Won't You Pimai Neighbor?

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“Won't You Pimai Neighbor”
King of the Hill episode
Episode no. Season 4
Episode 17
Written by
Directed by Boohwan Lim
Kyounghee Lim
Production no. 4ABE17
Original airdate March 9, 2000
Episode chronology
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List of King of the Hill episodes

"Won't You Pimai Neighbor?" is the 78th episode in the FOX animated situation comedy series King of the Hill and was the 18th episode of the fourth season. The name of the episode alludes to the theme song to the public television series Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

Contents

[edit] Plot

Hosting a neighborhood Pimai party to celebrate the beginning of the lunar year, Kahn soon learns that a group of Buddhist monks are searching for the reincarnated Lama Sanglung and used the party to devise a test of the two most likely candidates, Chane Wassanasong and Connie Souphanousinphone, who is according to Kahn a "lesser known spiritual leader, but still a big shot."

The test consist of various objects being placed on a rug with one belonging to the late Lama Sanglung. According to the monks, the reincarnated spirit of Sanglung would be drawn to the object he possessed.

The test is over when Bobby picks up the cane as a diversionary tactic to give Connie the first pick during the test. The cane he selected was the Sanglung's cane and one of the Monks stays with the Souphnousinphones until the test can be confirmed with another test.

During this time, Bobby begins to learn about Buddhism when one of the monks presents him with a copy of Buddhism...for Dummies, and begins offering ethereal advice, much of proves helpful to the situation, though he confesses he doesn't understand either Buddhism or Methodism, the faith in which he was raised.

The monk also notices many similarities between Bobby and the Sanglung, including using the begging bowl for a hat in the same way that Bobby uses a cereal bowl.

However as the date of the final test approaches, Connie and Bobby are distressed to learn that the lama, like all Buddhist monks, takes a vow of celibacy. Bobby indicates he's willing to refuse to take the test or to purposely fail the test in order to avoid being declared the lama, but Connie says that unless he takes the test in good faith, she would lose respect for him.

On the day of the test, Bobby examines the items placed on the rug, and selects the image of Connie, as seen through the mirror.

Everyone thinks he has failed the test, but it is revealed that the mirror Bobby saw Connie's image in belonged to the Sanglung. One monk insists that Bobby is the lama because he used the mirror. The other monk explains, "Tough call, but it's mine and I made it."

[edit] Depiction of Buddhism

The monks depicted in this episode seem to belong to the Tibetan tradition; they are referred to as "lama", and the search for the reincarnation of the Lama Sanglung seems to be a reference to the Tibetan tulku tradition. By contrast, Laos (and presumably the Souphanousinphone family as Laotians) belongs to the Theravada Buddhist tradition, which makes use of neither the title of "lama" for monks nor of the practice of identifying reincarnated spiritual leaders.

[edit] Reception

The episode was shown at the "International Buddhist Film Festival", which praised its "good writing and fearless satire".[1] It also was nominated for the Annie Awards for directing.[2]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ International Buddhist Film Festival. Buddhist Film Society, Inc. (February 2005). Archived from the original on 2005-12-28. Retrieved on 2008-01-22. “We learn more about Buddhism in this 22 minute piece than we do in many a full length feature work.”
  2. ^ Annie Award's site
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