his butt, and that the internet tubes don't reach to their part of town.

Though Jimmy isn't the smartest he has possessed exceptional abilities. He has a natural ability to draw and paint. As a child Jimmy was a musical prodigy. He excelled in piano and singing, particularly with the Otis Redding song Hard to Handle. Unfortunately, an air born putter struck Jimmy in the forehead robbing him of his talent and memories of that part of his life. Jimmy also has an impeccable impression of the Lord of the Rings creature Gollum.

Jimmy has an infatuation with Howdy's grocery store clerk Sabrina Collins. Though Sabrina has worked at Howdy's for at least five years, Jimmy noticed her around the time he started taking care of Hope. Unfortunately, Sabrina has a boyfriend named Wyatt. This has stopped Jimmy from making his move. However, he and Sabrina did kiss one Halloween while she was drunk. Though Jimmy is generally honest and does things with the best of intentions, he does try to sabotage Sabrina and Wyatt's relationship, but it usually backfires bringing Sabrina and Wyatt closer together.

Jimmy once worked for his father, Burt's landscaping and pool cleaning service but changed jobs to working at Howdy's for the sake of health insurance. He now works along side Sabrina further driving their relationship into the "friend zone."

Jimmy's Aversions and eccentrics

Despite the lie that he was allergic to all fruit, he is actually allergic to star fruit. Due to parental training Jimmy is both afraid of the Dog Man and does not like Halloween. He regresses to a hair eating nervous twitch when overcome with anxiety. He spent the later years of his teen under the alternate persona of Drakar Noir, a goth style, make up wearing, angry anti-socialite. Jimmy and Maw Maw share the same birthday much to Jimmy's chagrin.

Relatives

• Hope Chance: Jimmy's daughter. She is six months old at the beginning of the show and lives with her father, grandmother, grandfather, and great-great grandmother.
• Virginia Chance: Jimmy's mother. She was fifteen when she conceived him, making her a grandmother at the age of 40.
• Burt Chance: Jimmy's father. He was seventeen when he fathered Jimmy and was a grandfather by the age of 42.
• Maw Maw: Jimmy's great-grandmother, Virginia's grandmother. Maw Maw is 85 years old, as was stated in the first season finale.
• Delilah: Virginia's cousin.
• Bruce Chance: Jimmy's uncle, Burt's brother.
• Mike Chance: Jimmy's cousin.
• Louise Thompson: Jimmy's grandmother, Virginia's mother.
• Wilfred Thompson: Jimmy's great-grandfather, Virginia's grandfather.

References