King of the Hill 5/18 (Open Spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

I really didn’t like this episode. Not because the episode itself is bad, but because it seems to be ignoring continuity–and in little, bizarre ways. For example, Hoyt claimed he hadn’t seen Luanne since she was just little, but the whole reason Luanne lived with the Hills was because her momma stabbed her daddy. Leanne went to jail and Hoyt went to the oil rig. There was an episode early in S1 when Hank wanted Luanne to move back to her trailer, but it was too painful for her because of the bad memories of Leanne stabbing Hoyt and getting arrested. My point is, he hasn’t been on the oil rig most of Luanne’s life, he just moved there after he was stabbed with a fork.

Second, Hank indicated it was good to finally meet Hoyt. Okay, fine, but clearly they already knew each other. In the episode were Leanne gets out of jail and takes up with Bill, Hank indicates he has a deal worked out with Hoyt to tell him if Leannd is out of jail, and when it’s safe for him to “come home.” His home, incidentally, is in Arlen (see the episode about Luann’s trailer).

Third, there was never, ever any hint or indication that Hoyt Platter is “white trash.” The joke was always that Leanne was “white trash.” That’s why Peggy was so worried about Luanne falling in love with Lucky and did everything she could to keep them separated–because she was scared Luanne would make the same mistake her father did. In fact, I find it very hard to believe that Hoyt is Peggy’s brother at all. The only thing realistic about that was Peggy’s willingness to lie for him, but it’s like they threw out Peggy’s whole family history in order to make this episode work.

And it didn’t need to be that way! There could have been plenty of reasons Hoyt was bad for Luanne without being the standard, stereotypical thief and conman. I know it seems like I’ve been putting too much thought into this, but this season has really disappointed me. For example, there was no fall-out after Cotton died. Bobby loved his grandfather. The relationship they had was very special, but we didn’t even get to see Bobby dealing with his death. Also, what’s going on with Didi and GH? They didn’t have any money when Cotton died. Did they get his life insurance? Do they ever come over to the Hill’s place? It’s just frustrating because King of the Hill isn’t like The Simpsons. It cares about continuity. The kids have aged (a bit. obviously not in “real time”). In earlier seasons, they had actual story arcs that spanned several episodes. Hell, even Peggy’s job as a real estate agent has spanned more than one episode this season.

Or maybe I’m just an insane person and I’m finally showing my true, crazy colors. I’m just happy Fox renewed KotH for another season. Maybe next season they’ll address some of these issues.

Also, I’m annoyed the episodes have been aired out of order, because FOX just doesn’t care.

2

I’m still working on why Peggy went to high school with Hank in Arlen when she grew up on a cattle ranch in Montana. Since her parents are apparently well to do (at least in terms of land) and are self employed ranchers it isn’t likely they moved 1,500 miles south to find work in their field. Have they ever retconned this?

Plus, they make topical references (Homeland Security, I seem to remember a 9/11 reference or two, etc.) but the characters haven’t aged in 11 years. Bobby should be about 24 years old, Cotton (if he weren’t dead) about 90, and Hank and Peggy pushing 60 by now.

3

I haven’t been able to figure out why she went to high school in Arlen–though she didn’t go to high school with Hank. She apparently went to another school, and he noticed her on the softball team. I don’t think the writers are entirely clear on her backstory, though, because early in the series they tried to go to Montana for Thanksgiving, but in flashbacks, she seemed to have a suburban mother, and then when they did go to Montana, clearly her parents have always been ranchers. Maybe the entire Platter family is a mystery to the creative team…

4

Maybe they’re all witness relocation people.

I think the writers also can’t decide on how big Arlen is. In some episodes it seems to be a bedroom community of a large city, in others it seems to be a small self-contained city (maybe 25,000 people or so) with only one middle school and one hospital and one Mega-Lo-Mart, and in others it has things you’d really only find in large cities (a country club for wealthy Asian-Americans, a downtown gentrified "trustafarian-bohemian loft community with art-house theaters, real specialty stores in its huge mall, a musical venue that gets name entertainment, etc.).

Not being very familiar with Texas, I picture it as perhaps a Ft. Worth equivalent of a place like Alpharetta, Georgia- a city just north of Atlanta that’s both a self-contained community that has large shopping malls and all major chains and any number of places you could have a professional career, but also close enough to Atlanta to be in its metropolitan area and with many people who commute to the nucleus of the Stat.Metro.Area each day.