The Curious takes a chalk rubbing of the moss-covered brickwork of a school building.
Sam attends a prestigious boarding school for trainee choral singers, but he and his mother don't have as much money as everyone else at the school does. He feels inferior next to his confident and wealthy best friend, Fitzy; who is dating Naini, the girl Sam has a crush on, though Fitzy, Naini and everyone have no knowledge of this. They are unaware that Sam is secretly "NoFace", an online troll who anonymously posts cruel comments and messages to the school message board. Sam posts gossip about them online, trying to break up their relationship. He receives an anonymous message from "BillyGoat", warning that he will "pay the price" if he does it again.
At a school recital Sam and his mother talk to Fitzy and his father. They talk about NoFace and Sam’s mother asks Sam if he has been a victim with concern. Sam impresses them by shaming NoFace and that if he is a victim he will be fine.
Sam is summoned to the headmaster's office and is told he will have to leave the school because his mother can't pay the fees. He realizes that he would be eligible for a full scholarship; to win it, he will have to perform a very difficult solo at an important choir recital the following evening. The headmaster reluctantly agrees. Sam logs in as NoFace and insults the headmaster, infuriated that he isn’t giving his mother more time to pay Sam’s school fees but receives another message from BillyGoat, who says Sam was warned; and replies with a string of words in Norwegian.
The next day, Sam begins physically turning into a literal troll. He translates the message in Norwegian from BillyGoat, and realizes it is a curse. At this moment, BillyGoat messages again, saying that the only way to reverse the curse is for Sam to stay hidden until sunset. When Sam points out that he is supposed to perform at the recital to win the scholarship, BillyGoat agrees to give him a second chance: the curse will end if Sam admits on stage in front of everyone that he is NoFace. Sam knows he would get punished, and lose all his friends, and his mother’s respect. BillyGoat warns that if Sam doesn't take either option, he will remain a troll forever.
At the recital, Sam goes on stage in a hood to hide his face, claiming he's suffering from stage fright. He begins his solo, but his voice turns into a troll's growl. The headmaster orders him to remove the hood; and everyone sees that Sam has turned into a troll. Sam hears BillyGoat's voice telling him to admit what he did, but Sam says "I can't" and runs outside. He is instantly turned into a statue, preserving him in troll form forever. Sam joins other statues on the school's roof, implying he was not BillyGoat's first victim. Subsequently, his laptop is found and he is exposed as NoFace. Fitzy and Naini get back together, and Sam's classmates are told he disguised himself as a prank and was expelled.
A caretaker, whose staff ID shows his name to be Bill Goat, cleans the school grounds and smiles as he looks up at the figure of Sam on the roof. Meanwhile, The Curious keeps the chalk rubbing as their evidence of Sam's tale.
This episode contains examples of:
- Alpha Bitch: Fitzy appears to be a male version of this. Subverted in that he’s actually a nice guy.
- The Ace: Sam thinks Fitzy is this, but it also applies to Sam himself; he's talented enough to be eligible for an all-inclusive scholarship and also plays several sports for the school.
- Ambiguous Gender: The narrator mentions that, while The Curious is known as (and usually referred to as) "he", no one is really sure of the truth of the matter.
- Asshole Victim: Sam gets mutated into a troll for his cyberbullying and winds up as a stone statue, but any sympathy we might have had for him is obliterated by him vindictively smearing people online, including his own friends.
- Beta Bitch: Sam is a male version of this. He seems to be the second most popular boy at his school, and is cruel.
- Bully Hunter: BillyGoat gives Sam his comeuppance for his cyberbullying.
- Curse: Sam has one put on him that slowly turns him into a literal troll.
- Dirty Coward: Sam. He trolls people over the internet using a fake name, so he doesn’t have to face any consequences for his actions.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: The person behind the curse turns out to be the school janitor.
