I don't watch "King of the Hill" all that much, though I have seen quite a few episodes. In a number of those shows, issues about differences between us is a significant focus. But normally there is a bit of humor and humanness behind conflicts.
Which makes the season finale "Uh, Oh, Canada," all the more unusual.
The concept is a great one: Boomhauer, the character who mumbles most of his dialogue, engages in a house swap with a Canadian family. The neighborhood guys are concerned about Canadians in their neighborhood for the summer.
Amusingly, Boomhauer adjusts amazingly well. Though Boomhauer ends up in Guelph, Ontario, about 100 km (62.5 miles) west of Toronto, he meets a young French-Canadian woman with whom he has a summer romance. Boomhauer ends up speaking French to her after awhile.
The Canadian family that comes from Guelph to Texas doesn't adjust well. There is the awkward early exchange between the Canadians and the Hill family. Peggy brings favorites from the states, including Vermont maple syrup. The Canadian wife praises Canadian maple syrup, and both women end up feeling insulted.
There are jokes about Canadian vs. American beer, football (Gordon, the Canadian husband, says how he likes the "fast-paced, Canadian 3-down system" and needles the Americans over their slow game). The give and take is what you might expect at first. But the hostility never really lets up.
Colin Mochrie, the Canadian improv actor known mostly famously in the States for his role on the American version of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", does a great job in the role as Gordon. But the writers don't give him much chance at empathy.
But the usual KOTH humor and humanness aren't there, and what little touches are there are strictly from the American side.
Bobby Hill has a sense of adaptability, asking for another "1/2 liter of organge juice" and how "Canada's metric system makes more sense." But the potential for bringing this out in the plot is completely lost by the writers and producers.
Now those who are xenophobic aren't likely going to be people who would engage in house swapping. So the writers create this Canadian family that is willing to go on this adventure, but not try really hard to see what life is like somewhere else, even if it means drinking inferior beer or at least taking American maple syrup with kindness.
The son seems cool, but he has very few lines. He and Bobby have an exchange about height, comparing inches to centimeters. And that was about it for his speaking in the episode.
Yes, there are rude Canadians. And some of those rude Canadians likely travel, perhaps even to Texas. But this situation felt nastier than most U.S. takes on Canadians. For all the silly, corny, awkward stereotypes that "South Park" takes on Canada, there is an awareness and appreciation about Canada. Even when they do something silly, you can still laugh.
The "King of the Hill" writers had a great concept for an episode, great casting in using Mochrie, and some decent stereotypes thrown in from both countries. But the second half of the episode -- which showed very little if any compassion for the Canadians -- was very sad and depressing.
The irony of the airing of the episode was when I was coming back from a weekend jaunt across the border in Canada. People might figure out I'm American, but I try to respect how they do things differently in Canada, even if it's not the way I'm used to things.
