Peggy Hill, the wife of Hank Hill in the TV series ‘King of the Hill’ is a narcissist. As a kid I couldn’t see the subtleties of her behaviour that were toxic, probably because I had a hard time understanding adults in any case. ‘King of the Hill’ in general came across as a dull show for a child viewer and I could really only appreciate the humour and the series as a whole as an adult.
Anyway, before I digress, let’s talk about Peggy. She has an overly inflated ego, she genuinely believes to be a genius and a brilliant Spanish teacher, and she looks down on nearly everyone she comes across. Part of the charm of the series is the antics of Peggy Hill, a messed up and barely functioning mother with ridiculous expectations of her own grandeur.
An example of Peggy’s unhealthy self-adoration is a conversation between Hank and Peggy in the episode where Peggy gets obsessed with proving her own genius:
Peggy: What if I’m not really as smart as I think I am?!
Hank: Aw c’mon Peggy, you’ve got an IQ of 170, you said so lots of times.
Peggy: Yes but there could be a margin of error, especially when it’s just my own estimate.
The whole episode is an absolute trainwreck for Peggy, one of my favourite lines was when Peggy finally breaks down and says to Hank, profusely crying:
“Hank, I should’ve listened to you but I was humming inside my head while you were talking, waiting you to stop.” (quoting from memory)
The cherry on the cake is her belief that she can actually speak Spanish, as brilliantly displayed in the following video of Peggy testifying in a Mexican court:
She even calls her own spaghetti and meatballs “SpaPeggy and Meatballs” without any giving any explanation what makes them special and why they should be given any recognition.
A narcissistic personality disorder is identified by these traits:
- Grandiosity with expectations of superior treatment from others
- Fixated on fantasies of power, success, intelligence, attractiveness, etc.
- Self-perception of being unique, superior and associated with high-status people and institutions
- Needing constant admiration from others
- Sense of entitlement to special treatment and to obedience from others
- Exploitative of others to achieve personal gain
- Unwilling to empathize with others’ feelings, wishes, or needs
- Intensely envious of others and the belief that others are equally envious of them
- Pompous and arrogant demeanor
(From DSM-V)
I’d say she checks most if not all of the traits, strongly suggesting that she is in fact clinically a narcissist.