Ask Lemmy

I feel like her getting with Lucky and having a baby near the end was complete character assassination. I recall hearing the Fox pushed for certain things in the last couple of seasons and I suspect the push for her to get with Lucky, and Lucky becoming a reoccurring character was part of that.

In my mind, Luanne taking over Jack's barber shop was the end of her character arc in the show. She'd finally found her calling and become a success. (Then suddenly we never see that Barber shop again and she backslides into just being a one dimensional dummy, but now pregnant and with Lucky to be annoying with in every scene.)

The reboot is great, but she was definitely a missing piece

It's nice to see that show get more appreciation these days. I always loved it when I was young, thought it was hilarious, like the meme of Hank with the big can of WD-40 that won't open, but he's prepared for that and just pulls out the smaller WD-40 was representative of the whole show, not just a funny moment.

Like Dale, the character defined by his paranoia and lack of trust, not even considering his wife was so obviously cheating on him.

Or Boomhauer, by far the wisest character on the show once you learn to understand him, except no one on the show can, though Hank often pretends he understands and that Boomhauer just said what he wanted/needed to hear.

And the writing that respected its viewers. Jokes that just happen and then it moves on whether you notice them or not, like Luanne trying to do highlights for Connie but instead wrecked the hair she was highlighting and it came off with the cap. Only thing it shows you are Luanne seeing it, panicking for a moment and hiding the cap, followed up by one confused "isn't it supposed to be more noticeable than this?" (or something similar) and then it's never mentioned again.

It was as funny as South Park just way more subtle about it. Tbh I'm kinda surprised it lasted as long as it did with how many people didn't get it until later.

While a lot of people like to point to Hank as a caricature of conservative values, I really feel like that misses the mark. Hank is a great example of someone who doesn't compromise morals for values. A big part of the show revolves around Hank being subject to things that sit far outside his limited world view. Each time he goes through an arch of emotions, initially reacting with the confusion and fear you'd expect from a middle aged white Christian man finding out that his wife's new friend is a prostitute or that his friend's dad is fabulously gay, before having a contemplative moment where he either talks openly with peggy before bed or works on something mechanical. He then ultimately recovers from the situation and while he may still feel uncomfortable with the topic he always resolves to approach it from a place of earnest understanding. He does not let his political, religious, or societal values trump his moral imperative to treat people with the respect they deserve and to help a person in need.

Watching in its entirety for the first time as an adult, I made the other common mistake in thinking hank was a bad character because despite being conservative coded he frequently makes what I recognized as being incredibly progressive and left leaning decisions. I couldn't decide if it was the writer's secret goal to try an reeducate the bigots of the right by tricking them into relating to a man who can be ok with drag queens. That is the common folly of trying to understand a creature while you stand beside the monster wearing its corpse as a disguise. Conservative doesn't mean what it used to, it doesn't mean anything. None of our political terms do. But King of the Hill came out when they still did mean something and was made by people who lived through time when it actually matched the definition of the word. Conservative used to mean Hank Hill. Conservative used to mean hating the idea of Walmart killing local businesses. It used to mean focusing on your community. It used to mean striving for a simple world, not fighting against anything that expands it. There is a lot that the show can teach us about political discourse but I honestly don't think anyone is ready to really learn it.

Hank is an annoying boomer but he lives his values, which makes him endearing. There's an episode where he notices the tile in his bathroom is faded and says it was guaranteed for 20 years and its only been "what 17, 18 years? Where's that receipt?" That's an annoying and obnoxious boomerism. On the other hand, if Hank guaranteed something for 20 years, even as an unofficial offhand comment, and somebody called him on it, he'd go take care of it.

Same thing with tools. Many boomers pretend to have any idea what they are doing when really they don't have any tools or skills. Hank had enough tools and skills to teach an entire shop class in his garage.

He believes in the idealized idea of America. That means he works hard and to a high degree of craftsmanship and honesty. It also means he can get scammed and taken advantage of with his expectation that other people are doing the same.

I think the premise is solid, and so rooted in his values has to come to terms with the world around him, and he slowly opens up to things that are outside his worldview. He may not understand them, he may be horrified, but he's always caring and open to admitting he was wrong.