It’s always good for a new season to introduce new creative ideas and adventures, but one thing that’s equally good is taking previously explored ideas to develop further. With this episode, it takes two of the less impressive than average adventures from the previous season and makes them more intriguing with how much is added.
After seeing the benefits and usefulness of Tontu the nisse’s ability to store anything in his special ‘nowhere space,’ Hilda longs to see more of it, a suggestion Tontu refuses. After that disappointment, she joins Frida and David for a round of trying to obtain more Sparrow Scout badges. A walk through the wilderness reveals a good section of it being bulldozed in the name of housing, naturally leaving a group of animals without a home.
However, the group follows the animals to an old windmill run by a woman who’s clearly one with nature. This woman is a reference to another past adventure, the eccentric former weatherwoman Victoria van Gale. The problematic side of her previous role left a lot of confusion towards what her deal was. She kidnapped a child weather spirit for experiments, trapping Trolberg in endless intense weather. Yet, there’s always been a likable charm to the character, and that likability is still present here. The windmill is now her humble abode, and she appears to mean well in taking in the animals who’ve lost their homes to all the bulldozing.
All the while, there are unique perceptions of Victoria among the three kids present. Frida, who wasn't there for the weather spirit incident, is open to be fully impressed by Victoria’s charms. Hilda knows of Victoria’s issues, but her past admiration of her allows for some trust. David is the least trusting of her, right down to expressing a temperamental suspicion throughout the visit. It only grows when he and Hilda find what appears to be a fabricated nisse in the windmill that appears hostile. However, Victoria assures that this nisse means no harm and is a helpful assistant to her. From then on, everyone only becomes more trusting of Victoria. They help with fixing up the windmill, explore her interesting collections, and even experience her own brand of baked goods and thoughtful gifts. Eventually, even David starts warming up to her.
That said, his trust in Victoria does not last long as he eventually comes across secret dangerous plans in a similar inconsiderate vein to her past actions. These plans, along with her talking with Hilda about nisses’ nowhere space, soon uncover another act of Victoria that could potentially harm the world around her. In addition to using dark magic to create her nisse, she’s also using the windmill to power a machine to create her own way into the nowhere space. Cool as that sounds, doing so is powerful enough to suck the world into a vacant vortex according to Tontu, so Hilda and the others have to rush to stop Victoria. Within a frantic yet exciting climax, while it’s disappointing to see Victoria not really change for the better, there’s still sympathy for her. While her machine’s destroyed and Hilda and Tontu make it out, Victoria is one of many organic elements to go through the vortex. In the end we see her end up in a vacant yet luscious landscape apparently deep in thought, perhaps realizing the faults in her plans. If this leads to true development this time, it’s not shown in this season.
Still, this is an admirable work to showcase
how far some of the mythos of this world have come since their introduction.
A
Series Ranking
1.
The House in the Woods
2.
The Nightmare Spirit
3.
The Tide Mice
4.
The Witch
5.
The Bird Parade
6.
The Midnight Giant
7.
The
Eternal Warriors
8.
The Windmill
9.
The
Troll Circle
10. The Hidden People
11. The Storm
12. The
Draugen
13. The Black Hound
14. The Troll Rock
15. The Lost Clan
16. The Sparrow Scouts
17. The Nisse
18.
The Ghost
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