When her mother is forced to take a job at the hardware store due to lack of any graphic design jobs, and David screws up his audition for the Warblers due to bad luck, Hilda decides to help them both with a spell she finds in a library book. However, the spell has unforeseen consequences.
Tropes
- Bookcase Passage: The entrance to the hidden section of the library is, fitting enough, behind a bookcase.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Alfur, while reading the instructions for breaking the enchantment, mentions a witch, Hilda fails to realize he is talking about her and begins to panic that they have to find a witch. Frida quickly points out her error.
- Creator Cameo: The man in the scarf who queries about the spillage in aisle 7 is none other than Luke Pearson himself, who provides his own voice for the character.
- Curse Escape Clause: The tide mice enchantment comes with a 30 day trial period in which the enchanter can still decide to return the enchanted tide mice, and not get the souls of the people she gave the tide mice to. The instructions to properly do this are written in very fine print that even Alfur can barely read, and, as Alfur puts it, a masterpiece of confusing clauses.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: The tide mice cause panic among the entire audience at the Warbler concert once they become visible to everybody. Not unsurprising, considering they are quite creepy looking (see Glowing Eyes below).
- Flashback: The first scene of the episode is eventually revealed to be a flashback of David’s terrible attempt at auditioning for The Warblers.
- Failed Audition Plot: David failing the audition for the Warblers twice due to bad luck, despite being a good singer, is what prompts Hilda to help him with the enchantment.
- Fly Crazy: David’s audition for The Warblers gets interrupted again, this time from him accidently inhaling a fly. Later, another insect threatens to fly into David’s mouth while he’s singing, but the tide mouse swats it away with its tail.
- Footnote Fever: The spell comes with a footnote, which in turn has an asterisk, which in turn has another footnote.
- Glowing Eyes: The tide mice have them. Later, David and Hilda’s mom start getting them too due to his tide mice. It’s the first sign to Frida that something is off. When the time to break the enchantment runs out, even Hilda begins to suffer from glowing eyes.
- Invisible to Normals: The tide mice are invisible to everybody except the enchanter that summoned them. Until Hilda uses the counter spell to start the ritual for breaking the enchantment; then everybody can see the mice.
- New Job Episode: Hilda’s mom has a new job at the local hardware store at the start of this episode. Since it means her mom now has less time for her, and clearly prefers her old work as a graphic designer, Hilda uses a tide mouse to help her get a design job again.
- Oh, Crap!: Hilda’s reaction when she learns the tide mice enchantment will eventually end with David and her mom’s souls being given to her.
- Performance Anxiety: David is suffering from this at the start of the episode, nervously biting his finger nails as his turn to go on stage approaches.
- Race Against the Clock: The enchantment Hilda put on her mother and David has to be broken within 30 days. And once the ritual to do this has begun, it must be completed within an hour.
- Read the Fine Print: The section that details how to break the tide mice enchantment is written in very fine print. Fortunately, Alfur is able to read it (but even he needs glasses to do so).
- Ritual Magic: The ritual Hilda uses to try and help David and her mom by summoning tide mice for them.
- Sequel Hook: Although the tide mice are no longer a threat to David and Johanna, they're still around because Hilda didn't complete the counter ritual properly, meaning they'll eventually cause more trouble...
- Slow Clap: When Hilda shouts out the incantation right after David’s solo, the audience looks at Hilda incredulously, with her and David smiling awkwardly, but then Raven Leader starts clapping. The rest of the audience follows suit, until a sharp-eyed audience member sees a rat coming from David’s head...
- Song Style Shift: The "Sparrow Scouts Forever" song at the recital abruptly turns into an R&B-style groove when David has his solo.
- Stopped Reading Too Soon: Hilda only copies the page that contains the instructions for summoning the Tide Mice, and doesn't bother to read the footnotes, asterisks, etc. This comes back to bite her when it's revealed the Tide Mice will eventually steal the souls of their victims.
- Stunned Silence: When Hilda is forced to say the incantation to release the Mice’s hold of their victims, she needs to do so during David’s solo and needs to do so “with vigor.” And so she eventually SCREAMS out the spell right after David’s solo, stealing the spotlight! This leaves the audience understandably confused and bewildered, with David staring at Hilda open-mouthed for a good five seconds.
- What Were You Thinking?: When the curse between Johanna and David is lifted, the former briefly says this trope word for word to her daughter for her this risky operation. However, because Johanna knew that Hilda was doing it for good intentions that helped her and David, she quickly drops it when Hilda apologizes.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Hilda’s mom is so busy at her new job she has no time to talk to Hilda when she comes to visit. It’s one of the reasons Hilda decides to help her get a new graphic design job.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: A unique accidental variant in which Hilda assumes that the spell simply increases luck, but realizes that the consequence of the spell is that she ends up stealing the souls of David and Johanna if she doesn't break it in time.
