Buck Strickland, A Loyalty Undeserved
Of all the things that confuse me about this show, this one has to be the most perplexing. Watching Hank go through his daily life has taught us many things, he is a reasonably smart man, he loves his family, he is a (supposed) master craftsman, and he is extremely loyal to the people he calls his friends. However there is one friend who constantly disappoints, betrays, and frequently uses Hank for his own selfish needs, Buck Strickland.
There are numerous instances throughout the series that reveal Buck's true character, but for now let's just take a look at some of the most heinous examples.
Buck does not deserve Hank's loyalty because he himself is not loyal to Hank, this becomes very apparent in 'The Mis-education of Bobby Hill'. In this episode Hank is having a bad year at the annual Sales-a-Thon, his numbers are even lower than the village idiot's. (Joe Jack) While Hank is on the sales floor struggling, Buck is in the back playing a game of poker with a few people, most notably M.F. Thatherton. Buck bets Hank and loses, forcing Hank to go work for someone he despises for the rest of the sale. We learn later that the value of the bet was only twenty bucks, which in my opinion is a fair approximation of what Buck thinks of Hank.
For my next example, I will attempt to give you some insight into what kind of person Buck Strickland really is. The episode 'The Buck Stops Here's how Buck's lack of common sense and lack of emotion toward anyone but himself. It all starts with Bob caddying for Mr. Strickland which leads to him picking up some nasty habits (Cheating, cursing, misogyny) and ends with Bobby palling around with Buck to several different places, the last of which is a seedy backalley poker game, Buck and Bobby show up and are told by the bouncer that Bobby is not allowed inside. Now instead of leaving like a decent person, Buck opts to gamble anyway leaving Hank's son in an alleyway by himself holding onto half of Buck's money. Bobby is forced to see several scary things whilst Buck is inside losing all his money, a scary couple making out, the same couple vomiting behind a dumpster, the same couple immediately making out afterwards (gross) And after all that trauma a huge thug steps out from the poker game and demands the rest of the money and Bobby's watch (present from Buck) because Buck was so far in the hole. A chase ensues, ending with Bobby giving up the watch after being saved by his dad, Buck is nowhere to be seen.
My final example (for today) comes from the episode 'Hank Fixes Everything'. This one begins with all the local propane dealerships undercutting each other, forcing prices so low that selling propane is actually COSTING the stores money. Hank being Hank tries to fix this problem and calls a meeting of all the owners to try to come to a peaceful resolution. Buck being Buck screws this up royally, and starts an illegal price fixing arrangement among all of them, the prices skyrocket across all propane stores and the profits are huge. The PGA (Propane Gas Association) is called in to investigate and zero in on Hank as the reason for the price fixing, as he was the one who originally called the meeting. Hank is forced to wear a wire or go to prison, he chooses the wire and is forced to try and incriminate Buck. Hank walks in on a meeting of the owners and stealthily lets Buck know of the wire tap. Buck panics and simply looks to Hank to get him out of yet another mess he brought on himself. At no point does Buck offer to turn himself in (although framing Hank probably crossed his mind based on what we know about him) and Hank does manage to save all their butts just in time.
So as you can see students, Buck is not a good man. Hell he's not even a decent man, he has no scruples, not code of ethics, and no loyalty to anyone but himself. He will double cross, sell-out, and con anyone he can to get what he wants, with no thought of the consequences. We will definitely be returning to this subject again as Buck is nowhere near done with his hurtful shenanigans.
