"I Remember Mono" is the twenty-sixth episode of King of the Hill. It was first aired on February 8, 1998. The episode was written by Paul Lieberstein and directed by Wesley Archer. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kerri Strug and Joanna Gleason guest star as Amy Edlin, Herself and Maddy Platter.
Summary[]
Peggy gets mad at Hank after she learns that, back in high school, Hank was out sick for two weeks because of mononucleosis instead of a back injury from being on the football team, ruining their own personal love story. Meanwhile, Bobby gets a secret admirer for Valentine's day and is eager to find out who it is.
Plot[]
As Luanne and Bobby listen, Peggy recounts how she and Hank first realized they were meant to be together. The year was 1973, and Hank and Peggy had already been dating for six months. Hank convinced Peggy to cook him dinner for Valentine's Day. Peggy agreed even though she was a terrible cook. The meal, beef Wellington and cherry pie, turned out terribly, but as luck would have it, Hank phoned shortly before he was scheduled to arrive and said he couldn't make it, claiming he pulled some tendons in his back. Two weeks later, after Hank's back healed, Peggy and Hank were "engaged to be engaged." Back in the present day, Peggy and another woman, Becky, updated computer files at Arlen High School. As the pair comb through the records, they come across Hank's permanent file, which includes an entry about a two week absence starting on Valentine's Day due to mono. Peggy tells Becky she never had "the kissing disease," creating a mystery. Meanwhile, Bobby receives Valentine's Day chocolates in the mail from a secret admirer. He suspects the sender might be Kerri Strug.
Peggy queries her husband about the incident. Hank claims he contracted mono from sharing a soda with someone on the football team. An obsessed Peggy learns that only one other student, Amy Edlin, had the disease during that time. Peggy tracks Amy down, confronting her as she doles out little sausages on toothpicks at a local super market. Amy recounts how she had broken up with her boyfriend several weeks before Valentine's Day. Feeling as though she had "something to prove," she grabbed hold of Hank and kissed him. An angered Peggy responds by delivering a punch to a side of beef, breaking several ribs.
Peggy returns home, where she accuses Hank of lying to her. But she is even more upset that the romantic story of how they first got together is a falsehood. Later, Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer convince Hank he must woo his wife until she loves him once more. Hank sees wisdom in their words, and begins doing romantic things. He does everything from cover a puddle with his coat, to rent a pig, all in an effort to make Peggy melt. But they all fail miserably. While attempting to recover the pig, Hank hurts his back and crashes to the ground. Peggy recounts Hank's antics to her girlfriends. The women sigh at the thought of romance. A thoughtful look comes over Peggy. She calls Hank, who is lying in bed, on the phone and promises to make him beef Wellington and cherry pie for Valentine's Day. Meanwhile, much to his embarrassment, Bobby discovers his secret admirer is his maternal Grandma Maddy Platter. The episode ends with Maddy chasing the pig through the house while Bobby watches television.
Characters[]
- Hank Hill
- Peggy Hill
- Bobby Hill
- Luanne Platter
- Dale Gribble
- Joseph Gribble
- Nancy Gribble
- Jeff Boomhauer
- Bill Dauterive
- Maddy Platter
- Connie Souphanousinphone
- Stuart Dooley
- Amy Edlin
- Kerri Strug
- Becky
- Tom (non-speaking)
- Lady Bird
- Hoyt Platter (referenced by Bill)
- Mail carrier
Stinger Quote[]
- Luanne: Am I supposed to kill this pig?
Trivia[]
- Peggy was a softball player while attending West Arlen High School.
- Peggy mentions that the school nurse stated one cannot get mono from sharing drinks. This is actually one of the most common ways mono is spread.
- Kahn purchases a CD Jukebox which he's seen singing along to 80's pop music on while dancing. From this point on, the jukebox appears in the Souphanousinphone household for the remainder of the series.
- Peggy and her mother Maddy are depicted to have a healthy relationship in this episode as well as the Season 4 episode "Happy Hank's Giving." However in the Season 9 episode "A Rover Runs Through It," Peggy claims that she has not spoken to her mother in over 20 years. Additionally, Maddy's appearance changes dramatically in Season 9.
- A similar plot to this episode would be used in the Season 5 episode "Luanne Virgin 2.0." In "I Remember Mono," Peggy becomes angry and resentful of Hank for hiding the fact he (unwillingly) kissed another woman before her and never told her, causing her to believe their "story" was all a lie. In the latter episode, it is revealed that Hank and Peggy refrained from having sex until they were married under the shared belief it would be both each other's first time. Unbeknownst to Hank, Peggy was in fact not a virgin when they had met, as Peggy had previous slept with a close friend under the pretense of figuring out if he was in fact gay or not (he was). Peggy goes to great lengths to keep the truth from Hank, and when he eventually learns of it through Luanne, she claims that it should not matter to calm his anger. This highlights Peggy's hypocrisy; she accuses Hank of overreacting to what happened in the past, yet she had no trouble overreacting so much to that one kiss Hank had gotten (unwillingly) from another woman that she went to the point of actually tracking the woman down.
- Chuck Mangione, who voiced himself in the series, composed music for this episode. It is his only compositional contribution to the show.
Quotes[]
To be added.
Goofs[]
- During the flashback, a Jaws movie poster is visible in Hank's room. However, the story takes place in February of 1975. Jaws did not premiere in theaters until June.
- Peggy steps over the rain puddle when Hank calls her outside, even though he is pretending to keep her from slipping by covering it up with a jacket.
- In the Season 5 episode "Peggy Makes the Big Leagues," Peggy is shown to be substituting for what is intended to be her first time at the high school, however, in this episode, it is stated that Peggy regularly substitutes at the high school.
- When Joseph and his friends are waiting for Bobby (who himself is is waiting for his Valentine to arrive), Dooley goes between wearing shorts and wearing blue colored pants/jeans.
- During the flashback of Hank and Peggy's story, when Peggy is first talking to Hank on the phone, the phone she is using is attached to the wall next to the entrance of the kitchen. However, when she is throwing away the one of the pies that she failed to make, the phone she was still using while doing so is next to the window, before going back to the kitchen entrance, and then moves to the trash can that wasn't under the phone either.