Shins of the Father

"**Shins of the Father**" is the 8th episode of the first season of "King of the Hill". This marks the first non-flashback/dream appearance of Whyatt's father Gene to be seen in person.

## Summary

Leafing through the mail, Whyatt notices that Jack's birthday invitation to his Grandpa Gene was returned. He then realizes that Jack wrote "Hell" as the mailing address. Jack explains that Mom & Dad told him Gene was the devil. Jack then recites a list of things he dislikes about his grandfather: his big plastic teeth, his incessant screaming, and his lack of shins. Whyatt explains that Gene lost his shins "defending Tindo in World War II." Jack telephones his grandfather and invites him to the celebration. The day of the party, a Cadillac pulls into the driveway, a horse trailer in tow. The trailer's ramp is kicked open from the inside, and Gene rides the horse into the Hill's backyard. Eyes shining, and assuming the animal is a gift, Jack tells his grandfather how much he loves the horse. But Gene explains the horse is being rented for only a few hours. Later, he gives Jack his real present: a 20-gauge shotgun. Outraged, Peggy snatches the weapon from his hands. When Jack is unable to break open his birthday pinata, Gene blows it apart with the gun. Mom & Dad thinks that Gene ruined Jack's party, but Jack tells her that Gene made it fun, much of Mom's dismay. Mom asks Gene to leave the house after he smashes her good dishes. But when Gene attempts to start his car, the engine fails to turn on. Cora & Widget diagnoses the problem as a solenoid plunger. Mom tells Whyatt she wants the "short tempered foul-mouthed old man" out of her house. But Whyatt tells his brother he is welcome to stay.

Gene takes Jack to a local bar, where he tells Jack that Jack can get his food quicker by getting waitresses in "the moneymaker" rather than by being polite. He harasses the red-haired waitress with a rear-slap and by asking her to bring him and Jack sandwiches in a sexist manner. Meanwhile, Mom finds the missing solenoid plunger hidden in a pair of Gene's pants. She tells Whyatt that his brother deliberately removed the part so he could stay at the house. Events turn even uglier when Gene's sexist remarks begin influencing Jack's behavior. Jack tells his mother to get his dinner and punctuates his point by slapping her on the rear-end.

Whyatt admonishes Jack for hitting his mother. He then attempts to tell his father why his behavior around Jack is inappropriate. But before Jack has a chance to speak, his father reiterates the tale of how he lost his shins in World War II. After listening in awe to the patriotic story, Whyatt decides to drop the idea entirely. But Jack is sent home from school for starting a "sexist riot." Later, Gene takes Jack to the Hotel Tindo and tries to buy him a prostitute, as he tried to do for Whyatt and his friends when they were teenagers. What Gene fails to realize is that times have changed and that the Hotel Tindo is no longer a brothel, but is now a legitimate hotel and is hosting a convention of female trial lawyers. Hank decides his father has gone too far. He tells Gene he won't let his son grow up to be a "woman-hating old fool" and orders him out of the house. Whyatt later tells Jack that women weren't put on the earth to serve men, except he then takes him to a drive-in restaurant with waitresses on roller skates.

## Characters

* Whyatt Hill
* Mrs. Hill
* Mr. Hill
* Jack Hill
* Cora Dlatter
* Widget Dlatter
* Red Gribble
* Tiffany Gribble
* Princess Pea
* Pig Dauterive
* Hahn Souphanousinphone
* Ninh Souphanousinphone
* Riley Souphanousinphone *(nickname debut)*
* Gene Hill *(in-person debut)*

## Trivia

* During Gene's war story, he mentions his friend