On a bird-watching expedition, Hilda, Frida and David run into meteorologist Victoria Van Gale, whose calm new life makes one of them very suspicious.
Song at the end: "This Is Nowhere" by Orville Peck
Tropes:
- An Aesop: Just because someone says they've changed doesn't always mean that they have.
- If someone tells you a specific thing is meant for a specific use, respect their boundaries rather than trying to exploit it for yourself.
- Bedsheet Ladder: Subverted; when David can’t leave his house but has to go to Hilda, he constructs one of these, but one look out his window convinces him to abandon the plan.
- Bittersweet Ending: Victoria ultimately reveals herself to have not changed one bit and is transported to who knows where — and as far as Hilda and her friends know, she's as good as dead. However, they do get solace in seeing the windmill be left to the local wildlife.
- Creepy Basement: Discussed by David. Upon discovering that the windmill has a basement, he calls to her for help and mentions that his dad has one loaded with nutcrackers. Sure enough, it certainly has "Frankenstein's lab" type of vibes.
- Chekhov's Gun: When David needs a quick transport to Hilda's place, the can of multipurpose grease he had received from Victoria is what ends up getting the attention of the Nisse living in his house.
- Continuity Nod: Frida brings up the incident with her lost book from last season.
- Creating Life: Victoria van Gale created her own nisse using an artificial body and dark magic.
- Green Aesop: Victoria van Gale’s plan came from her desire to prevent the woods from getting demolished for more human homes.
- Group Hug: Near the end of the episode, before leaving the windmill, Hilda, David, and Frida embrace in an emotional group hug
◊. - Hard-Work Montage: One is used to show Hilda and friends patch up the windmill.
- Internal Reveal: Downplayed. In contrast to the suspicion and skepticism Hilda and David have when they meet Victoria Van Gale again in "The Windmill", Frida is immediately trusting towards her and does not believe David's claims of her being a shady Mad Scientist, since she wasn't with Hilda and David when they first confronted her in "The Storm" (due to their falling out in "The Ghost"), and thus, is unaware of Victoria's actions in that episode. She becomes aware of Victoria's true colors, however, after she gets tied up by her in the windmill.
- Mundane Utility: Tontu agrees to let Johanna use Nowhere Space as an extra storage room.
- Mythology Gag: The place where Victoria ends up at the end of the episode looks a lot like the place where Tontu (Beta) and Jellybean ended up at the end of the graphic novel "Hilda and the Black Hound".
- Offerings to the Gods: It's mentioned that people used to leave out offerings to their Nisse in return for services, before they started treating them like pests. David exploits this in the climax when he needs to sneak out of his room; he offers the Nisse in his house a can of multipurpose grease in return for the Nisse bringing him to Hilda's house through Nowhere Space.
- Old Magic: Tontu recognizes the spell Victoria used to create her Nisse as this; the kind of magic you shouldn’t mess with.
- Subverted Suspicion Aesop: Hilda and Frida berate David for mistrusting Victoria. As it turns out, he was right and Victoria is up to no good again.
- Toy Disguise: When Hilda and David discover Victoria’s secret room, her Nisse is there but pretends to be a lifeless doll.
- Villainous BSoD: When her machine goes out of control and creates a second breach in Nowhere Space, Victoria is so stunned she is unable to run, and even allows the breach to engulf her.
- Wall Crawl: Victoria’s Nisse is capable of this.
- "You!" Exclamation: David and Hilda do this with Victoria and vice-versa upon seeing each other.
