King of the Hill/The Miseducation of Bobby Hill

The Miseducation of Bobby Hill
Season 7, Episode 16
Airdate	March 16, 2003
Production Number	7ABE11
Written by	Tim Croston & Chip Hall
Directed by	Tricia Garcia
← 7x15 An Officer and a Gentle Boy	7x17 → The Good Buck
King of the Hill — Season Seven

The Miseducation of Bobby Hill is the sixteenth episode of the seventh season of King of the Hill, and the one hundred forty-second episode overall.

Starring: Mike Judge (Hank Hill, Boomhauer, Mexican Teen), Kathy Najimy (Peggy Hill), Pamela S. Adlon (Bobby Hill, Mexican Boy), Brittany Murphy (Small Girl), Johnny Hardwick (Dale Gribble), Stephen Root (Bill Dauterive, Buck Strickland, Last Minute Customer)

and Toby Huss (Joe Jack, Concerned Customer, Male Bothered Customer, M.F. Thatherton)

Also Starring: Ashley Gardner (Wife, Angry Woman), David Herman (Mr. Hickey)

Plot Overview

As Hank competes in Strickland's annual Grillstravaganza, he attempts to teach Bobby the ropes. To Hank's chagrin, Bobby jettisons all of his father's lessons and follow's Joe Jack's lessons as he jumps into the contest.

Meanwhile, the guys rig a lawn chair with weather balloons.

Notes

Stinger Quote

Joe Jack: Alla-ka-sizzle. (guffaws)

Seen, But Not Heard

• Enrique

• Donna

Music

• John Glover Kind - "I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside"

• Johann Strauss Sr. - "Radetzky March"

Trivia

The Show

• This marks the first appearance of Donna.

Allusions and References

• The episode title is a play on the title of the 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

• The true story Boomhauer talks about that inspires he, Dale, and Bill is based on Larry Walters who, in 1982, made a 45-minute flight by attaching 45 helium-filled weather balloons to a patio chair.

Quotes

• Hank: I need to focus. Our biggest propane sale of the year starts tomorrow. I can't afford to be thinking about helium.

• Hank: Boy, that Joe Jack. He's never going to get anywhere until he learns that sales is all about character.

Peggy: Well, unfortunately, that is the sort of lesson he will only learn on his deathbed. And no one wants to buy a grill from a dying man.

• Bill: What's that gun for?

Dale: There is a small to large chance you will develop high altitude pulmonary edema, which means your capillaries will flood with fluid, preventing adequate oxygenation and a spiral of worsening hypoxia, leading to a slow and painful death.

Bill: I don't think I want that.

Dale: That's why I got the gun. If you start feeling any shortness of breath, rub your belly, and I will give you one of Doctor Dale's .38 calibre pain pills.

Bill: What?

Dale: Don't worry. I'm a good shot.

• Peggy: Children imitate success, Hank. I catch my students imitating me all the time.

• Bill: Dale! Thank God. I... need... water! I'm in a tree!

Dale: Be more specific! What town? What type of tree?

• Hank: Look, I can sell propane upside-down and blindfolded, but not with my integrity tied behind my back.

• Hank: The great ones practice the basics.

Bobby: So you thought I could be a great one, too?

Hank: I trusted you with the flanges on your second day. I think that says it all.

• Bobby: Things are kinda melting down over at Strickland. We need you back.

Hank: Well, I still got a debt to pay here.

Bobby: Uh, Mister Strickland gave me the 20 bucks to pay Thatherton.

Hank: Huh. That must just be the first instalment.