Eustace Miller

Eustace Miller is a recurring character in the earlier seasons of King of the Hill. He was a nerdy man who worked as a patent lawyer, and has a son named Randy. He is also a member of both the Arlen High School board and the Tom Landry Middle School board. His wife was never seen or mentioned in the series. Eustace thought he was better than everyone else and constantly bragged to Hank about how he was a better father. Neither Hank, Dale, Bill, or Boomhauer cared for him, and Dale was fond of calling him "useless".

Appearance[]

Eustace is an adult man with a thin build, pale skin, a thick mustache, and short, brownish-red hair. He frequently wears large glasses, a yellow polo shirt, tan shorts, long white socks, and white sneakers.

History[]

Season 1[]

In "The Order of the Straight Arrow", Eustace had grown up with Hank and his friends and was a member of the Order of the Straight Arrow. As a child, he failed the silence test imposed by Cotton Hill on the children during their snipe hunt in 1966. Three decades later, Eustace visited the Hill residence to drop off his son Randy with Hank's group for the Order's snipe hunt. Putting his hand on Randy's shoulder, he told his son that the purpose of the trip was to have fun and that it did not matter whether or not he managed to earn his Straight Arrow patch.

Season 2[]

In "The Son That Got Away", he was exiting Mega Lo Mart's emergency care department with his son Randy when Hank, Dale and Kahn came by and told him that they were looking for their children. When Randy confessed that he witnessed Bobby, Joseph and Connie enter the Caves, Eustace told Hank "You heard him, Hank. We have no legal responsibility." Immediately, Hank, Dale and Kahn ran to Kahn's van to search for their children.

Season 3[]

In "Good Hill Hunting", Eustace visited Strickland Propane and asked Hank to help carry a propane tank out to his SUV. When Hank talked about propane's utility, Eustace cut him off and remarked that he used passive solar for energy and merely needed some propane to cook Randy's deer after killing it. Hank expressed surprise at their hunting trip plan, prompting him to confirm that it was a rite of passage according to his men's group and needed to be sure that Randy killed a deer. Showing Hank a La Grunta Hotel brochure, Eustace explained that the hotel allowed for people to participate in a fixed hunt of deer on a reserve where food and guns were provided for guests. When Hank insulted La Grunta's reserve hunting as easy as "shooting fish in a barrel", Eustace remarked that they literally had that activity available too. Later after Randy shot a deer at the ranch, Eustace had the deer wrapped up at the gift shop. As they departed, the Millers came across Hank and Bobby, displaying the wrapped deer to them before leaving.

Later in "To Spank, with Love", he headed the school board meeting at Tom Landry Middle School. Reading the verdict of the vote to reinstate Peggy Hill as an employee after she spanked Stuart Dooley, Eustace told the attendees that the measure passed, making Peggy a teacher again.

Season 4[]

In "Bills are Made to be Broken", Eustace attended an Arlen High School board meeting which he was leading. Hank proposed that the football touchdown which Ricky Suggs made in the previous game be marked with an asterisk in the yearbook stating that it was achieved under unfair circumstances. Grimacing, Eustace rebuffed his request, replying that Ricky was an inspiration to everyone who watched the game. As Hank left, Eustace brought up the next proposal on the board agenda, which was to vote on forbidding "Fatty-fatty-boombalatty" as unacceptable hate speech. In "Peggy's Fan Fair", he is a member of Arlen First Methodist Church and is part of the group that attends the bus trip to the Fan Fair country music event in Nashville.

Season 6[]

In "Unfortunate Son", Eustace visited the Arlen VFW to observe items being sold at the VFW fundraiser sale. Seeing a canoe, Eustace told Cotton Hill that he would pay $150 for the canoe, adding that he would not haggle since he was an attorney. Explaining his reasoning, he stated that he merely wanted to use the canoe for a camping trip and that it would cost $40 to paint over the Nazi swastika on the side. Cotton was very reluctant to give it to him since the canoe was an alleged war trophy which belonged to Adolf Hitler, so Eustace decided to leave. As he walked away, he heard Cotton begrudgingly agree to the deal, so Hank helped carry it to Eustace's car. Upon realizing that Eustace owned a Japanese made car (a Mitsubishi), Cotton immediately backpedaled on the deal, making the frustrated Eustace claim that they had a verbal agreement. Cotton furiously tossed the money back at the nervous Eustace and then pointed a bayonet rifle at him. Holding his arms out in fear, Eustace begged him to stop and fled, and Cotton's hostile gesture scared away all the other customers as well.

Season 11[]

Eustace attended Luanne Platter and Lucky Kleinschmidt's wedding at the Hill residence in "Lucky's Wedding Suit", and he smiled as he watched them depart from the altar.

Season 13[]

In his last appearance in "Born Again on the Fourth of July", Eustace was invited to an emergency meeting at Hank's house on July 2nd to discuss Milton Street's destruction of Rainey Street's Uncle Sam papier-mâché statue. He and the others were shocked to see the destroyed statue, and he listened to Dale lay out a plan for a counterattack on Milton Street's 4th of July celebration. During the counteroffensive on the night of July 3rd, Eustace and his son Randy were both hit at least once by food thrown by Milton Street residents, but the fighting stopped when Bobby called for a ceasefire to confess that he was responsible for the initial destruction. Although he was moved by Bobby's speech, Eustace and everyone in the vicinity immediately ran for cover when the stubborn Bill threw a firework at Heck Dorland's fireworks cache because he thought that Bobby was tricking everyone.