An All New Buckley Video

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]We're taking a quick look at Buckley, his life, career, appearances, and eventual death, and possible return as an angel. I mean, that's not bad for a guy who only appeared in human form eight times. It's a world WITHOUT BUGLY.

[00:00:13]A WORLD WE WANT TO LIVE IN.

[00:00:18]Hey folks, welcome to Squirrel Tactics.

[00:00:20]Don't forget to hit like and subscribe if you haven't already. Check out the Patreon, the merch store, the sister channel, you know, all that good stuff.

[00:00:28]Anyway, let's just do this. Buckley.

[00:00:31]Hey. Hey. First name unknown. Possibly Buckley. Voiced by the ever versatile David Herman. Some places claim his name is Mark due to this scene here.

[00:00:40]>> Mama, I want you to meet my Buckley.

[00:00:44]>> Where Lann says my Buckley and also this scene here later in that same episode.

[00:00:50]>> Fork. Where Dale yells fork. See official transcript. He yells fork.

[00:00:56]Everybody got that? It should be noted that even after his death, spoiler alert, sorry, he appears in the opening credits for the entire original run, including after they were updated, but he was still kept in. He's primarily known for three things, being Luan's on again, off-again boyfriend. Hey, so for your birthday, I wanted to get you those earrings you like, but I'm kind of tapped out, so here's some CDs I don't listen to anymore. Later, Buckley.

[00:01:23]>> Working various jobs at the Megalo Mart.

[00:01:25]Sir, there's no yelling in the propane department. Some of these gases are extremely valuious and Zane. Hey.

[00:01:34]>> Hi, Luan. Hi, Bobby. Hi, Buckley.

[00:01:40]He's on break.

[00:01:41]>> Oh, and of course, he's apparently a pretty big fan of trampolines. I mean, they are fun. And fun fact, trampolines got their name from trampoline, or however you say it in Spanish, which means diving board. and one of the inventors of the modern trampoline had heard it in Mexico. They got the idea from circus performers who used a Titan safety net to bounce off of.

[00:02:02]>> This was Buckley's trampoline.

[00:02:05]It was his favorite one. He named it number one.

[00:02:10]>> Buckley is a Gen Xer and he is the quintessential boomer version of a Gen Xer. Listless, dumb, lazy, aloof, unmotivated, pot smoking losers. You you know the same sort of things that could have been said about those same baby boomers back in the 60s when they were a bunch of damn dirty hippies. Basically, Generation X was looked at by the baby boomers as just a bunch of slackers.

[00:02:37]Slackers.

[00:02:38]>> Yeah. Like how folks used to look at millennials and now look at Gen Z. That was kind of how Gen X was looked at. The 90s were interesting for many reasons, but one of them was because you had boomers judging Gen X, while the Greenwich generation was judging the boomers. A good example of this in pop culture was in Sun-in-law, where Charlie Forner himself, Lane Smith, was trying to understand Gen Xer Crawl. Yeah, weird names were also a stereotype of Gen X while also being dogged by his greatest generation dad.

[00:03:09]>> What?

[00:03:10]>> Well, your dad, you know, I've been noticing the way he's always treating you. Oh, he's been like that as long as I can remember. The son of a [ __ ] >> Kind of like the way you get down on Zack. The way he does things, too. Huh?

[00:03:24]>> I'm sorry.

[00:03:26]And Buckley is the physical manifestation of that boomer generational angst. And it also doesn't help that he'd starve a braineing amoeba. I mean, Hank observed him like a wild animal in his habitat in order to learn more about teenagers and his war against Kane's Gretterberg in The Man Who Shot Kane's Greater.

[00:03:45]>> Buckley, I'm going to Kane's concert as his special guest, not his girlfriend.

[00:03:50]>> I don't know. I don't trust this guy.

[00:03:52]>> Well, if you're so worried, come with me. Kane told me to bring a friend for the drummer.

[00:03:58]>> Oh, you mean it?

[00:04:01]>> Oh, stuck boy. We need some sugar in aisle three.

[00:04:09]>> Oh snap. Dumb and clumsy. Yeah. Sadly, he doesn't quite grasp the concept that she's supposed to bring someone to hook up with a drummer. Something I do not see Buckley being on board with.

