King of the Hill is fantastic, but not perfect.
King of the Hill wears its views on the sleeve, Hank Hill is passionate about his views and that makes up a good bulk of his character, but in spite of that he is still likable at the end of the day, which is what helped the show earn appeal from people on both ends of the political spectrum, it had an audience, but it had enough to entice people outside of it. Did you know the reason for Fox Kids running a promotion with King of the Hill was due to the audience at the time consisting mostly of kids?
Also on the topic of spectrum, it's astounding how a right-leaning show has more appeal than the left-leaning The Goode Family. The center to the right work on better appeal while the left abides to basic comedy, no wonder promotion is their main drive these days.
However, with so many seasons, clunkers are to be expected. The title gave it away, but I'm not going to talk about any Peggy-centered episode or the other more infamous ones. Reviewing is my passion, not my source of income.
Useless Divider
The worst thing an episode of King of the Hill could be is something without enough substance. For every bad episode I can at least understand their intent. It's Not Easy Being Green, not an environmental nut, but the big takeaway was honesty, especially on something important to other characters. Episodes focused on the Hank and Luanne dynamic, Hank learns to show more kindness to someone in need of it, and I have a feeling Peggy and Luanne are the era's equivalent to Sia and Maddie Ziegler.
Point is, I have takeaways even from episodes I don't like, take a guess what I'm trying to say about this.
The point behind this episode is that Hank has to live with the fact that he has no ass, no seriously, due to a lack of development on his glutes his spine is more vulnerable, leading to back pain. Only other point of interest is a lawnmower race, but you can take one or the other out and the only connection would be Hank's ability to take part, which could be easily changed.
One takeaway I got from this episode was Dale, who does what's essentially the equivalent to kicking a paralyzed man while they're already knocked down. Now look, this is par the course for Dale, and Bill and Boomhauer while I'm at it. This wasn't the first time they hazed Hank, and wouldn't be the last. I know they did worse when Hank went blind, and probably more before then.
But why am I not complaining about those? Because the episodes themselves had more to them, the hazing was just a part of it. Even if not there was a payoff to justify it. If my only takeaway was the hazing, chances are the episode was just too bland for my blood.
Next thing I recall is the mower race, and for the sake of throwing out what I recall, Dale does a grand bulk of the cheating here, to Hank mainly, from using nitrous to stabbing a hole in the water cushions Hank used for support for his ass or lack thereof.
And of all that, none of them finish first, though Dale places ahead of Hank. Part of me wants to be happy they subverted expectations, but another part of me is saying that this is a rip-off, or maybe it just wasn't well thought-out.
A minor nitpick, but they say Hank can qualify for next year's race in spite of placing seventh. It's down to the top 3, 5 at max, but I may never know how they do things in Texas.
Overall
The biggest issue with this episode is a lack of true substance. It felt like a slow day in the writer's room bringing a subpar script. You could say it can explore Hank's work affecting his health, but a few seasons later we revisit Hank's back and the episode is much better.
I... draw a blank for a closing statement.
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