And They Call It Bobby Love

Bobby begins a relationship with Marie, a vegetarian, and Hank and the guys find an abandoned couch in their alleyway.

Over the course of his relationship with his newfound girlfriend, Bobby experiences his first kiss, but their relationship quickly sours as Bobby's affection for Marie is revealed to be much greater than her affection for him. As a result, Bobby and Marie decide to end their relationship, and Bobby's reaction to it is strongly negative. To cheer up their son, Hank and Peggy take Bobby to the Panhandler Steakhouse where he sees Marie also having dinner with her parents. He takes on the restaurant's standing challenge to eat a 72-ounce (2 kg) steak in under an hour, simultaneously spiting Marie and finding catharsis by eating the entire steak in just 37 minutes as everyone in the restaurant watches. He later vomits from overeating, which Connie initially feared might be his still reacting to the break-up.

Meanwhile, Hank, Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer discover an abandoned couch in the alley, which they are initially against using as a backdrop for their daily ritual of drinking beer and chatting. As the days progress, they grow to like drinking in their usual spot while sitting on the couch. The couch is also where Bobby and Marie kissed, somewhat to Bill's annoyance. The couch disappears near the end of the episode, but it is ultimately revealed that Bill has moved the couch into his living room.

The episode was nominated for and ultimately won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour) on September 12, 1999.^[1][2] The A.V. Club had it on a list of "10 episodes that made King of the Hill one of the most human cartoons ever" with Genevieve Koski saying the steak eating scene "remains one of the best scenes in the show’s history."^[3]