Still grounded following her excursion to Cauldron Island, Hilda discovers that her neighbor, Mr. Ostenfield, has obtained a way to time travel. Disobeying her mother, Hilda sneaks out and travels to the past to make a few changes, resulting in things taking an unexpected — and perilous — turn.
Song at the end: "Hilda's Theme" by Ryan Carlson
Tropes:
- Bittersweet Ending: Hilda's attempt to correct Mr. Ostenfield's greatest regret is ultimately undone, and she's asked not to try and get them together in the present by Tildy. Not to mention Hilda and Alfur's counterparts, on top of an untold number of Ostenfields and Tildy's counterpart were all killed. On the flip side, Hilda and Johanna come to an understanding and more or less make up (for now), although Hilda technically lies to her mother again by omission. And while Hilda is not formally ungrounded in this episode, the next episode shows that she can explore the town with David and Frida freely once more.
- Broken Tears: When Hilda encounters Johanna again, she is seen breaking down crying in her car, when she asks herself if she's doing the right thing.
- Clock Roaches: Hilda changing the past results in a new timeline, which summons a time worm to devour any temporal duplicates to eliminate paradoxes.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Played for Laughs. When Alfur sheepishly admits that he’s going to tattle about her disobedience to Johanna (since the latter made him sign a contract that would force him to tell her everything her daughter does), Hilda calls him “traitor” in a irritated tone.
- For Your Own Good: This is Johanna’s reasoning for her grounding Hilda, which means refusing her to leave their house.Johanna: Look, I’ve been here before. I got into trouble, too, when I was your age, and I know it’s no fun.
Hilda: [flabbergasted] So, stop it, then! You’re just doing it to be mean!
Johanna: I’m doing it for your own good! You lied to me, Hilda, and...you need to learn that actions have consequences. - Future Me Scares Me: This is Hilda's general reaction when dealing with her future self. Considering that Future Hilda kept on berating her.
- Go-to-Sleep Ending: The episode ends with Hilda falling asleep on her bed and outright ignoring Alfur telling her they died twice.
- Given Name Reveal: This episode reveals Ms. Hallgrim's first name is Enid. Her mother is heard calling her by that name in the past.
- I Hate Past Me:
- Hate is perhaps a big word, but Tildy has come to regret ever enchanting the magazine, considering it a foolish act from a reckless, young witch.
- The Hilda that came back to prevent her previous version from getting eaten by the time worm clearly hates how stubborn she is, even though she is at most a few hours older than that version.
- Ironic Echo: At the beginning of the episode, Johanna told Hilda that her punishment was for her own good. At the climax, Future Hilda said the exact same thing when she was trying to reason with her present self.
- Loophole Abuse: Hilda convinces Alfur into not reporting her leaving to Johanna, because she's not leaving the building, just going downstairs. Later, she argues that she's allowed to leave the building because she's in the past before the restriction was ever given. Alfur lampshades that she's very good with loopholes.
- Muggle–Mage Romance: Tildy (a witch) and Peter Ostenfeld in the alternate timeline created by Hilda.
- Multi-Part Episode: Connected with "The Beast of Cauldron Island". Hilda finally learns why Johanna wants Hilda safe and not dead.
- Never My Fault: Played with. As they were dealing with the Time Worm, Future Hilda berates Present Hilda for "Messing with Time". Only for Present Hilda to remind her that she did this too. Future Hilda then realizes this and tries to reason with her present self.Future Hilda: You had to mess around with time, didn't you?!Present Hilda: Hey! Don't make this out like it was my fault. You did it too!Future Hilda: Yes. I did. I've been here before. So, you got to trust me that this is for your own good.
- Never Say "Die": Averted. Alfur wraps up the episode stating point-blank that he and Hilda saw themselves die... twice. And Hilda ignores him and falls asleep.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: Averted; multiple versions of Hilda, Alfur and Mr. Ostenfield exist simultaneously, and them meeting each other only leads to confusion but nothing worse. It's when Hilda alters history that things start to get nasty.
- No Ontological Inertia: The episode is resolved when the original enchanted magazine that allowed time travel is destroyed.
- Riddle for the Ages: Just where and when did Future Hilda come from? And what was she trying to warn Present Hilda about?
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Despite the magazine being destroyed and thus undoing all the time travels, Hilda and Alfur still remember the whole adventure.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: One of the Hildas travels back into the past to try and stop the present one from interfering with time. She ends up getting devoured for her troubles.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Alfur tracks the time travel throughout the episode but the result is so convoluted he decides he wouldn't be able to report it to anyone.
- Time Travel: The whole plot of the episode. In this case, it is enabled by copies of a 50-year old edition of the magazine Trolberg Digest. The original magazine was enchanted by Tildy, so any copy allows the reader a single round trip to the night she enchanted it.
- Was Too Hard on Him: During her brief breakdown in the car, Johanna mulls over her (understandably) stern attitude towards Hilda and whether or not it's the type of mother she wants to be.
