"Six Characters in Search of a House" is the two hundred-thirtieth episode of King of the Hill. It was first aired on April 6, 2008. The episode was written by Erin Ehrlich, and directed by Ronald Rubio.
Summary[]
Peggy hires actors and writes a script to help her open house for a home she cannot sell. But instead of selling the house in question, she gets carried away and winds up selling her own house during the dress rehearsal.
Plot[]
One day at Sizemore Realty, Chris announces that he has a listing. The catch is that he only gives it to the employee whom he thinks is the most deserving: himself. He also tells his staff that from now on they will only have two weeks to sell a listing, if they do not sell it in the time frame it will be given to Chris. After, the phone rings and everyone rushes towards it to hopefully get a listing. Everyone but Peggy ends up on the floor and she successfully gains the listing.
The next day at the Hardware Ranch, Boomhauer, Bill, Dale, Hank, and Peggy are shopping for furniture to place in the home during the open house. In the store, they see Arlen's number one home inspector, Bud Ferguson, and Peggy explains that he has killed two of Sizemore Reality's listings because of structural problems. In contrast, Hank, Bill, Boomhauer, and Bill all idolize Bud when they see him. Dale goes on to say that if your house fails an inspection by Ferguson, everyone in Arlen will hear about it.
At the house for which Peggy has the listing, she exclaims that she will sell the house in a matter of hours. She then opens the door to find a morbidly obese woman on the couch kissing a ferret, an old man with an oxygen tank, a young adult doing push-ups in the kitchen, and very strange decor (clown lamps, Gothic paintings, wood panels, etc). Peggy is disgusted and tells them to jump in the car and go for a drive around the state but the homeowner refuses saying she does not trust strangers in the house.
At the Hill residence, Peggy tells Nancy that the open house was a disaster. She gets the idea to fill the house with beautiful people so no one will notice the homeowners (whom she calls ugly), Now with a group of three actors (Frank, Spencer, and Melrose), Luanne, and Bobby in the living room, Melrose tells Peggy if she wants them to act, they need a script and they are not "improv people." At the rehearsal, Chris (unbeknown to Peggy) shows up and applauds the idea of having actors sell houses, calling it "brilliant". Chris asks for a part in the play and is accepted. The others are now upset that they will have shortened lines and get Peggy to rewrite the entire play. The play is re-written in six straight hours by Peggy.
At the final rehearsal, the actors and Peggy brought friends so it would feel much more like a real open house. The play goes off perfectly and is so good that Chris brings over a buyer for the house. Peggy, now confused that he has not even seen the house yet, is told that he is interested in the Hill house. She tells them both that the house is not for sale, but then Chris replies that the buyer is offering 25 thousand dollars over the asking price with a full cash deposit, causing Peggy to excitedly accept his offer.
Later, Hank, horrified that Peggy sold their own house, asserts to her that the house will not be sold, to which she replies "Actors got us into this, actors will get us out". The next morning, Peggy lets the buyer into the house to have a better look around. During this time, actors from the play show up and start to try and discourage the buyer. For example, Spencer plays a member of a gang while Frank plays a sex offender. Hank then tells the interested consumer that he has no interest in selling the house, but the buyer insists that he wants the house. In bed, Hank and Peggy conclude that they must fail the home inspection done by Ferguson. The guys remark that he takes such good care of his home that it cannot fail.
That day, Hank pays a visit to Bill's house to see what a degenerated home looks like. Bill shows him around and points out the rotting wood, termite damage, a huge spot of mold on the ceiling, and faulty wiring. Subsequently, Hank now tries to copy Bill's house and paints parts of his ceiling with a moldy color, smashes his gutters with a hammer, unhinges the doors, chips the walls, takes out the screen door, and even unscrews the toilet. Ferguson shows up and begins to inspect the house. After his inspection, he fails the house, the buyer backs out, and Bud tells Hank he knows what Hank did and is genuinely impressed. He then shakes Hank's hand.
Characters[]
- Hank Hill
- Peggy Hill
- Bobby Hill
- Dale Gribble
- Bill Dauterive
- Jeff Boomhauer
- Luanne Platter
- Chris Sizemore
- Bud Ferguson
- Nancy Gribble
- Frank
- Melrose
- Spencer
- Candi & Roger (non-speaking)
- Walker Lee (non-speaking)
- Janet (non-speaking)
- Open house residents
- House buyer (voiced by David Herman)
- Kahn Souphanousinphone (non-speaking)
- Minh Souphanousinphone (non-speaking)
- Ted Wassanasong (non-speaking)
- Cindy Wassanasong (non-speaking)
- Lila (non-speaking)
Stinger Quote[]
- Peggy: "Well obviously, babies aren't as stupid as they look."
Trivia[]
- The episode title is a reference to a famous Italian play called Six Characters in Search of an Author.
- We never know if the house Peggy has the listing for gets sold or not.
- This episode refers to the housing crisis that came as a result of the Great Recession, which was relatively recent news in the United States when this episode first aired in 2008.
- The ferret woman was watching Monsignor Martinez, a popular Mexican television show in the series.
Quotes[]
To be added.