King of the Hill/Heartwarming

• The end of the Christian rock episode. Despite his discomfort with the faddish nature of Christian rock, Hank actually makes a reasonable argument by showing Bobby the fads that Bobby (and Hank himself) had been obsessed with when he was younger.

Hank: I don't want Jesus to end up in this box.

• In "Texas City Twister", Hank has been called out by Peggy for being way too stiff and way too in control of his emotions. They spat and Hank tells her to go to hell, but just after she leaves a tornado is announced to be heading toward the trailer park (where Hank was making Luanne go back to). What does Hank do in response? Rush to the trailer park just to let her know he was sorry. Even when the tornado hits, Hank holds onto a telephone pole just long enough to let go of his emotions and let Peggy know how much he loves her.

Hank: "You're my best girl! You mean everything to me! When we were apart today, that was hell! I couldn't wake up in the morning without your beautiful face beside me!"

• And the episode when Nancy chose Dale over John Redcorn.
• Any moment that shows that Dale truly and honestly loves his wife, using his genuine and... psychotic ways.
  • And all the episodes that show Dale's unconditional love for his son Joseph. In the episode where Peggy learns about the affair, she's hell-bent on telling Dale the truth, but stops when she sees him doting on Joseph and realizes that even if they aren't blood, those two are most definitely father and son and it would be wrong to take that away from them.
• The end of "Raise the Steaks". Appleseed manages to smuggle the cattle from the organic cattle ranch from Hank's yard to a safe haven. He follows up on his promise to write him when he thinks it's safe. Enclosed is a picture of Appleseed with a young calf with the caption, "I named him Hank!".
• The ending of the final episode.
• In an episode that begins with Peggy and Bobby looking through an album of their old (terrible) Christmas photos, Peggy spends the episode frantically trying to get her family together to finally get a good one with a popular photographer. The episode closes with a similar shot of a photo album, containing the new (terrible) family photo, only this time the wide shot reveals that it's Bill looking at the album with a smile on his face. Totally d'awww material.
• "I've been disappointed in a lot of things, son. Dale, Bill... this entire town. But you? Not once. You're my boy. Dang it, Bobby, you're my boy!"
• The episode where Bobby has the opportunity to become a Lama. He's faced with doubt because he's told he can't marry if he goes through with it, so during his final test, when he's told to choose "anything he sees on the rug", he chooses Connie, whose reflection he can see in a mirror. Made even better by a conversation between two monks afterwards:

Younger Monk: That was Sanglug's mirror!
Older Monk: I know. He did not pick it.
Younger Monk: But he used it!
(beat)
Older Monk: It's a tough call. But it's mine, and I made it.

• In "Propane Boom II: Death of a Propane Salesman", Luanne, the most happy-go-lucky character, goes through one of her darkest moments in the series after being caught in a propane explosion that killed her boyfriend and singed off her hair, causing her to put on a Sinéad O'Connor act to hide her pain. After reading the last birthday card she received from Buckley, she breaks down and grieves, but she is able to console herself by using the puppets from her Manger Babies show.

Luanne: (crying) Oh God... Buckley.... my hair... I am so alone....
Obadiah the Donkey: EE-AAWWW! No, you're not.
Sir Reginald Featherbottom the Third: You're right as rain, what what. And such a pretty young thing as well.
Luanne: But I don't want to look pretty anymore...
Sir Reginald Featherbottom the Third: Oh, that's just rubbish. Every girl wants to look pretty, right ho.

• • The scene then quickly turns humorous as she convinces herself to try on a wig made from multi-colored hair her friends at beauty school made for her.

