"King of the Hill" is a really grounded show.
Certainly one of the more realistic cartoons out there that thrives in what is relatable.
That goes for relationships too.
Every couple you meet in the show will remind you of one that you've met in real life.
Including the healthy and happy ones.
But, like real life, many of these couples have more than their fair share of problems.
Today we want to know: which couples in Arlen make the happiest couple.
And which ones are living in a toxic nightmare.
I'm Brad with WickedBinge, and this is King of the Hill Relationships: Healthy to Toxic.
For this video, we'll be focusing on romantic relationships exclusively.
And we’ll be starting out with the healthiest relationship, and working our way down to
the most toxic.
These are the Healthy Relationships.
We're giving the top spot to the show's main couple, Hank and Peggy.
Are they perfect?
No.
But it just had to be these two, because...
Who, in this show, has a healthier relationship than Hank and Peggy?
No one that we could think of.
No marriage is perfect, and that goes for these two as well.
Hank can cause issues for his marriage via his lack of desire to communicate.
However, he does his best and is very good at putting up with Peggy's worst attributes,
including her narcissistic tendencies that drive fans up the wall.
Peggy also does a good job dealing with Hank's rigidity and unwillingness to step out of
his comfort zone too often.
For as much of a stick-in-the-mud Hank is… and as much as a narcissist Peggy can be…
They really complement each other well, each bringing out the best in one another and providing
a good, stable home for their son.
Their relationship is based on mutual respect, understanding, and support for each other's
goals and desires.
Hank and Peggy prove that the key to a happy marriage isn't avoiding issues altogether,
rather it's about working together and rolling with the punches as they come.
For their ability to do that, we thought they truly deserved the top spot.
Our Silver Medal for Healthy Relationship goes to Lucky and Luanne.
This one might be a bit controversial.
On paper, this relationship shouldn't have worked out.
Lucky’s a lazy, unemployed middle-aged man who has spent a lot of his life living off
money he won in a lawsuit.
Luanne is ditzy, totally naive, and immature.
It sounds like their relationship should have been a one-off episode.
However, the show does a good job of showing the audience that they are both willing to
grow for the sake of their relationship's survival.
Lucky especially underwent several big moments of character growth in later seasons, becoming
the kind of guy who has to wear a watch, something that he clearly hates the idea of.
He does this though because he feels Luanne deserves a guy like that.
Now, Luanne didn't exactly slack in this department either.
She eventually gets a steady job working at Jack's, and is understanding of Lucky's ideals
that most people would consider silly or ridiculous.
These two definitely had several hurdles to clear before settling for the long haul together,
but they did that and then some.
That kind of dedication to one another has to earn our second spot.
For our next spot, we have everyone's least favorite neighbors, Kahn and Minh.
As much as we grow to love them, these two are some of the most frustrating people in
the show.
They are stuck up, rude, and absolutely full of themselves.
To their credit though, they seem to really love one another.
They even seem to be on the same page in most episodes.
What really seems to help their marriage is their shared dream of being successful, rich,
and well-connected.
It is a shallow goal, but one that they work together on.
There have been a couple instances where their marriage isn't holding together; such as when
Kahn loses his job, and abandons his family out of shame.
However, the rare times they do have their issues, they always work it out in the end.
Now, before the "um, actually's" start to swarm the comment section, yes we know about
the episode where Peggy implies that Minh had a secret affair.
However, those same people should remember that "King of the Hill" doesn't exactly hold
its continuity to a golden standard.
The show has regularly given its audience contradicting information on several topics.
It's pretty clear that the show's official canon is whatever the writer's needed it to
be at the time of the episode.
It's not too far-fetched to think that this was just a throwaway line intended to give
Peggy the ability to blackmail Minh, especially since it's never mentioned before or after
that one scene.
Despite having one of the healthier marriages in the show, it was still pretty disgusting
of Kahn to try and break up his mother, Laoma, and Bill.
It's a shame this relationship was only in a one off episode, because this was Bill's
healthiest relationship in the show, by far.
When Kahn's mother comes around, she wants to keep working at her job as a maid.
So she begins cleaning for a couple of the guys on Rainey street, one of which is Bill.
Since Bill is a slob, he gives her a constant source of work, which overjoys her.
Eventually, they form an emotional bond and begin dating.
Issues arise though when Kahn tries to split them up, telling Bill that there is another
man, when in reality, there isn't.
This leads to the two breaking up.
However, after a pep-talk from Hank, Bill realizes that he still loves Laoma, and that
he will fight for her.
The two end up together, and even Kahn comes around in the end.
They seemed really happy together.
The only fault we can find they had together was that Kahn's lie could've come out a lot
quicker and easier if the two had actually talked it out.
However, communication issues are pretty common for new couples, so we'll let it slide.
It's really a shame this never worked out.
However, the status quo demands Bill be miserable and lonely.
