Cotton's Plot

Infobox Television episode
Title = Cotton's Plot
Series = King of the Hill


Caption =
Season = 4
Episode = 2
Airdate = October 3, 1999
Production = 4ABE01
Writer = Jonathan Aibel
Glenn Berger
Director = Anthony Lioi
Guests =
Episode list = List of King of the Hill episodes
Prev =
Next = Bills are Made to be Broken

"Cotton's Plot" is the 62^nd episode in the FOX animated situation comedy "King of the Hill" and is the second episode of the fourth season.

Plot

Finally released from her body cast, Peggy is disheartened to learn that her muscles have atrophied and she is required to begin a long, slow process of physical therapy. When she falls out of her wheelchair when the bus to the rehabilitation center arrives, Cotton asks if she wants to learn how to walk or if she wants to be pampered. Cotton, in true military fashion, begins a training program similar to basic training, complete with the insults and raised voices. He also seeks to inspire her with tales of his war heroics. In gratitude for his help, Peggy helps him with his application for a plot in the Texas State Cemetery, an actual state-run cemetery where Texans who have distinguished themselves may apply to be buried.

While doing the research for the application, Hank, who wants her to continue traditional therapy points out that Cotton claimed to be in both the Pacific theater and European theater of World War II at the same time--an impossibility. With her faith in Cotton shattered, she returns disheartened to physical therapy classes. When she complains bitterly about Cotton's lies, Hank points out that Cotton was in the war and he lost his shins and while all his exploits may be embellished and some of them outright fabrications, he has no shins and is yet able to walk and he considers that heroic.

Peggy rushes to the application meeting with a detailed and accurate summary of Cotton's war service and he is granted a plot. When the family visits the plot, on the top of a scenic hill, he challenges Peggy to climb the hill. She refuses but he spurs her on with the promise that he'll let her dance on his grave. With that motivation, Peggy successfully climbs the hill and has her dance with Cotton.

A minor subplot involves what happens to Peggy's body cast. After Bill learns that Peggy didn't keep it, he retrieves it from the hospital's trash heap, duct taping it together and adding a photograph of Peggy to pretend he's talking to her Peggy. Dale discovers the body cast and threatens to tell Hank and Peggy, only to use the body cast to ride shotgun in his truck so that he can drive in the HOV lane. Boomhauer then discovers it and takes it to use in a sex game roleplay where he poses as a patient and his partner poses as a nurse who gives him a sponge bath.

Quotes

*Cotton: "Tojo had me cooped up in a bamboo rat cage. There was nothing to eat except rats. So that's what I ate. After two weeks, I was down to my last rat. I let him live so I could eat his droppings. Called it ‘Jungle Rice.' Tasted fine. About September, I was finally thin enough to slip between the bamboo bars. I strangled the guard with a rope made of braided rat-tails and ran to safety."

*Cotton: "Are you ready to hate me more than you've hated anyone else in your entire life?":Peggy: "I already do.":Cotton: "Good, then we're halfway there!"

*Dale: "Colonel, can I assume by your dress and demeanor that you are ready to take your own life in some cheap hotel with your service revolver?"

*Cotton: "You get to the top of that hill, and I'll let you dance on my grave.":"(Peggy crawls up the hill, and stumbles onto her feet)":Peggy: "Cotton, may I have this dance?"