Fox // 2000 // 480 Minutes // Not Rated
Reviewed by Judge Jennifer Malkowski // January 11th, 2006
Hank: "Which is better: the charcoal burger or me?"
Peggy:
"It is no contest. The propane burger is much better."
Hank
[picking up the charcoal grill]: "Then I'll just drive this to the dump
right now."
Bobby: "You lied, mom."
Peggy: "No,
Bobby. I came to my senses. All of them. Except for taste."
The fifth season of Mike Judge's King of the Hill epitomizes everything that is great and distinctive about the series. King of the Hill doesn't have the laugh-out-loud stupidity of his earlier series, Beavis and Butthead, nor does it possess the non-stop, hilarious zaniness of The Simpsons, but there is something deeply funny and appealing about this slow, steady, mostly realistic cartoon about everyday life in the suburban Texas.
Life rolls on in Arlen as the Hill family returns with 20 more episodes:
* "The Perils of Polling"
In one of the series' most overtly
political episodes, Hank has qualms about voting for George W. Bush after
experiencing his limp handshake. To add to his troubles, when he tries to get
Luanne excited about voting, she ends up backing the Communist party. Though it
seems like a bold choice for this I'll-tell-you-whut-Texan show to really flex
its Republican undertones, the episode -- like the series itself -- is actually
a lot less partisan than one would expect.
Special Guest Voice: Phil
Hendrie
Grade: B
* "The Buck Stops Here"
Tired of watching his son loaf
around all summer, Hank compels Bobby to work as a caddy. Unfortunately, the
reckless and vulgar Buck Strickland takes the boy under his wing and teaches him
a lot more than how to haul a bag of clubs around a golf course. A subplot about
Peggy and Minh competing to see who can donate more blood brings out the
pettiness of these characters, and not really in a funny way. Actually, the
humor mostly fails in the main plot, as well, though it is a nice story about
role models and disillusionment.
Grade: B-
* "I Don't Want to Wait for Our Lives to Be Over, I Want to Know Right
Now,
Will it Be...Sorry. Do Do Doo Do Do, Do Do Doo Do Do, Do Do Doo Do
Do, Doo..."
A trip to his grandparents' retirement community makes
13-year-old Bobby feel like a man...until he sees Joseph, who grew about a foot
taller at summer camp. This episode is a painful reminder of adolescent
awkwardness, but also an amusing reminder of adolescent drama with Bobby and
Connie breaking up and getting back together over and over. Meanwhile, Hank gets
"the coffin-making bug" and foolishly tries to assign the better of
his two homemade coffins to himself, much to Peggy's displeasure. My only
complaint about this great episode is that we all know Bobby thriving in a
retirement community could have been an entire episode itself, or spin-off for
that matter!
Special Guest Voice: Carl Reiner
Grade: A-
* "Spin the Choice"
Thanksgiving brews up all kinds of
trouble in Arlen as Bobby learns about the evils of the white man and John
Redcorn decides to reclaim his land...and his son. Plus, Peggy studies the
secrets of successful gaming and theorizes that people like two things best
about games: spinning and choosing. So she makes up a party game that is nothing
but. This is one of those exciting episodes in which it seems for a brief moment
that something could change in a series that combines many static, truly
unchangeable elements -- animation, sitcom, and Texas conservatism.
Grade:
B+
* "Peggy Makes the Big Leagues"
Peggy scores a long gig
subbing at the high school level, but her success is jeopardized when she flunks
the star football player who needs a passing grade to stay on the team. Enraged,
Hank and the Booster Club hatch a plan to get him back on the team. The steps
the writers go through to get to the satisfying conclusion of this episode feel
forced. It is a testament to how "realistic" this cartoon usually is
that the scene of all the Booster Club members booing Peggy loudly when she
walks into the room just didn't work.
Special Guest Voices: Brendan
Fraser, Terry Bradshaw, James Brown, Howie Long
Grade: C+
* "When Cotton Comes Marching Home"
The first Cotton episode
this season is the weaker of the two. Hank discovers that his dad lost the house
in Houston and is broke, so he helps him get a new job...but the ornery veteran
is not the most employable fellow. Meanwhile, Peggy tries to get her hands on
his WWII medals for her parade float. This episode may want to be a sad and
inspiring story about old people and how they're treated in our society, but
Cotton is too anomalous (for example, he doesn't have shins and has an infant
son) and too unlikable to play well in that role.
Grade: C
* "What Makes Bobby Run?"
In an attempt to get more pictures
of himself in the yearbook, Bobby becomes the football team's mascot, The Landry
Longhorn. But what he didn't count on was a time-honored traditional whooping he
must receive from the opposing team at halftime. This is a good chance to see
Bobby both in and out of his element: he's a natural for the school mascot, but
he also has to exhibit some unnatural bravery to keep the school's honor.
Special Guest Voice: John Ritter
Grade: B+
* "'Twas the Nut Before Christmas"
When Bill sets up a
Christmas playland in his front yard, he finds joy and companionship by making
children happy. But as usual, his happiness is short-lived. When the new Santa
refuses to stop the merriment well after the holidays are over, he quickly
becomes a joke. This one uses the popular make-Bill-happy-and-then-take-it-away
formula, and the results are as depressing as ever. But that doesn't make it a
bad episode, and in fact the specific Santa story is pretty entertaining.
