"As Old as the Hills" is the 60th episode of King of the Hill. It was first aired on May 18, 1999. This episode was written by Norm Hiscock and directed by Adam Kuhlman.
Summary[]
Upon their latest wedding anniversary, Peggy comes to realize that she and Hank have not done anything exciting and memorable, and talks Hank into going sky diving. Meanwhile, Bobby is forced to look after Didi when she goes into labor.
Plot[]
Hank and Peggy's twentieth wedding anniversary is coming up and they are excited to celebrate it. They look forward to spending the the weekend as just the two of them with Bobby going with Cotton and Didi in Houston and Luanne is camping with friends. On the day of their party, Luanne is informed by her friend Tracy that their trip is cancelled due to wildfires, but Luanne does not tell Peggy due to not wanting to ruin their weekend. During the luncheon, Kahn makes a toast to Hank and Peggy's marriage before going on a passionate speech of his marriage of 13 years with Minh and their bungee jump from their anniversary last year. Dale gifts a joke present of a pair of canes to Hank and Peggy with a card reading "when the Hills are over the hill." After Hank shows a slide show of the past 20 years to their friends with a joke slide at the end depicting the couple as elderly, Peggy tries to read something which she has prepared for the occasion. She is interrupted when Didi's unborn baby starts to kick, which distracts the other attendees from the celebration, which infuriates Peggy (who is still depressed over not being able to conceive another child). Luanne heads off in a taxi cab, where she pretends to leave for her trip but asks the driver to go to any place. Bobby leaves with Cotton and Didi and is told that he has to help out with chores, as Didi is unable too.
Hank and Peggy finish cleaning up the party when the latter breaks down crying. Hank thinks it is because Bobby is gone, but Peggy clarifies that it is because they are old. She exclaims that she did not recognize the "young and happy" couple in the photos who had dreams of travel and making a famous steak sauce. Hank tries to reassure Peggy by watching an R-Rated movie, which happens to be Platoon, much to Peggy's dismay. Luanne sneaks back into the house using a can of gravy to calm a startled Ladybird. At Cotton's home, the old man shows Bobby the baby's room, which is decorated with war memorabilia. On the wall is a photo of Cotton before his shins were blown off.
Hank tries to make things exciting for Peggy and takes her to a fancy restaurant that revolves around. They have a brief conversation about having alcoholic beverages which sours their moods. Later, Luanne is watching TV in the dark when Peggy and Hank return as the two complain about the revolving restaurant only moving at lunch time. Hank offers to make it up by making her a drink, but Peggy changes her mind and wants Tequila. The two end up getting drunk and listening to music in the living room, commenting on the lack of kids and how empty the house is. Peggy starts to throw away Bobby's baby toys as she and Hank fall over into the garbage can and pass out.
Hungover in the morning, they go out for breakfast and stop for beer at a roadside liquor store. Sitting in the tailbed of the truck they talk about traveling but are unable to due to Bobby and Ladybird. After seeing a group of parachutists, Peggy happily tells Hank that they should skydive for the anniversary like Kahn and Minh bungee-jumped for theirs. Not wanting to remember the twentieth anniversary for sleeping in the garbage, they decide to skydive. While they are at the skydiving school, Didi goes into labor and Bobby is the only one home. Cotton is at the bar with Topsy when he gets the news and thinks Bobby and Didi will be at the Houston hospital, but since Bobby is forced to drive, he takes Didi to the only hospital he knows how to get to: the hospital in Arlen 2 hours away from Cotton's place. While hiding out at home, Luanne gets the call from Bobby that Didi is having the baby and Luanne rushes to the skydiving place. Hank jumps first and is awestruck by the view, whereas Peggy panics and decides not to do it. However, Luanne comes and tells Hank on the landing grounds about the news.
Image of Peggy Hill falling after her parachute failed to open.
Meanwhile, Bobby is Didi's birthing partner in lieu of anyone else and is disgusted by the whole experience. Hank, overjoyed that he is going to be a brother, tells Peggy who is in the plane. Peggy changes her mind at the last minute and jumps, initially enjoying the experience, but both her main and emergency cords fail to deploy the parachute. Hank then sees her plummet to the ground, much to his horror.
Characters[]
- Hank Hill
- Peggy Hill
- Bobby Hill
- Luanne Platter
- Dale Gribble
- Nancy Gribble (non-speaking)
- Joseph Gribble
- John Redcorn (non-speaking)
- Jeff Boomhauer
- Bill Dauterive
- Kahn Souphanousinphone
- Minh Souphanousinphone
- Connie Souphanousinphone (non-speaking)
- Didi Hill
- Cotton Hill
- Topsy Toppington
- Jim
- Skydiving teacher
- Ladybird
Trivia[]
- The name is a reference to the idiom "As old as the hills", describing something very old.
- In this episode, Hank says he ran the 40-yard dash in 5.9 seconds, which is actually really slow, especially considering the records he put up. Running backs should typically be able to run a sub 5 second 40-yard dash.
- When Luanne is seen sneaking into the den through the window at The Hill residence, she tosses a can of Pink & White brand Beef Gravy on the ground to lure Lady Bird away.
- This episode marks the first appearance of Topsy Toppington.
- Didi refers to Bobby as "Cotton's Grandson." This is intended to be comical as it references Cotton who often similarly refers to Peggy as "Hank's wife."
- The song that plays over the end credits is a cover of Tom Petty's "Free Falling" by Deana Carter. Petty (who would later voice Lucky on the show) was known for rarely allowing his recordings of his songs to be used in film and television.
- There is no stinger quote at the end of this episode.
- This episode was the second and last season finale to be a 2 Part episode or a season finale that is continued by the first episode of the next season, the first being "Propane Boom" with and "Death of a Propane Salesman."
Goofs[]
- When Cotton tells Didi to get him some cigars, she is wearing a pink dress; a few seconds later, she is wearing her usual red shirt and blue pants.