"Peggy Makes the Big Leagues" is the eighty-ninth episode of King of the Hill. It was first aired on November 26, 2000. The episode was written by Johnny Hardwick and directed by Dominic Polcino. Brendan Fraser stars as David Kalaiki-Ali'i, a.k.a. "The Flyin' Hawaiian".
Summary[]
Peggy substitutes in the geometry class at Arlen High, where she attracts the ire of local businessmen (including her husband) and fellow teachers for giving a failing grade to a star football player.
Plot[]
Peggy gets a substitute job teaching geometry at Arlen High School, where one of her students is David Kalikiaii, the star football player, who is not passing the class. Peggy prepares a vade mecum to help him understand geometry, but soon realizes that his problem is not struggling to understand, but a simple lack of effort. Subsequently, she flunks David, rendering him ineligible for football. This arouses the ire of the other teachers, who allow David to skate by as they are huge football fans, as well as the booster club made up of Arlen businessmen who endorse the Arlen football team. Hank, who is one of the booster club members, is angry with Peggy as well, but she sticks to her guns that the bigger win for David would be a solid education and conquering his laziness. Buck Strickland, also a booster club member, gets David an internship at Strickland Propane to gain credits under the tutelage of Hank.
Hank sincerely teaches David about the ins and outs of propane, and the final part of the internship is an essay displaying what David has learned. It reads, "Strickland Propene does not have a vending machine. It smells and I thank God every day I get home that I didn't get exploded. The end." Hank sees David's essay as choppy and not even a slight attempt to learn anything, but he pencil-whips the internship as approved as Buck ordered him to do. Feeling he has sold out propane, Hank agrees with Peggy that David should be grounded and seeks out David's mother to inform her of the problem. Mrs. Kalaiki-Ali'i shows Hank and Peggy David's room and tells them that David is a good student, but has a learning disability that makes it hard for him to understand what he's being taught and to let him pass because excelling at sports is the only good skill he has. Peggy and Hank apologize, not knowing this, and excuse themselves. However, after the Hills leave, the whole thing turns out to be a trick that David's mom and the booster club cooked up to keep David on the football team.
Arriving home at the same time, David discovers this and is upset about the deception, stating that he has no such disability and starts to feel ashamed of his slacking off. His mother responds that he will have a promising career in pro football, and Buck threatens to take away his Trans-Am if he does not go to state, but David is astute enough to realize it is not guaranteed (even if he sets the odds at 50-50) and then goes to Peggy to see about learning geometry. She is glad David has come around but reminds him that there is no way he can pass the geometry class as the semester is nearly over and recommends another course. David returns to Hank, taking his job as a Strickland Propane intern seriously. The episode ends with David going off to play in the game and reciting facts about the dangers of mishandling propane, leaving Peggy and Hank glad that they have made David a more serious man in his endeavors off the field.
Characters[]
- Hank Hill
- Peggy Hill
- Bobby Hill
- Luanne Platter
- Dale Gribble
- Jeff Boomhauer
- Bill Dauterive
- David Kalaiki Ali'i
- Miriam Caney
- Terrel
- Buck Strickland
- Digby
- Arlen Booster Club president
- Arlen Boosters' Club members
- Marlon Atwater
- Mrs. Kalaiki-Ali'i
- Tug (voice-only, off-screen)
- Tug's Polynesian wife (mentioned)
- Joe Jack (non-speaking)
- Charlie Macken (mentioned)
- Billy (mentioned)
Stinger Quote[]
- Peggy: "I don't know what you're waiting for."
Trivia[]
- David's mom, Mrs. Kalaiki-Ali'i, also appears in "Traffic Jam". In that episode, she plays an insurance agent working with the Hills on their automobile claim.
- Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and James Brown all voiced characters in the episode. At the time of this episode's airing, they were part of the NFL on FOX's football coverage (Brown has since left to join CBS).
Goofs[]
- In the first cafeteria scene, when Marlon Atwater is sitting down, he is seen wearing a green shirt when Miriam calls for Peggy and two other teachers sit across from him. In the rest of the scene and episode, he is seen wearing a light blue shirt, and the two teachers across from him have completely different appearances.
- In the DVD subtitles for this episode, Digby's name is incorrectly spelled as "Dickie" despite the dictation of his name.
- Despite the Season 2 episode "I Remember Mono" stating Peggy substitutes high schools regularly, she is stated here that this is her first time substituting for a high school.
Quotes[]
- Hank: (Reading David's essay) Strkklind[sic] Propene does not have a vending machine... It smells and I thank God everyday I get home that I didnât get exploded.
Gallery[]
