Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men is the 42nd episode of King of the Hill. It was first aired on November 17, 1998. The episode was written by Jim Dauterive, and directed by Shaun Cashman. The name is a pun on the film 12 Angry Men.
Synopsis
Hank and his buddies discuss attending an upcoming focus group at Six Malls Over Texas run by the manufacturer of Hank's favorite lawn mower, the Mason 1500. Hank believes that the mower is one focus group away from being emasculated. Shortly thereafter, Hank turns his attention to Thanksgiving dinner. He is thankful that his mother, Tilly, could join the family for the celebration. But Hank's happiness is short-lived: Cotton and Didi drop by unexpectedly. Hank reminds his father that according to the holiday rotation schedule, it is Tilly's turn to spend Thanksgiving with the family. Cotton promises not to "make a fuss", but he manages to ruin the holiday nonetheless by insulting Tilly repeatedly. That night, Peggy makes final preparations to awaken at 4:00 AM so she can beat other shoppers to the holiday bargains. When the time arrives, Cotton, Didi and Tilly accompany the Hills to the mall. But the rubber sole on Peggy's shoe comes loose. As the shoe is being repaired, Peggy falls asleep. Meanwhile, Hank and his friends make their way to a conference room beneath the mall. There they are greeted by Jonathan Burrows, the group moderator. To Hank's disappointment, Cotton joins the group. As the focus group gets under way, Burrows pulls a tarp off of a lawn mower, revealing the Mason 2500, which resembles a futuristic concept car. Hank is aghast.
Hank tells his friends that the new, yuppified machine is his worst nightmare come true. But the other members of the group are swayed by the mower's many options, such as the electric seat warmer and cup holder. Hank's anger rises when Burrows describes the 1500 model as "obsolete". The word Bill uses for "obsolete" is "collectable". Cotton agrees with this assessment, and suggests his son "trade up". Hank accuses Cotton of "trading up" Tilly for Didi. But Cotton insists he "scrapped" Tilly outright. Hank addresses the group, insisting he will not be swayed by its bells and whistles. But when Burrows asks for a show of hands, all of the men in the focus group, save Hank, indicate their approval of the machine. Meanwhile, at the mall's ice skating rink, Bobby encourages Luanne to put Buckley behind her and get on with her life.
Hank decides to defend his prized mower. He addresses each of the new model's options. He tells Lane Pratley, a car dealer, that he would be paying for the mark-up out his own pocket. Lane changes his vote. Hank then addresses Boomhauer, who liked the seat-warmer option. Hank points out that Boomhauer always rests his beer between his legs, which would cause the drink to warm. Boomhauer changes his vote. The paranoid Dale also changes his vote when he realizes that corporate executives are observing the group from behind a one-way mirror. Hank wins more converts to his side when he demonstrates that the mower's zero turning radius can cause it to crash. Cotton is the last holdout. The old man again berates Tilly, unaware that she is observing from the other side of the two-way mirror. An angry Hank defends his mother and his mower--both at the same time, and threatens to ban Cotton from his home should he ever again speak of her, or his mower in a disparaging manner. Frustrated, Cotton waddles out of the room. Rev. Boyce Hubert tells Hank "I'm not sure if there's a God, or a heaven, but one thing I can tell you, your Daddy's going to hell." Afterwards, Hank asks Tilly if she has thought about what she wants for Christmas. Tilly tells her son that he has given her enough already.
Meanwhile after spending the night cutting coupons for an early Christmas shopping, Peggy spent the entire episode sleeping at a shoe fixing store to get the rubber sole of her loafer fixed.
Characters
- Hank Hill
- Peggy Hill
- Bobby Hill
- Luanne Platter
- Dale Gribble
- Jeff Boomhauer
- Bill Dauterive
- Kahn Souphanousinphone
- Stuart Dooley
- Cotton Hill
- Tilly Garrison (Hill)
- Didi Hill
- Lane Pratley
- Boyce Hubert (cameo)
- Jonathan (cameo)
Trivia
- Once Hank has convinced Kahn and Bill that the Mason 2500 is not a good mower, he claims "that's everybody but one", referring to Cotton. He was never shown persuading the minister into hating the mower. The minister is merely thrown off after a malfunction.
- When Kahn gets bored, he spins in his chair and sings the song "Rock The Casbah!" Shortly after, he fell over, making everyone but cotton laugh.
- The plotline of this episode, especially one man changing all others opinions, and, loosely, the title, is a reference to the film "12 Angry Men".
- Dale claims that if Hank were to lose the bet, it would work to over seven dollars a piece when in reality it would be just over six dollars each.
- The song playing at the ice rink where Bobby and Luanne are skating is Rock 'N Roll part 2 by Gary Glitter. Luanne says the tune was her and Buckley's song, probably because his way of greeting her was to say "Hey."
- We learn that Peggy's shoes is a Uni-Loafer.
- This episode has an example of Peggy's extreme arrogance where she says "The day after Thanksgiving is, in my opinion, the busiest shopping day of the year."
- Gary Kasner (Tilly's boyfriend) did not join the Hills for Thanksgiving. It is not explained why.
- When the moderator asks for Dale's name, he hesitates and slowly refers to himself as Rusty Shackleford. He says it in a way that makes it seem he thought of it on the spot. However he has already referred to himself by that name in an earlier episode Hank's Dirty Laundry.
- Lane Pratley states that he owns Pratley Ford and Pratley Hyundai and that he's got his eye on Pratley Cadillac which he doesn't own yet due to his Dad not doing so well. This is confirmed and revealed in the previous episode "Peggy's Pageant Fever" when Peggy goes to Pratley's dealership to test drive a truck, When the name of Lane Pratley's dealership visibly reads "Lane Pratley Chevrolet" unlike future episodes where it's consistently "Lane Pratley Cadillac Hyundai." Future episodes also indicate that Pratley has since gained ownership of Pratley Cadillac.
Goofs
- It's odd that Peggy's loafers would have a small heel under them since before they were all flat.
- Boomhauer ends up not liking the Mason 2500 mower because the seat warmer would heat up beer resting between his legs. But the mower has a beverage holder, so this ultimately makes no sense. However, this could be explained as Boomhauer simply preferring to keep his can.
- Peggy and Tilly leave the car after Cotton enters and starts insulting Tilly. They both walk to Hank's truck. However there's no reason Peggy would have the truck's keys as Hank drives the truck and they all originally planned on taking the car.
- When the family's getting ready to leave for the mall, Didi is not shown getting in the car. However she is included in the next shot sitting in the back seat next to Cotton. Additionally, if Didi was planning on going, there's no way all seven individuals were going to fit in the car.
- Hank, Bill, Dale, and Boomhauer pass the bathroom as they are walking to the focus group meeting. However in the next shot only Hank and Boomhauer enter the focus group meeting, and when Dale and Bill enter they say they were just in the bathroom talking to Cotton.