Wezzo's DVD Reviews > King of The Hill: Season Two

Wezzo's DVD Reviews > TV Series > King of the Hill: Season Two


King of the Hill: Season Two (Region 1)

Main Feature:
First and foremost, I'd like to say that thanks to its DVD releases, King of The Hill is fast becoming one of my favourite shows.
It's true. King Of The Hill, over here in the UK, is practically unknown, and hardly ever airs. Even when it does air, it's about 2am Saturday Morning. I really don't know why; i guess it just never found an audience over here. Ah well.
I first started watching KOTH on Channel 4, in 1999. it used to air at 6pm Thursdays, I think. Anyway, I loved it, and soon discovered it aired on another channel, Sky One, as well. However, it apparently didn't do taht well on either channel, as both gradually started showing it less and less, and I guess one day I just totally lost interest in it. I forgot about it then, till early 2003. Sky had started showing it again, Sunday lunchtime. But by the time I got around to watching it regularly, they pulled it. AGAIN. Damn them.
So again, I forgot about it. that is, until browsing TVShowsonDVD.com reminded me that S2 was being released in November, and S1 had come out in June.
It was my birthday the next week, so I went out and bought a multi-region hackable player with my money, mainly just for KotH and Malcolm In The Middle, too. I immediately ordered S1 of King of the Hill and S1 of Malcolm in the Middle. Season 1 of KOTH was amazing - I'd only ever seen one of the episodes before. I couldn't wait to get S2, but knew I'd have to wait a bit. But, it seemed luck was on my side.. on Christmas morning, I unwrapped this bundle of joy: the complete 2nd season. We feel in love instantly. And the rest is history.
This season of the show, is quite frankly in my opinion, the outright best, with S3 closely following (that comes out in Spring, according to a flyer with S2). Every episode is genius, has a brilliant storyline, some deep characterization, and just the right amount of laughs. I don't usually put whole episode guides here, but I am today - each episode gets a grade out of 5, next to the title.
This guide is by Der Kommissar, from Amazon.com::

How to Fire a Rifle Without Really Trying (4/5) - Hank takes Bobby to a shooting range, and is shocked to discover that Bobby is an excellent shooter.

Texas City Twister (3/5) - A tornado is apporaching Arlen. Hank must rush to a trailer park to save Peggy, while Dale and Boomhauer set out to get tornado footage on film.

The Arrowhead (3/5) - A college professor begins digging up the Hill yard for artifacts. This greatly angers Hank, because the professor has almost complete control of Peggy.

Hilloween (5/5) - A religion activist has Halloween banned. Hank and the guys set out to save the holiday.

Jumpin' Crack Bass (5/5) - Hank buys fishing bait from a man, and uses it with enormous success. He is soon arrested, and is shocked to discover the bate is actually crack.

Husky Bobby (4/5) - Bobby becomes a model for a line of fat kid clothing. Hank is opposed to this idea from the start.

The Man Who Shot Kane Skretteberg (5/5) - Hank and the guys challenge a noisy garage band to a paintball match. If the guys win, they get the band's amplifier. If the band wins, they get Bill's leaf blower.

The Son That Got Away (3/5) - Bobby, Connie, and Joseph run away after being punished in school. They go into a series of unsafe caves and get lost.

Bobby Slam (4/5) - The school allows girls to wrestle, and the big upcoming match is Bobby versus Connie.

The Unbearable Blindness of Laying (5/5) - Hank sees his mother making out with her new boyfriend, and becomes temporarily blinded by the horrible sight.

Meet the Manger Babies (4/5)- Luanne finds herself depressed. Hank buys her puppets at a yard sale, and she uses them to put on a puppet show, which Nancy puts on TV. Hank must decide between playing the part of God in it, or watching the Super Bowl.

Snow Job (5/5) - When Mr. Strickland suffers a heart attack, he assigns Hank to walk his dogs while he is out.

I Remember Mono (5/5)- Peggy discovers the story Hank has been reciting about their relationship is a lie.

Three Days of the Kahndo (5/5)- The Hills and Kahn's family go to Mexico. They are accused of a crime and are forced to flee the country illegally.

Traffic Jam (5/5) - Hank and Kahn back into each other, and are forced to attend comedy traffic school.

Hank's Dirty Laundry (5/5) - Hank's credit rating hits an all time low, because Arlen Video says Hank has a $40 debt for adult video tapes he claims he never rented.

The Final Shinsult (4/5) - When Cotton can't get a drivers license, he holds Santa Ana's leg hostage. He demands a drivers license, or he will never give it back.

Leanne's Saga (3/5) - Luanne's mother is finally released from prison, and begins to go out with Bill. Before long, she begins resuming her old habits that brought her to jail in the first place.