From one Bill relationship to another, we have his relationship with Anne Richards.
In this episode, Bill begins dating a former Texas state governor.
The two are actually quite happy together.
Eventually though, Bill's ex-wife, Lenore shows up, trying to renew her relationship
with him.
Bill ends up cheating on Anne with Lenore, leading to them breaking up.
Now, normally, we wouldn't put any relationship that ends with cheating up this high.
What makes this work though is Anne Richards herself.
Rather than seeing Bill as a dog, or womanizer, she sees that Bill is more akin to a puppet
whose strings are pulled by Lenore.
The former governor helps Bill realize that Lenore isn't really interested in him.
The episode ends with Bill finally being free emotionally from his ex-wife after he's been
in this emotional rut for pretty much the whole series up to this point.
This relationship may not have ended well, but it's clear it was a net positive for both
of them.
That's it for our healthy relationships.
Now we're moving on to The Grey Area.
These relationships aren't exactly healthy, but they're also far from the worst.
At the top of our neutral relationships, we have Bobby and Connie.
This relationship while on-again off-again isn't that bad.
Both of them really care about each other, and are often seen encouraging one another
in their goals.
However, the biggest issue constantly plaguing their relationship is their immaturity.
Connie especially has a bit to answer for after waiting so long to tell her parents
about her dating Bobby.
They spent a fairly long amount of time in the show having to hide their relationship,
rather than getting it out in the open and dealing with the consequences as they come.
Now, to be fair to both of them, they are only preteens, and have good communication
by the standards of people their age, but they are still just kids, and are not ready
emotionally for a long-term relationship yet.
On top of that, once Kahn backs off and they start dating openly, they begin to realize
there isn't enough common ground for a relationship, they do the responsible thing, and break up.
Even after they break up, they remain good friends and clearly still care about each
other.
Who knows?
Maybe if they met later in life after having grown up some, they might have actually worked
out well together.
Following up, we have Luanne and Boomhauer.
This one was a really short lived relationship.
It wasn't even the real focus of the episode, but it still happened, so we're counting it.
In this episode, Hank's attempt to help Luanne with her love life backfires after she starts
dating Boomhauer.
It's clear Boomhauer wasn't intending anything long-term here.
He does let her stay with him while she works out her issues with Hank, but he is very cold
and distant with her.Meanwhile, it's clear Luanne can tell this isn't working out, but
is only sticking by this relationship to get at Hank.
They even break up off screen near the end of the episode.
Following up, we have Bill and Reverend Stroup.
Now these two had way too much fun with their secret relationship, to the extent that after
they come clean, Bill grows bored with the relationship.
This leads him to eventually break up with Reverend Stroup.
We're putting this one on our lower half, because the excitement created from the secrecy
seemed to be what was keeping the relationship alive, which is not healthy.
Sure, they had a lot of fun together, and no abuse ever occured.
Still, any relationship that you can only be excited about if it's a secret does not
stand much of a chance of surviving.
Stroup is far less understanding of Bill's shortcomings than Anne Richards was, and it
is shown that there is indeed hard feeling there.The best thing we can say here is at
least Bill didn't drag this relationship out too long after he realized he wasn't invested
in it anymore.
Rounding out the neutral category, we have Luanne and Buckley.
This relationship was more akin to a run-on joke than an actual relationship.
Buckley is far too detached to really be able to invest himself in a relationship with Luanne.
It is also implied that he is only dating her for physical reasons.Luanne seems to care
about their relationship more than him, but she never really pushes him to be a better
person, or to communicate with her more clearly.
On top of that, when Buckley dies in an explosion, she is far more traumatized by her disintegrated
hair than by her dead boyfriend.
There is really nothing between these two emotionally, and even if Buckley had survived,
we couldn't see this relationship lasting too much longer.
That's a wrap for our neutral relationships.
Now onto the absolute worst.
These are the Toxic Relationships of Arlen Texas.
Let's start with Cotton and Didi.
What makes this one toxic is the lack of respect and responsibility.
Cotton clearly doesn't view Didi as his equal.
He sees her as more of his live-in maid and cook.
We're not sure what she even sees in Cotton.
The best thing we can say about this relationship is that it doesn't seem as toxic as Cotton's
previous marriage to Tilly was, and trust us we'll get there.
Cotton may actually love Didi, but it takes a lot more than love to make a marriage thrive.
It takes hard work and accountability.
Neither of which Cotton has any interest in.
Our next spot goes to Bill and Lenore.
This one actually ended before the show began.
However, we get a pretty good idea of what this marriage was like from the way the characters
talk about it.
Hank says they were always fighting so loud the whole neighborhood could hear them, even
at night.
Now it takes two to fight, so Bill is just as guilty in that regard.
On the other hand, it's understandable how emotions can run high, especially with a spouse
who is constantly unfaithful to you.
From the glimpses we see, Lenore was very emotionally abusive towards Bill.
