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Recap / King Of The Hill S 4 E 7 Happy Hanks Giving

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Hank, his family and the neighbors all go to the airport to fly for Thanksgiving, but their flights end up being cancelled.

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  • Artistic License – Animal Care: Hank's turkey is destroyed when bomb-sniffing dogs detect it in a box and bark at it, leading to it being blown up. Bomb-sniffing dogs are specially trained to ignore food during training and if a dog is unable to resist, it does not become a bomb-sniffer.
  • Artistic License – Explosives: One Hank's turkey is mistaken for a bomb just as it's about to be loaded into the cargo hold, the bomb squad lays down a charge and blows it up right then and there. Needless to say, no bomb squad would EVER detonate explosives right next to a fully-loaded jumbo jet, especially to blow up a potential bomb as the explosives blowing up could result in the bomb detonating.
  • Bad Liar: Bill, looking for a reason to tag along with Hank and the neighbors to the airport, makes up a fake uncle he's picking up at the same time, but he couldn't even keep his name consistent: first he calls him Bill, then Stan, then Stu before settling on Stan. And with Bill driving Hank and the family to the motel, Hank and Peggy question why Bill would leave his "uncle" home alone, to which he claims that they had a fight and he bit Bill. And in the end he admitted he made the whole thing up, which Hank already suspected was the case.
  • Batman Gambit: A small one, but to get Hank to go to the TWA gate so they can get their flight after Hank is shown to be stubborn, Peggy has Bobby point him to a bakery that's opening another register in that direction and has him run for it, then tells Hank to chase him. After Hank catches Bobby, Peggy then lies and tells Hank that he heard an annoucement that said TWA is flying to Montana.
  • Bavarian Fire Drill: Kahn pretends to be the regional manager of an airport Asian restaurant as to allow his family to get ahead in line for food.
  • Bedroom Adultery Scene: Narrowly averted. Desperate for a smoke, Dale enter into a van that's on display and roped off and gets ready to light his cigarette, but then gets caught by a security guard. After he leaves, Nancy and John Redcorn peek out from between the front seats.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Everyone has missed their flights and are totally miserable, but Hank is still in good spirits and reminds them that they have each other and they can have their own Thanksgiving dinner by cooking a left-over pizza Kahn still has with Hank's propane grill. And Peggy talks about making a Brown Betty with the pizza crust and some margarine and sugar packs.
  • Black Comedy: Dale and Nancy drop off John Redcorn at the airport so he can see family in Arizona. And Dale asks him if his family celebrates Thanksgiving. Redcorn then responds "We did. Once."
  • Comically Missing the Point: Both Luanne and Hank; Luanne telling Hank about how a man asked her if she wants to join the Mile-High Club and asks Hank if he could get her an application. Hank responds that he thinks they would be on the plane. Neither of them figuring out it's a Sexual Euphemism for having sex on a plane during flight.
  • Exact Words: When Peggy calls Hank out for not buying Luanne a plane ticket, as he was supposed to buy all the tickets for the Hill family. Hank then says he did: "Hank Hill, Peggy Hill and Bobby Hill. The Hills."
  • Heroic BSoD: Just about everyone is miserable after not being able to fly and see their families, but Peggy and Luanne take it really hard; Peggy hears about good weather in Montana and them going swimming and Luanne's father had to go back to the oil rig.
  • Ironic Echo: The opening scene has Bill talking about looking forward to another Thanksgiving with Hank and his famous turkey. But after Hank says he and the family are going to see Peggy's mother in Montana and Boomhauer to see his mother in Florida, a bitter Bill then says, "I hate Thanksgiving!".
  • Kick the Dog: Hank initially refusing to buy Luanne an airplane ticket and planning to leave her in Arlen when she didn't buy her own, despite told to buy tickets everyone due to not seeing her as family, even when the trip is to Peggy's family in Montana where Luanne's father and grandmother would be.
  • Literal-Minded: At the checkout when they first arrive, the guard asks Hank if he packed their own bags and if they been in his sight at all times. Hank says he had to set them on the curb when he unloaded them from the trunk and when the guard asks if they were in his sight, Hank says he had his back turned for a minute. Hank takes the guard quite literally out of fear of committing perjury. Then the security has to check the bags and the guard asks again if it's just the two bags. Hank confirms it and then pulls out his tank of propane, which exasperates the guard while trying to assure him it was in his sight the entire time.
