TVSquad

When Family Guy first came on the air it was inevitably compared to The Simpsons, something I thought was more than a little unfair. I've always maintained that Family Guy was grounded in a cartoon world, whereas The Simpsons was a sitcom that just happened to be animated. It can't be denied, however, that both shows have their ladles in the gravy boat of pop culture, which makes them, if not comparable, at least two sides of the same weird coin.

Then there's King of the Hill, which kicked off its 10th season last night. Unlike Homer or Peter, Hank Hill's humor comes not from trying to be odd or idiosyncratic, but by trying to be normal, and trying to keep a lid on the eccentricities of his friends and family. He is, in many ways, the quintessential Midwest father (even if he lives in Texas), a patriarch whose duty is to maintain order and some semblance of normalcy. It's these particular traits that were explored in last night's episode.

"Hear that Bill? You're in the A-car!" -Hank

The episode begins with Dale and Boomhauer preparing to leave on their annual Memorial Day trip. After trying unsuccessfully to ditch Bill, the trip soon turns into a family outing with the Hills, the Gribbles, Bill, and Boomhauer. On the way to the ocean, Hank assumes the role of leader, coaching Bill on how to behave so as not to annoy Dale or Boomhauer. During a rest stop Dale buys an abnormal amount of beer and stores it in the back seat, leaving room for only one person. Seeing this as Bill's chance to fly solo, Hank moves back to the "B-car" with Peggy and Nancy, where he must endure Nancy talking about "net carbs" for the remainder of the trip.

If it's "nacho cheese" then whose is it? -Bill

Hank and his family arrive at the beach first, with Dale, Bill and Boomhauer showing up late. They explain that Bill decided they should veer from the path and follow a "blue highway" he saw on the map (which actually turned out to be a river). Hank begins to chastise Bill, but Dale and Boomhauer come to his defense, saying that if they hadn't taken the alternate route they never would have discovered Tico's Tacos and gotten their cool Tico's Tacos hats. The three then venture out to the beach to play in the sand. Hank slowly realizes that it wasn't Bill they've been ditching all these years, but him. Dejected, he confines himself to the indoors and fixes things that don't need to be fixed. Peggy urges Hank to join his friends on the beach in spite of his hurt feelings, and to just once let the boys take the lead without Hank telling them how moronic they are. Hank reluctantly agrees.

Dale soon reveals to Bill and Hank that this annual trip has actually been a clever ruse, and that for the last twenty years he and Boomhauer have been searching for a fabled treasure somewhere in the ocean. Hank thinks this is the dumbest thing he's ever heard, but he keeps his mouth shut and the crew raise anchor and venture out.

"Bobby, you are a genius." -Peggy

Meanwhile, Bobby is sent to pick up some groceries, but instead decides to buy a metal detector, which he and Joseph believe will find great riches far exceeding the money he was given for groceries. Peggy, not-so-oddly enough, agrees, and she and Bobby hit the beach.

Back in the boat, Hank finds that not always taking the role of "adult" can actually be fun, and the men take turns doing cannonballs off the boat (though Dale's turns into a bellyflop). The fun turns horrific, however, when it's discovered that someone forgot to lower the ladder, leaving them with no way to get back on the boat. Dale attempts to dive underwater and propel himself onto the boat, but with no luck. As the men become more desperate, they begin to confess things, and Hank learns that the shortcut the guys took earlier was actually quite horrible. He soon realizes that in order to save everyone, he's going to have to revert back to "old Hank" and take charge. After a strange series of events that involve Boomhauer breaking the gas line on the boat and Dale setting the gas on fire, the men are discovered and rescued.

Back on land, Peggy and Bobby encounter some older metal detecting enthusiasts who try to muscle them off the beach. Peggy winds up besting them in the end however by finding the ring leader's keys and keeping them, such is the metal detector's code.

Last night's episode proved that Mike Judge's King of the Hill formula still works, and Hank still remains the cornerstone of the series, that Kiplingesque leader who tries every week to keep his head while all about him are losing theirs.