• The end of the two-parter "Returning Japanese". Cotton makes peace with the woman he fell in love with after World War II and with whom he fathered Junichiro, and just before they leave for the airport, Cotton (of all people!) encourages Bobby to say goodbye to the little Japanese girl he became friends with during his vacation.
  • Followed by Bobby running to his and said girl's usual meeting place, where they joyfully play DDR on the street.
  • How about the fact that Cotton Hill, curmudgeon that he is, was honestly in love with a woman, and she honestly loved him back? Or the part where he proudly introduces both his sons to Emperor Akihito?
    • This whole two-parter is full of Pet the Dog moments that show Cotton at his best. In a smaller example, he asks Peggy for a photo of Hank and Bobby to show to his old girlfriend, and actually says thank you when she does. Considering the normally venomous relationship between these two, that speaks volumes.
• King of the Hill pulls these off with a fair amount of regularity. Usually, if the episode centers around Bill, you can expect one. Probably the most heartwarming one was the episode where, after a despondent Boomhauer has fallen in love with and been jilted by a female version of himself, Bill genuinely and kindly coaches him back to happiness.
  • Considering Boomhauer had earlier shoved Bill aside to put the moves on her (let's assume Bill had a shot at her at all), hell yeah.
• Episodes involving either Hank learning to accept Bobby for who he is (not likely to be remembered the next episode, but still) or Hank and his unabashed love of his hound dog Ladybird are also likely to invoke this. Ladybird is one of the few carbon-based life forms the emotionally repressed Hank will freely and unabashedly express pure love and affection for, so even episodes featuring her that aren't particularly emotional in and of themselves are likely to warm the heart. In the dog dancing one, Hank and Ladybird may have lost the contest but the ending where they're in the garage and "After Midnight" comes on the radio and LB wants to dance anyway, and then he allows Bobby to cut in while Hank dances with Peggy, with the garage door open -- it's a small moment, but always elicits a bit "awwwwww!" from me. For a show about a square emotionally repressed Texan made by the guy who did Beavis and Butthead, this show has so damn many low key but still powerful moments of heartwarming that can't help but make you smile.
• The final episode is a fairly standard episode, but the last couple of minutes, as the smell of Bobby and Hank grilling wafts through the neighborhood, does have a couple. Kahn telling his daughter to knock of the studying so they can go get some steak because "You're smart enough already," and Dale giving his wife a massage to remove her headache are two of my favorites.
  • 4chan's /co/ has this touching copypasta on the matter;

King of The Hill did not go out with a bang, nobody died, we won't get to see Bobby in the future with his son and old Hank Hill. Nothing life changing happened, putting aside the fact that Dale finds out about Nancy. This is the way the world ends for Hank Hill. Not with a bang, but a mere whimper. King of The Hill wasn't a story and it wasn't an epic. It was a window into the life of a suburban white family living in Texas. Now, our journey is over, we watched these characters grow and evolve, we cared for them as if they were real. When Hank Hill was mad, we were mad. When Hank Hill was happy, we were overjoyed. Sadly, it's time to go. We, as viewers, are moving away, but the Hills will continue to live their normal life as always. We stayed with the Hill family for a total of 12 years and it's time to say goodbye. Goodbye to Hank, to Bobby, and