Hank tries to teach Bobby about the Alamo after discovering that the new history textbooks in school contain pop history — and things get worse when Hank's plans for an Alamo play include a director who wants to portray the American force as a bunch of drunken, doped-up, slave-owning, prostitute-loving cowards. Meanwhile, Nancy gets a Flat Stanley doll in the mail, and Peggy and Luanne put it through dangerous scenarios to teach kids about safety.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – History: Part of the episode's conflict is that the textbooks gloss over certain aspects of Texan history which appalls Hank. He gets even more offended when the play he's supposed to direct suffers so many changes to the point where the story barely even resembles actual historic records.
- Bittersweet Ending: Bobby has to go to Summer School since he failed to get his grade up during the whole Alamo debacle, but Hank cheers him up by letting him skip class and offering to take him to Six Flags since he wrote what actually happened in Alamo in his new textbook.
- Historical Downgrade: Davy Crockett, William Travis, and James Bowie are not depicted in a very positive light in Tuttle's play.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Tuttle defends his revisionist version of the Alamo by pointing out that the actual history is fairly muddled and historians aren't even certain about how many people were at the Alamo. He's not wrong, but his point is undercut both by his decision to paint the Alamo defenders in the most negative light possible and by the fact that he seems to care more about being taken seriously as a writer than about producing an educational play, which was the whole point.
- Last-Minute Project: Due to Bobby's failing grades in history due to the new textbooks, he convinces his teacher to put on a play about the Alamo. Ultimately though, he ruins the chances of a passing grade by writing in his textbook - something the class was told would mean an instant fail - about the topic. Not that this upsets Hank, who praises Bobby for this action.
- Politically Correct History: Tuttle's play is a revisionist version of the Alamo depicting the defenders as overly braindead, drunken cowards. Tuttle defends his version by saying that the facts from the battle are unclear and that his play is no different from other historical inaccurate depictions such as John Wayne's The Alamo.
- Poor Communication Kills: Tuttle never told Hank about what his play is about. He only sent his script to Hank, which he didn't read it because he had expected the play to be a faithful retelling of his popular depiction of the Alamo.
- Rose-Tinted Narrative: Hank had expected Tuttle's play to be something similar to John Wayne's The Alamo, which Tuttle scornfully calls it a "rehashing". This is Tuttle’s problem with the popular, glorified depiction of the Alamo for glossing over the actual historical information, and so he created his own version to serve as a harsh rebuttal.
- Scare 'Em Straight: Peggy decides to do this with the Flat Stanley doll by putting it through gruesome acts of violence to teach kids safety. To say they're less than thrilled by the results of Peggy's experiment is an Understatement.
- Bobby is initially elated to get the new books, as he believes he'll be the first one to write and/or vandalize it. His principal makes it clear he expects these to stay pristine for years (especially considering the price they had to pay, while the chemistry lab hasn't had working gas in some time); when Bobby tries to plow ahead, his teacher catches him and threatens "If you draw one mustache in that book, I will draw a big fat F on your grade!" and Bobby immediately moves his pencil away in disappointment.
- Trash the Set: After becoming offended by Tuttle's play, Hank briefly considers trashing the set. But he then realizes it's wrong to censor someone just for disagreeing, and presages the play with a speech about the bare facts regarding the Alamo.