[00:04:19]Something he is apparently a fan of.

[00:04:22]It's guns. He is a Texan after all. And it actually could have been interesting to see him and Hank accidentally bond over their shared love of firearms. Aunt Paggy Buckley wants to bring his 38 to shoot off at the block party, but Uncle Hank said nothing bigger than a 22.

[00:04:39]>> Well, now he is the block captain. Lan, >> he's one of the characters that are outlined in the original character bible where he's described as Lann's boyfriend who drives a motorcycle. Hank nuts.

[00:04:50]>> Why do you let Lann go out with that hairball?

[00:04:53]>> It's none of my business. She's not my daughter. Anyway, that Buckley may be dumb as dirt, but he's her ticket out of my house.

[00:05:00]>> And is an annoying Gen X clerk who works at the Megalo Mart. Yeah, I'd say they nailed him. And as I've mentioned before, he always reminds me of Keano Reeves from Parenthood.

[00:05:12]>> A few months ago, Gary got his first boner. You know what that is?

[00:05:18]>> If memory serves.

[00:05:20]>> Oh, great. His first appearance was in the pilot episode where he's the annoying clerk at MegaloMart. Check that one off the list who isn't much help to Hank.

[00:05:29]>> Huh? What is it that you're trying to do?

[00:05:32]>> I'm trying to buy a tap and die and some WD40 and get out of this godforsaken store. Uh, >> I don't know what department Buckley worked in at this point. I'm guessing it wasn't hardware. And this may have been a very bad attempt at trying to ask open-ended questions in order to possibly upsell, as companies typically teach their associates to do, but most likely he just doesn't know. Either way, Hank is less than pleased with the level of service that he was provided.

[00:06:02]>> Uh, you're going to have to pay for that, dude.

[00:06:04]>> You're fired.

[00:06:06]>> That's not how employment works. Hank, never forget that Hank went from yelling at Buckley that he was fired to Buckley being his immediate supervisor. Hey, what were you? You're supposed to set up Czech Manion's dressing room with sliced pears and 2% cottage cheese. Where'd you forget that too, Hank? Trainee, you know how it is.

[00:06:26]>> Well, well, well.

[00:06:28]How the turntables.

[00:06:30]>> Yeah. See, Buckley went from whatever he is there. Lann refers to him as a stalk boy, so maybe he's a stalker, to becoming a greeter.

[00:06:39]>> Hey. Hey.

[00:06:42]>> Hello, Buckley.

[00:06:43]Hey, >> when did you get promoted to greeter?

[00:06:47]>> Yester. Hey, day.

[00:06:49]>> Holy crap. He is perfect for that, though. I'm pretty sure he somehow screwed it up. And he worked his way up to head of the propane department.

[00:06:56]Though, I can't really lie here. If he can't be trusted with making keys, either he was doing it wrong or he was stealing them. Don't really know which one. And it doesn't really matter. I'd beg to argue that he can't be trusted with, you know, explosive canisters.

[00:07:10]Well, Buckley, I have a complaint. I would like to talk circles around the person who runs your propane department.

[00:07:17]>> Hey, they didn't want me making keys anymore.

[00:07:21]>> I don't know whether to laugh or vomit.

[00:07:23]Seriously, you don't trust him to make keys, but you put him in charge of the things that they used to blow up zombies in the Dawn of the Dead remake.

[00:07:39]It doesn't exactly take a rocket surgeon to figure out what's going to happen.

[00:07:43]And seeing as Megalo Martin is the show's standin for Walmart, it's only fitting that Buckley ended his career with Megalo Mart the same way a lot of employees wish they could end theirs by blowing up the store.

[00:07:55]>> Okay, but I set the building on fire.

[00:07:59]>> Yeah, when Buckley went out, he went out with a bang. And I do find it funny how Buckley was responsible and yet Hank somehow got blamed by some people.

[00:08:08]>> Ain't you the idiot what blew up the Megalo Mart. I was supposed to take my vacation that week, idiot.

[00:08:15]>> Uh, actually, sir, the idiot you're thinking of was named Buckley.

