The day after Thanksgiving, the family goes Christmas shopping, while Hank and the guys attend a focus group discussing a new lawn mower model, which Hank thinks is inferior.
Tropes:
- Appeal to Novelty: What the Mason Group is doing with their new lawnmower, with Hank having to prove it's not so good after all.
- Calling the Old Man Out: All throughout the episode, Cotton insults Hank, his mother and mower constantly, but eventually Hank gets fed up, leading to this exchange:Cotton: Don't get me wrong, Mr. Kahn. I like a woman with a big butt. But Tilly was takin' advantage of the situation.
Hank: All right, I've had enough, Dad.
Cotton: Don't you talk to me like that, boy. I'll tell you when you've had enough.
Hank: No, Dad. My mower is not too old and my mom is not too old. But this isn't about my mom and it's certainly not about my mower. It's about a bitter old man who blames everybody but himself for all his own problems. And if you ever talk about my mom or my mower like that again, you're not welcome in my house.- And to sweeten it, Tilly heard the exchange from the other room, placating her as she wishes Hank would defend her all along.
- Comically Missing the Point: When the moderator asks for a show of hands on whether or not the new mower is good, Bill asks if they're voting for the mower or Hank's mother (this was after Cotton insulted her again). He was then told they were voting for the mower, to which Bill raises his hand.
- Cool, but Inefficient : The Mason 2500, the new lawnmower looks and sounds good. But Hank has Boyce ride it and it flips over, due to the zero turning radius, showing how useless the lawnmower is.
- Crisis of Faith: The minister Boyce Hubert, who's lost his faith after a baptism gone wrong with a baby.Hank: Reverend Hubert...
Boyce: I didn't drown that boy! - "Eureka!" Moment: Hank get this moment when he sees how Kahn spins himself around the hair and falls over due to the boredom, finally giving him the idea to show how impractical the mower is thus swaying every other vote... except Cotton.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: At the mall, Luanne goes with Bobby ice-skating and hatches a plan where she pretends Bobby is her son to meet guys, though the storyline doesn't really go anywhere.
- Failures on Ice: Luanne cannot skate at all, though the same can't be said for Bobby.
- Gosh Darn It to Heck!: Peggy's reaction to have a sole break off her shoe: "Oh, fire truck!"
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Hank first successfully convinces car dealer Lane Pratley to change his vote against the mower pointing out that if he pays for the mower, he would be paying the mark-up out of his own pocket. Similar to how he has Bill pay for the car he sold to him with the mark-up.Bill: You would be just like me.
- Insistent Terminology:
- Peggy's arguement with the shoe repairman:Peggy: How long would it take to glue a rubber sole back on a ladies' loafer?
Shoe Repairman: Five minutes. (looks at shoe) Ladies' loafer? That's a man's loafer.
Peggy: It is a uni-loafer. - Bill mentions to Lane Pratley that he sold pinstriping for his Ford Escort, Pratley corrects him saying he "financed" pinstriping for his Escort.
- Peggy's arguement with the shoe repairman:
- I Take Offense to That Last One: The faults of the lawnmower being space age polymers, zero turning radius, and rear bag option combined into one scares everyone from the mower. But it's the flimsy cupholder breaking under the weight of the mower that convinces Bill to change his mind.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Cotton shows up uninvited; Hank has a deal with his parents rotating having dinner at his house every year and this year is his mother Tilly's. When Hank points it out to him:Cotton: Well, I don't want to cause any fuss. (cut to a smiling Hank) Your mother can eat in the yard. (Cotton and Didi go inside the house)
- Jerkass Has a Point: After Hank insists on keeping the meeting going after the others are pretty much ready to go, Kahn smacks him down with an on-point criticism while pointing out he has father issues himself:Kahn: Give us a break, Hank. When you little redneck boy, you couldn't defend your mother. Now you compensate by defending your mower. You confuse personal issues with technological. I have father issues too, but this is a good mower.
- Kick the Dog: While Cotton is incredibly insulting to Hank and Tilly throughout the episode, these moments stand-out:
- He trashes Tilly's cooking and after Hank tells him to at least stop insulting her while Bobby is around, he then ups the ante saying how lousy she was in bed. The whole room goes quiet before the other family members look at Hank, who just facepalms in embarrassment.
- After Hank convinces the other guys that the new lawnmower is bad, Cotton is the holdout. He then tells Boyce to schedule another baptism and drown Hank.
- Cotton's reason why he wouldn't change his vote after seeing how the lawnmower is bad? It's because he said that the mower is good enough to strap Tilly into and push her off the cliff. Tilly laments that he did this again and in public... but that's when Hank finally has had enough.
- Pick Up Babes With Babes: Luanne tries this with Bobby while at the mall.
- Rogue Juror: Hank is the only one who isn't bought in to how good the new lawnmower is and shows off the faults of it and eventually sells the others on how bad it is, except of course Cotton.
- See You in Hell: A variation. After Hank chews out Cotton for insulting his lawnmower and his mother, and threatening to not welcome him into his home if he doesn't stop insulting Tilly, Cotton gives Hank a childish insult, collects the $50 participation fee, and storms off into the mall. Reverend Hubert tries to console Hank by saying: "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!"
- Serious Business: The focus group is this for the guys, who all wear suits and ties.
- Shout-Out: The title alludes to 12 Angry Men, which also has in its central plot a man who single handedly convinces the other members of the group to change their minds.
- Skewed Priorities: Hank who defends Troy Aikman during the football game, but not so much Tilly from Cotton's barb. Though he changes that in the end.
- Special Guest: Dwight Yoakum as car salesman Lane Pratley and Billy Bob Thornton as Boyce Hubert.
- Thanksgiving Episode: The first few scenes shows Thanksgiving at the Hill house, with Cotton continually insulting Tilly. The rest of the episode takes place on Black Friday with the family Christmas shopping at the mall and Hank and Cotton going to the focus group.
- Time-Passes Montage: Shown during the meeting, with Hank explaining the faults of the mower, with snack bags and beer cans piled up, with the guys looking more unraveled.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Played with and lampshaded. Hank and the family leave the mall, with Hank thinking Peggy got a ride back home with Cotton. In reality, she fell asleep in the shoe repair store, waiting for her loafer to be fixed and the clerk shutting down the store. And it appears no Christmas shopping was done.