even goodbye to Peggy, despite the resentment. And yet, what looms in the distance after King Of The Hill? A new season of Family Guy, Peter Griffin goes and does something wacky and President Bush guest stars. Followed by The Cleveland Show, the equivalent of a recolored sprite comic, except it's animated and the characters all speak like African-Americans. Yet, Hank Hill wouldn't want it any other way. He would express anger at the situation... but eventually find a way to deal with it, because, over the course of King of The Hill, we learned about the way life really is and how there's really nothing we can do but move forward.
You truly were the king of the hill, Hank.

• My personal favorite has to be the episode "Happy Hank's Giving", where Hank and his neighbors all get stuck at the airport at Thanksgiving. The first one comes when the Hills finally manage to get a bus to take them to an another airport, but give up their seats to another family. The second one comes near the climax of the episode, when Thanksgiving has come and gone and none of their flights have managed to leave, after constant trouble, getting caught in the rain, having no food, etc. Having been determined to get to their plane, but now having all missed the events they were hoping to get to, the Hills and all their neighbors share Boomhauer's pizza and the bits and pieces of food they can scrounge up to have their own personal Thanksgiving dinner.
• The end of "Boxing Luanne", when Luanne is getting pounded by Freeda Foreman and all the skeezy men who have spent the episode drooling over her body spontaneously un-skeeze and start cheering her on for real.
• And how about the ending of Peggy's "Turtle Song"? Just as Hank is believing that he may genuinely have lost her, she finishes her song thus: "But a miracle saved her, before her heart sank: the magical love of a turtle named Hank." Doubles as a Peggy CMoA.
• In the episode where an old flame of Boomhauer's was going to marry his loutish brother, Hank confronts Boomhauer on suspicion that he was trying to sabotage their relationship and asks him straight out if he was. Boomhauer says no, and that is all Hank needs to hear to believe him absolutely. It's a wonderful reminder of the power of a true friendship.
  • Even better, this episode proved that there really was a girl that Boomhauer genuinely and truly loved. Seeing a guy whose longest relationship was three days admit that he was truly in love with her was just heart-meltingly warm, I tell you what.
  • At one point, a bunch of strippers show up for Boomhauer's brother's bachelor party, and he manages to pin it on Boomhauer, making Hank and the old flame upset with him. The next day, Hank goes over to Boomhauer's place to talk about it, and asks him "Did you really do it?" Boomhauer looks him in the eye and says "No", and Hank immediately trusts him.
• At the end of "A Man Without A Country Club", we learn that Kahn has been shunned by the prestigious Nine Rivers Country Club yet again. So what do Hank and co. do? They invite Kahn into their own country club, the Rainey Street Country Club.
• The Veterans Day episode where Cotton, unable to participate in the Veterans Day parade since he has to work a crappy job as a restaurant greeter (that he actually is competent at, he's just criticized for helping out in places outside of his duties), begins to contemplate suicide, when Didi (oblivious to Cotton's state of mind) asks him to watch Good Hank. Hank, who knew that Cotton was depressed, rushes to his house, and is shocked when he hears a gunshot; turns out Cotton had G.H. just fire a gun into a mattress (and don't worry, G.H. was earmuffed and enjoying himself), which also led to this Crowning Moment of Funny between Cotton and Hank.

