Pigmalion Season 7, Episode 9 Air date January 12, 2003 Written by Jonathan Collier Directed by Dominic Polcino Episode guide Previous Next Full Metal Dust Jacket Megalo Dale Pigmalion is the 135th episode of King of the Hill. It was first aired on January 12, 2003. The episode was written by Jonathan Collier, and directed by Dominic Polcino and is notable for being one of the darker episodes of the series.

Synopsis

The episode opens with the Hill family sitting at a table at Rattlesnakes. Peggy overhears Luanne's boss yelling at her and chastises her about the "mistreatment" of her niece. Peggy then tells the boss that Luanne is quitting. Although Luanne did not like being chastized at work, she did not express a desire to resign from Rattlesnakes and reluctantly walks out with her aunt.

Later, in Peggy's office, Luanne says that she would like it if Peggy would stop making decisions about her life, which goes in one of Peggy's ears and out the other. Peggy then controls another aspect of Luanne's life, enrolling her in a lecture at the Annex.

At the Annex, Trip Larsen is introduced as an "entrepreneur, an innovator, and in inventor" in the pork community. When he approaches the stand, he notices Luanne siting next to Peggy. Later, after the lecture, he offers Luanne a job at Larsen Pork Products and schedules an interview at his house.

At the Hill house, Hank finds Peggy and Luanne celebrating Luanne being given an interview opportunity with ice cream. Hank theorizes that Trip could be interested in something else, but when Luanne says "You mean sex.", Hank awkwardly denies it: saying "No!" repeatedly as he steps out of the kitchen before popping his head in again with an affirming "Yes!"

Luanne and Peggy arrive at Trip's house for the interview, and Trip invites Luanne up in his hot air balloon. Luanne, admiring the view, says "You know so much, and I know so little. I hope that doesn't make you think I'm stupid." Trip says that she isn't stupid, but she is ignorant, meaning "she hasn't had the chance to learn all the wrong things". After Luanne points out that nobody has ever said that before, the two kiss passionately, and Act One ends with Peggy yelling up at them from the ground.

Peggy and Luanne drive home, and Luanne excitedly tells Hank that she is now Trip's girlfriend. Some time passes and the Hill family is sitting at the dinner table. Luanne is now wearing braids because Trip likes them, and Peggy expresses her disapproval of Trip. Hank comments "horse's ass" at both Luanne's new hairstyle and the practice of eating salad after steak.

Hank and Peggy meet with Trip to discuss Luanne. While Hank is impressed by Trip's collection of bloopers, the J5 "perfect pig", and the propane-powered hot air balloon, Peggy still does not buy into Trip. Trip says that he makes his own rules, and shakes the balloon Hank is in to accentuate his point.

At dinner later on, Peggy expresses her suspicions about Trip and is interrupted by the doorbell. The door opens and a headless pig addressed to Peggy (whether or not it is the pig from earlier is unknown) is on the front steps. Peggy perceives this as a threat while Hank and Bill see it as a gift from Trip.

Later on Luanne is home and Peggy comes in. She determines that Trip is crazy and demands that either Luanne breaks up or she will. Luanne refuses, saying that she is a proud, ignorant woman capable of making her own decisions. Peggy says that that was the stupidest thing she has ever heard and Luanne runs out crying.

The scene cuts to Trip's living room, where Luanne is crying on Trip's shoulder. Luanne eventually wants to go home and do something mean to Peggy, but Trip took the liberty of bringing her belongings over to live with him. The final shot in Act Two is of pigs being led to a slaughterhouse.

Luanne is shown her room, only to discover that all of her clothes have been shredded and replaced with many pairs of the same, old-fashioned dress. Trip points out that they are not all identical, as everything has a small flaw, which drives him mad.

Later that night, Luanne sneaks out as she hears strange noises from down the hall. Upon opening the door, a pig attacks her. Trip takes care of the pig, and tells Luanne to drink some warm milk, explicitly telling her to finish it all.

