King of the Hill Revival Makes a Welcome Change to Peggy

King of the Hill has returned for a new wave of episodes fifteen years after its original broadcast came to an end, and with the new season has made a very welcome change to how its handled Peggy Hill. Peggy helped to form the core of the original King of the Hill run as while much of the series is focused on how Hank and Bobby relate to one another in their changing lives, Peggy was at the center of it all with her own hopes and desires. But what ended up rubbing people the wrong way in the original series was just how highly she had thought of herself.

Peggy’s high level of self-confidence sometimes bordered on delusional, and that made for some of the most memorable episodes of the original King of the Hill series. Her self-confidence has returned in the new era of the series as well, but there’s been a change in how all of the others around her actually respond to it. Because while she was rarely challenged on things in the original, Hank and Bobby clearly have moments where they push back against her bragging.

How King of the Hill Changes Peggy

King of the Hill Season 14 introduces Peggy with pretty much the same kind of personality that she had in the original. She still boasts about her successes, and speaks about herself highly, but it’s much less overt than the original. For example, being retired now puts her years of teaching behind her. Though she’s seen still polishing her Substitute Teacher of the Year trophies in the new episodes, she really doesn’t bring up in conversation anymore. It’s the same for her other major accomplishments like Boggle as she really doesn’t mention it in the new era either.

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It’s almost as if King of the Hill has sanded off those rougher edges for the new era, but also isn’t afraid to put out when she’s overreaching anymore. One of the funniest moments comes early on when Hank is watching a reboot of Monsignor Martinez, and she tries to translate it (badly) before Hank points out that not only is the show subtitled, but what is really happening is far off from what she was suggesting. Only for Peggy to claim that it was the subtitles that were wrong themselves. At the same time, she was on the way to a Pilates class to teach the teacher how to actually do it.

King of the Hill’s Changes to Peggy Makes Sense

Peggy still keeps these aspects that made her such a memorable character in the original King of the Hill, but the changes around her make a lot of sense. There are several scenes where both Hank and Bobby just sort of agree to whatever she’s saying despite the fact that they clearly don’t agree. Like during “The Beer Story” where she keeps suggesting they name their beers “Peggy Ale,” the two of them just sort of brush it off with an “Uh huh.” Even more so is Hank calling out her bragging entirely.

Hank challenged Peggy on the fact that she was lying about some of her accomplishments in Saudi Arabia, and Peggy admitted that it was just a white lie. It turned into a bigger argument about the fact that Hank didn’t seem like he stood by her side, but it was really just a reflection of how many years have passed between them. It’s a change that makes sense for the revival as other characters would naturally have less patience for some of Peggy’s ways, but also Peggy herself has calmed down a bit too.