Finale Report: King of the Hill - "Edu-macating Lucky"

With all due respect to the shows fans, but why is King of the Hill still on the air? A better question would be, why do I still watch it? I don't watch it all the time, but I do go through times where I tape it out of habit. Such was the case this week, which also happened to be the season finale.

The focus of this episode is the ever growing relationship between Luanne and Lucky. Peggy is constantly at odds with Lucky. He is constantly hanging around the house, presumably holding Luanne back from reaching her full potential. Peggy is doing all she can to stay out of their business. Hank, on the other hand, is doing all he can to look on the positive side of the relationship, such as the lack of a prison record.

Things change when Lucky approaches Peggy about tutoring him dor his GED. Initially, this looks like a growth in his potential, he wants to better himself. So, Peggy needles him about why he is doing this, he responds it has to do with his code. Lucky set a code for himself, a code that says he must have a high school education in order to marry Luanne. This revelation sets a Peggy plan in motion.

Peggy sets out to spread disinformation. She seizes this opportunity as a way to finally drive a wedge between Lucky and Luanne. She beleives that after Lucky fails, he will not be able to marry Luanne, and she will move on and blossom to the fullness of her ability.

With the plan set in motion, all one has to do is sit back and wait. When the day arrives to get the results, Peggy tries to keep everyones enthusiasm in check, as Lucky opens his envelope. The inevitable happens, Lucky opens up the envelope and finds his failing grade. He can no longer marry Luanne, much to the delight of Peggy.

It is here where we get the big twist. Luanne announces that she is pregnant, much to the chagrin of the rest of the Hill clan. But, like they always tend to do, they try to make the best of the situation. Now, they want Lucky to marry Luanne, however, Lucky's code will not allow it. Even after Peggy comes clean on her manipulation, Lucky will not go against his code. Lucky then lets Hank in on a family secret, all of his families unions were shotgun weddings. That gives Hank an idea. Lucky proposes to Luanne while Hank stands over him with a shotgun.

Well, at least that's over. I think next season I will stop watching shows out of habit. I think my bitterness goes back to when King of the Hill continued along its path when the genius that is Futurama was cruelly taken from my eyes. I was actually happy when I heard about the possibility that it may not be returning earlier this year, but my heart sank when it did. I guess you can't win them all.

I won't deny that there are times when I have enjoyed the series, unfortunately, those reasons didn't register much more than a blip in this finale. Those reasons being the supporting cast, in particular, Hank's drinking buddies, Dale, Boomhauer, and Bill. This finale did not do much for me, it centered on characters that I don't care about, and the characters I like were mere background shadows.

I would like to close by apologizing to the Hill faithful, I know you are plentiful. There are many worse shows that are still on the air to complain about, but this one just happened to be infiltrating my eye sockets.