I think the last several eps have been evolutionary, perhaps even as far back as Cotton's death. Peggy's schemes and 'for their own good' tendencies came back to bite her hard when Luanne's father came back. Hank, when dealing with the anal scout leader, learned you can be right and still fail to change someone like that; Luanne's grown a spine and part of a brain; and Bobby is taking the first steps away from being the Bobby we've known. That leaves Dale getting his ass kicked, Bill--well, I dunno about Bill, and Boonhauer maybe getting the itch to settle down. Nothing is 'resolved', but we begin to see the movements that might one day lead to such.
I've noticed the wrapping up as well. Dale is going to end up blowing himself up at some point. and that will be his ultimate ass kicking.
I think Khan needs an ep like the flashback with Ned Flanders, where it was revealed he was once a wild child with beatnik parents, and then lost it.
We saw a little bit of that in a flashback when Minh was telling Connie about when they were dating back in Laos. He was riding a moped and douched out with a shiny shirt and styled up hair.
It was a pleasure to see Hank fall into the inanity. Unlike his female counterparts on the many 'dumb guys/dumber husband' shows, he can drink the Kool-Aid once in a blue moon. It was an even bigger pleasure to see this thing turn into a monster out of Bobby's control.
Many times I've compared KOTH to the Andy Griffith Show, and As much as Sheriff Taylor was the voice of reason in Mayberry. From time to time he wasn't always right. One time he and the other men in town got involved in some town gossip, or one time he was getting too concerned about how much Opie was donating to the Underprivledged Children's fund, only to find out Opie was using the rest of his money to help someone in particular. So I give Hank some wiggle room here and there.
One of my fave eps of The Beverly Hillbillies involved a con artist named JD Clampett ingratiating himself with 'long-lost cousin' Jed. For this once, Jed does not merely misunderstand a situation, he is willfully ignorant about it, and by this I mean on a Jethro/Granny-level. Granny asks if JD can be trusted, and Jed says that any Clampett can always be trusted. Granny then asks if JD is
really one of his relations, to which Jed responds that a Clampett would never lie about that kind of thing.
No Dale ass-bagging for weeks/months. They must be saving up for his ep. I don't count the outdoorsman thing--that was all on him and was just weird.
Dale is just weird in general.