The Black Hound (Hilda Season 1 Episode 13) - 'Toon Reviews 26

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The Black Hound

When it comes to season finales, you often expect them to be big grand stories to wrap up all loose ends.  In all honesty, the show has been bigger with certain events.  This episode is quite good, but there’s just no shaking off that this is a typical adventure capable of happening at any time. 

Even so, tension is built as this episode directly follows the previous one’s encounter with the often-reported Black Hound.  The encounter doesn’t last long as it successfully scares off the marra Frida was hanging out with, and Hilda promptly gets it to go away.  That said, this moment does lead to the much-needed resolution to her and David’s falling out with Frida.  Circumstances lead her back to the Sparrow Scout campsite where she helps everyone break camp, and gets a ride home from Hilda.  Also, while we don’t see her apologize for the harsh things she said to Hilda, it’s implied that Frida’s had time to think.  When Hilda tells Frida about Tontu, Frida agrees to help find him, saying that she does trust Hilda.  That proves Frida does know there’s value in Hilda’s love for the wilderness after all. 

While Hilda spends the next day trying to find Tontu, there’s also the matter of Hilda not having any Sparrow Scout badges.  Despite also being brought up in the previous episode, it’s kind of odd that this factor is given a lot of attention as if it was Hilda’s biggest goal of the season.  Then there’s the prospect that she’s never told her mother that she doesn’t have any badges.  That too is odd given how strong their relationship is.  This badge thing was never that huge at any point prior despite Hilda’s adventurous spirit being the reason why she and her friends failed at the opportunities for so many badges.  That’s shown here when Hilda’s search for Tontu leads her to not get credit for a jumble sale badge. 

For intrigue’s sake, it’s interesting to see the search made difficult by all nisse being called Tontu, and that plenty have been blamed for things they didn’t do.  Thickening the mystery is Hilda finding out what Tontu did to get evicted from his home.  Apparently, his will to borrow stuff led him to steal his owner’s valuables and trash her home.  The real Tontu denies this when Hilda confronts him, but she doesn’t really know if she can trust him. 

This does lead to a pretty exciting climax when it’s discovered that the Black Hound is living in the nisse spaces at the Sparrow Scouts meeting hall.  Tontu startles the hound which sends him and Hilda on a chase through many different nisse spaces and houses in Trolberg, all of which the Black Hound trashes.  Hilda even makes a friendly gesture by finding Frida’s lost book in the chaos.  At Hilda’s place, her own nisse recognizes the hound as his own which he raised as a puppy, grew huge, and went on an oblivious house-trashing spree. 

This uncovered information gets Hilda’s mother onboard with helping the hound and the nisse who owns him escape.  There’s car chase through Trolberg’s streets, a run off the road, a trip into the biggest nisse space of all, and finally getting the nisse and his giant black dog to safety.  All this is easily the most exciting part of the episode. 

It’s also appropriately calmed down by a wholesome conclusion.  Johana is understanding of Hilda keeping the badge thing a secret and shows she loves Hilda for who she is.  The series also comes full-circle somewhat as the last scene has Hilda and her friends talk about the mystical things they’ve found throughout the season.  We also see the Woodman tell the nisse and his dog that a girl whose house was destroyed by a giant will probably still be having adventures.  Given all the good she finds and all the help she can be to her loved ones, this is certainly good to know. 

This episode may not be my idea of the best finish, but its general fun and excitement, and how much it really welcomes Hilda into the real world give it good merit.

A

The Ranking

1. The House in the Woods
2. The Nightmare Spirit
3. The Tide Mice
4. The Bird Parade
5. The Midnight Giant
6. The Hidden People
7. The Storm
8. The Black Hound
9. The Troll Rock
10. The Lost Clan
11. The Sparrow Scouts
12. The Nisse
13. The Ghost

Final Thoughts

From its first season, Hilda is quite an unexpected surprise when it comes to animated shows.  At first glance, it seems nice, but doesn’t appear to have anything to make itself stand out.  It’s then when you discover just how endearing a little girl finding adventure wherever she goes can be.  Among the creative fantasy elements and exciting adventures, this show is a sincere childlike perspective of what life has to offer.

