Goodbye Normal Jeans

"Goodbye Normal Jeans" is the 130th episode of King of the Hill, and the 4th episode of the 7th season. The episode's title is a reference to the 1976 film Goodbye Norma Jean, about the life of Marilyn Monroe. This episode is rated TV-PG.

Plot

Bobby is in danger of failing home economics due to his clowning around, and receives a take-home exam in the form of a stained cheerleader outfit to clean. With Hank already angry with him for taking home ec as a guy, Bobby seeks assistance in stain removal from Peggy, and she all too gladly takes control and douses the garment in bleach - which not only damages the cheerleader outfit, but also destroys Hank's favorite pair of blue jeans, his dungarees. With Hank now even more upset with Bobby's home ec endeavors, Bobby humbly seeks help from his teacher, who teaches him how to sew an entirely new pair from a bolt of denim, using the old jeans as a pattern. Peggy is astonished at first with how straight Bobby's seams are compared to her own, but her astonishment turns to jealousy when the jeans fit Hank perfectly and he cannot stop raving about them.

Peggy serves her usual Tuesday platter of pork chops for dinner, but Bobby pulls a beautiful pot roast from the oven and brings it to the table, asking Hank to sign a homework card for it. Hank tries a slice before signing, and finds himself going back for seconds and thirds, telling a now indignant Peggy that they ought to eat Bobby's roast and save her pork chops for another night. After dinner Peggy seeks help from Nancy, who lends her a homemaking magazine; Peggy spies an article featuring a magnificent Thanksgiving centerpiece, but ends up using yard waste to assemble a sad-looking collection of twigs and bird nests in the dining room.

Peggy winds up contracting fleas from the bird nests, and heads to the hair salon to have her hairdresser Ernst, a near-perfect embodiment of the gay hairdresser stereotype, remove them. She bemoans how Bobby is replacing her as a homemaker, and Ernst suggests that she make up in the bedroom for her son's usurpation everywhere else in the house and gives her a makeover, complete with a new hairdo. She returns home to find that Bobby has already prepared a fantastic dinner in her absence. Peggy remains determined to seduce Hank out of his admiration for Bobby's new domestic skills, but Hank is still raving about Bobby's cooking, and begins to gag from the fumes of Peggy's hairstyling products and turns in for the night.

During the night, Hank keeps getting woken up by Peggy's hair fumes, and she awakens to find him pulling their beds apart to escape them. Furious, she storms out to sleep on the couch, only to find Bobby cleaning; he offers her his bed, wanting to continue his housework, and she grudgingly accepts. Hank later invites Bobby to sleep in Peggy's bed since the couch is still damp from cleaning, but he and Bobby instead stay up watching TV, eating snacks, and talking, leaving Peggy feeling even more left out than ever. After confronting them, she retreats back into Bobby's room, whereupon she notices the corner of the homemaking magazine sticking out from under Bobby's mattress. She calls Hank in, eagerly expecting him to become upset at this discovery; he instead asks if Bobby can prepare a Thanksgiving turkey as featured in the magazine. To Peggy's further consternation, Bobby has already started preparing it! Hank decides that Bobby ought to prepare the entire Thanksgiving feast this year, and Bobby asks if Peggy can place the turkey in the oven for him while he and Hank search for the holiday dishware. Livid, Peggy instead absconds with the turkey on Bobby's bike.

Peggy heads to Ernst's apartment, thinking to share the turkey with someone who, like her, is alone on Thanksgiving. But when she gets to the apartment she discovers that although he fits the stereotype in every other way he isn't actually gay, and has a loving wife and infant son. Ernst calls Hank and relates the situation to him, and Hank decides to take action. When Ernst later drops Peggy off back at her house, she comes in to find that Bobby is having Thanksgiving with Bill, and, to her horror, that Hank has managed to prepare all of her trademark dishes - without her. However, Hank explains that he didn't marry her because he needed her to cook and clean for him, but because he loves her. Together, the two sit down to a Thanksgiving feast featuring all of Peggy's favorites.

A minor subplot involves Bill and Dale getting into a million-dollar bet over whether Bill can toss his empty beer can into the bin. Bill fails, but goes along with what he assumes is just a joke and cuts Dale a check. When Dale actually cashes the check and finds that he can only get as much money as Bill had in his account for it ($418.75), he settles for that amount; Bill is later surprised to discover that his account is empty when he attempts to buy Thanksgiving groceries, and finds out that Dale is not only behind it but also intends to eventually extract his full winnings. During the credits, Bill and Bobby break a wishbone, again for a million dollars; when it breaks in Bill's favor he demands his million from Bobby, and Dale appears and demands Bill's million. Bill apologizes to Bobby, confessing that Dale had put him up to it.

Trivia

When Dale withdraws the money from Bill's account, he asks for 400 Sacagawea_dollar, 18 Susan B. Anthonys 2 North Carolinas and a Utah. The Utah state quarter wasn't released until 2007.