G. H. Hill

G.H. (Good Hank) Hill is a fictional character on the animated television series, "King of The Hill". An infant, he is the son of Cotton and Didi Hill. G.H. first appears in Episode 61, "Peggy Hill: The Decline and Fall (Part 2)."

Character's background

G.H.'s "introduction" into the show came in the episode "Next of Shins". Cotton Hill and his wife Didi arrive to visit the Hill family, and it is revealed that Didi is pregnant. This creates a strain for Hank and Peggy Hill, as at the time they are trying, unsuccessfully, to conceive a child of their own, leading Peggy to feel bitterness towards Didi and Cotton for their unintentional, and mostly unwanted, pregnancy. Even after G.H.'s birth, Hank resents G.H and does not consider him his brother, because Cotton makes repeated references to the fact that G.H. is his favorite child and that Hank is his greatest disappointment, possibly due to the fact that he shot a gun in front of him and he didn't cry.

G.H. is born during the two-part episode "Over the Hill/Peggy Hill: The Decline and Fall," when Bobby Hill is visiting his grandfather Cotton and Didi. Didi goes into labor while Cotton is at a strip club, who told them he would meet them there, forgetting that pregnant women cannot drive. As a result, twelve-year-old Bobby drives Didi to the hospital and assists with the birth. At this same time Peggy is severely injured while sky diving, and Didi exhibits post-partum depression, leading to deep tension in the Hill family, and no one truly willing or capable of taking care of G.H. except for Bobby (technically G.H.'s nephew), who eventually bails. However, the family issues are resolved after Peggy, completely trapped in a body cast, manages to deal with her depression of her accident by rocking G.H. to sleep in his car seat using only her toes, which seemed to influence others to put aside their own problems for G.H.'s sake.

Due to being a baby throughout the series, G.H. has not much of a story, but his importance is more measurable on how he affects others than in his own actions. Cotton is perhaps the one who has grown the most because of G.H. During the pregnancy and early life of G.H. Cotton wants little to do with his youngest son, but later becomes very fond of him. In "When Cotton Comes Marching Home," G.H. causes Cotton to contemplate suicide when he is unable to provide for his family; later, however, Cotton seems to realize that G.H. needs him alive and decides to bond with G.H. instead by having the baby play with the gun he was planning to use in the suicide. Sadly, Cotton eventually dies ("Death Picks Cotton"), while G.H. is still a baby, it is unknown what happened to Didi and G.H. afterwards as they didn't appear in the episode.

Name

Cotton Hill, at the hospital after G.H.'s birth, comments that he always wanted a son named Hank; when Hank objects that Cotton "has" a son named Hank, Cotton tells Hank that he is taking back his name. After Hank tells him that he cannot take away a grown man's name, Cotton sarcastically names his newborn "Good Hank," or G.H. for short. He has always sarcastically referred to his older son as B.H. ("Bad Hank"), a sign of Cotton's obvious favoritism.:Hank: You can't call him Good Hank, that will make people think I'm Bad Hank.:Cotton: Well, you burnt my burger, didn't you, B.H.?

References