I’ve seen many shows about fantasy worlds, some relating to a specific creative ability some people have, and others featuring supernatural elements most are unaware of.  For that, it’s interesting to note that Hilda takes place in an average setting with normal human beings, yet they’re all aware of fantasy elements going on.  As is the usual case with creative premises, the imaginative stuff in this world is very engaging with every out-there element, some you may not see coming.  A rock could actually be a troll lying dormant in daylight.  A mountain could be a giant waiting for a lover to come.  Signing the right paperwork could get you to see a tiny village of elves you must be careful to not step on.  Along with appealingly designed creatures like round floating woffs or a woodman who nonchalantly invites himself in, there’s a lot to admire from a creative stance.  However, a theme of this season is that something interesting can be found anywhere you look, including a city intending to keep strange occurrences and creatures out.  In Trolberg, there’s a huge regal-looking yet highly neurotic raven flying around.  A group of teen girls give unsuspecting people traumatizing nightmares with the help of secrets picked up from an entity made of live rats.  An eccentric woman seems to know all about what the weather will be like.  Little things people may lose around their house could end up in spaces only reached by hairy creatures with the same name.  You can summon mice to make your loved ones’ dreams come true which could end up getting their souls taken.  It’s a series open to many out-of-the-ordinary stories and never holding back on their potential.  That’s the kind of approach that should be taken with animation, the medium where it’s easiest to bring absolutely anything to fruition.  This show is no exception, so it’s great to know you’ll be in for a variety of experiences with each episode.

There’s one element that makes each adventure and creative occurrence leave a strong impression.  You may think it’s from taking advantage of the scope Netflix productions offer through the stylized storybook-like backgrounds and character designs.  Some may also be drawn to the bouncy memorable music score and soundtrack right from the opening theme performed by Canadian musician, Grimes.  However, the selling factor of the series is right in the title.  When it comes to child protagonists, Hilda herself is one of the best ones you can ask for.  She’s a character who inspires with her knowledge, friendliness, and bravery, while also showing plenty of relatability.  She’s a character so attached to wilderness life that she makes dangerous adventures into the wild and encounters with frightening creatures part of her daily routine.  Making all this ok is that instead of always needing help and coming off as pretentious, Hilda proves she knows how to navigate in any legitimately life-threatening adventure.  How she knows about the behavior of creatures and puts in clear effort to strike a fair deal with elves, ghosts, rats, etc. is a true sign of resourcefulness and maturity.  It’s refreshing to see from such a young character.  At the same time, she has a few relatable character flaws to allow the audience to identify with her.  An obvious one is being reckless with what she gets herself into at times, which is to be expected from someone always doing dangerous adventures.  She can also get too wrapped around certain goals she sets out to achieve that she doesn’t notice the drawbacks that come with certain practices.  One instance especially stands out when she almost gets herself, her mother, and one of her friends killed.  Now, Hilda’s biggest challenge of all is adjusting to a new lifestyle.  The first two episodes show her attachment to her old home in the wilderness in which she gets the bulk of her resourcefulness and ambition.  Like most people used to doing things one way, she’s not exactly comfortable when circumstances lead to the possibility of leaving it behind.  She also tries to find things wrong with the city of Trolberg to make it look bad in comparison to the wilderness.  While this is closed-minded, these behaviors seem believable to people used to living life a certain way.  Then come many episodes that show a natural progression of Hilda’s adjustment.  Time is devoted to her making new friends, having the people she meets get to know where she came from, and dealing with sorrow after falling out with one of her friends.  By the last stretch of the season when at some point she’s given a chance to go back to the wilderness, Hilda reaches a conclusion with where she’ll be in life.  She sees a lot of beauty in her new home, but she’ll always have a connection with her old home in her undying adventurous spirit she can take anywhere.  A great lead character always brings the best out of a creative setup, and Hilda expressing these relatable challenges and behaviors really bring her up to those standards.  The fact that this is a little girl we’re talking about adds welcome purity and cuteness as well.

