"It's Not Easy Being Green" is the one hundred-first episode of King of the Hill. It was first aired on April 8, 2001. The episode was written by John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, and directed by Jeff Myers. The episode features a cameo by Paul Giamatti as Mr. McKay.
Summary[]
When the local quarry is going to be drained for a landfill, Hank must pretend he is interested in environmental issues to keep Boomhauer from finding out that the car he thought got stolen when he was a teenager is in that quarry.
Plot[]
One day, Boomhauer is seen working on his custom car while the gang watches on and ribs him. During which, Bobby notices that the Car was built before 1980, and writes a ticket to Boomhauer from the "Environmental Court," a program in Bobby's School that involves going around ticketing environmental hazards, orchestrated by it's newest staff member and environmentalist, Mr. McKay. After ticketing Peggy for not properly throwing away a battery, and bothering Hank while he's working by digging through a dumpster, Bobby has Hank summoned to the Environmental Court at the school to discuss the consequences of his father "damaging" the environment. Hank finds the entire trial to be ridiculous for how trivial it's being, but none of the students side with him when Mr. McKay exaggerates Hank facts by stating Arlen's intentions on building a landfill to deal with the pollution problem, as well as the fact that it will threaten an endangered species known as "Itchy Algae" (Scientific name: Algus taxifolia).
Suddenly when Mr. McKay and Bobby mention that the Landfill will be constructed at the Quarry (which is scheduled to be drained,) Hank becomes horrified and flees the school in a panic. Finding his friends still in the alleyway, Hank takes Dale and Bill into Dale's Basement (but leaves a confused Boomhauer behind) and tells them both of the news. They too become as horrified as Hank. It's revealed that 20 years ago, Boomhauer had a 1965 Ford Mustang called Sally, which he cared for deeply. Hank, Dale, and Bill however were jealous of the attention he'd give his car and one day after Boomhauer leaves to bed with another woman, the trio decided to take Sally for a joyride late at night. During their joyride though, Dale takes Sally for a spin. Unaware that Sally needed to be driven manually with a stick shift, Dale immediately loses control and accidentally sent the car crashing straight into the Quarry. To make up for his car's disappearance, the trio lied to Boomhauer that "Yankees" stole it from him to preserve their friendship.
Hoping to cover their tracks with what they have, Hank pleads with Councilman Fred Ebberd to move the Landfill someplace else (hoping to convince him since he voted for him). Ebberd however rejects his pleas due to there being no other available place else to put the Landfill. With no other option, Hank, Dale, and Bill are forced to join Bobby and Mr. McKay in protesting against the Landfill's development instead. After Bobby rallies Mr. McKay's other environmentalist supporters, while the trio tries their best to hide their intentions from Bobby and the others (even shooing away Boomhauer when he mistakes the gathering for a party.) Bobby buys into his father's deceit and the two get to bond over the experience. Come the day of voting though, despite gathering 200 votes via petitions, the council still rejects the group's protest and proceeds with the plans to drain the Quarry.
Later that night, Hank, Dale, and Bill desperately go scuba diving to try and pull out Sally before the Quarry gets drained. The task however proves fruitless, as other garbage keeps getting pulled out instead. Come morning though after many failed attempts, the trio finally manages to pull out Sally, with their water-damaged coats still inside. However before they can dispose of the evidence, Bobby, Mr. McKay, and the hippies arrive and misinterpret the trio's deceit as using their dug up garbage as a Barricade, and they decide to join them in "protesting" once more. Before Bobby can leave though, he overhears Hank conversing with Dale and Bill about their situation, inadvertently calling Bobby and the others "Environmental Nut Jobs" in their lie to dispose of the car. Realizing that his dad lied to him the whole time, Bobby calls up Boomhauer and informs him of the whereabouts of the group.
A Construction worker arrives and notices the protest in action and calls the police when they refuse to budge. To Hank, Dale, and Bill's horror though, Boomhauer arrives too and is driven to tears upon seeing Sally again after 20 years. Filled with guilt and with no more excuses, Hank confesses to Boomhauer what had happened (while Dale and Bill deny their involvement and blame Hank as well, hoping that Boomhauer would not catch onto them). Boomhauer (and Bobby) are both angry that Hank would lie to them, but before Hank can defend himself, the police arrive and arrest Mr. McKay and his supporters for the disturbance. However when a cop is about to arrest Bobby for being an accomplice of Mr. McKay, Hank decides to take the fall and apologize to both Boomhauer and Bobby for lying to them. While a cop arrests Hank for the disturbance instead (as well as admitting to have stolen a car and allowing Bobby to get away), Boomhauer takes Bobby away. With the protesters and Hank gone, Boomhauer prepares to take Bobby home, but reveals to Dale and Bill that he knew that they were accomplices to Hank all along and spitefully leaves them behind with Sally as payback for lying to him too.
While driving home though, Bobby asks Boomhauer how long they should remain angry at Hank; Boomhauer tells Bobby that while he is angry at his dad, he opts to simply let bygones-be-bygones, and settles to give Hank 1 week to think about his actions and to mend their friendship. It was initially 2-3 weeks until Bobby tells him that Hank often quotes him, which touches Boomhauer.
Characters[]
- Hank Hill
- Peggy Hill
- Bobby Hill
- Luanne Platter
- Dale Gribble
- Jeff Boomhauer
- Bill Dauterive
- Mr. McKay
- Buck Strickland
- Councilman Fred Ebberd
- Emily
- Clark Peters
- Boomhauer's unnamed girlfriend
- Ice Cream Lady (debut)
- Darren (non-speaking)
- Stuart Dooley (non-speaking)
- Leventhal (non-speaking)
- Susie (non-speaking)
- Tom (non-speaking)
- Judy (non-speaking)
- Shawn (non-speaking)
Stinger Quote[]
- Hank: "No, no, he-he. No."
Trivia[]
- The episode name is a reference to Kermit the Frog's line "It's not easy being green," which in turn was paraphrased from the song "Bein' Green."
- It is revealed that Dale is a certified scuba diver.
- In the sequence where Dale is allowed to handle Boomhauer's car, the theme song from Live and Let Die is heard playing. When Hank is doing the driving, the song on the radio is "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper Lace.
- This is one of a few episodes where Hank is arrested.
- This is the first episode where Sally appears.
- While Dale is scuba diving in the Quarry, he reveals that he came across his old lawn mower. It was already revealed that he dumped it. In the earlier episode "Dog Dale Afternoon", when he states that (after purchasing his new Mason lawn mower) he dumped his old one in the quarry.
- According to Peggy, the only time Bobby ever got an "A" is when he got his report card switched with someone named "Bobby Hall" due to them being in the same math class.
Goofs[]
- When Bobby is handing Peggy an environmental ticket, the letters on the "Tea" jar behind Peggy move up a bit.
- In the protesting scene, Darren's shirt color changes from black to bluish-gray and to tan and then back to black.