Hank's Choice (King of the Hill)

Hank’s Choice is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of King of the Hill. It was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Kyounghee Lim and Boohwan Lim. It first aired on April 1, 2001.

Plot
When Bobby is found to be allergic to Ladybird’s dog dander, Hank makes a doghouse in the backyard for her, which she refuses, leading Bobby to stay there instead.

Why It Was a Bad Choice

 * 1) It's a Bobby torture episode.
 * 2) The viewer is expected to have sympathy for Hank when he gets ridiculed for Bobby living in a doghouse, which does not work well, as he had essentially chosen his dog over his son.
 * 3) The revelation that Bobby has inexplicably overcome his allergy is a cop-out likely done to preserve the show’s status quo.
 * 4) While Bobby is the reasonable one at first, after he finds out he is not allergic to Ladybird’s dander after all, rather than let his worried parents know he is okay, he pretends to still be sick in order to be free from human household responsibilities.
 * 5) Bobby starting to behave like a dog is sort of funny at first but mostly just seems really wrong.
 * 6) Bobby gives up his charade of still being allergic not because he realizes how stupid and immature he is acting, but because he sees how unhappy Hank has become, whom has sent Ladybird to live with Bill and is spending lots of money to deeply clean the house at Peggy’s insistence.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Hank receives consequences for his actions, even if they eventually become excessive.
 * 2) Peggy pressures Hank to try to make the house suitable for Bobby, which he ultimately does.

Trivia

 * 1) This is the 100th episode of the series.
 * 2) Barkingham Palace, the doghouse Hank builds in this episode, never appears or gets mentioned again in any of the later ones.
 * 3) This episode aired the same day as The Simpsons episode "Simpson Safari".

Reception
"Hank’s Choice" is Number 3 on The Mysterious Mr. Enter's Top 10 Worst Episodes of King of the Hill, which he describes as "the other Simpsons-could-do-it plot" and complains that "they try to make us feel bad that the neighborhood is making fun of the Hills for making their son sleep in a dog house" when "[i]t's their problem" as to why he has to.