To Spank, With Love

To Spank, With Love is the fifth episode of King of the Hill Season 3, 40th episode overall. The title is a reference to the 1967 film "To Sir, With Love."

Synopsis
Peggy receives a phone call from the dispatch office. She is asked to fill in for a Spanish teacher at Bobby’s school and warned of a "surprise" in-class evaluation. While the class begins well enough, unruly students Dooley and Clark Peters soon pull a series of pranks on Peggy, causing her great embarrassment and frustration as well as making it appear that she cannot control a classroom. When Peggy returns home, she shows her family the results of the in-class evaluation, which concludes she "needs improvement." The next day, Peggy takes a more proactive approach with the bullies. But Dooley ends up pulling down Peggy’s pants in front of the class. Furious, Peggy grabs Dooley, places him over her knee, and gives him a spanking. A short time later, the school nurse informs Peggy that she is to report to the principal’s office, which causes Dooley to gets suspended for ended up pulling down Peggy's pants in the classroom the next morning.

Hank attempts to assure Peggy that she will not lose her job over the incident. He recalls how, as a child, he was disciplined with a paddle nicknamed "Ol' Spanky." Despite Hank’s words of reassurance, Principal Moss promptly fires Peggy the next morning. Cotton spies Peggy crying about her dismissal and turns to his friend Jeter Turbeville, who disciplined thousands of students during his tenure at the Middle School. Turbeville and his fellow veterans circulate a petition in an effort to get Peggy reinstated. Shortly thereafter, the school board votes on the matter and Peggy wins back her job. But when Peggy returns to school, she brings Ol' Spanky along for good measure--much to the concern of her students.

Bobby approaches his father about his mother’s aggressive attitude. He explains that fear of the paddle is giving his friend Joseph nightmares. Bill suggest that Peggy is letting power go to her head, but Hank explains that she has been hard to talk to. Meanwhile, word of "Paddlin' Peggy" spreads throughout town, and a local television news channel stops by the house to tape a segment on the famous substitute teacher. Peggy begins to panic when she realizes the paddle is nowhere to be found. She discovers it protruding from Dale Gribble’s trash, and immediately assumes that his son, Joseph, tossed it there. Joseph strongly denies the accusation, but Peggy is certain he is the culprit. She raises the paddle over her head, prepared to strike the boy. Suddenly, after accusing Bill, who denies the claim, Dale confesses it was he who stole the paddle. Peggy, horrified by a nearby reflection of herself looming over a frightened Joseph with the paddle poised to strike, realizes she has gone too far. She returns to the school hoping to find her old self--the one who could teach children without "scaring the bejesus out of them." When a student again makes her the brunt of a practical joke, she swings a mace over her head, and then recounts how innocent people were brutally punished with just such a device during the Spanish Inquisition, even though they did nothing wrong. She concludes her lesson by saying the worst part of the Inquisition was that no one apologized to the victims, in a subtle apology to Joseph. Later, Joseph aids Peggy in her garden, and helps spread a mulch made from chips of Ol' Spanky.

Other Languages

 * To Spank, With Love/Other Languages

Quotes

 * To Spank, With Love/Quotes

Stinger Quote
Tu eres muerto. - Dooley

Goofs

 * The "mace" that Peggy uses is actually a Morning Star or Medieval Flail. A mace didn't have the chain.
 * When Peggy takes out the mace Stuart Dooley's jacket disappears, it's back on once she talks about the Spanish Inquisition.

Trivia

 * Principal Jeter was nicknamed "Jeter the Beater" because he used the paddle "Ol' Spanky" often when Hank and his friends were students at Arlen Middle School during their youth.
 * The episode title is a spoof on the 1967 movie To Sir With Love, which is about students coming to terms with a 'different' type of teacher.
 * This episode marks the first appearance of the recurring character and hall monitor Emily.
 * Bill reveals that his father spanked him from the age of nine until sixteen.
 * Mega Lo Mart is shown being in the process of being rebuilt and remodeled (due to the explosion.)
 * This is the only episode to ever show the garden at The Hill residence. The garden never appears again.