| "Peggy Makes the Big Leagues" | |||
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| King of the Hill episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 5 |
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| Directed by | Dominic Polcino | ||
| Written by | Johnny Hardwick | ||
| Production code | 4ABE12 | ||
| Original air date | November 26, 2000 | ||
| Guest stars | |||
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Brendan Fraser (as David Kaliiki-Alii) |
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of King of the Hill episodes | |||
"Peggy Makes the Big Leagues" is the 89th episode in the Fox animated television series King of the Hill and is the 5th episode of the fifth season.
Peggy gets the opportunity to teach at Arlen High School when the geometry teacher goes on maternity leave. However, she soon finds herself at odds with one particular student, who shows up late, never turns in assignments, and despite this suggests that she give him whatever passing grade she feels is best. The student, David Kaliiki-Alii (Brendan Fraser), known as "the Flyin' Hawaiian", is Arlen High's star fullback and accustomed to simply being given a passing grade despite never doing any academic work, coasting by entirely on the acclaim he brings to the school through playing football with the full support of the school's permanent faculty. Peggy is shocked to learn this and, sticking to her principles as an educator, remains determined to motivate him in his actual studies, even constructing a 'geometry playbook' especially for him. When he fails an exam despite her efforts, she gives him the failing grade he earned, and under Texas' "No Pass, No Play" mandate, David is suspended from playing for three weeks - a move which earns her scorn from the faculty and the ire of the entire Arlen Booster Club, including Hank.
While Peggy refuses to bow to everyone else's demands to change David's grade, the Arlen Booster Club manages to figure out a loophole: by pulling David from geometry and enrolling him in a work-study program with one of their businesses instead, they can circumvent the mandate and get David back on the field. Buck volunteers a position at Strickland Propane, and Hank happily agrees to mentor David for the program. However, Hank likewise runs up against David's lackadaisical approach to learning while attempting to teach him about propane; Peggy, meanwhile, grows increasingly despondent over her own apparent failure to teach at the high-school level. When David turns in a poorly-spelled and off-topic essay for the program's grade, Hank, finally understanding Peggy's perspective, can barely summon the resolve to pass him, and, overcome with guilt, he confesses to an indignant Peggy the truth about David's performance.
Hank and Peggy go before the Booster Club to admit that David did not deserve to pass, but the Boosters only care about the football team's chances for State. Peggy decides to take the matter of David being denied a real education to David's mother, but when she and Hank meet with Mrs. Kaliiki-Alii, she tells them that David has a learning disability; however, after the Hills leave, this is revealed to be a ruse concocted by her and the Boosters. David is insulted to find out about the ruse, however, and when Peggy speaks to him in a sympathetically slow manner the next day, the realization of how easy it was for her to believe that he is learning-disabled embarrasses him enough to admit that he has simply just been lazy, and he resolves to actually earn a passing grade. With not enough time to learn enough about geometry before the game, Hank and Peggy fall back on the work-study program approach, with Peggy teaching him facts about propane by drawing parallels to football. David manages to learn enough to satisfy Hank and Peggy, and, with a genuine passing grade, he proudly resumes his position on the field.