NOTE: This is the “old” version of this review. It has been replaced by a new version.
It’s time for some father-son bonding in King of the Hill, and what better way to establish this than through the time honored tradition of scouting. In this case, we have Hank and Dale planning to take Bobby’s scout troupe on an ordeal to join “The Order of the Straight Arrow,” a right of passage in his family and with his friends, as Dale, Bill, Boomhauer, and Hank all went through this in their youth.
We open with a flashback to Hank and his friends as kids going through the same event, Cotton’s hostility ever present as he suggest those who fail the “snipe hunt” will be killed.
As a young Hank, Bill, Dale, and Boomhauer are sent off to hunt the snipe, they instead get “drunk” off of some Bloody Mary mix (as in, the stuff you put in alcohol to make the drink) and discuss their plans as adults. For Bill, things didn’t go the way he planned, giving us a comedic segue into the opening sequence.
Of note is the fact we get to see the guys when they were kids, as well as their fathers, in early form, at least — Dale’s father would be changed, and while Cotton is the same as he was in the previous episode and would be through the series, Bills father is never shown again, nor (do I believe, although I could be mistaken) is Boomhauers.
Back at the current time, the guys discuss the details of the trip and Dale asks John Redcorn, Nancy’s “healer” (read, lover) if he has any “Indian stuff” they could use during the ceremony. Redcorn tells of the Spirit Bag and Wematanye as sacred traditions to his people, with Hank noting it in preparation for the trip.
The next day, everyone is ready for the trip, including Randy Miller, son of Eustace Miller, one of the kids in Hank and the guys troupe who failed the vow of silence. Peggy tries to rush everyone out, including Luanne who’s heading to her mothers arraignment. As it turns out, she has her own place to go, and rushes out immediately behind the guys.
On the way to the lake the kids begin making quite a bit of noise, as you would imagine on a road trip and eventually the vow of silence is put in place, using Slim Jims as “silence sticks.” Of course, with Bill and his appetite in the car this gives ample situation for Hank and Bill to trick the kids into talking so he can get some snacks. A bit underhanded, but within the spirit of the ordeal — you will be challenged, after all.
Once the guys make it to the lake, they discover a bit of a hippie protest going on. This is our first chance to see Hank’s rather obvious dislike of hippies.
Over the past day Peggy has been on a trip south. Far south, the night of the Straight Arrow ordeal she stays at a “Motel 7” under an assumed name, paying in cash. She’s clearly trying to hide something.
Back at the lake, the boys are pledging to the Order of the Straight Arrow before they begin their final test — the snipe hunt. Bill gives the kids Spirit Bags (really his ex wifes socks) and “whoop ass sticks,” portraying that the snipe is a dangerous creature.
Early into the hunt, just after Hank figures the kids will be out in the woods for a while, Bobby exclaims he’s “got one!” It turns out he’s bagged an endangered whooping crane.
Dale begins to panic, and measures have to be put in place to keep him from running off. In the meantime, Hank puts the crane in the cooler to dispose of it later.
Not realizing it has a tracking device, Hank is awakened by a park ranger who is tracking the bird. Hank does a good job in negotiating with the ranger, telling him about the Straight Arrow ordeal the kids are going through which even works to cover the fact that Dale is hog tied and without clothes! Boomhauer does tell the ranger of the whole situation but, thanks to his strange speaking pattern, the ranger doesn’t actually hear what he says.
Knowing there is now a hunt on for the bird Hank expedites his plan to get rid of it — not before Bobby holds it up, treating it as sacred just as Hank told them the previous night. This winds up allowing some of the hippies in the area to see the bird and thus become aware of what’s taken place.
Catching up with Peggy, she finally arrives at her destination, Lobbocks Very Big Shoes. It turns out Peggy has very large feet, size 16, and her entire adventure has been nothing more than her going to go buy shoes.
Back at the lake, Hank and the guys are trying to leave with the bird. Bobby, still trying to please the bird spirit, holds it out the window! That boy ain’t right! An attempt to bury the bird fails when a group of hippies see them and attack them with hacky sacks and a “frisbee,” resulting in the guys eventually trying to ditch the bird body in a drainage culvert, which too fails.
Bobby continues to treat the bird as sacred before the guys finally tell him the truth that it’s all made up, and that the spirit bags are just his ex-wife’s socks and he wants them back. This bums Bobby out, but Hank explains how it helped “bring the guys against their parents” which Bobby objects to. After this bonding moment, the ranger from earlier arrives at the scene to take Hank in, requesting the bird’s body as evidence.
This is when the bird wakes up and, since the bird isn’t dead the ranger cannot take Hank in, and thus everyone is free to go. Of course, Bobby thinks this was Wematanye.
Upon arriving home, Peggy scrapes the number “1” off of the “16” on her shoes to hide their actual size, telling Hank she went to get another microwave. With that and one last comment from Hank, the episode ends.
Final Rating: 3.5/5
This is a slightly above average episode. It has its funny moments as any episode does, and does a good job helping show the dynamics of all of the guys along with the kids, but is otherwise pretty straightforward. Still, the comedy is better than previous episodes and the plot feels a little more out there and carefree, compared the the more serious nature of the previous two episodes.