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Recap / King Of The Hill S 3 E 24 Take Me Out Of The Ballgame

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Hank coaches the Strickland Propane softball team and recruits Peggy to be the pitcher, but both husband and wife clash over how to run the team. Bobby begins selling cookies he made to rival the Arrow Girls.

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  • Acquired Error at the Printer: When getting their new yearbooks, Connie wishes her photo isn't at the end of the page like last year, which read "Connie Soup" since her picture was at the edge of the page and they ran out of room to print all of her last name.
  • Amusing Injuries: Bill in the Army game, when Peggy's pitching regresses. He gets hit in the head while at bat, leaving him mumbling about. Subverted while sitting in the bleacher, he gets hit in the crotch, which is played for drama. Though Dale laughs at him getting hit.
  • Artistic License – Sports: The episode gets a few things wrong about softball. Softball is played on all-dirt infields, not all-grass. There's also no pitcher's mound, just a pitcher's circle. And co-ed games are more slower-paced than the games presented here.
  • Baseball Episode: The main plot with Hank coaching the Strickland softball team and having Peggy as the star pitcher.
  • Berserk Button: Kurt Bevacqua's wife almost lunges at Peggy after she hit her while Peggy's pitching was still off, but is stopped by Luanne.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Luanne quickly lunges forward and tackles Kurt Bevacqua's wife the moment Luanne realizes Peggy is in danger.
  • Big Game: The climatic game taking place against Thatherton Fuels.
  • Brought Down to Normal: In the Army game, after Hank gives Peggy coaching not as a coach, but as a husband, her pitching regresses quickly, with her missing several balls and them ricocheting off the cages, with a couple falling onto Bobby's cookies and hurting Bill. The third act has her working hard to gain her confidence back and get her pitching back on track.
  • Call-Back: Bobby and Connie see their school dance photo in the Couples section.
  • The Cameo: Debbie Grund and Booda Sack make non-speaking appearances on Strickland's softball team.
  • Comedic Sociopathy: While Peggy seems horrified after one of her balls hits Bill in the groin, Dale just laughs at his pain.
  • Delayed Reaction: "I am a cookie- boyfriend?"
  • Down to the Last Play: Dale comes through in the end when Kurt Bevacqua makes a final hit but Dale manages to catch the ball with his cap to win the game for Strickland, despite worrying about people seeing his bald head.
  • The Dragon: Kurt Bevacqua serves at this for Thatherton Fuels for the final challenge at the final inning
  • Drench Celebration: After Peggy wins her first game as the new pitcher for Strickland, the players pour a canister of Gatorade on her, which makes Hank envious since he was the coach. Dale sees his point and throws his cup of Gatorade in his face. And in the end, after winning against Thatherton, both Hank and Peggy get drenched.
  • Epic Fail: Bobby's attempt at showing off a a bicycle trick for Connie ends up with him skidding on the stack of the Arrow Girls cookies, already making a bad first impression with them.
  • Hollywood Heart Attack: Buck, whose doctor cleared him to play catcher and have him sit on a stool, over-exerts himself after Dale makes a bunt and attempts to chase him to get him out, has one, which takes him out of playing action for the rest of the episode.
  • Ignored Expert: Peggy clearly has a better understanding of softball than Hank does and it's shown her plays work better than his, but he's too stubborn and jealous to admit it.
  • It's All About Me: Hank spends most of this episode acting incredibly egotistical and self-centered. He tries to browbeat Peggy into joining Strickland's softball team despite that she's been on another softball team for years and he's never shown an interest. After Peggy officially joins the team and proves to be a great player, Hank tries everything he can to keep attention on himself as the coach while both downplaying Peggy's accomplishments and trying to emotionally guilt trip her into following his orders as her husband. It's not until the very end when he realizes the true reason Peggy's skills have floundered is due to him giving her a complex.
  • Lame Comeback: After Hank and Peggy have an argument about their playing strategies, with her claiming she knows what she's doing but Hank wouldn't know since he never attended her games. Hank counters that she never watched him sell propane.
  • Loophole Abuse: The rules establish that to be eligible to join the company softball team, one must be on the payroll of said company they play for or be the spouse of an employee. Thatherton hires a dispatcher whose husband happens to be former MLB player Kurt Bevacqua.
  • Manipulative Bastard: One of the Arrow Girls tries Bobby's superior cookies and lies, claiming it tastes like mud and convinces Connie not to try one. She does in the end, proving their dishonesty while admitting Bobby is her boyfriend.
  • Official Couple: Towards the end, after the Arrow Girls attack Bobby, Connie tries one of Bobby's cookies and says it's delicious and refers to him as her boyfriend. And then the next scene we see them together, they're seen holding hands.
  • Refusal of the Call: Peggy is already a pitcher for a women's softball team and initially refuses to join Hank's co-ed league. But she changes her mind after she overhears Thatherton and Coach Kleehammer having a sexist conversation about girls not being able to play sports and Thatherton having sex with his pitcher.
  • Say My Name: A given when Thaterton makes an appearance. Hank does this when Thaterton tells him and Buck about putting Kurt Bevacqua on his softball team.
    • Becomes a Borrowed Catchphrase; Peggy says it after overhearing his and Coach Kleehammer's sexist conversation. Even Bobby gets in on it too. He says it when Hank warns Luanne of how he'll try to mess with her head, including the use of bad language.
  • Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: The Arrow Girls serve as this for Bobby. They act rude to him and after trying some of their cookies and pretend to be disgusted by them after one spitefully bites one just to spit it out on purpose, causing Bobby to start selling his own cookies to compete with them. Connie is a member of the Arrow Girls and acts like a neutral party until the end when she sides with Bobby, declaring he's her boyfriend.
  • Skewed Priorities: Dale would be a more effective baseball player if he didn't worry about losing his hat, revealing his balding head, forcing him to run a lot slower than he actually could. And after Buck has his heart attack and everyone else gathers around him, Dale uses this to his advantage to run all the way around the base for a home run.
  • Sports Dad: Or in this case, Sports Husband, with Hank's arguments with Peggy over how to pitch.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Hank's speech after Peggy's first game has him brag about Joe Jack, Enrique and when he's reminded that he's forgetting someone, even praising himself for his coaching job and not once acknowledging Peggy for her pitching, who was a big factor in their winning. This spurs tension between the two.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Bobby and Connie throughout the episode, who deny they're a couple, that is until the end...
  • Wag the Director: An in-universe sports version with Peggy making her own player adjustments, conflicting with Hank's plans, like choosing to strike out other players and adjusting the outfielders to her liking. Her tactics indeed prove more successful, making Hank resentful.



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