Mike Judge’s King Of The Hill has never had to resort to event episodes or big, bawdy gags to be funny. More than almost any animated series over the past 30 years, it draws on its characters for humor and is more interested in their relationships than pop culture references. That’s why its comeback season in 2025 on Hulu was so well-received. The second comeback season keeps the momentum going.
KING OF THE HILL SEASON 15: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A shot of Arlen, Texas. Hank Hill (Mike Judge) and his wife Peggy (Kathy Najimy) wake up, and while Hank is sipping his coffee he sees something he doesn’t like outside. “God dang it!”
The Gist: What Hank sees is a pickup truck parked in front of the house. And, lord help him, it’s an electric truck. So not only is the truck blocking the number painted on the curb — a problem if you’re choking on a grape and the paramedics can’t find the house — but people are going to think that the former fossil fuel salesman owns a (gulp) electrical vehicle.
Peggy thinks Hank is being ridiculous, but then Bill (Stephen Root), Dale (Toby Huss), and Boomhauer (Judge) all ask Hank about his new truck. After he denies it’s his, Hank and his fellow Alamo beer-drinking neighbors set about to find out just who owns the behemoth. Bill, for his part, hopes it’s a single woman. Dale warns against getting radiated by lithium waves. Boomhauer says something that’s barely understandable. Through all of this, Peggy insists that she can deduce whose truck it is, via her reading every mystery novel in the local bookstore (without buying any of them).
Meanwhile, at Robata Chane, Bobby Hill (Pamela Adlon) is working his butt off as the restaurant’s chef, but he wants to spend quality time with Connie (Lauren Tom), as their longtime friendship has become something more. Emilio (Anthony ‘Citric’ Campos), one of Bobby’s line cooks, covers for him.
When Bobby says they should post a pic of the two of them on Instagram, Connie suggests they do a “soft launch,” mainly because she has no idea how her ex — and Bobby’s dude-bro friend and business partner —Chane (Ki Hong Lee) is going to react. Somehow, Chane figures it out, and he decides to fire Emilio, just so Bobby has no time to go visit Connie at all.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? King Of The Hill, seasons 1-14. In a lot of ways, Season 15 feels more like the show’s original 13 seasons that ran on Fox from 1997-2009 than last year’s revival 14th season.
Our Take: The reason why we say that Season 15 feels more like the King Of The Hill we enjoyed during its original Fox run than the comeback season is that we’re not watching Hank readjust to being in Arlen in the mid-2020s and all that entails. And we’re not spending multiple episodes resettling Bobby’s relationship with Hank and how his friendship with Connie has taken a turn for the romantic.
We’re settled back in, and Judge, his co-creator Greg Daniels and showrunner Saladin K. Patterson know these characters so well that they can get the writing staff to get laughs from something as mundane as Hank being annoyed at an electric truck being parked in front of his house. They don’t have to project why such a situation would annoy Hank so much and why that’s funny. We also love how Peggy decided to “solve” this mystery with a grid, not rule out that it was murder, and then proudly pretend she came up with the right answer when she did anything but.
The meatier story (pun intended) is Bobby’s, and we’re on board for Bobby and Connie’s relationship. It’s got a lot of story possibilities, not the least of which is the issue that Connie’s parents (and Hank and Peggy’s neighbors) are going to take with it, especially her father Kahn (Ronny Chieng). But it’s also a very mature story, with Bobby working hard, enjoying being with Connie, and knowing that they’re just at the beginning of their romantic journey.
Like during this entire show’s history, the writing is about as grounded in real life as any comedic animated series we’ve seen, with the characters’ personalities and choices driving the laughs. It’s amazing how, in the almost 30 years this show has been in existence, this formula hasn’t been replicated in animation — especially adult animation — more often.
Performance Worth Watching: With Bobby driving a lot of story this season, we continue to be amazed at how much soul Adlon gives him, with the only concession she’s made to Bobby’s adulthood is lowering her voice a tiny bit.
Sex And Skin: None.
Parting Shot: As Hank talks with Dale, Bill and Boomhauer about the truck, he sees that Bobby and Connie have “hard launched” their relationship. When he wonders why they waited for so long, we hear Kahn and Connie’s mother Minh (Tom) yell, “No! Anyone but him! Damn you, Bobby Hill!”
Sleeper Star: It’s amazing how well the new voices have integrated themselves into the cast, like Huss as Dale and Chieng as Kahn.
Most Pilot-y Line: When Chane’s dad, who is financing the restaurant, tells Chane that he started in the mailroom, Chane’s only reaction was, “Dude… you were poor?”
Our Call: STREAM IT. King Of The Hill continues to do exactly what it’s been doing since its first episode in 1997, giving us funny stories about Hank Hill, his family and friends that center less around gags and more around their characters and reactions. That’s why the show has been so good since it came back in 2025.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
