A great episode with a very interesting concept, along with the twist at the end. It's kind of similar to the movie TENET
2 Reviews
One of my favorite episodes
crazychainsaw8 January 2021
My least favorite episode
atystheeldestone19 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I adored Hilda season one, and had enjoyed the second season up to this point. However, I unfortunately came away from this episode, "The Fifty Year Night", feeling that it was, in a word, shallow.
At the episode's climax, the alternate Tildy and Ostenfeld voluntarily destroy the enchanted object, and are devoured by the Time Worm. The entire scene, including the music and the delivery of the dialogue, are intended to lead the viewer to feel that the two are heroic figures, valiantly sacrificing themselves to save the original Tildy and Hilda. However, I take significant issue with this intended interpretation.
Mere moments before, original Tildy had stated, "If the enchanted object is destroyed, everything that was a result of it will be undone." She even reiterated, "Everything."
How can it be possible that, after fifty years, not one other person had experienced life differently because of Ostenfeld and Tildy's relationship? Do they have no friends? No family? Did no one ever see them together and retain that memory, a memory that their original self lacked? If alternate Ostenfeld lived with Tildy, who lived in his apartment? If someone lived in his apartment, who lived in the place that that person originally lived? Countless other people should have been implicated in the decision to destroy the magazine, being damned to oblivion by a choice they had no control over. Alternate Ostenfeld and alternate Tildy were not heroes; they were monsters.
Furthermore (and in some ways I find this the more atrocious of the two issues), the events of the episode seem to wholly undercut its apparent message. The whole point is to develop Hilda's character, to force her to learn that her actions have consequences. But do they? It seems to me that ultimately, she suffers no significant consequences; instead, other people pay for her actions constantly. Hilda recklessly alters the past and unleashes the Time Worm. It consumes two alternate Hildas and several Ostenfelds, before eventually devouring alternate Ostenfeld, alternate Tildy, and, as mentioned, presumably countless other alternate people, leaving original Hilda untouched. What consequences, then, did she actually face? The trauma of seeing multiple people, including yourself, die in front of you? The final scene seemed to suggest that she'll sleep just fine. If anything, yet again another person (Alfur) suffers greater consequences for Hilda's actions than she does.
All in all, a disappointingly shallow episode, so much so that it is a stain on the series as a whole.
At the episode's climax, the alternate Tildy and Ostenfeld voluntarily destroy the enchanted object, and are devoured by the Time Worm. The entire scene, including the music and the delivery of the dialogue, are intended to lead the viewer to feel that the two are heroic figures, valiantly sacrificing themselves to save the original Tildy and Hilda. However, I take significant issue with this intended interpretation.
Mere moments before, original Tildy had stated, "If the enchanted object is destroyed, everything that was a result of it will be undone." She even reiterated, "Everything."
How can it be possible that, after fifty years, not one other person had experienced life differently because of Ostenfeld and Tildy's relationship? Do they have no friends? No family? Did no one ever see them together and retain that memory, a memory that their original self lacked? If alternate Ostenfeld lived with Tildy, who lived in his apartment? If someone lived in his apartment, who lived in the place that that person originally lived? Countless other people should have been implicated in the decision to destroy the magazine, being damned to oblivion by a choice they had no control over. Alternate Ostenfeld and alternate Tildy were not heroes; they were monsters.
Furthermore (and in some ways I find this the more atrocious of the two issues), the events of the episode seem to wholly undercut its apparent message. The whole point is to develop Hilda's character, to force her to learn that her actions have consequences. But do they? It seems to me that ultimately, she suffers no significant consequences; instead, other people pay for her actions constantly. Hilda recklessly alters the past and unleashes the Time Worm. It consumes two alternate Hildas and several Ostenfelds, before eventually devouring alternate Ostenfeld, alternate Tildy, and, as mentioned, presumably countless other alternate people, leaving original Hilda untouched. What consequences, then, did she actually face? The trauma of seeing multiple people, including yourself, die in front of you? The final scene seemed to suggest that she'll sleep just fine. If anything, yet again another person (Alfur) suffers greater consequences for Hilda's actions than she does.
All in all, a disappointingly shallow episode, so much so that it is a stain on the series as a whole.
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