The Buck Stops Here

The Buck Stops Here
Air date	November 5, 2000
Written by	Norm Hiscock
Directed by	Mike DiMartino
Episode guide
Previous	"The Perils of Polling"
Next	"I Don't Want to Wait..."

"The Buck Stops Here" is the eighty-sixth episode of King of the Hill. It was first aired on November 5, 2000. The episode was written by Norm Hiscock and directed by Mike DiMartino.

Summary

Hank decides to put Bobby to work to break his lazy attitude. Unfortunately, Bobby soon ends up working directly for Mr. Strickland and picking up terrible life lessons. Peggy and Minh compete to donate blood in order to receive a coffee mug.

Plot

Hank is annoyed with Bobby's attitude; treating summer vacation as a time to loaf. Buck Strickland hires Bobby to work as a caddy at the Everwood Country club, a job he is fired from quickly after riding a block of ice down a hill due to peer pressure from his fellow caddies and accidentally colliding with Corky Raywood, the club's membership chairman. After this mishap, Hank drags Bobby to Buck's house to apologize, but Buck not only forgives him after finding the outcome hilarious but hires him as his personal caddy. Although Hank is glad Bobby has been put to work, some of Buck's negative traits begin to rub off on Bobby as the two begin to bond in a father-son relationship.

Meanwhile, Peggy and Minh race against each other to reach the milestone of a gallon's worth of blood donated to earn a coffee mug. However after both were deemed ineligible to donate (due to having to wait several weeks before donating again), they are sent home. Peggy travels to Houston to donate and gets the mug, enraging Minh. However, this comes at a cost as Peggy suffers from weakness due to loss of blood.

After one game where Buck convinces Bobby that "it is only cheating if you get caught", he gives Bobby his watch as a tip. Hank, fed up with Bobby copying Buck's attitude and language, orders Bobby to return the watch. Hank says that there is no cheating in the Hill residence, and says if Bobby wants to cheat he should go to the Strickland residence. Hank figures Bobby will learn his lesson, surmising Buck does not run a daycare center and will refuse to invite Bobby the night over. However, Buck welcomes Bobby, backfiring on Hank. The next morning, Hank goes to get Bobby, only to learn that he left with Buck for Hot Springs, Arkansas. An enraged Hank then makes the long trip from Texas to Arkansas in order to retrieve Bobby from possible danger.

While in Hot Springs, Buck takes Bobby to a dog track and orders him to hold onto his wallet. Later, both Bobby and Buck are relaxing in a mineral bath. Buck says that Hank is too uptight to have a good time like them, to which Bobby agrees. However, when Buck bribes an attendant for information about Rooster's crap game, he throws the money into the mineral bath and laughs as the attendant retrieves it, causing Bobby to feel uncomfortable about Buck's attitude. Things only get worse as Buck loses big time at the crap game and Bobby is threatened by some of the locals. Hank arrives in time to rescue Bobby and Buck, with the latter riding back to Arlen in the back of Hank's pick-up truck, but not before Hank briefly slows down to let the locals briefly maul Buck.

Characters

• Hank Hill
• Peggy Hill
• Bobby Hill
• Dale Gribble
• Jeff Boomhauer
• Bill Dauterive
• Minh Souphanousinphone
• Buck Strickland
• Lupino
• Bradley
• Corky Raywood
• Rooster
• Vargas
• Carla
• Security guard
• Unnamed boys
• Lane Pratley (non-speaking)
• Jody "Rayroy" Strickland (mentioned)

Stinger Quote

• Buck Strickland: "MISS LIZ! TWO HOT TODDIES!!"

Trivia

• The way Buck treats Bobby as his son resembles the way Mr. Burns treated Bart Simpson as his son in the 1994 Simpsons episode "Burns' Heir", though their father-son relationship ended in Mr. Burns' office rather than during an out-of-state road trip.
• This episode is the first time Buck Strickland mentions that he has a son. The later episode "What Happens at the National Propane Gas Convention in Memphis Stays at the National Propane Gas Convention in Memphis" is partially centered around and revealing him to be Jody "Rayroy" Strickland.
• Peggy's and Minh's blood types are revealed in this episode. Minh's blood is Type O, which is highly valued as applicable to any blood type as O+ and especially O- are universal donors and the two blood types most commonly used during critical situations (O- being the truest universal blood donor that all blood types can accept but O+ being able to be received by the positive blood types and contributing to about 875,000 users a year as O- is slightly less common). Peggy's blood is Type AB Negative that she claims is liquid gold but in truth can only be accepted by other AB blood types (positive and negative) and actually has one of the smallest recipient groups (about 25,000 users per year). It is, however, universal in terms of plasma and platelets.
• When Hank enters Hot Springs, he locks his car doors. This is done in the same matter in the episode "Peggy the Boggle Champ" when Hank enters Dallas. While those days are long gone, Hot Springs' portrayal of a town of ill-repute is historically accurate. In the 1800s and early 1900s, it was a hotbed of gambling, prostitution and bootlegging, as well as a well-known spot for numerous mobsters, including Al Capone, Frank Costello, and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.
  • The sight that causes Hank to lock his car doors however was a Welcome sign to Hot Springs mentioning it as the birthplace of 42nd US president Bill Clinton.
• This episode marks the first appearance of Rooster.
• Buck and Bobby go to the dog track in Hot Springs, Arkansas. However, Hot Springs is actually home to a horse track instead.

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