Special Guest Voice: Ryan Phillippe
Grade: B
* "Chasing Bobby"
A quality tale about a man and his
truck...and about a boy and his dad, though Hank would rather not admit that.
When Peggy catches Hank crying during a sappy chick flick, she thinks it is
related to his strained relationship with Bobby. But the real source of the
tears is his dying truck, which a mechanic says has only 500 miles left to live.
This whole story comes together perfectly and allows Hank and Bobby to share a
connection by the end despite their wildly different personalities.
Grade:
A
* "Yankee Hankie"
Hank finds out that he was born in New
York City! "Bwaaa-aah-aah!" His dad, Cotton, promises to take him out
to "raise some Hell" Texas-style to make him feel more like a real
Texan, but instead schemes to frame him for the murder of Fidel Castro, giving
us more proof in this episode that Cotton is a terrible, terrible father. And we
also get to hear Hank admit guiltily that he investigated his New York heritage
by eating a bagel. He's ashamed to say it, but wants "no more lies" --
he loved it.
Special Guest Voices: Ed Asner, Jack Carter
Grade:
A-
* "Hank and the Great Glass Elevator"
The guys take Bill to
Austin for a birthday weekend where he ends up meeting -- and courting -- former
governor Ann Richards. This plot is about as awkward as it sounds. But the
episode is partially redeemed by a delightful subplot in which Peggy and Bobby
guiltily down charcoal-grilled burgers while propane patriarch Hank is away.
Special Guest Voices: Ellen Barkin, Ann Richards
Grade: B-
* "Now Who's the Dummy?"
Bobby gets a ventriloquist's dummy
named Chip who is dressed as a football player, so he learns all about sports to
get material for his routine. Hank is delighted, but gives all the credit to
Chip and continues ignoring his son who "plays with dolls." But Hank's
new wooden pal is in danger from the puppet-phobic Dale, who is planning an
assassination. I always enjoy episodes about Hank and Bobby's father-son
dynamic, and this is one of the best. The most ironic thing is how easy it is
for Bobby to learn all the sports facts that impress his dad, and how easily
Hank overlooks his son's talents. When Hank decides to make a new Chip, he
cluelessly tells a forlorn Bobby, "I'll be at my work bench cobbling
together something I can be proud of."
Special Guest Voice: Tom
Poston
Grade: A
* "Ho Yeah!"
Hank and Peggy let a new Strickland employee
crash in their den. Unbeknownst to them, she is a prostitute and Hank stumbles
into a role as her clueless pimp. When her old pimp from Oklahoma City comes to
collect his cut, a startled Hank finds himself in a riotous turf war. This
episode is near-perfect and by far the funniest of the season. There is nothing
quite like seeing Hank proudly wearing what he does not realize is a ridiculous
"pimp hat."
Special Guest Voices: Bigg Snoop Dogg, Renee
Zellwegger
Grade: A+
* "The Exterminator"
Forced to quit the pest extermination
biz for medical reasons, Dale discovers he has a knack for a different kind of
exterminating -- firing people at his new corporate job. This is kind of a weak
episode considering that the usually-hilarious Dale is the central character.
Special Guest Voice: Lisa Kudrow
Grade: B-
* "Luanne, Virgin 2.0" (Mislabeled in the packaging as
"Luanne, Version 2.0")
Hank and Peggy convince Luanne to take a
re-virginizing course at their local church. But the newly purified Luanne
follows the letter of the "wait until you're married" law rather than
its spirit when she decides to marry a boy she just met so that they can have
sex. And in a sad twist, Hank is on her side because he is mad at Peggy, who has
just revealed that she slept with one other man before him. This episode is a
great showcase for both judgmental Peggy's fallibility and for Luanne's strange,
sweet brand of logic. There is something so obviously wrong but still quite
adorable about Luanne emerging from the virgin-baptizing waters in a see-through
robe with her breasts jiggling screaming, "I'm a virgin! I'm a
virgin!"
Special Guest Voice: Owen Wilson
Grade: A-
* "Hank's Choice"
A fantastic episode exploring what Hank
truly loves and just how strange his boy really is. Bobby becomes strongly
allergic to Hank's dog, Ladybird, so Hank builds her a top-of-the-line doghouse.
Ladybird doesn't think it is good enough for her and shuns it, but there is
another member of the family who decides it would be "a great starter
home." Watching Bobby thriving in a dog house -- much like watching him
thriving in a retirement community -- is a rare treat that should not be
missed.
Grade: A
* "It's Not Easy Being Green"
Arlen wants to dig a new
landfill at the quarry where a young Hank, Bill, and Dale accidentally totaled
Boomhauer's hot rod. If the dig happens, the evidence will be drudged up, so
Hank joins Bobby and a bunch of environmentalists to stop the project. He
pretends to protest the landfill to save the earth, rather than his own ass.
It's always fun to see the guys as teenagers, but this level of selfishness,
cowardice, and betrayal seems a little out of character for Hank -- not Dale,
though!