[00:08:20]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:21]>> His death, of course, led to his funeral. Shouldn't be a shock there, where Lannne did her whole cause routine.

[00:08:28]>> FIGHT THE OCCUPATION. FIGHT THE OCCUPATION. and con of all people showed the most emotion of anyone towards Buckley kicking the bucket and going to churches. Which brings us to his relationship with Lanne. He apparently was the guy who took her virginity.

[00:08:43]That's what I figured from this.

[00:08:45]>> Nobody likes a quitter. Lann >> Zach liked me and so did Buckley and Rad and Rad's ex- best friend.

[00:08:53]>> And most likely that defflowering took place in Hank's den considering Lanne didn't have a place. Buckley didn't have a car, just a motorcycle. And well, you know, it's not like Hank hasn't caught them in there or anything.

[00:09:05]>> Quick, Lannne, Bobb's run off. You got to tell me where he is.

[00:09:10]Oh no, not you two.

[00:09:14]I'm in a crisis situation here. I got to go find Bobby. You two take turns kicking each other's asses.

[00:09:20]The first time they broke up that we see at least was in his second appearance, Luan Saga, where they break up on his motorcycle and then the guys ain't too happy because they have to deal with the immediate aftermath.

[00:09:41]>> And man, them dang old birds, man.

[00:09:43]Flying low this season, man. It's probably dango awkward, man. and table.

[00:09:48]>> The two would end up getting back together. They were enough of a couple that Lannne introduced him to her recently unincarcerated mother in Leanne saga.

[00:09:58]>> Hey, well, he's just gorgeous. Oh, feel these muscles.

[00:10:04]>> I got to go.

[00:10:05]>> Yep. She makes him pretty uncomfortable and she's sober there. Later in that same episode, she's not so sober. Bill's foot fungus saw to that. And Buckley not only gets very uncomfortable, but also only avoids possibly being murdered. If this was Clue, it'd be Lenor with a fork in Bill's backyard, thanks to the quick reaction of Peggy. And kudos to Peggy here. Yeah, in action on her part probably would have kept the megalomart from blowing up and Chuck Manion from living in a toilet paper fort, but still kudos.

[00:10:36]>> Help get this skank off me.

[00:10:42]Fork pimped a little.

[00:10:48]>> Excuse me, ma'am, but that was my fork.

[00:10:52]>> You know, really, if we look at the grand scheme, the show looks very different without Buckley pulling a Buckley and blowing himself up. Without the destruction of Megalo Mart, we don't get the Chuck Manion, everything turns into feel so good gag.

[00:11:14]Strickland Propane's Arley Branch stays shut down. And without Hank to constantly save his ass, I'm guessing the rest of Strickland Propane and possibly Sugarfoots wouldn't survive.

[00:11:25]Sugarfoots Barbecue, so sweet you can eat it with your feet. It is possible that Buck might hire him back in some capacity, seeing as Hank wouldn't have a job after his little kazoo protest. It's also possible that Hank would end up working for the guy that probably took whatever business Buck lost, but MegaloMart didn't pick upon.

[00:11:46]>> So yeah, without Buckley dying, we may have ended up with a show where Hank works for Thton, Lannne never gets with Lucky, and this never happens.

[00:11:56]>> Chickman, Joanie, I'm not a chick, I'm a dude.

[00:12:00]>> I don't like that version of the show.

[00:12:01]So yeah, sorry, Buckley, but you got to die. Anywh who, Buckley wasn't exactly what you would call a good boyfriend. He had a tendency to cancel on her at the last minute.

[00:12:11]>> Hello, Buckley. What?

[00:12:15]Of course not. We could go to the outlet stores next week. It's not like they're having a sale or anything. They have everyday low prices.

[00:12:24]>> I'm also a fan of outlet stores. Tanger Outlet Mall isn't too far and it has some good stores. Plus, it gives me an excuse to go to Dairy Palace. And if y'all are ever near Canton, you need to check out Dairy Palace. It is the cabbage cheese of burger joints. Boy, that cheese. Buckley never really took her anywhere fancy. He does work for MegaloMart after all, and they're not necessarily known for their high pay scale. Though, to be fair, the Hotel Arland, Hotel Arland, we're not that kind of hotel anymore. Yeah, that one.

