King of the Hill has undergone some major changes through the past few years, but one of its biggest shifts happened 26 years ago today with a shocking new character joining the Hill family. King of the Hill came back to screens earlier this Summer with a brand new season of the franchise taking place at least eight or nine years following the events of the original series. The animated series introduced fans to new takes on Hank and the others since we had seen them in action all those years ago. And some of the characters were much different than the others.
King of the Hill has had its fair share of notable event episodes over the years, and one of the biggest came in the transition between the third and fourth seasons. With the end of the third season came one of its huge events as Peggy’s life was hanging in the balance after a skydiving accident. But 26 years ago today, King of the Hill’s Season 4 premiere took this even further by revealing that Peggy was not only okay but she also was around a surprising new baby that joined the wider Hill family. Because that’s when we were first really introduced to Hank’s new brother, Good Hank.
King of the Hill Introduced Hank’s New Brother
Throughout the third season, King of the Hill had been working through the upcoming arrival of Cotton’s new baby with Didi. But as the third season came to an end, the series introduced this baby in full as Bobby ended up being the one that helped Didi deliver the baby. It wasn’t until the fourth season that this new addition was officially revealed in full, and with it fans were introduced to Good Hank, Hank’s new half-brother. This was a wild introduction for many reasons as Hank and Cotton had a notably tumultuous relationship.
Hank and his father was one of those relationships that fans had seen evolve over the course of the animated series’ run, and was a core element to it overall. Much like how fans saw Hank relating to his own son, fans were able to compare it to how he related to his father. It took a funny direction when Cotton started dating someone who used to go to elementary school with Hank (as Didi asked Hank if he still liked to finger paint), but this was where Didi came into the fold in full.
The idea of his father having a baby at such an old age with ease (after years of Hank struggling to have even one child) brought up a lot of other mixed feelings. On top of his brother now being literally named as a “good” version of his father’s son, there was potential here to explore how this could change Hank. But it’s a potential that fans wouldn’t see until much later with King of the Hill Season 14 reintroducing Good Hank back to the franchise as a much older version of the character.
King of the Hill Finally Explores Good Hank 26 Years Later
Although there was a lot of potential to explore Hank’s feeling of inadequacy in such a situation, King of the Hill never really returns to the idea in full under many years later with the revival season on Hulu. In the episode “No Hank Left Behind,” the Hill brothers (including the Japanese based Junichiro) are reunited when their father’s estate settles a long running case and gives them each some money. Hank is then essentially forced to spend time with his younger brother, but it results in a nice change for both of them.
After making it through a men’s rights seminar, Hank ends up reaching a new level of understanding with his brother. Without a father figure in his life, Good Hank ran the risk of becoming just as terrible of a person as their father was. But thanks to Hank reaching out and establishing a connection between the two now that they are much older, Good Hank is going to avoid this future. It was a big win that Hank got over his father, and now his father won’t be able to turn his brother into a copy of him.
King of the Hill thankfully followed up on this older idea first introduced 26 years ago today, and with it helped to expand even more of Hank himself. Hank has never been one to directly address his feelings before, but through his connection with Good Hank, Hank is finally starting to heal from all of his past trauma with his father. It’s a big change and hopefully a sign to come for the future.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
