Bobby Goes Nuts

"Bobby Goes Nuts" is the first episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series King of the Hill. The 105th episode of the series overall, it first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 11, 2001.

Plot

Connie invites Bobby over to liven up her slumber party. Chane Wassonasong (Kahn's ideally perfect boyfriend for Connie) and his friends crash the party and begin to tease Bobby. Kahn catches the boys in Connie's bedroom and orders them all to leave. Bobby is forced by Kahn to leave through the window, but due to his favoritism toward Chane, he allows him and his friends to leave through the front door. A bad situation only gets worse for Bobby when he is accosted by Chane and his friends and forced to eat dirt.

Once Bobby returns home he tells Hank what happened, expecting that Hank will stand up for him and talk to Chane's father. However, Hank is not willing to do it this time, instead telling Bobby that he is going to have to learn to fight back and defend himself. In order to do so, Hank comes up with what he believes is the perfect idea and suggests Bobby go to the local YMCA to enroll in a boxing class.

Unfortunately for Bobby, when he goes to the Y to sign up for boxing, he finds out the class is full. Bobby asks to be enrolled in something, and is placed into a self-defense class for women because it is the only thing that is open. After some initial reluctance from the instructor, Bobby is allowed to stay in the class and quickly learns and masters the technique taught as self-defense- a hard kick to the testicles, usually preceded by a yell of "that's my purse, I don't know you!"

Bobby is able to use this the next day at school, where he once again is accosted by Chane. As Chane is trying to make Bobby eat more dirt, Bobby screams out "let go of my purse", which causes Chane to get off of him in confusion. Bobby then uses his kick, which causes Chane to double over in severe pain. This earns Bobby a reputation around Tom Landry Middle School, and he uses it to push the bullies around, including his rival Clark Peters. However, since he is fighting back and defending himself, Hank and Peggy are overlooking these incidents- which is important, because Bobby is not telling his parents how he is winning the fights.

Eventually, the Hills are called into the principal's office for a conference over Bobby's fighting. Hank is still proud of Bobby, but the principal finally makes Bobby tell his parents about his kicking students in their testicles. Hank and Peggy are horrified to hear that bit of information (since groin attacks are considered a taboo amongst young men), and Hank is even more surprised when he hears where Bobby learned that technique from. He instantly wants to blame Peggy, who reminds Hank that he was the one who sent Bobby to the YMCA in the first place to sign up for the boxing class. Bobby is then suspended from school. Hank and Principal Moss have a private man-to-man talk and they both agree that Bobby can't go around kicking people's testicles since, in their day, such a move was considered taboo.

Unwilling to give up, Hank decides to teach Bobby how to box on his own. He warns his son that he may have to take a few punches before he gets into a rhythm and then proceeds to try to teach him. However, Bobby is unable to deflect or counter any of his father's shots, and he takes several shots to the face. Bobby eventually becomes enraged by Hank's punching and kicks Hank in his testicles, causing him to drop to the ground in severe pain.

Hank eventually passes out from the pain, awaking to find Bill standing over him. The paramedics inform Peggy that Hank's groin area is severely swollen from Bobby's kick and, due to that, cannot "find" one of his testicles. With the injury he has suffered, Hank can neither walk straight nor sleep on his stomach, and is largely confined to a chair. He punishes Bobby for his actions, saying that he cannot watch television or play "vidya games" until further notice.

While talking with Connie the next day, Bobby is scolded severely by Kahn for what he did to Chane. However, Kahn is concurrently pleased that Bobby kicked Hank, which causes him to be conflicted. With Hank incapacitated, Kahn suggests to Bobby that he is the man of the house and that he should start going about his normal activities and challenging Hank. Bobby decides to take Kahn up on that offer.

Later, at the house, Bobby decides to play his Game Boy in defiance of his punishment. Hank demands that Bobby give it to him, but since Hank cannot physically do anything about it, Bobby just continues to play. Hank tries to get out of his chair to confiscate the game, but Peggy jumps into action. She orders Bobby to listen to his father, and after Bobby tells her not to intervene, she takes the Game Boy from him herself. An enraged Bobby tries to take his Game Boy back, but since Peggy is much taller than he is, he cannot reach. They wrestle to the ground where Bobby decides again to use his kick to get his way, but it does not work for one obvious reason that Peggy mockingly reminds Bobby of - as a woman, she has no testicles. Kahn is not convinced, shouting, "She bluffing, finish her!" Peggy then headlocks and noogies Bobby in view of all of the neighbors.

Dejected that his power play failed, Bobby asks Hank why he is being smug when he had to have his wife fight for him - which Bobby feels is worse than kicking below the belt. Hank replies that "it's not so fun when someone doesn't fight fair, is it?", and warns him that he can "get [Peggy] to do that any time I want". After sending Bobby inside to wash up, Hank hobbles in behind him.

Production information

• This was the first King of the Hill episode to use Digital ink and paint. For the rest of season 6 and 7 (with the exceptions of Peggy's nightmare scene from the season 6 episode "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret Hill" and the season 7 episode "Megalo Dale"), the show went back to traditional ink-and-paint, finally going all-digital in season 8.

Critical reception

Pamela Adlon won a Primetime Emmy for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" for her work in this episode.^[1] The episode itself was nominated for an Emmy Award^[2] and won an Annie Award for writing.^[3] Talmadge Blevins, IGN editorial director for video games, considers it a classic, and that Bobby's line "That's my purse! I don't know you!" is one of the "most memorable lines ever uttered on television."^[4]

Ending Credit Quote

Bobby: "That's my purse! I don't know you!"

References