[00:12:55]It's not expensive. Or at least the free food isn't. I'm not sure about the other stuff the hotel is known for. All right, Huckers. Listen up. I'LL BE BACK NEXT YEAR, SO DON'T BE JACKING UP YOUR PRICES.

[00:13:06]>> BUT THE food is free, at least like we saw when Rad took Lanne there.

[00:13:10]>> I didn't ever get to go anywhere this fancy with Buckley.

[00:13:14]Um, except his funeral reception.

[00:13:18]>> Oh, there. There, sweetness. It's different now. Rad's here, baby. Rad's here. Say my name.

[00:13:26]>> Rad. There's also the time he tried to get Lann back after he broke up with her and he appeared to bring a peace offering, but no. No, that's not how Buckley rolled.

[00:13:37]>> That's Buckley. Those better be for me.

[00:13:40]>> No, they're for me for later. Where Where's Lan? And we can't forget that he promised a job to Lan that she actually went out of her way to study for in order to pass a pre-employment test, but he decided to go in a different direction without sharing any of that information with her until she showed up for said test.

[00:13:58]>> I'm ready for the test, Buckley. I just pushed everything out of my mind except propane. Well, and how to get here.

[00:14:06]>> You don't have to take the test now. I gave the job to somebody else.

[00:14:11]Communication never seemed high on Buckley's list, hence the whole mono salabic thing. Again, it's part of the Gen X lazy slacker characterization. One thing I will give Buckley is that he went to church with Luan and the Hills at least once, if nothing else, to support Bobby making a report on his hero. And it's one of the rare occasions where we see Buckley out of uniform, but still wearing a top, got a tie on and everything. Looking good there, young Buck. And I want to thank my dad especially for accepting me and raising me as his own even though I was fathered by another man while Mr. Hank Hill was in a Mexican P camp. Thank you.

[00:14:55]>> But yeah, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Lannne ended up breaking up with Buckley. He didn't really seem to care or he figured she wasn't serious. Again, this is a guy who couldn't pour water out of a boot if the instructions were on the heel. Plus, he is in the process of creating a propane leak due to improperly handling the tanks. Never drag them. Sure as hell, never drag them by the valve. What matters here is that immediately prior to his death by explosion, the couple broke up.

[00:15:24]>> I'm breaking up with you. Do you know why?

[00:15:27]>> Chicken thigh.

[00:15:29]>> Don't make this harder than it already is. I think their breaking up right before his death did affect Luan's grieving process, at least immediately after. Keep in mind that Lu Wan was less worried about Buckley's well-being after the explosion than Hank was.

[00:15:46]>> What about Buckley? Did you find him?

[00:15:48]>> I'm sorry, sir, but so far it appears that there were no other survivors.

[00:15:52]Oh my god, I'm b.

[00:15:57]>> But eventually, she kind of started to heal like we saw with her talking to Connie about relationships.

[00:16:04]>> I mean, Buckley and I weren't meant to be, and that's why he blew up.

[00:16:08]>> Though, she did have a harder time than she expected, like we saw when she wanted to use Bobby as bait to get guys at the ice skating rink, but was having a hard time just getting on the ice. And it also didn't help that they were playing her and Buckley's song.

[00:16:22]>> Buckley's not getting any deader. Lannne >> because of course the most well-known song ever with the prominent use of the word hey would be their song. I can't show much of this scene where she hallucinates scene and because fun fact the song playing in the background rock and roll is one of two reasons that the original video was copyright claimed.

[00:16:42]And I will be damned if I'm going to send any money to a kitty diddler like Gary Glitter. closure would come for her to an extent after her dealings with Buckley's angel who may or may not have been real, but his coming was prophesied several episodes, 14 to be exact.

[00:16:59]>> Well, I don't know anything about psychology, but it sounds to me like Mr. Dotrie needs closure. He needs to realize that Lenor is never coming back, and he needs to just move on with his life. It's the same thing Buckley's Angel told me. Well, Buckley's Angel's the only one making sense >> before his arrival in Wings of the Dope.

[00:17:20]>> Buckley's Angel, >> don't wear it out.

