"Happy Hank's Giving" is the sixty-seventh episode of "King of the Hill". It was first aired on November 21, 1999. The episode was written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, and directed by Martin Archer. Joanna Gleason guest stars.
Summary[]
The Hills and their friends are all stranded at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport the night before Thanksgiving.
Plot[]
The episode begins with Hank, Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer standing in the alley while Hank uses a propane smoker to smoke a turkey for Thanksgiving. Bill is excited and asks Hank he could come over for dinner on Thanksgiving, but Hank tells him that he and the family are flying to Montana to spend Thanksgiving with Peggy's parents and because she and her mother don't always get along, and now she is saying that propane couldn't properly smoke a turkey, so he's going to prove her wrong, and Boomhauer points out that he is going to visit his grandmother in Florida. Bill then becomes bitter about Thanksgiving as his abandonment issues kick in.
The next day the Hills are loading the car so that they can get to airport in Dallas and catch their plane that leaves at 4:00. Luanne is excited to finally see her father after her mother assaulted him with a fork. Unfortunately, Peggy finds out that Hank had failed to buy Luanne a ticket, and now he has no choice but to buy one at the airport. As they're about to leave, Bill stops by and tells them that he is going to Dallas to pick up his "Uncle Stan" who's flying in for Thanksgiving and wants to drive the Hills to the airport.
At the Dallas airport, Bill drops them off and leaves and a skycap asks Hank if his bags have been out of his sight. Hank tells them that he may have had his back turned for a minute, but Peggy tells them to just say they were in his sight, but Hank says that he can't say that, he could be committing perjury, which alarms the skycap. After they get security to check the bag, he asks if there's anything else they are bring onto the plane, Hank proudly tells him that he's bringing along a small bottle of propane; he has to put it in a locker (this was even BEFORE tighter security measures were put in place after September 11, 2001). He then buys a ticket for Luanne (although since he bought it on the day of travel rather than six months ago, he paid $719 instead of $250, which irritated him).
Meanwhile outside of the airport, the Gribbles are dropping off John Redcorn who is visiting family in Arizona, and when Dale asked him if "your people" celebrate Thanksgiving, he says 'we did...once'. As he starts to walk into the terminal Nancy decides to get out and "make sure he gets off all right".
After seeing the Souphaniousinphones for a second, and calling Peggy's mother, the gate agent announces that bad weather will force the delay of the Billings flight. Hank tries to volunteer to make the flight happen, but the gate agent refuses, and Hank angrily leaves.
Bill, sad and alone at home, cooks a TV dinner for himself inside a large roasting pan. When he hears that all DFW flights are delayed, he grabs his keys and heads back to the airport. Meanwhile, Peggy overhears a rumor from a nearby passenger and thinks the family needs to switch to a TWA flight because they can de-ice the planes. When Hank refuses, Peggy tries to create a diversion to Hank by telling Bobby that a second line has opened up at the cookie shop in the food court, so she can lie to him and justify switching to TWA. Kahn, meanwhile, has commandeered the "Wok On In" food booth claiming to be "from the head office" to whip up food bowls for his family.
Meanwhile, Dale tries to smoke in the Admiral Club of an airline but a staff member prohibits him. He then tries to smoke in an SUV on display inside the airport and is caught, after which we see that Nancy and John Redcorn are in the back. Finally he makes it to the outside on the runways and smokes, but a No Re-Entry sign is on the door, so he's trapped outside.
After the Hills return to their original gate after learning that TWA doesn't even fly into Billings, Montana, they then learn that the Billings flight has been cancelled until tomorrow. Boomhauer heads for a nearby hotel with a stewardess on each arm. The Hill family tries to catch a bus to the Econo Suite hotel where a block of rooms has been set aside for stranded travelers, but Peggy insists that they will not have enough space on the bus. Bill then arrives to give the family a ride, but after he crashes his car into the back of a truck, they must walk to the hotel; but when the arrive, they see that there is no vacancy, so they take a cab back to the airport and end up sleeping in the terminal.
The next day, the family gets in line to board the flight to Billings, but at the last minute Hank is required to check the box with his turkey, although he wanted to carry it on the plane but can't because of its awkward shape. The family gets on the plane, and sees the crew loading up all the bags. Unfortunately, when they come to Hank's turkey box, the security dogs bark at it. This makes the crew mistakenly believe that the box contains a bomb. So the squad comes out and explodes the box, ruining the turkey to Hank's horror.
By the time that's done, it starts raining again, so the plane can't take off and everybody returns to the airport. Angry at the staff, Hank demands that the gate agent gives him a flight. Hank is informed that DFW is completely shut down, but Love Field has a flight for Montana that leaves in 1 hour, and that his only chance is getting on the one airport bus, which leaves in 5 minutes. The family makes a run for it, and Hank decides that it's time to force his way on the bus. So, he makes the driver let his family on, and they barely fit on the bus. Hank is ready to get to Montana! But after seeing another family stranded, he gives up his seats on the bus so the other family can get on.
They go back to the airport food court, and soon discover that everybody missed their flights and that Boomhauer struck out with a stewardess. As they all sit around sad, Hank tells them that although their plans had been cancelled, everybody is still all together, so they eat their dinner (mainly a pizza from "Papa Capone's" pizza). Hank heats the pizza using his propane tank, Peggy decides to MacGyver up a Brown Betty out of leftover pizza crusts, and everybody is eating together at the airport, and had a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Characters[]
- Hank Hill
- Peggy Hill
- Bobby Hill
- Luanne Platter
- Dale Gribble
- Nancy Gribble
- Boomhauer
- Bill Dauterive
- Kahn Souphanousinphone
- Minh Souphanousinphone
- John Redcorn
- Maddy Platter (cameo)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Season 4 DVD titles this episode "The Hank's Giving Episode".
- Peggy's mom makes a short cameo in this episode when Hank is on the phone. She is seen as an older, large gray haired woman. However in "A Rover Runs Through It", she's seen as a much skinnier, younger looking dark haired woman.
- In this episode, Peggy appears to have a healthy, normal relationship with her mother, along in "I Remember Mono". However, in "A Rover Runs Through It", Peggy states she has not spoken with her mother all of her adulthood. This is one of the many continuity errors in the show. When Hank calls Montana to report that they won't be in Montana for Thanksgiving, he reports that Mother Platter was "disappointed;" based on "A Rover Runs Through It," it's easy to assume that Mother Platter expressed disappointment in her daughter.
- Peggy's arrogance and naivete is displayed in this episode with her statement: "The day before Thanksgiving, in my opinion, is the busiest travel day of the year."
- When Peggy says Hank's full name during the line to the bus, Hank's middle name is revealed to be Rutherford.
- "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" by Bing Crosby plays at Bill's house.
Stinger quote[]
Bill: (sniffs) "I hate Thanksgiving!"
Quotes[]
Hank (after their flight is delayed-again-and Hank's turkey is mistaken for a bomb and destroyed): "You blew up the wrong man's turkey!"
Dale: "Hey do your people even celebrate Thanksgiving?"
John Redcorn: "We did...once."
Luanne: "Uncle Hank, some gentleman just asked me to join the mile high club, could you get me an application?"
Hank: "Well, Luanne, I imagine they have them on the plane."
Goofs[]
- When arriving at the airport, Qantas is misspelled as "Quantas", and America West is misspelled as "American West".