Hilda The Nisse 112 Television 

Five Thoughts on Hilda’s “The Nisse”

By | December 13th, 2018
Posted in Television | % Comments

We’re nearing the end of Hilda‘s first season and, true to modern form, there’s a lot “The Nisse” sets up with very little resolution. Like the first two episodes, this takes the “Hilda and the Black Hound” comic and splits it into two parts. Albeit with much more characters and subplots running through. Still, the emotions run high in this episode, the terror grows tangible, and our characters continue to embrace the unknown. Warning: spoilers.


1. Creature of the Week

A little while back, we were teased with an appearance of Tontu, the Nisse. For new viewers, it was an odd little creature who suddenly appeared, swiped Frida’s book, and helped fracture her friendship with Hilda and David. Readers of the comic, however, knew all about these little jerks and about where the season was going to take its overarching narrative. The Nisse is the only new creature Hilda introduces this week, though the Black Hound, as a presence, also becomes far more prominent. These sprites live in people’s houses. Hilda’s Mum tells us they tend to be invisible until they’re banished, usually if they’ve done something bad. They’re ridiculously territorial and collect all the forgotten items people tend to scatter about. However, in recent months, they’ve started to be somewhat more fluid with their definitions of “forgotten items.” They’re also very destructive, which is not helping their cause.

 

2. Wasted Spaces

One of the coolest concepts about the Nisse centers around where they live. Tontu, the Nisse Hilda encounters on the street and tries to rescue, tells her they live within the collective accumulation of all the wasted space in people’s houses. This could be the area behind bookshelves, on top of cabinets, and in the general gaps between furniture. The show takes the same design from Pearson’s comic at depicting this space, with them being sucked through a portal and into this bulbous area littered with junk. I mean, this is a necessary addition for the resolution of the season, but I dunno, there was something about it in this episode that didn’t feel as lively or gripping as it did in the comic.

Something that wasn’t wasted, though, is that gag where Hilda stretches forward and takes a bite out of her mom’s bread as they’re walking.

 

3. Queen Bees and Wannabees

Although the end of year Sparrow Scouts camping trip is coming up, Hilda and David are shocked to find Frida not hanging around, trying to earn her Camping Badge. In fact, Frida hasn’t been attending Scouts much at all as of late. The two of them go to her house, only to find that there’s a cool older teenage girl demanding Frida’s attention. After an awkward silence, they all go their separate ways. Okay, I mean, we can all see that Frida’s new friend, Kelly, is a Mara.

The show doesn’t go much into why she’s hanging out with the Mara or how she got involved with them. There’s a line about how she’ll make a great one someday but that’s about all we get for background.

When we last left Frida, in “The Ghost,” we saw that she was hurt and angry at Hilda. She was irritated David had something to break through her perfect demeanor. Ending up with someone like Kelly seems like a natural reaction from a prepubescent girl. What I liked, though, was how hurt the show showed Hilda and David. Well, Hilda’s mostly stung but you can feel David’s sense of betrayal seep off the frame. His pain is palpable and honest and I think small moments like that are great to have on an all ages’ show.

 

4. David has His Moment

All the emotions David’s been repressing and trying to cope with burst out while he’s on their Sparrow Scouts camping trip. It’s triggered when he sees Frida in the middle of the Mara circle, feeding off the energy they get from haunting nightmares. They try to scare him but by this point he isn’t bothered by their presence any longer. He tells Frida she’s been the most important friend to him, that she’s made him a better person. And it’s not only the abandonment that drills a hole into his very being but it’s the fact that she went to hang out with a group of people who specifically targeted him. This is Neville standing up to his friends kind of stuff. This is David showing true bravery and courage. It’s not the ability to charge into a dangerous situation that makes someone brave but the willingness to stand up for what’s right.

Continued below

Of course, that is until we finally see —

 

5. The Black Hound

Though it’s by no means the driving catalyst for “The Nisse,” the Black Hound is everywhere in this episode. Hilda isn’t giving us background references or mentions anymore, it’s going full out with sightings, rumors, terror, and appearances. Some say the Beast of Trolberg is only a big cat. Others, a pile of junk. I appreciated how the show spends time exploring how a presence like the Black Hound can be built up until people like Hilda’s Mum become paranoid.

The episode ends with the Black Hound revealing itself to Hilda, David, Frida, and the Mara. The animators go in for a huge, hulking, geometrical look.

And though David had his moment, the episode still feels unfinished. Like how the series opened with a two-parter, it seems like it’s closing the same way. Tune in next week as we wrap it up on this first season of Hilda.

 

 


//TAGS | Hilda

Matthew Garcia

Matt hails from Colorado. He can be found on Twitter as @MattSG.

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