Hilda wastes no time this week trying to uncover Erik Ahlberg’s secrets. After watching him at work in the previous episode, she immediately identifies something’s off about this guy and, unless she acts quickly, her entire way of life will be in jeopardy. This is “The Draugen,” written by Ben Joseph and directed by Andy Coyle.
1.) Keep It Sharp, Keep It Snappy
A lot of story happens in “The Draugen.” OK, a lot happens in every episode, and part of the show’s strength lies in how the creators guide us through the setups, carry us from scene to scene. This week, for example, we travel from the Trolberg sewers to the port to the open sea and finally through the city all over again, in the span of 22 minutes. And it never feels rushed or chaotic or like we’re being bombarded with information and gags.
Andy Coyle keeps the episode snappy and fluid. Hilda exists at this pace where we never lose its gentle spirit while we also never dwell in drudgery. It understands the world is wide and wonderful, not only in this heightened version of it, but in every sight, every experience around us. I think this works because we’re given moments to breathe. Even if they last only a few seconds, we are still encouraged to marvel at Trolberg and the surrounding area. “The Draugen” packs in so much information and not overwhelm us because it’s fine with sitting back to go sailing, Walter Martin’s “Let the Tall Ships Sail” playing on the soundtrack. It’s a show that encourages its audience to set forth and discover their own adventures.
That being said, even in the lax time, every beat, every scene flows and leads into the next one. Coyle and company guide us through the story instead of tugging us along.
Oddly, the show is calmer and more relaxed than the comic. Pearson’s book is filled with energy and forward momentum. That’s not to say that’s absent from the series, it’s just that the overall vibe is far more chill.
2.) Old Neighbors
Since we’re still early in the season, the creators take some time to reintroduce us to a few peripheral characters. Some have a major influence on the plot; others hang out in the background.
The story kicks in when Hilda happens across the Wood Man at a port tavern. She’s there because King Rat, another recurring character and a source for secrets in Trolberg — the source for secrets in Trolberg — offered to trade information for a sandwich. And with her home under a burgeoning threat, Hilda’s desperate for a solution. She finds the Wood Man gambling with a few fishermen. “I didn’t know you were in town,” she says. “That’s because I didn’t tell you,” the Wood Man replies. It’s always a treat when he appears, in his disinterested, self-centered glory, delivered gloriously in Ako Mitchell’s deadpan baritone. True to form, the Wood Man has some of the best lines throughout the episode.
While the Wood Man makes for the biggest presence, we also see water and weather spirits, salt lions, King Rat, and the graveyard ghosts from season one. Hilda might be a generally episodic series, but the creators want us to know the creatures’ world isn’t done just because Hilda stepped away.
3.) Enter the Draugen
Several different versions of the draugen, the creature of the week, exist throughout Nordic folklore. From Denmark to Sweden, from Norway to Iceland, the draugr appear as a recurring menace, stalwarts of Old Nordic myths. Typically, they are depicted as revenants, where a spirit takes over a vessel of some sort, like a body or a cairn. Some legends give them vampiric qualities. Malevolent, blood-thirsty, jealous, and greedy, they were known to change shapes and mess with the dreams of the living.
Hilda’s interpretation runs toward a more recent version of Scandanvian lore. They remain ghosts, but of mariners who perished at sea. The Hilda draugen float through storms in a torn apart ship, haunting the maelstrom. Strangely, the animators decided not to go with the seaweed heads (which seems like a particular Hilda touch to me), instead sticking with the show’s traditional ghost designs. Maybe it would have been too expensive. Maybe it would not have worked with “The Draugen’s” sweet ending.
Continued belowIn a nice twist, Hilda learns this crew actively enjoy being draugen. “Back on land we’d be simply ghosts,” their captain, Abigail, claims. It’s a point of pride for them, which seems all right, until they attempt to recruit Hilda and the Wood Man to their ranks.
4.) Finding the Best Solution, Establishing a Thesis
Like many of the best child heroes, Hilda solves problems with compassion and wit rather than outright force. She’s a smooth talker, a gift that gets her in and out many a situation. In “The Draugen,” she puts herself, the Wood Man, and Twig in a life-or-death race against these seafaring ghosts, whose ghost ship can fly. “They did seem rather confident for people with holes in their sails,” the Wood Man says.
Although they win, because Hilda smooth talks an irate weather spirit — “Once in my youth I was able to squall on cue. But I’m an adult now and long past indulging in such banal requests,” the weather spirit bellows — the ghost sailors refuse to be deterred and continue their chase into town. She realizes these spirits originally came from Trolberg, and she finds the way out of their dilemma by reuniting the draugen with their loved ones.
“You couldn’t have written in those 300 years?” one ghost says.
“You know how it gets when you’re out to sea,” Captain Abigail says.
Stephanie Simpson and Luke Pearson and Andy Coyle all know the importance for the conclusion to be a reunion rather than a battle or some other aggressive resolution. They want to instill to their young audience that there are more ways than a punch to fix a problem. By having Hilda find unorthodox and alternative solutions, it encourages them to consider everything around them before acting. Honestly, it undoubtedly serves as a reminder to us that there are so many ways to resolve a conflict before we blow something up.
Hilda’s actions stand in direct contrast with Erik Ahlberg of the Trolberg Safety Patrol. He does not have as substantial a part in “The Draugen,” but, in his short screen time, he still lies and cheats and tries to find the easiest way out. He spends this episode filling the Vittra tunnels, in the name of “safety.” It’s almost like these two world views are set to come into direct conflict with each other over the course of the season. Almost like it’ll be the overarching theme or something.
5.) Animation is the Most Expressive Medium
Already, the animators have gotten more ambitious and confident with their visual presentation. Just look at the scenes with the ghost ship racing through town, sliding into people, leaving behind a mess of ectoplasm. Or check out that sailing montage, playful and delightful. And someone’s having fun with those easily offended weather spirits. “Proper?” one bellows. “We are elemental forces. We shouldn’t concern ourselves with questions or propriety!”
The most impressive work this week for me, though, centered around King Rat. It’s this amorphous, churning rodent blob, constantly contracting and expanding, forming and reforming through the Trolberg sewers. It circles around Hilda while it soliloquizes, swells and shifts its massive form through various shapes. The animators don’t skirt around how it’s a terrifying creature. Its design features just enough individual rat bodies to sell its weight and presence and potential menace. Yet, while we recognize its danger, we’re not afraid of it because Hilda’s not afraid of it. That, and because its deepest want in the episode is a stale cod sandwich.
I was especially taken with it in the final scene. Coyle fills the frame with King Rat closing in, eyes aglow, telling Hilda how it couldn’t find any dirt on Erik Ahlberg. Although she may have befriended all these creatures, they still remain chaotic forces, friendly now yet still ultimately unpredictable.
Also, finally, Twig in a little scarf is, indeed, adorable.