    • Earlier, when Peggy reminds Hank he was supposed to buy plane tickets for the family (as in Luanne, too). Hank responds that he did buy tickets for the Hill Family: Hank Hill, Bobby Hill, and Peggy Hill, the Hills.
  • Not Blood, Not Family: When Peggy asks Hank why he didn't buy Luanne a ticket months before when they were cheaper, Hank responds that he bought tickets for the Hill family, and since Luanne is not a Hill, he felt no need to buy her a ticket, or at the very least tell her she needs to buy her own.
  • Oh, Crap!: Hank and Peggy when they see the bomb squad when they mistaken his turkey for a bomb. A few other passengers react like this too, thinking it's a real threat.
  • Overreacting Airport Security: When the airport staff mistake Hank's turkey for a bomb since the dogs naturally react to it, they have the bomb squad come by and blow it up
  • Pet the Dog: Kahn wishes the Hills a Happy Thanksgiving after taunting them over leaving for the airport too early. He also rescues Dale when he locks himself outside in the rain.
  • Pragmatic Hero:
    • Peggy is shown to be a bit pragmatic here by encouraging Bobby to cut through the line at an Asian restaurant that Kahn had taken over to get some beef stew, but gets stopped by Hank. She even believes the rumor about TWA honoring all tickets and lies to Hank about them taking all flights.
    • Subverted by Hank. He tries taking the high road throughout the episode, but after all the delays and having his turkey get blown up get to him, Hank decides to play dirty when he hears of a shuttle bus taking them to another airport clear across town. When a man asks Hank about if he learned anything, he lies to him, before he has Peggy and Bobby make a go for it at the bus. They narrowly make it on, but after Hank sees the same man and his family looking pitiful at the bus, Hank gives in and lets the family take the last spots.
  • Rule of Three: Hank uses a baseball analogy whenever Peggy attempts to get Hank to take a different approach like flying on a different plane or trying to beat the other people to the motel. Peggy earns "strike 1" after lying to Hank about TWA flying out to Montana and quickly earns "strike 2" when she scoffs at him. Later on, when the airport has arranged accommodations for the people with missed flights and the first bus they see is full, Hank wants to wait for another bus, but Peggy pushes the family to try to beat them there, when Bill comes around and has him drive the family. But after he crashes his car and forces the others to walk the rest of the way, only for the motel to not only be completely full, but with its parking lot also being full of the same busses that she claimed there was only ever going to be a single one of, she earns "strike 2-and-a-half", before they walk back to the airport.
  • Secretly Selfish: Hank claims that when Peggy’s mother expressed doubt that propane gas can cook a turkey, he claims that he’s trying to prove her wrong for Peggy’s honor.
  • Spit Take: Both Dale and Boomhauer do this after Hank tells Peggy's mother's original plan of taking the family to a restaurant for Thanksgiving.
  • "Stuck at the Airport" Plot: Everyone ends up stuck on the ground due to weather delays.
  • Thanksgiving Episode: The episode has the different characters having their own plans that get ruined due to flights being cancelled:
    • Hank and Peggy are going to Montana. Peggy and her mother are having conflict over cooking, with Peggy wanting to make her Brown Betty with margarine and her mother insists that they're a butter-only household and Hank smoking his turkey with propane to prove to Peggy's mother how good propane is.
    • Boomhauer is planning to see his mother in Florida.
    • Luanne is looking forward to seeing her father, who's on a day pass from the oil rig he works at, and has been ever since her mother stabbed him with a fork.
    • John Redcorn is about to see his family in Arizona, with Nancy "escorting" him to the gate. And a minor subplot with Dale looking for a place to smoke, only to end up locking himself outside.
    • Bill has no plans, but makes up an uncle so he can go with the Hills to the airport and after he learns of the flight delays, he excitedly comes to the airport to tag along with them.
    • Kahn and his family are going to fly abroad, presumably to see their family in California or Laos.
  • Vomit Discretion Shot: Hank, right after seeing his turkey get blown up by the bomb squad and pieces of hit flying and hitting the plane windows.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Peggy calls out Hank for not buying Luanne a plane ticket when he bought the tickets for the immediate family. He initially planned to leave her at home but Peggy forces him to buy Luanne a ticket.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: It seems like the airport manage to take care of the weather problems and the Hills board a plane and just as they seem like they're about to go, it then gets delayed again. Bonus points for Hank who not only has to deal with that, but also with the bomb squad blowing up his turkey.



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