She was always putting him down and gaslighting him, even walking out on him on Christmas
Eve of all days.
It's clear that this marriage is what turned Bill into the man we see in "King of the Hill".
Hank says it best, Lenore is a real backbreaker.
Cotton and Didi had an unhealthy relationship, but unlike Dale and Nancy (and John Redcorn),
at least there was some honesty in it.
Now let's be fair and acknowledge that their marriage wasn't all bad.
It has been shown to be quite loving and caring, especially in later seasons.
Before we get into how terrible Nancy is, it is fair to point out that Dale is a trainwreck
himself.
In many ways, he’s a big child who is incapable of taking care of himself.
In fact, Nancy seems to take care of not only bringing home the paychecks, but also being
the responsible parent at home.
It's shown that he performed his experiments in the house and left the remnants just laying
around.
That obviously doesn't justify an affair, but it also doesn't make things easier for
Nancy when she has to pay for both the bills and do a good portion of the housework.
And his crazy conspiracy theories don’t make things easier.
With that said, the couple’s portrayal on the show is practically centered around Nancy’s
endless cheating with John Redcorn.
If Nancy had left her husband, that would be one thing.
We can't condone abandoning a marriage for a fling, but it would've been a lot quicker
and more honest.
She does get her comeuppance later though when she finds out John Redcorn was actually
cheating on her during her affair.
But simply put, this ongoing cheating over the course of their relationship, exploiting
her husbands’ naive nature is terrible.
And the fact that she’s taken it to the extreme of hiding the fact that their kid
isn’t even Dale’s biological son is one of the most despicable things someone can
do in a relationship.
John Redcorn, although a tragic character in his own way…
Not being able to raise his son himself… has a lot of responsibility to bear as well.
He’s more than happy ruining relationships with infidelity, and Dale and Nancy’s is
the most serious example.
As bad as their marriage was, it's nothing compared to our next entry, Cotton and Tilly.
These two actually divorced before the show even started.
However, the few brief glimpses we get into their marriage seems awful.
Let's be honest what made this marriage fail.
I'll give you a hint.
It has no shins, a best friend named Topsy, and killed fifty men.
It's safe to say Cotton made Tilly take care of all the work the same way he does with
Didi.
What makes this worse than his second marriage though is that he is way, way more antagonistic
to Tilly than he ever has been to Didi.
Even after they divorced, Cotton still never misses an opportunity to rag on the poor woman.
It's even a subplot in the episode "Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men".
Usually, when a relationship fails, both people involved carry some of the blame.
This is one of those rare situations where there was a clear-cut bad guy though.
We're giving the silver medal of toxicity to Bill and Leanne.
In this episode, we're introduced to Luanne's mother, Leanne.
Right from the get-go, we see how this woman is manipulative and sleazy.
Eventually, her paths cross with Bill and things get flirtatious pretty quick.
The first obvious issue here is how she is constantly having Bill spend all his money
on her, to the point he can't even afford his medication for his toe fungus.
Yes, toe fungus.
Just watch the episode.
Ironically enough, it's the return of Bill's toe fungus that drove Leanne back to drinking.
She became angry, hostile, and even violent towards Bill.
She hit him and even threw a glass bottle at his face.
That could've caused serious damage if he hadn't ducked in time.
Domestic abuse is what makes us put this into our second place spot.
Other toxic relationships in this show may be full of manipulation, gaslighting, and
verbal abuse, but this is the only one we ever actually see get physical.
We're just glad Bill got out of this before the relationship got too far.
For our most toxic relationship, we're giving this to Hoyt and Leanne.
We're putting this above Bill and Leanne because, despite the fact he is a flawed person, Bill
is a good guy.
Hoyt, on the other hand, while not quite as bad as Leanne, is still a pretty terrible
person.
He is a schemer, a liar, and a thief amongst other things.
Even their relationship started out bad.
According to Hank, Hoyt was planning on marrying a decent woman who worked as a pharmacist,
but during his bachelor party, Leanne was hired as his "entertainment".
They hit it off pretty well and Hoyt left that healthy relationship for this one.
We can only imagine how these two's worst traits were codependent, and eventually culminated
in Leanne stabbing Hoyt with a fork.
Despite us never seeing their relationship, or even having them share an episode, this
has to be our worst relationship.
Most of the others on this list, have some sort of redeemable quality, even if it's just
that it never got physically violent.
It's the lowest possible bar a relationship can clear, but this is one of the only two
that doesn't, and at least Bill really tried in his relationship with Leanne.
His negative traits never spurred her on, unless you want to count the toe fungus.
It's actually pretty surprising that after growing up in a home with two petty people
that made each other worse, Luanne turned out so well.
But let us know in the comment section: What do you think is "King of the Hill's" most
healthy relationship?
What about the most toxic?
And tell us what we should cover next.
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But most importantly, stay wicked.