King of the Hill Season 14 Review

King of the Hill Season 14 is obscenely, breathtakingly good. Like the original series, it feels both timeless and for-the-moment, fusing brilliant humor and earthy wisdom with keen social commentary and characters who feel as lived-in and likable as ripe for growth. The revival capitalizes on its soft reset—it picks up several years after the series finale — and doubles down on what creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, along with new showrunner Saladin Patterson, excel at: extending grace and projecting their hopes for the ignorant and hard-to-reach without forfeiting its sense of humor and moral clarity.

At its core, King of the Hill has always been about learning to adjust to a world that's becoming increasingly unrecognizable. Disengaging from our world for any amount of time —whether it's several days, several months, or in the Hills' case, several years in a Saudi Arabian compound—can feel like a physical departure. Indeed, upon returning to Arlen, Hank and Peggy (Judge and Kathy Najimy, reprising their respective roles) hardly recognize the place. Dale (Toby Huss, replacing the late Johnny Hardwick) became mayor for 36 hours before denying the results of his own election—-easily one of the revival’s funniest developments. Then there’s Arlen as a physical, mutable locale. U-turns are suddenly illegal on the streets outside Hank’s neighborhood alley. Restaurant bathroom signage blurs gender lines. Everything is upside-down, and Hank wants nothing to do with it.

The people, too, are endlessly confusing for Hank, and this is where the show really digs in and has fun. “I want the piece that was assigned meat at birth,” he says of Peggy’s lasagna, which Bobby’s new partner Willow requested be half-vegetarian. Society is shifting faster than even Hank can judge it, meaning he can only flounder as he realizes beer isn’t beer anymore, they/them pronouns are here to stay, and neighborhood flex-posts are ubiquitous. It’s through these struggles that the showrunners weave their remarks on the status quo, and it’s this commentary—as tactful and keen as it ever was during the original run, with heart and patience to spare— that helps King of the Hill reclaim its place among the smartest, most endearing animated sitcoms of all time.

Like nearly every successful story, King of the Hill wouldn't be half the cultural behemoth it is without its characters, and that holds truer than ever here. Dale, in all his hilarious and problematic glory, commands every scene he's in, his rampant paranoia teeing up some of the season's best moments and reminding us just how easy it is to both love and hate him. Early on, he decides to “help” Hank win a home-brewing contest against Bobby by kidnapping one of the judge's dogs and positioning Hank as the poor pup's savior. Sure, Huss can't quite capture the nasally droning that characterized Hardwick's tenure in the role, but he gets such absurd material throughout that the change isn't as distracting as it could have been.

Najimy is positively ablaze here. Peggy remains a well-meaning scourge to linguists and non-English speakers alike, summarily butchering pronunciations and rejecting the idea that she might have it all wrong, and it all lands because Najimy doesn't miss one beat.

Then there's Bobby, who's written and performed so perfectly---and so closely to his 12-year-old self--- that it's difficult not to have to blink away grainy flashes of his antics as a youngster. Adlon's role was a highlight of King of the Hill, and this new season only reinforces the importance of her reprisal. Bobby’s voice hasn’t changed one bit, and neither has his tendency to think out loud and rattle off hilariously random comments. And yet, he still looks and behaves like a grown-up, running the kitchen at a German-Japanese fusion restaurant in Dallas and displaying a work ethic that makes his dad proud. Predictably, though, adulthood has further complicated Bobby’s dynamic with Hank, who remains ideologically shut-in while his son navigates the world with an open mind and heart.

Crucially, —and this has always been important in keeping them likable —the Hills are often as quick to accept as they are to judge. Hank and Peggy have always slyly modeled how to be set in your ways without being awful to other people, which has always been one of King of the Hill’s most resonant takeaways. Bobby’s girlfriend Willow is an especially exquisite challenge for Hank, who’s taken aback by her ferocity, bluntness, and complete unwillingness to fit into the box he’s assigned her. She offends just about every one of his five senses, and every moment they spend together is quality time for Willow and absolute hell for Hank. True to his ways, though, he doesn’t treat her poorly. He finds common ground with her and, in doing so, finds that paradigms are elastic if you’d like them to be.

This increased emphasis on heart, on doing right by people even if you don’t understand them, takes King of the Hill’s 14th season from satisfying revival to astounding masterpiece. The beloved animated sitcom is as good as it’s ever been, and if we’re lucky, will mark the beginning of a new golden age for the Hill family.

Hayden Mears is an entertainment journalist who enjoys (you guessed it) entertainment. He also likes fitness boxing and writing bios in the third person.