Another key factor in Hilda’s success as a lead for this show are her many relationships.  It’s only fitting that such a lovable child has connections with any walk of life, be it family, creature, or new friends in Trolberg.  The people in Hilda’s life also have a significant impact on her many adventures.  The closest person to Hilda is, unsurprisingly, her mother Johanna.  Like most mothers, she’s there to provide all the necessary love and care for her child as well as make sure she doesn’t go too far with her adventures.  Speaking of adventures, it’s impressive how involved in Hilda’s adventures Johanna ends up being.  She has certain bits of mystical knowledge to help Hilda along in challenges, and is usually well informed of what big adventure Hilda gets up to.  It’s also nice to see Johanna have a strong understanding through easily trusting Hilda’s abilities and seeing ways Hilda can better herself despite opposition from others.  In short, this show has a mother-daughter relationship worth supporting. 

When it comes to Hilda’s other close relationships, they’re simpler than the one with her mother but still very endearing.  It’s always a joy to see Twig the deerfox by her side and show great bravery and fearlessness in every adventure.  Alfur is the only being to follow Hilda from the wilderness to Trolberg offering very entertaining moral support and care for her safety.  That said, he can get a little overly-detailed when it comes to paperwork.  The Woodman doesn’t appear much, but it’s interesting to see him offer Hilda life advice in his own mysterious nonchalant way.  Then there's her bond with her two friends in Trolberg, Frida and David.  They’re both highly distinctive personality-wise on their own.  Frida’s a determined perfectionist whose preparedness goes well with Hilda’s, and David’s easily timid, but grows a noticeable backbone as the season progresses.  They, by far, are the best way Hilda adjusts to her new surroundings offering something nice and friendly for her to latch onto.  It also introduces Hilda to new activities with every badge opportunity in the Sparrow Scouts troop, even if her adventurous spirt causes her attempts to fail.  As Frida and David add to Hilda’s extracurricular activities, the adventures Hilda brings them on show off her friendliness which benefits them.  David overcomes his fears and Frida becomes more open of who to trust.  The latter does take time to evolve when the friends have a falling out, the amount of episodes it takes for them to make up adding to how big an upset it is for Hilda.  This is why the last scene of them together reminiscing all they experienced is so rewarding.  Hilda is plenty endearing on her own, and her adjustment arc is nicely portrayed by the wholesome support and bonds she has from those in her life.

If there’s one faltering point in the series, it would be that it seems to peak a little too early.  When it comes to most fantasy shows I know, they start off simple but bring on deeper and more thought-provoking plot points as time goes on.  While the show is simple in tone, it always feels like something more right from the start with Hilda’s childlike innocent perspective enhancing each adventure.  There are so many interesting and creative stories with something impactful to walk away with.  You’d think each episode would build upon itself, but some are noticeably stronger than others.  Sometimes there are three strong episodes in a row only to be followed by a more mundane episode not up to the standards set by what came before.  A bigger instance is with the season finale.  Considering how big a deal Hilda’s move to Trolberg was, you’d think the resolution of that would be the grand finish.  In fact, the change in setting being a big part of her character would make that the best finish to the season.  While that does happen in Episode 11 to great effect, there’s still more to see and it kind of falls flat compared to that resolution.  The last two episodes act like Hilda’s biggest arc is to get a Sparrow Scouts badge even though she was undaunted about that prior to this.  It also introduces new supernatural occurrences with a nisse and a black hound, both of which only having slight buildup instead of season-long buildup.  They don’t even feel big in scope or atmosphere aside from a few moments, so the season ends up not going out as big as it could be.  It’s especially unfortunate since we reportedly have to wait until next year for another season.  However, if that’s the biggest complaint with this show, it must be doing something right.  The only other faults I can think of are little things like a few overly harsh moments be it harsh words that aren’t apologized for and strict attitudes that come out of nowhere.  It may not have the strongest finish, but that drawback is greatly made up for with several strong moments already present.

I’m very glad I saw Hilda through its creative, adventurous, and adorable first season.  It is by far the biggest testament to Netflix original animated series, and I haven’t seen that many to begin with.  It may be a while before I’ll return to the series, but until then, I’ll remain impressed by how much love and appeal one can get from the life and adventures of one little wilderness girl.

Highly Recommended

While it's going to be a while before there's more of Hilda to explore, be sure to look out for even more reviews of these shows currently scheduled:

• Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays: Hey Arnold Season 4
• Tuesdays and Thursdays: DuckTales Vol 3
• Saturdays and Sundays: Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 3

I'll see you around with all these reviews, but until then: 

Stay Animated Folks!