It’s hard to debate that King of the Hill has been on a hot streak recently. The fourteenth season presented a very different take on the Hill family, taking place years following the original show’s finale and garnering major ratings for Hulu. With the future of Hank and his family remaining a mystery, now feels like the best time to explore the show’s past and one of the biggest mysteries that took place in Arlen, Texas. While the revival introduced plenty of changes, King of the Hill’s third season premiere changed the game for the Mike Judge-created animated series.
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King of the Hill’s third season premiere, “Propane Boom II: Death of a Propane Salesman,” followed up on the second season’s massive season finale. In a wild twist, the retailer known as “Mega-Lo Mart” decided to sell propane and propane accessories. Thanks to this fact, Hank found himself let go by his boss, Buck Strickland, and found himself trying to become an employee at the very company responsible for his firing. Ultimately, Hank was also fired from Mega-Lo Mart, but quickly following this event, the store itself exploded in a wild series of events. During the second season’s end, the status of Hank, Luanne, Buckley, and even Chuck Mangione is unknown. It was only until season three that animation fans discovered who survived.
King of the Hill: Who Lives And Who Dies?
Following the explosion, Hank and Luanne are found alive in the rubble, though the latter was looking a little worse for wear. Thanks to the blast, Luanne’s hair was literally burned completely off, giving her a very different look. Even Chuck Mangione was found alive, though the same couldn’t be said for Luanne’s now ex-boyfriend, Buckley. This explosion saw a major character change for Luanne in the third season, giving her a different personality for at least a handful of episodes. Of course, Buckley’s demise also set the stage for Luanne’s future relationship.
Later in the episode, Hank got his job back thanks to Strickland Propane no longer having serious competition. Unfortunately, the event caused Hill to have an adverse reaction to propane itself, making Hank deathly afraid of what he formerly loved. Hank would eventually recover, but Buckley never would. In one hilariously grotesque moment, Dale, ever the conspiracy theorist, believes that Buckley survived the explosion, going so far as to open the victim’s casket. In seeing Buckley’s corpse, Gribble vomits in horror, and the idea that Buckley is secretly alive is put to bed.
Luanne would eventually find herself marrying Lucky, with the pair eventually having a child of their own in Gracie. Tragically, the voice actors for both characters, Brittany Murphy and Tom Petty, passed away before the revival was confirmed, meaning the characters were not a part of season fourteen. As of the writing of this article, it has yet to be revealed if the characters will return in the King of the Hill’s future with new voice actors or if Luanne and Lucky will never make a comeback.
Earlier this year, King of the Hill showrunner Saladin Patterson addressed the couple’s absence from the revival, “The analogy I use as a sports fan is, sometimes the best way to honor someone’s work is to hang their jersey up in the rafters as a show of respect and what they meant to the organization. It didn’t seem right to recast certain characters. I don’t want to spoil anything, but (we) figured out other ways in the storytelling to honor those characters.”
Does this major King of the Hill event remain the biggest mystery to take place in Arlen, Texas? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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