Cotton: You cried your first time [firing a gun], and you was three!

• • The best part is that Cotton was going to kill himself so Didi and G.H. would get his life insurance money, literally giving his life to support his family. Then theres the implication that being forced by Didi to spend sometime with G.H. made him decide to swallow his pride and let Hank help him out. Cotton was depressed not just because of his money troubles but because he felt his glory days were long behind him and he didn't have anything to live for and G.H. reminded him what he still has: A son who ain't a sissy like Hank.
• Cotton, after having escaped to Las Vegas after finding out that Didi was pregnant, is chased down by Hank and crew. When Hank, who had spent most of the episode trying to be able to have another kid, finally catches up and says that Cotton wins as a father, Cotton says this:

Cotton: You ain't in competition with me! Hell, if it's a contest on who's the better daddy, you win! I mean, you made Bobby! All I made was you!

• The Father, the Son, and J.C.: Hank tells Buck "I love you", something he never told Cotton. Cotton is mad through most of the episode, especially when Hank can't stomach it to tell his dad that he loves him and instead says "I hate you". But at the end, when Hank apologizes for making Cotton mad and Cotton shoots President Carter's limo with a nail gun, we get this.

Cotton: I love shooting a nail gun.
Hank: I love shooting a nail gun too, Dad.

• In "Naked Ambition", Bobby and Connie are about to see each other naked when Kahn enters, freaks out, and grounds Connie while banning Bobby from his property. When Hank hears about this, he's actually quite happy. At the end of the episode when Connie steals her father's ladder to peek over the fence and see Bobby, Hank helps him pick out which ladder to use so he can get up to Connie for some kissing.
• The ending of "Unfortunate Son", when Cotton Hill not only admits that Hank did everything right during their escape and that he screwed up, but he gives the Vietnam vets he'd previously insulted and looked down upon his respect and states he's honored to have them join the Arlen VFW.
• When Dale has an accidental discharge in "Soldier of Misfortune," he explains it to Hank by using a propane sales metaphor, at which Hank is aghast. However, Dale's knowledge of Hank's propane sales tactics and love for his job is a Fridge CMOH.
• Peggy kissing Hank on the cheek when he wins the Blue Flame of Valor in season 4's Hanky Panky, and then handling the visual aids as he gives his speech. Another word for spouse is "helpmate", and this moment is a very good demonstration of that term.
• This is more of a collective moment of heartwarming when you take the time to examine the episodes that involve a Hank/Connie dynamic. When she receives her first period, Hank winds up having to help her get sorted out, and overcomes a fear of total embarrassment and emasculation to help her buy the things she needed from the women's health aisle. Then there was the time the two sort of bonded thanks to the bluegrass group the guys in the alley put together (until Hank became almost as controlling as Khan), and finally, when her parents go off the deep end and become rednecks. Hank finally puts his foot down when it looks like Connie and her family will become homeless. For her sake, he manages to snap Minh and Khan back to reality by pointing out that throughout everything Connie never once complained or stopped trying her hardest.
  • Those episodes are "Aisle 8-A" and "The Redneck of Rainey Street", for the curious.
• "Blood and Sauce" has a couple. Bobby is supposed to help Bill with his barbecue, but when he sees that it'll involve hard work, he runs. When Hank starts asking Bobby questions about the work, Bill covers for the boy by saying it's a family secret and Bobby promised not to tell. Later on Bobby goes to apologize, asking for a second chance no matter how hard the work is; from this we get a few nice scenes of Bill and Bobby working together and bonding.
  • And then we have the end of the episode. Bill's family recipe was so successful that Buck Strickland wanted to market it nationwide; however, Bill's cousin Gilbert shuts down the venture because he considers the idea shameful and akin to whoring out the family name. After being shot down one last time, Bill returns home and finds Bobby cooking and actually improving the recipe. He sadly explains that he can't sell the sauce...but realizes that he could certainly share it with friends, such as at Peggy's upcoming birthday, and adds that when Bobby grows up, he could share it too. Bobby says "But I'm not a Dauterive", and Bill responds "Bobby, I'd be honored."
• In "Revenge of the Lutefisk", Bobby accidentally burns down the church but Cotton is blamed because a strip club matchbook was found at the scene and because earlier he made a scene over the new female reverend. When Bobby finally confesses, Cotton decides to keep taking the blame because (as he says): "I'm an old man, everyone already hates me! But Bobby's got his whole life ahead of him. If I can take a bullet for my grandson, I'll do it!"
  • Turns into a CMOF with "Not in the face! That's how I make my livings."
• "Dog Dale Afternoon" has an odd example, but a definite example of Hank and Dale's friendship. Long Story Short, Dale is mistaken for a clocktower sniper and Hank convinces the police to let him talk Dale down. Hank confesses to the prank that started all of this and Dale says that Hank was one of the few people on the extremely tiny list of those he trusts - "I'm not even on that list!" As they leave the tower, a member of Dale's gun club tries to snipe Dale, but Hank takes the bullet for him. Dale swears to dedicate his life to propane and watch over Peggy and Bobby...until Hank reveals that he had a bullet-proof vest, leading to this exchange.

Dale: You thought I was going to shoot you?
Hank: Well, that or spray me with some chemical.
Dale: Oh.
Hank: But I knew that if you did, you'd shoot yourself right after.
Dale: (smiling) ...I would.

• Subverted in "Bills Are Made to Be Broken"; a promising young football player ties Bill's record for most career touchdowns, but suffers a Game-Breaking Injury that will put him out for the season. At the next game, the opposing team lets him score the record-breaking touchdown, which is a CMOH for everyone except Bill and his friends, who see it as unfair since the player didn't earn it.

Hank (to the crowd): May God have mercy on you all!

