21 years ago today, King of the Hill aired its final Christmas special, and the animated series rounded out the holiday with a shockingly tragic take on the idea. King of the Hill might have returned earlier this Summer with a brand new season of episodes to Hulu, but this new season didn’t really have any time to celebrate the holidays. The original King of the Hill run has gone all out for the Christmas season many times over its episodes, but the last one ended up being one of the most sad.
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21 years ago today, on December 19, 2004, King of the Hill aired what ended up being its final Christmas episode, “Ms. Wakefield.” The episode introduced the Hill family to a sudden elderly guest during the holiday season, and she reveals that she’s only gone to the house with the hopes of dying there. The episode goes about as wild as you would expect from the idea, and sparks as many sad emotions as you would expect to see too. That’s why it’s so memorable after all these years.
Miss Wakefield Debuted 21 Years Ago Today
During King of the Hill‘s ninth season, “Ms. Wakefield” sees the Hill family prepare for the holiday season. They’re going to throw their annual Christmas party for friends and family (complete with Secret Santa as Bill apparently “gives cool gifts), but soon they get a sudden visit from an elderly woman named Ms. Wakefield. It’s revealed it was her childhood home, and she just wanted to have a quick visit to have some fun memories of her childhood. But soon enough, her real intentions are made clear and they’re pretty dark.
It’s revealed that after losing her sister and the rest of her family over the years, Ms. Wakefield had been hoping to come back to her childhood home to die. She wanted to end her life at the place she felt happiest, but naturally it’s something that Hank and Peggy aren’t comfortable with. Kicking her out, she tries again the next day only to try and sneak into the house to die quickly. Then there are days of this going back and forth as she tries to sneak into the house, only for the Hills to throw her out.
It gets to the point where she finally causes a scene to where the neighborhood is turning against Hank for being so mean to an elderly woman. She pleads for him to let her die there, and tries to do so during their Christmas party. But seeing how uncomfortable everyone is, she decides against it and Hank realizes she’s just been so lonely. Offering to have her over for Christmas from now on (and not just to die), we never see Ms. Wakefield again. And she’s never mentioned in the Hulu revival (along with other missing characters) either.
What Happens to Ms. Wakefield?
The episode itself was already a sad one as she outright pleads for Hank to let her die, and her loneliness cuts through the holiday. It’s a rather wacky episode beforehand as Hank and the others are trying to stop Ms. Wakefield’s shenanigans, and Bobby’s even afraid of her at one point. Dale tries to get her to die at his house instead to start a haunted bed and breakfast, but even with all of this it still hits home that this is an old woman who’s ready to die. It’s just that she’s never brought up again.
King of the Hill does have a history of bringing in notable side characters for single guest appearances or stories then never decides to bring them up again. It’s the same case here, but the saddest part is that we never get a follow up on his sad old woman. It’s likely that she did die in the time between the events of this Season 9 episode and the start of Season 14 that takes place many years later, but we never actually see her in action again because King of the Hill just never had another Christmas episode after this. So it adds even more of a bleak taste to the whole thing.
She’s a character who would likely only pop up during Christmas, and because King of the Hill forgoes the holiday entirely for its final few seasons of that Fox run, we never see her again. It just adds that unfortunate layer that Hank and the others never check up on her again after promising that she’s always welcome. It’s an all too real part of some lives, and it’s aspect of this Christmas episode in particular that’s aged with a twist in the wake of the revival.
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Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.
