Alan Rickman guest stars as a sexist Mean Boss, who styles himself king of the local Renaissance Fair. He refuses to give his female workers equal pay and benefits — and Peggy the cleaning wench is the only one who can stop it.
Tropes:
- Alien Non-Interference Clause: Dale, who is dressed as a Starfleet officer, uses this as an excuse for why he can't help Hank when it comes to his jousting challenge. After Peggy defeats Phillip and the women unionize and sue him, Dale panics and claims that "the Prime Directive has been breached!" and that the women's civil rights movement happened about 400 years too soon, pretending to beam out afterwards.
- Anachronism Stew: Played for Laughs. Dale tries to get a discount at the door for appearing in period costume, except that his choice of outfit resembles a Star Trek uniform. He argues with the ticket guy that "the future" is a period and should count.
- Awesome, but Impractical: From a certain perspective. The fair's gigantic, metal fire-breathing dragon statue is powered by propane, and requires a thousand gallons a week to operate, at the expense of thousands of dollars. Still, the sight of it is enough to move Hank to stunned silence.
- Bad Boss: Phillip regularly sexually harasses the women in his employ, assigns them the last lunch break after all the good food is gone, and criminally underpays them. When he encounters resistance, he waves it off as "tomfoolery" and by claiming that the labor laws he's breaking have not yet been written.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: When some passing teenagers point at Phillip, he rises from the throne and makes a noble-sounding proclamation. The kids laugh at him.Phillip: We wage war with France on the morrow![Beat]Teen: That is so gay.
- Fake Brit: In-Universe. Phillip is actually Texan, but speaks in a British accent during the fair. Alan Rickman uses something close to his natural speaking voice for most of the episode, but puts on a thick, warbling Texan drawl when the jig is up and he's been served with a lawsuit.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Hank is challenged by King Phillip to a joust over the future of Strickland's propane contract. While Hank, who has never ridden a horse before, fails spectacularly at this, Peggy, who grew up in Montana on a farm, avenges Hank immediately afterwards.
- Humiliation Conga: King Phillip gets knocked off his horse by Peggy, who's using a carpet beater in place of a jousting lance. Immediately after Peggy removes her helmet to gloat to his face, the other women he'd been mistreating serve him with a lawsuit, which finally get him to break character and lament that he's going to lose everything.
- Improbable Weapon User: Peggy knocks Phillip off his horse with a carpet beater, representing the employees he'd been mistreating.
- No OSHA Compliance: Of a more mundane sort. The renaissance fair skirts labor laws at every opportunity, at least when it comes to the women employed there. Peggy points out that the washing wenches make 70 cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts, but the village idiot Signed Up for the Dental.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: After Hank learns what an abusive asshole Phillip is, he's willing to end the potential propane deal for the sake of Peggy and her women co-workers.
- Serious Business: Phillip never breaks character until the very last moments, conducting business transactions with Strickland as though he were dealing with a local guild. Hank and Peggy are stopped at the service entrance and made to change into period dress in order to even approach him.
- Straw Misogynist: Phillip's defining character trait. He abruptly ends a conversation with Peggy when she pushes back on his workplace practices, has her thrown in the stocks when she attempts to unionize, and sexually assaults his employees.