- Evil Is Petty: Sam cyberbullies people he has petty grudges against, such as mocking Fitzy out of jealousy, and mocking his headmaster because he said Sam would have to leave the school if his mom couldn’t pay the tuition.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Sam's only hope of removing the curse is to stay hidden until sunset (and have to leave his school because he didn't get the scholarship) or admit in front of everyone that he is the school website’s cyberbully (and get punished for it and be hated by everyone). Trying to Take a Third Option gets him turned into a troll forever.
- Fairytale Motifs: Several elements of the episode allude to Three Billy Goats Gruff.
- False Friend: Sam. He secretly mocks his own friends on the internet and spreads scandalous lies about them.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: If you pay attention to the webpage that Sam looks at when he looks up the translation for the curse, it states that trolls must hide from sunlight or they will turn to stone, foreshadowing what happens to him later in the episode.
- Gag Nose: Sam gets a big, bulbous nose as part of his transformation into a troll.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Sam is secretly jealous of Fitzy and Naini for having more money than him. He’s also jealous of Fitzy because Naini likes him.
- Hero Antagonist: Though not the protagonist, BillyGoat is the hero of the story, using magic to punish the Villain Protagonist, Sam, and put an end to his bullying.
- Hypocrite: Sam claims online that Fitzy is insecure and gossips about people behind their back, which is exactly the case with Sam himself.
- Internet Troll: Sam trolls other students and teachers of his school in his spare time.
- Jerkass: Sam. He’s a spiteful, jealous, cowardly internet troll who mocks people on the internet and spreads scandalous lies about them, even doing it to his own friends.
- Karmic Transformation: What occurs to Sam in the episode. As punishment for trolling others online he gets turned into a literal troll.
- Loophole Abuse: Sam tries to Take a Third Option in his Sadistic Choice by hiding his face during the recital, hoping he can sing without having to reveal his face. This is foiled when his transformation ruins his singing voice during his solo, forcing him to reveal his face.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Fitzy is a male version.
- Love Triangle: Sam and Fitzy both like Naini. Fitzy is Naini’s boyfriend; and they are both oblivious to Sam’s feelings for Naini. However, when she and Fitzy have relationship issues thanks to Sam spreading lies about them as NoFace, Naini begins spending more time with Sam and it appears she may be developing a crush on him. However, she goes back to dating Fitzy in the end, after Sam is exposed.
- Manipulative Bastard: Sam wants to date Naini, who’s dating Fitzy, so as NoFace, he enacts a plan to make them hate each other and break up by spreading lies about them secretly not liking each other. It would have worked if BillyGoat hadn’t stopped him.
- New Media Are Evil: This episode shows a mean kid using the internet to cyberbully people.
- Online Alias: Sam’s username is NoFace. The school janitor’s username is BillyGoat.
- Riches to Rags: Sam was able to attend his school for the first half of his education there, implying that he and his mother were formerly quite wealthy, but they lost a lot of their money somehow.
- Sadistic Choice: Sam is given two ways to break the curse. He can either hide until sunset, thereby missing his recital, or reveal that he is the online troll NoFace. If he misses his recital, he'll lose his chance at the scholarship and his mother won't be able to afford his tuition. If he reveals his online persona, he'll be punished for his cyberbullying and everyone will hate him.
- Scholarship Student: Becoming one of these is Sam's only chance of keeping his place at his expensive school.
- Social Media Before Reason: When Sam has to reveal himself as a literal troll at the recital, the first reaction of one of the parents in the audience is to get a photo of him.
- Stern Teacher: Mr. Herabius, though in his case, he’s a stern headmaster.
- Taken for Granite: What ultimately happens to Sam, morphing into a stone troll statue.
- Too Dumb to Live: Sam flees the building when he's outed as a troll, which causes him to be Taken for Granite since trolls petrify in sunlight. Having read about the curse beforehand, you'd think he would have noticed that condition.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Subverted. Fitzy seems like this (often encouraging Sam to break rules or goof around), but Sam is in fact a far worse friend and influence.
- Villain Protagonist: Sam the cyberbully is the villain of the story as well as the main character.