• In "De-Kahnstructing Henry", Khan gets fired because he blabs company secrets to Hank in his endless desire to prove himself superior. His pride causes him to run off until he can find a better job than Hank, leaving it to the Hills to take care of Minh and Connie. Eventually Hank finds Khan and convinces him that taking care of his family is much more important than being the better man. At the end of the episode, Khan comes by the Hills' house to brag about his awesome new job, and Hank allows him to boast before saying "Glad to have you back, Khan. Good night." After he closes the door, Khan blusters a bit more, then quietly adds "Thank you, Hank."
• In "Movin' On Up", Luanne moves out but ends up having to contend with Jerkass roommates who don't contribute and call her a rules Nazi for having any form of discipline. She goes to Hank for help, but he says she has to do it herself, explaining the old metaphor of "teach a man to fish", but encouraging her to find her own Happy Place like his lawn. At the end of the episode she's carefully maintaining the house's pool, which has become her Happy Place. She reveals the rather clever manner in which she dealt with the roommates^[1], and Hank asks if she wants to come over for a beer. She says "No thanks Uncle Hank, you taught me how to fish" and proceeds to pull a cooler out of the pool, sharing an Alamo with him.
• "Meet the Propaniacs" featured tons of it in general with Bobby & Hank's bonding over finding common grounds over their love of propane and comedy. The ending made it the best though when, while Bobby is doing stand up in front of a crowd not responding, Hank is genuinely laughing at every joke to the point of tears. Bobby's happy enough with that alone that he focuses on making him laugh instead of worrying about the crowd.
• "Chasing Bobby", particularly the last act when an upset Bobby decided to walk home from the dealership (keep in mind, this is 40-some miles) and Hank had to swallow his pride and take the new truck for a test drive to find him. What makes this episode so good is that while it's about Hank worrying that his long-lasting truck will crap out on him, it also becomes about his relationship with Bobby, since Bobby keeps trying to help but gets repeatedly shot down. How this fantastic episode lost to "HOMR" is beyond me.
• "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Alamo": Long Story Short, Hank's attempts to teach Bobby about the Alamo get derailed first by the school, then by a man whose revisionist take on the battle turns the Texans into drunken cowards. After realizing it's wrong to censor the man just for having a different opinion, Hank goes on stage and prefaces the play with the bare facts of the Alamo (that almost 200 Texans fought and died for what they believed in). At the end of the episode, Bobby comes in and tells Hank that he got an F in Texas History for writing in the textbook. Hank is upset, but then we learn that what Bobby wrote was his father's speech, so the next child to get the textbook would know the truth. Hank, smiling, says that since Bobby will have to go to summer school anyway, they might as well skip class that day and go to Six Flags.
• "Lady and Gentrification": Enrique gets Hank to speak at his daughter's Quincenera and stands up for his friend even when the Jerkass hipsters who hate Hank, you know, for his race come in and ruin the quality of life in his neighborhood for Enrique and his daughter while ridiculously claiming they're his real friends.
• "The Petriot Act" is one for resident Butt Monkey Bill, where he takes care of a dog as part of a U.S. Army program where people get to temporarily adopt a soldier's pet until he/she returns from duty. The dog is incredibly well-trained, helped him exercise, and even helped him get a date. At the end, the dog gets returned to his owner and Bill gets a salute from the army and a chance to fly a jet.
• In "Strangeness on a Train", we learn that Peggy thinks her birthday is cursed because something always goes wrong. For the most recent one, she and her friends go on a disco-themed murder mystery on a train, but as usual everything goes wrong^[2], the only bright spot being that she and Hank have sex in the train bathroom. After they get kicked off, Peggy sobs that her birthday is cursed, and all her friends remind her that she matters to them. Then at the end of the episode, when everyone's ended up at a bar, Lucky reveals that he knew about Hank and Peggy's "fun"...and tells her "Good for you. Happy birthday, Aunt Peggy."
• In "Peggy Hill: The Decline and Fall" Cotton comes to the hospital to see his newborn baby. Initially he says hes just there out of an obligation, but as soon as he sees him he instantly turns into a mushball, calling him a handsome little soldier. Later on hes proudly boasting about how the baby looked at his nurse as if he wanted to slap her rump. Kinda twisted? Yeah, but heartwrenching nonetheless.
• "The Peggy Horror Picture Show" features a drag queen who Peggy befriends. Some scenes in here show him at home with his mother, who doesn't mind he's a drag queen. Knowing how some parents act toward their children for being like that, I'd say that's rather sweet.
• "Luane's Saga" from Season 1 puts a spotlight on Hank and Luanne's relationship. At the beginning of the episode he says that even though he hates Buckley he doesn't care if Luanne dates him because he could be her ticket out of his den, which is a continuing annoyance for him as Luanne's stuff just makes it cluttered. After Buckley dumps her she cries nonstop, further annoying Hank. Finally he ignores Peggy's orders and gets involved, helping Luanne get over Buckley and genuinely having fun with her. His priority is still getting her out of his den so he sets her up with a guy who fits all of Hank's qualifications (uses propane, plays football, loves America and Texas). Unfortunately he gets touchy with Luanne prompting Boomhauer to drive her home. While Boomhauer was just giving her a ride Hank thinks Boomhauer is trying to sleep with her. Luanne moves in with Boomhauer which pisses Hank off despite his previous apathy towards who she dates and despite the fact he finally has his den back. Later on he finally realizes that he cares about Luanne and she cares about him and is hurt by his actions. He tells her to come over to pick up her stuff, only for her to find that he has moved all of his stuff out of the den and set it up into a proper bedroom for Luanne.
• In "Love Hurts and So Does Art", Bobby gets addicted to New York-style deli food, which gives him gout. This means he can't go to the dance with Connie, greatly upsetting her, but he remains oblivious. Eventually, the deli owner points out that Bobby's obviously in love, inspiring him to do everything he can to get to the dance. When he gets there and asks Connie to dance, she asks "What about your gout?" Bobby responds "My dad says when you really want something, you work through the pain."

1. ↑ She closed the accounts on all the utilities, meaning they'll have to get off their asses and open new ones if they want power, phone, heat, etc
2. ↑ Dale spoils the mystery, the refrigerator breaks so there's no food, they're in a dry county so no alcohol, and then they get kicked off the train