Special Guest Voice: Paul Giamatti
Grade: B
* "The Trouble with Gribbles"
Nancy worries that she's
getting too old and wrinkled to be the weather girl, so Dale decides to step in
with a lawsuit against a big cigarette company. The problem is that to win he
has to get Nancy to testify convincingly that his second-hand smoke has made her
ugly, so he has to first convince her that she is ugly. This one is a
real gut-buster and also a revelation of the sensitive side of Dale -- a side
that I once thought was about as plausible as his conspiracy theories. It
demonizes and then humanizes him in a way that is totally appropriate to his
character.
Special Guest Voices: Phil Hendrie, Robert Stack
Grade:
A
* "Hank's Back Story"
While training to compete in a big
lawnmower race, Hank throws his back out. Much to his horror, he discovers that
the real cause of his pain is a medical condition called Diminished Gluteal
Syndrome; in other words, he has no ass. This is a Hank-as-fish-out-of-water
episode with a somewhat unbelievable plot. The mower race is plenty of fun,
though.
Grade: B
* "Kidney Boy and Hamster Girl: A Love Story"
Bobby fakes a
medical condition to win the trust and pity of high schoolers, but when he tries
to pull the same trick for Connie, his plan backfires. This is the second
episode of the season to reveal some of Bobby's dark side. While I do appreciate
the character development, this season finale didn't otherwise stand out.
Special Guest Voices: No Doubt
Grade: B
There's no denying that these are high-quality episodes. This is a pretty even season of a very even show. And there are some absolutely hilarious moments, including my five favorite:
* Hank confronts Peggy about eating charcoal burgers. Panicked, she responds, "I didn't know what it was! Luanne asked me to hold it for her. I thought it was drugs!"
* Dale hires Octavio to kill Chip the Dummy, but then decides to fire him. He begins writing the termination letter, reading his composition in his trademark monotone drawl: "Dear Octavio, This is the hardest letter I've ever had to write..."
* Joseph runs away from Bobby's party in terror after humiliating himself. He stumbles on the Hills' driveway and looks up to see Hank and Peggy in the garage rising from their homemade coffins where they have been lying around eating pizza and drinking beer.
* When Dale sues the tobacco company, he represents himself. Taking the witness stand, he cross-examines himself. This great sequence climaxes when lawyer-Dale bellows, "Are you a homosexual?!?" and horrified witness-Dale screams, "NO!!!"
* Accidental-pimp Hank is trying to lose the real Oklahoma City pimp, Alabaster, in a car chase. He finally realizes how to do it: he slows way down at a green light and then speeds through the yellow. Alabaster will have to stop for the red light! Or will he?
All of these are perfect examples of what is so great about King of the Hill: it manages to draw out some truly gut-busting laughs while maintaining a much more subdued, realistic tone than counterparts like The Simpsons and Family Guy. It may never acheive the laugh-a-minute hilarity of TV's most beloved yellow-skinned cartoon family, but it does establish a style and humor of its own.
Another aspect the show manages well is celebrity guest voices. Another great prime-time, animated family (which I promise to stop mentioning after this) would have stars like Owen Wilson and Paul Giamatti on the show as themselves. Frankly, this approach usually stinks, as proven by the parade of (as they put it) "humor-killing celebrity guest stars" in some of the worse seasons of The Simpsons. But on King of the Hill, Wilson plays a dorky, horny, fellow virgin who proposes to Luanne, and Giamatti voices a hippie-dippie environmentalist. Both of these, and many other guest spots this season, come out just right.
But there are several aspects of this box set that, like Hank says about Bobby, "ain't right." The extras disappeared from these sets with the third season release, and they unfortunately have not reappeared for this one. There is nary a deleted scene nor commentary track to be found amongst these episodes. The packaging, too, is a little irksome with its double-sided discs. Though I have always been a fan of this set's style of giving each disc its own thin case instead of the giant-case-with-many-folds approach. The audio does sound great, and the animation and colors look excellent in this transfer. I did notice a strange defect, though it didn't bother me much: tiny, rounded, black corners framed some of the shots but not others.
Hank Hill may prefer his plain, reliable products without frills, but I doubt even he would approve of this set. Its minimal packaging and complete absence of extras make it a tougher sell than the first two seasons, despite the high-quality material it contains. Casual fans would be better off catching the reruns that play about ten times a day.
King of the Hill is free to go and congratulated for a great season, but Fox is convicted of failure to present any extras. Sentence: death by electric chair (hey, this is Texas).
Review content copyright © 2006 Jennifer Malkowski; Site layout and review format copyright © 1998 - 2008 HipClick Designs LLC
Scales of Justice
Video: 95
Audio: 95
Extras: 0
Acting: 100
Story: 90
Judgment: 80
Perp Profile
Studio: Fox
Video Formats:
* Full Frame
Audio Formats:
* Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (English)
* Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (Spanish)
Subtitles:
* English
* Spanish
Running Time: 480 Minutes
Release Year: 2000
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Marks
* None
Accomplices
* Official Site
http://www.fox.com/kingofthehill/
* IMDb
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0118375/combined