When she wakes up, Luanne discovers that her hair has been dyed red in her sleep. She thinks that her head is bleeding, but Trip confesses to dyeing it himself while she was asleep for 14 hours most likely due to drugs in the warm milk she was given. After expressing dislike of her new hair color, Trip says that she can just cut it off and let it regrow, which shocks Luanne. She reluctantly accepts her hair.

Later that night, Luanne steals one of the keys to Trip's private study, and discovers the magazine in the display. She notices that the girl in the advertisement for Larsen Pork Products bears an almost identical resemblance to her. Trip, who was in the room the whole time, shares his story about how the picture graced the walls of his nursery and how his mother never paid any attention to him. He had been searching for years trying to find a woman as perfect as the girl in the ad when he found Luanne at the Learning Annex; his whole motif behind introducing himself to her. Luanne says how alone she is, and Trip cheers her up by telling her about the Halloween party.

Peggy and Hank are invited to the party, and Peggy wants to go because the co-sponsors still owe her an umbrella. They are briefly reacquainted at the party when Blanca, the maid, tells Luanne that Trip wants to meet her. Trip, dressed like a pig, proposes to Luanne, asking her to marry a man dressed like the man from the Larsen ad. Trip expresses his desire to be the family in the picture; Luanne, the man, and Trip as the pig. Luanne, frightened, runs away.

Trip chases her, even getting Peggy involved in the wild goose chase. Luanne enters the slaughterhouse, where she is stuck on a conveyer belt heading into the machinery. Trip catches up to her, and declares that they will now become Larsen Pork Products together. Luanne breaks free and gets off the conveyer belt. Peggy has been pulling the levers and pushing the buttons on the machine with little benefit. Trip instructs the girls to pull the left lever. Peggy says she will handle it and activates it, which does not cause the machine to stop- instead turning on a large, impaling spike. Trip laughs maniacly and says "Momma, Poppa, I am coming home." before getting shocked. The shock has some effect on Trip, and he begins to regain his sanity, questioning why he is in a pig costume. He notices the spike and lets out an "uh-oh", knowing his fate. The shot cuts to Luanne and Peggy as they watch in horror as Trip let's out a scream before being impaled (off screen). Luanne says that now, Trip is in a better place. Peggy tells her that he suffered a breakdown and is now a sausage, which is not exactly a better place. Peggy ends the episode by telling Luanne that she took care of everything herself like a true woman, which Luanne feels proud of, calling it a happy ending- to which Peggy looks to the machine before cringing slightly, and saying "happy enough"- implying Trip's body (or at least what's left of it, or just the blood) is still in the machine.

Characters

Stinger Quote

Trip: (choking a pig) Schweigen!

Trivia

Trip is voiced by Michael Keaton who's known for his comedic role in Beetlejuice and dramatic role in Tim Burton's Batman films.

The episode name is the title of a George Bernard Shaw play, "Pygmalion"

The Episode is known as the darkest episode of King Of The Hill. It was originally made for Season 5 as a Halloween Special, but was delayed and held back by Fox twice until season 7 for unknown reasons (Possibly to the graphic nature of the episode) This is also one of the only times a character has died in an episode. Debbie Grund accidentally shot and killed herself off screen, Buckley was killed in a propane explosion, Pops died of a heart attack, Jim suffered a stroke, and Cotton died as a result of a fall and passing on in a hospital. However, Trip and Buckley suffered possibly the most brutal deaths. Trip's body was implied to be bloody and mangled, and Buckley's body was so mutilated from the explosion, Dale immediately puked upon peeking into the casket to see if he really was dead.

It's unknown why Trip didn't just immediately roll off the machine after seeing the spike. He may have been in too much shock or unable to react fast enough. Its also strange how Peggy and Luanne calmly talk after witnessing Trip's death. There should also have been an emergency shut-off device on the control panel, seeing how an accident could very likely happen on the machine.



There's a rumor that in the first airing of this episode at the end; Trip's corpse could be seen in the background on a hook, although there is no evidence to confirm this rumor nor any pictures of it.

When Hank says "A horse's ass", the first part sounds like it was an audio cut from the rest of the sentence, almost like a rerecording over what was supposed to be said.



