The Storm (Hilda Season 1 Episode 10) - 'Toon Reviews 26

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The Storm

Even after a huge fallout between friends, there are still great creative adventures to have.  This one features an interesting cause for nature and welcome character growth. 

It appropriately starts with Hilda saddened by her argument with Frida.  She’s so down, she’s doesn’t even want to go outside.  That’s a testament to how special her relationships are to the series.  However, these emotions are mostly present at the start as circumstances lead Hilda on an adventure anyway. 

There’s an unusual weather pattern of rain and blizzards.  Hilda trusts meteorologist, Victoria van Gale, to say when the extreme weather will stop.  Then, she’s all alone at home and learns that her mother will be stuck for quite some time, showing the severity of the storm.  Her trust in Victoria is soon questioned when the Great Raven comes and blames the storm on weather spirits.  Even with what’s happened, it’s great that Hilda sees how bad things are and does something about it. 

With the Great Raven transporting her and David for assistance, the adventure takes them to the home of Victoria van Gale.  As a character, Victoria is highly enjoyable.  For how allegedly accurate she is about all weather, she’s quite nervous and scatterbrained.  However, her charm and politeness towards her visitors make her likable as a mad scientist.  For all her enjoyment, there’s a few cracks in her meteorology reputation.  During a tour of her place, it’s implied that she observes weather to see what it does and figure out how to control it instead of just knowing what will happen.  Even more suspicious is her “bedroom” she’s quick to tell people not to go in. 

By the end of the tour, it’s clear that Victoria has no idea how the storm will turn out, leading Hilda to try another option.  She considers the Great Raven’s idea of weather spirits and goes up to see them.  Not only are they the real reason for the strange weather, but they’re creatively presented as sentient clouds getting into arguments.  Their many little matters are settled with Hilda just going up and talking to them, for showing compassion to the supernatural is her specialty. 

As this act gets the storm to settle, you’d think this is the end of the adventure, but it’s not.  David’s role proves significant when he gets an idea to help Hilda after lamenting how he doesn’t know anything without Frida.  Staging a smart diversion, he gets Victoria’s keys and finds out what’s really in her bedroom, showing strong progress past being constantly timid.  If that’s not enough, when Hilda returns, another storm rages from one weather spirit who remembers why she’s mad.  The reason for rage is in Victoria’s room where she’s holding a fledgling weather spirit, the big one’s baby, captive to study it.  It exposes Victoria as a fraud, but doesn’t make her flat out detestable as she doesn’t get defensive when Hilda calls her out.  Also from her desperate tone when Hilda lets the spirit go, there’s a suggestion that maybe she was holding the spirit for a reason. 

Anyway, Hilda setting it free makes for a dramatic conclusion where Victoria’s facility crumbles as a result.  The ending’s staged to make it seem like Hilda’s done for before cutting to her on a weather spirit that drops her off in her old home, the wilderness.  This leaves an air of mystery of what Hilda will do hear after getting so adjusted to life in Trolberg. 

This episode does admittedly brush the aftermath of the big fallout aside and things like Hilda’s trust in Victoria may not have enough past mentions to back it up.  I know there was that one time when Hilda relied on her to say when rain will stop, but there could have been more scenes than that.  As its own adventure, through how it explains weather and shows growth for Hilda, David, and the Great Raven, it’s creative and at times dramatic material.

A

The Ranking

1. The Nightmare Spirit
2. The Tide Mice
3. The Bird Parade
4. The Midnight Giant
5. The Hidden People
6. The Storm
7. The Troll Rock
8. The Lost Clan
9. The Sparrow Scouts
10. The Ghost

The next Hilda review features her in the wilderness where she finds that getting around there is pretty difficult after spending so much time in the city.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the DuckTales episode "Spies in Their Eyes."

If you would like to check out other Hilda reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.