Junkie Business (5/5) - When Hank discovers he can't fire a drug addict now working at Strickland Propane, he tries to think of other ways to get rid of him.

Life in the Fast Lane, Bobby's Saga (3/5) - Bobby gets a job at a race track serving food to the audience. Unfortunately, his boss has brain damage and works him very hard.

Peggy's Turtle Song (Not seen yet) - To fill spare time, Peggy begins to take guitar lessons.

Propane Boom (Part 1) (5/5) - Hank is forced to work at Mega Lo Mart when they start carrying propane and run Strickland Propane out of business. During a benefit concert, the Mega Lo Mart explodes. The story is continued in the Season Three premiere.

Brilliant episodes all round, none scoring lower than 3/5. Tip-top entertainment. 10/10

Packaging:
I love the KOTH sets as you know; one reason for this is the packaging. 4 mini, ultra-slim cases in one big slipcase. The designs are lovely, and the discs stay in place well. The backs of each case have episode descriptions. Excellent work. 10/10

Audio:
fair Dolby Surround.. nothing special, but typical for TV releases. 6/10

Video:
Ultra-clear animation, full-screen. There are a few glitches in the animation, but this is a source problem, not any representation of the DVD's high quality. 8/10

Price:
I got mine from PlayUSA.com, as I live in the UK. The set was £23.99 - great value, it'd be £39.99 if released over here - but customs charges made the total £31.99. Your mileage may vary regarding the customs though, so 8/10.

Extras:
Wow. What an extras-packed set. I'll have to go disc-by-disc.
Disc 1
  • 5 animated Director's Intros, lastinga bout 15 seconds each. They're like mini-cartoons (animatic-stylee, with a little colour), and they're previously unseen intros to the episodes. Great.
  • Audio Commentary on "How To Fire A Rifle.." by Greg Daniels, co-creator, and Paul Lieberstein, writer. Very entertaining and informative.
  • Audio Character Commentary on "Husky Bobby" by Peggy and Bobby Hill, and Luanne. An ingenious idea, this character commentary; perfectly executed. Very entertaining, and well worth listening to - particularly Peggy.
  • Over 40 Deleted/Extended Scenes - Some full colour, some animatic. Awesome stuff this, if just for the sheer quanitity. The 40 scenes add up to just over 15 minutes, and are often very funny, though don't usually add anything to the storyline.
  • Animation Evolution Featurette - Watch a scene from "Texas City Twister" in animatic, complete, or colour without sound, individually or split-screen. A neat and interesting addition.

    Disc 2
  • 4 more animated Director's Intros - again, great, albeit short, work.
  • Audio Character Commentary on "The Man Who Shot Cane Skretteburg" by Dale and Bill, and Hank's father Cotton. Again very entertaining - this time, all three "participants" shine.
  • Almost 50 Deleted Scenes. Another load of unused gold, this time with a few more scenes. Again, very funny, but don't add much to the plots.About 15 minutes' worth.
  • The Arlen School Of Drawing Tutorial-Featurette. - Learn how to draw the main characters in this brilliantly-made tutorial. easy to follow steps with helpful commentary, but quite lengthy.

    Disc 3
  • Yet another 4 Director's Intros - again, great.
  • Over 50 Deleted Scenes - yet more of these little nuggets. The deleted scenes for "I Remember Mono" are great. The ones on this disc total 22 minutes.
  • Another Audio Character Commentary, this time on "Three Days Of The Kahndo", by Dale, Bill, and Kahn. Kahn shines on this commentary, the best commentary of season two.
  • "The Boy Ain't Right" Book. Best extra on the set, possibly the best extra ever.. the complete (and now out-of-print) "That Boy Ain't Right" book, every entertaining page scanned in. A truly fabulous extra, will entertain you for ages.

    Disc 4
  • Yet Another 4 Animated Director's Intros - again, good stuff.
  • Audio Character Commentary on "Leanne's Saga" by Peggy, Bobby and Luanne. Another very entertaining commentary.
  • Over 50 Deleted Scenes - Yet more of them! The total on all 4 discs is 197 scenes - a helluva lot. The 50 on here are quite short, only adding up to 15 minutes, but they'res till very entertaining!
  • Last but not least on Disc 4, "Music Inspired By The Hills" - 2 complete music videos - one by Luanne, one by Peggy - and Audio-only music clips from other S2 eps, totalling about 30 minutes altogether. Another excellent idea there.

    Whew! As well as all that, there's English and Spanish subs, and Spanish alternate audio. the only thing missing is Hank in a character commentary.. hopefully he will in season three..

    Overall:
    Wow, what a perfect package. I'm stunned into giving 10/10.

    Family-Friendly Rating:
    Teen - mild language, some occasional moderate sex refs, mild violence.

    ~Wesley Mead, aka Wezzo

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