[00:17:25]>> The real reason for this, like in the real world, is that Wings of the Dope was made before Pretty Pretty Dresses, but they broadcast Pretty Pretty Dresses first due to it being a holiday episode.

[00:17:36]But in universe, it was a prophecy. By golly, Luan came across Buckley's angel doing what he loved to do most in life.

[00:17:44]Well, outside of making chicken butt jokes, jumping on a trampoline.

[00:17:48]Remember, he was a huge fan of trampolines.

[00:17:50]>> How much was it again?

[00:17:51]>> $300.

[00:17:53]>> Uh, all I have is $400. That's going towards my new trampoline. I mean, the trampoline I have now is good, but you know.

[00:18:00]>> Yeah.

[00:18:01]>> I wonder how many he had. This is number one, which the guys refer to as the best of Buckley's estate. But yeah, how many did he have? And where did he keep them?

[00:18:09]Did he keep them at his parents' house?

[00:18:11]Possibly. If he had his own place, he doesn't seem the type to be trying to do the mattress mambbo with Lou Wayne and Hank's den, mostly out of fear of being caught. And 400 bucks would get you a pretty good trampoline at the time.

[00:18:23]Remember, this was before they had to have the nets around them, so they were cheaper and injuries were much more prevalent. At least it has spring covers cuz those bastards hurt. Anywh who, some people think that Buckley's angel was a hallucination, a manifestation of Lann's grief in the form of an angelic version of Buckley who doesn't exactly act so much angelic as he does like Buckley.

[00:18:47]Yeah, I have a message from Jesus.

[00:18:50]Something about how you suck at beauty school, except worded nicer. Oh, here.

[00:18:54]Uh, Luan, you really suck at beauty school. Drop out. Love Jesus. But he exists in her mind as a way to finally find acceptance of his death and move on. Personally, I'm in the camp of this in universe being Buckley spirit or angel or whatever doing a good deed and trying to help out Luan in his way. It's not a great way, but it does end up doing the job.

[00:19:17]>> No, that part's over.

[00:19:20]>> Why?

[00:19:22]>> Chicken thigh.

[00:19:25]Plus, we do see his angel walking off at the end of the episode after Lann had gained peace of mind and gone inside, so there's no reason for him to be there unless he was real. I am a huge fan of the scene with the two of them jumping together. Yeah, it's a really good one.

[00:19:40]The shooting star and lightning bugs were nice touches and they picked the perfect song, Life in a Northern Town by Dream Academy, to play over top of it.

[00:19:50]It kind of makes sense that Buckley would enjoy jumping on a trampoline.

[00:19:53]It's kind of a mindless activity, but it also could bring someone peace. So, yeah, it kind of works for Buckley. And it also bears mentioning that an angel arriving to tell Luan that beauty school isn't for her is kind of reminiscent of the whole beauty school dropout thing with Frenchie from the musical Greece.

[00:20:10]Just, you know, less melodic and more well Buckley-ish.

[00:20:16]Bill.

[00:20:18]So, what can we say about Buckley? Hey, he's a standin for the negative stereotypes of an entire generation. It makes sense that he would have a singular name and at least it wasn't something weird like crawl, but he very much was designed to be the typical lacadasical slacker. To quote Mark Twain, he is useless on top of the ground. He ought to be under it and spiring the cabbages. That's pretty much Buckley. He lived his short two season life of trampolines, motorcycles, Megalo Martin, Chicka butt jokes. But ultimately, his greatest attribute to the show was his death, which led to real consequences within the show's universe where Strickland Propane was saved. Chuck Manion didn't turn out too good. But at least Luan ended up having a happy ending and learn to grieve and move on. Well, for the most part.

[00:21:07]>> Why do my boyfriends always die? So ultimately the most important thing that Buckley did was die. Thanks for watching folks. We'll see y'all next time.

[00:21:16]>> Find the body yet? Quincy?

[00:21:19]>> We have some remains that we're analyzing. You needn't concern yourself.

[00:21:22]>> Oh, I needn't shouldn't I? And maybe I should not know that all Megalomart employees have a $5,000 insurance policy.

[00:21:31]>> That's nonsense. There's a very straightforward investigation.

[00:21:35]>> That's what they want you to think. Sir, we are they