Bill D'Auterive is one of the most well known of the King
of the Hill cast. He’s a core member of Hank’s friends and his antics are amusing,
endearing and, at times, downright tragic. We know Bill has his share of bad moments… His
stalking Peggy can’t really be overlooked… But at the end of the day, Bill is a good person.
A very troubled guy with a big heart. And today we wanted to look at some of his best moments.
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge and these are Bill D'Auterive’s Best Deeds.
For this list, we’re going to be covering times where we think Bill
really shines the brightest. We’re going to be ranking the times where Bill displayed the
best parts of his personality through helping others and displaying his own inner strength.
#5 Helping Luanne
This may not seem like a huge feat,
but it led to Luanne becoming very successful in Arlen as a hairdresser.
It began with Hank telling his friends that Luanne had dropped out of college to try to once again
pursue hair styling, and Bill offering to help her get her license if that was the only thing she was
missing. He spends extra time helping the young woman get back into the swing of her passion and
when Luanne is rewarded with her certificate of completion and offered a high end job,
Bill even offers to pay for her chair rental so she doesn’t miss the great opportunity.
Now we aren’t saying Bill is perfect in this
episode. For most of his time on screen, he’s seen lying and pretending to be a gay man
just so he can continue working with Luanne and being around attractive women. But we feel we
have to mention it because it led to Luanne being able to achieve something she dreamed
of since she was a kid and, in a way, gave her closure for all of her hard years and heartache.
#4 Taking the Blame for Hank
This episode was already a Bill centered one from the very beginning,
with the gang going to Austin to spend some time with him.
While they do rag on Bill, it was nice to see them make an effort to make sure he had a good time,
with Dale even renting a convertible for the trip and making some fake complaints so they
got a better room. But we want to mention this episode for a couple of moments in particular.
The first is when Hank is finally talked into cutting loose for the weekend. His friends told
him to moon a crowd of people who were there to see the former governor of Texas. When security
demands to know who did it, Bill took the fall for Hank. While Governor Ann Richards knew from
the beginning it wasn’t Bill, she went along with it, finding Bill covering for Hank as charming.
The second moment is after Bill and Ann began dating. The attention Bill
is getting accompanying Ann to a wide range of events leads to his ex-wife reappearing.
All of the viewers know Bill is hung up on his ex for the vast majority of the
show’s running, so this was a huge reveal. Bill is tempted to try and juggle both of the women
before he decides to try and propose to Lanore again. But what really defined him was when,
instead of following through on his dream of having his wife again, he realizes that
he’s being used and making a mistake, and rejects Lanore in a very satisfying way.
One may argue that this wasn’t a very heroic deed, but knowing Bill,
it was difficult for him to do and he gained a lot of respect for standing up for his self-worth.
Something that took a lot of integrity and self respect.
#3 Curing His Own Diabetes
After having a severe sugar crash at the carnival led Bill to being sent to the hospital,
finding out he was in the stages of adult onset diabetes. His first doctor
had an excellent bedside manner and tried to cover as many of Bill’s questions as he could
before presenting some advice. But after a second crash, Bill was sent to another
doctor who was less helpful, telling Bill to get a wheelchair while he had good insurance.
Bill, being Bill, does exactly that. He falls into a state of depression and just gives up trying.
He stops using his legs, leaving Hank to drag him everywhere. When he meets a man going by Thunder,
Bill is automatically drawn to the other and allows Thunder to show him how to be tougher
and more independent. There aren’t many times that we see Bill thrive to any degree,
so it’s easy to understand why this was such an easy thing for Bill to get swept up with.
When the guys on the rugby team go out for drinks to celebrate a victory,
Bill reveals he can still walk and is left to desperately explain that he has severe diabetes
and that was why he was in the wheelchair. It leads to Bill not only being rejected by Thunder
and the rugby team, but by Hank, Dale and Boomhauer.
This episode is worth noting for a couple of reasons. 1) Bill was able to do something his
doctors and friends didn’t think he could do: he was able to cure himself and overcome diabetes.
And 2) Bill was able to get his revenge on the doctor that had told him flat out
he would lose his legs. By very clearly showing how well his legs still worked. We
don’t get to see Bill really show how much of a badass he can be,
so the moment was one fans everywhere adored. Whether you like Bill or not, if you didn’t
cheer after hearing his poor excuse for a doctor getting whooped by a patient, are you even alive?
#2 His Breakthrough
This episode was a stressful one for long time fans,
as it perfectly set up how easy it is for a person to fall. Bill is not seen as the
most stable guy by any means. He is teased by his friends-mainly Dale-for being overweight,
desperate and lonely. And this really has an effect on Bill during the holidays.
Hank defends Bill a lot of the time, trying to remind everyone around them of all Bill
was able to do in his prime. But when Bill becomes too suffocating for the Hill family
and is told to not join them for dinner, Bill takes it as the ultimate rejection
and attempts to kill himself. Things then led to all of them watching Bill
around the clock until Hank had enough and tried to get Bill to snap out of it, throwing
around the gifts Bill saved for Lanore. But unfortunately it doesn’t have the wanted effect
and leads to Bill pretending to be his ex-wife, claiming she came back because she missed Bill.
Now this may not come off as a good episode to showcase anything positive about Bill, but... Then
you get to the end. This time, when Hank tries to help his friend, he pretends to be Lanore
and tells Bill that she was never coming back. What follows is Bill finally getting closure,
telling off “Lanore” and coming back to reality. This is an important moment to bring up because
before this Bill dedicated all of his free time trying to keep things the way they had been when
Lanore left, stuck in a state of desperation. The whole episode is a well done PSA to show
how trauma can affect people differently and how important a support system is.
#1 Saving His Friends
When Bill was curious about his medical records, it led to Dale sneaking into the facility to get
information. Dale mistakenly reports that Bill was being experimented on by the government
and that’s what led to Bill becoming the mess of a person he currently was.
In his resentment and self-loathing, Bill becomes intoxicated on the base
and winds up stealing a tank when he can’t find his car keys. They do try to correct the error,
leading the tank back to the base, but they become a target for the war games. It’s during
this time of panic that Dale reveals what the drug actually was that was used on Bill: a
placebo. Bill is then forced to face the fact that he wasn’t a man used by the government
but was responsible for everything that happened to him. He no longer had anyone to blame.
But there’s no time for self-loathing when the attacks grow closer and they’re all at
risk of being killed. Bill makes the incredibly brave choice to lead the tank away to draw fire
after his friends escape through the bottom of the tank, running off the field.
Bill does end up surviving when the tank is blown up, but it showed the type of man Bill is
under all of his insecurities and struggles. He protects the people
he cares for with his whole being even at the risk of himself. Seeing him steer the tank away
and singing Freebird while crying openly had a lot of viewers on edge,
wondering if this really would be the last we saw of William Fontaine de La Tour D'Auterive.
But what do you think? What were Bill’s best moments in King of the Hill? Also,
check out our WORST Peggy Hill Deeds if you haven’t watched it already. Don't forget to hit
that notification bell and binge our Good-to-Evil playlist. Where we break down the morality of the
characters in your favorite cartoons, shows and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked!