Not your typical Kid Com episode...
Hilda has been struggling in school due to her misbehavior in class and Enid Hallgrim is planning to talk to Johanna and send her to a special needs class. If that wasn't bad enough, one of the "rocks" in David's rock collection turns out to be a baby troll, which soon sets itself free and runs rampant in the school, meaning it is up to Hilda and her friends to retrieve it, all while having to convince her mom and the teacher to keep her in class.
Tropes:
- Air-Vent Passageway: Subverted and discussed. Even after Frida unscrews the grate with a swiss-army knife, Hilda can't fit through. The baby troll, however, is small enough to fit in just fine.
- Assimilation Academy: Hilda sees her school this way, wondering why they bother only asking questions the teachers already know the answers to.
- Blatant Lies: Hilda covers for the baby troll getting loose in the classroom by claiming it's an earthquake that only furniture can feel.
- The B Grade: Frida's parents ask after Ms. Hallgrim giving her more work because her math score has "slipped" to 99 percent.
- Brutal Honesty:
- Hilda tells the class point-blank that the troll drill wouldn't help them at all in the event of an actual troll.
- Also, David delivers a Blunt "Yes" when asked if Hilda is disruptive in class.
- Call-Back: When Trevor's mother confronts Hilda's, it comes out that he hasn't been able to go near birds since the events of Chapter 3.
- Clear My Name: The baby troll inadvertently has Hilda take the blame for destroying the projector, leading her and her friends to somehow catch it and set it free without alerting the school to the presence of a troll.
- Cold Open: The mother troll realizing her baby has gone, tracking it down, and digging through the Vittra tunnels to reach it.
- Damned by Faint Praise: David's parents say that his rock collection is the best work he's ever done. They seem genuine about it though, and he is just as happy with the praise.
- Disproportionate Retribution: You face jail time if you bring a troll in, ESPECIALLY if it was done accidentally.
- Iris Out: The episode ends with an iris-out on the now-destroyed Ahlberg statue, after lightning strikes in the sky.
- Kick the Dog: When Trevor's mother is confronting Johanna over her daughter's actions affecting his son, she outright calls Hilda a monster to Johanna's face.
- Last-Minute Project: This is implied to be why David brought his rock collection, something he already had.
- Lighter and Softer: So far, the only episode of the entire series to fall under this category, due to it being mostly comedic out of the other adventures that Hilda goes on. It's basically a Kid Com episode mixed with fantasy creatures. Ironically, the episode in its entirety doesn't have a laugh track, which alludes to the entire show not having a laugh track in all of the episodes.
- Literal-Minded:Hilda: David, would you say I'm disruptive in class?
David: No, I wouldn't say that in class. What if the teacher were talking? It might be disruptive. - Locked Out of the Loop: Hilda genuinely believes that Ms. Hallgrim loves her. It takes a minute for Frida and David to explain that she doesn't.
- Mama Bear: The adult troll certainly qualifies, being prepared to rip through anything and anyone that stands between her and her baby.
- Mid-Battle Tea Break: Hilda and Frida give up chasing the baby troll for a moment while David gets a drink from the water fountain.
- Named by the Adaptation: It is in this episode we learn that Hilda's mum's name is Johanna.
- Rule of Symbolism: Just in case you didn't get her motivations, the mother troll storms into the school with the banner reading "Welcome Parents" around her body like a sash.
- Science Fair: Parent's Night seems to double as this, with the students bringing presentations on volcanoes, rocks, potato batteries and so forth.
- Skewed Priorities: While the three main students are chasing after the baby troll in the school hallway, David stops to have a drink from a water fountain. Hilda and Frida stop as well to each look at him in disbelief.
- Smash the Symbol:
- The mother troll destroys the new statue of town founder Edmund "The Troll Slayer" Ahlberg, which features a troll's head under his boot.
- On a smaller scale, her baby destroys a poster reading "How to Spot a Troll".
- Tall Poppy Syndrome: Implied, given that Hilda's out-of-the-box thinking nearly gets her transferred to a special class, but ultimately averted, as Ms. Hallgrim's problems with Hilda have more to do with her perceived refusal to follow procedure and disruptive nature during class.
- Verbal Backpedaling: When Hilda's mum mentions talking to Alfur, the invisible elf on her shoulder, she quickly affirms that yes, she was just talking to herself.
- Victory Is Boring: According to Alfur, without Hilda and her mother accidentally (and harmlessly) stepping on elf houses all the time, it's gotten pretty boring back there. Alfur's reports have therefore become a primary source of entertainment.
- Wild Child: The baby troll is shown to be quite violent and destructive. The troll starts to calm down when it's reunited with its mother.
