When a Bostonian who is obsessed with the cowboy lifestyle comes to town looking for a propane dealer, Hank goes through great lengths just to win him over.
This episode was produced during season 1, but didn't end up airing until season 2. It's included on the Season 1 DVD set, but it has aired in reruns and on streaming (both Netflix and Hulu) as a season two episode.
This episode contains examples of:
- Agony of the Feet: Hank is reluctant to wear cowboy boots because of his fat toes - the tightness of them causes him to have toe cramps.
- Annoying Laugh: Holloway's wheezing cackle.
- Bar Brawl: Happens at the end after Hank tells off Holloway, where he wants to fight him. Hank isn't having it but Thatherton is more than happy to oblige, which cause everyone there to start throwing punches while Hank quickly high-tails it out of there.
- Broken Pedestal: Seems to happen with Bobby briefly due to Hank degrading himself to win over Holloway, instead opting to do his speech on Colonel Sanders. But after Hank decides to eschew Holloway, Bobby goes through with his originally planned speech.
- Cool Car: Hank rents a Cadillac with a Texas bullhorn on the hood to woo over Mr. Holloway, though Hank doesn't think it's cool and dismisses it as a pimpmobile.
- Curse Cut Short: Hank starts to tell Holloway another meaning of the "M.F" in Thatherton's name before the man himself cuts him off to say it means "My Friend".
- Death Glare: Peggy gives Hank one when he has to take Holloway to a strip club.
- Flashback: We go back eight years earlier, with Thatherton working at Strickland Propane, while discussing sales quotas. We get glimpse of Thatherton's seediness by suggesting giving propane to old people and telling them it's oxygen before revealing he's formed Thatherton Fuels and stating he took three of Strickland's top clients.
- Jerkass: Mr. Holloway is an immature, obnoxious Manchild, thinks Texans are all gun-toting cowboys and just brushes off Hank for irrelevant things when he tries to discuss propane.
- Lethal Chef: Peggy, as far as Mrs. Holloway is concerned after eating her Frito pie, though Bobby and Luanne don't seem to get sick from it. It may've just been Mrs. Holloway's not used to such foods, while Peggy believes she got sick from airplane food.
- Mega Meal Challenge: Mr. Holloway decides to have a 72 ounce steak, which of course is presented as this, but due to him eating some things from the all-you-can eat buffet, after one small bite, he's done, which pisses off everyone watching.
- Mistaken for Servant: Hank has Peggy wear a cowgirl dress instead of a pantsuit she intended to wear. The problem is when they all go to the restaurant, the waitresses there wear the exact same dress Peggy has on and even tell her to get to work.
- Not Helping Your Case: Hank tries to argue to Peggy that he needs to suck up to Mr. Holloway because it's his job, and his job is what keeps Peggy in pretty dresses like the one she's wearing. Problem is, said dress is one that she hates and that Hank made her wear to impress Holloway.
- Older Than They Look: At the gentleman's club, Hank vents to one of the dancers about the trials of their jobs, where the dancer reveals she's trying to get enough money to retire so she can stay home with her granddaughter and her baby, but appears to be around Hank's age.
- Assuming she is Hank's age, it's not totally implausible for her to have a great-grandchild, assuming all four generations of the women got pregnant in their early teens.
- Punch Catch: Hank does this after telling Holloway off, when he tries to sock Hank.
- Rage Breaking Point: Putting up with Holloway's crap throughout the episode, Hank rips into him after buying him a mint julep and criticizing it:
- Hank: Mister, I'll tell you what. I don't want your business. Not this way. You wanna go with Thatherton? Go! But one of these days when your propane mixture's only 89% and you have a smelly condo development full of crying babies whose bottles haven't been properly heated, you give me a call. My name is Hank Hill. And I sell propane and propane accessories, with honor and dignity!
- Revised Ending: An alternate ending on the DVD has Mrs. Holloway as the real owner of the condominiums and gladly accepts Strickland's deal.
- Say My Name: Hank does this with Thatherton a couple times in the episode.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Zig-zagged. Hank goes in with the normal confidence he has, planning to do his normal sales pitch and ending it with pie and a handshake. But Mr. Holloway doesn't take Hank at all seriously, thinking he should be the cowboy he thinks Texans should be. Hank ends up making up stories and wearing a cowboy hat and boots just to win him over. But even through all that, Holloway still isn't impressed and decides to go with Thatherton after all, which causes Hank to rant how he didn't need his business after all, especially not in the way that degrades his dignity.
- Shout-Out: Holloway insists on calling Hank J.R., after J.R. Ewing from Dallas.
- Special Guest: Burt Reynolds as Thatherton, Billy West as Mr. Holloway and Stockard Channing as Mrs. Holloway.
- Stereotype: Mr. Holloway thinks that all Texans should be gun-toting cowboys, which naturally is why he ends up going with Thatherton at the end.
- Tall Tale: Hank tells Holloway some to win him over, such as saying he had an Uncle Fess that lost his cowboy boots in a tornado and claimed to give him his boots to be buried in, which impresses Holloway. He also makes a claim that he doesn't wear a cowboy hat because he made a vow to Lady Bird Johnson, but Holloway doesn't have it since he blames LBJ for killing JFK. He also claimed he bought Peggy's freedom from the Commanches with his rodeo winnings and he was in a Mexican P.O.W. camp, which Bobby brings up in the Sunday School speech on why Hank was the man he admired most, much to his embarrassment.
- Theme Park Version: Holloway believes Texas is (or should be) this. Thinking the place is full of oil rigs, rattlers, Native Americans, and cowboys and assumes everyone wears ten gallon hats, cowboy boots, and six-shooters. Hank lampshades this, telling Holloway that Texas has changed a lot since the 1800s.
- Title Drop: During a flashback, Thatherton mocks Hank and says, "Well, aren't you the company man?"
- Women Are Wiser: While Hank has a hard time dealing with Mr. Holloway, Peggy and Mrs. Holloway actually hit it off really well, or at least till Holloway had Peggy's Frito pie... In fact, in the alternate DVD ending, it's revealed Mrs. Holloway is the real owner of Holloway Hollows.
