"Dia-BILL-ic Shock" is the two hundred-thirty-sixth episode of King of the Hill. It is the first episode of the thirteenth season, originally aired September 28, 2008. It was written by Sanjay Shah and directed by Ronald Rubio.
Summary[]
After Bill ends up in the hospital twice from blood sugar spikes, a mean doctor scares Bill into thinking he is diabetic and will have to have his legs amputated, so Bill saves the doctor the trouble by getting himself a wheelchair.
Plot[]
At an amusement park with Hank and Bobby, Bill downs huge amounts of sugary snacks until he passes out from a blood sugar spike and is taken to the hospital. At the hospital, a doctor diagnoses Bill with diabetes, and tells him to improve his diet and exercise. Bill doesn't follow his doctor's advice and engorges himself on junk food and passes out again. Back at the hospital, a different doctor, a mean-spirited one, seeing Bill as someone who'll never learn, coldly tells him that he will lose his legs and that he should start using a wheelchair. Hank and the others are shocked and saddened when Bill returns to the alley in his wheelchair, and, believing this to be a permanent change, conspire to remodel Bill's house to make everything in it wheelchair accessible. When Hank takes a downcast Bill to the park, Bill is befriended by a paraplegic rugby player nicknamed Thunder, who tells him that he can still be independent despite using a wheelchair.
After Thunder lends Bill his spare rugby chair, Bill takes to the court himself; over time he proves to be a competitive, capable player, and his depression turns to confident delight as his new upper-body strength earns him respect from others and the attention of women. One night, the rugby players and Bill celebrate winning one of their games at a bar, and Bill tipsily excuses himself to use the restroom, only to rise from his wheelchair and begin walking. The other players indignantly protest Bill's 'deception', and he attempts to explain that he has diabetes and whips out his blood glucose monitor - only for his blood sugar to read normally, as all the exercise from playing rugby had reversed his condition. Thunder and the players shun Bill, leaving him completely heartbroken. Upon returning home Bill finds that his friends have finished remodeling his house. When they see that Bill can walk, they get just as angry with Bill as the rugby team and storm off. Everything falls apart for Bill, as without his wheelchair, people no longer respect him, and women no longer find him attractive.
Bereft of his newfound confidence, Bill consumes large amounts of sugar to put himself back in a diabetic state, but Hank and Thunder, having been told by Hank about Bill's problem arrive to stop him. Bill tells them he wants to be diabetic again because his struggle will make him an inspiration. Thunder sets Bill straight by reminding him of everything he did with the team: diet, exercise, and activeness, allowing Bill to cure himself – and doing that is inspirational. Thunder says if he was Bill, the first thing he would do with his legs would be confronting the doctor who misled him. Following Thunder's advice, Hank and Bill meet up with the doctor as Bill reveals to the man that he's cured. He backs the now scared doctor into a room and starts beating him, while outside, a nurse, whom the rude doctor had insulted earlier, ignores the beating as Hank waits for his friend to finish.
Characters[]
- Hank Hill
- Peggy Hill
- Bobby Hill
- Bill Dauterive
- Dale Gribble
- Boomhauer
- Kahn Souphanousinphone
- Thunder
- Dr. John Weissman
- Veterans Administration Hospital doctor
- Weissman's assistant
- Judy (non-speaking)
- Tom (non-speaking)
- Leventhal (non-speaking)
Trivia[]
- The scene in which Bill is playing basketball with the Rugby team, the song playing is "I'm Shipping Up to Boston". The song says that the man is going to lose his legs, just like Bill thought he would do.
- "For Your Own Again" and "Dance The Night Away" by Steve Lang can also be heard while Bill and Thunder were at a club.
- When Bill returns to the hospital in the final scene, nameplates of doctors on doors read "Dr. Lawrence Fine, D.D.S." and "Dr. Moe Howard," referring to Moe and Larry from The Three Stooges.
- This is the first time in the series that a main character is diagnosed with Diabetes.
- Glucometers do not display the word "normal"; instead they show the amount of serum glucose in a numerical value.
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