This article is about one of the episodes from the Netflix-exclusive television series.
You may be looking for the graphic novel series of the same name.
The Forgotten Lake is the sixth episode of the third season, and the thirty-second episode overall, of the Hilda TV series. It was released on December 7th, 2023 on Netflix.
Synopsis[]
Hilda and her mother go on a camping trip, but Johanna suspects she's visited this forest before. Does the forest remember her, too?
Summary[]
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| This section contains spoilers of an episode, movie, or book. |
The episode opens in Trolberg. It’s raining and Hilda and Johanna are waiting for the bus. Hilda spots a man she thinks is her dad, but it turns out to be a stranger. It’s clear she is still sour about him disappearing. That evening, she tries playing the pan pipes she brought with her from Tofoten, much to the dismay of Alfur, Twig, Johanna, and Tontu. When Johanna comes to check what the noise is, she notices Hilda still has the charm from aunt Astrid and recalls how Astrid used to make hundreds of those for Johanna when she was young. Hilda concludes that being an overprotective parent must run in the family then. Johanna is not amused.
The following day, Johanna has bought a new car. It’s a second hand model and has some trouble with the engine, but still. She offers Hilda to go on a camping road trip to celebrate. Thus mother and daughter pack up and head into the wilderness. Hilda hopes Johanna will let her drive, like Anders did, but she refuses. They make a few stops along the way to explore. However, the car begins to act up again and breaks down on the side of the road. Johanna, who earned her level three car repair badge in Sparrow Scouts, is able to fix the car, but by the time she is done it is getting dark already. And Hilda thinks this place is great, so Johanna gives in and agrees they can camp here.
That night, Hilda lets Johanna try the pan pipes, and much to both her and Johanna’s own surprise, she turns out to be quite talented, playing a song. Unbeknown to them, the song somehow causes flowers to bloom outside the tent, and wakes up something in a nearby lake.
The following day, Hilda and Johanna discover the lake. For some reason it looks identical to some of Johanna’s paintings and sketches, even though she has no memories of ever having been here before. She theorizes she could have been here with her parents, and her drawings could be based on subconscious memories. Meanwhile, Twig finds a strange wooden figure. It came from a fishing net in the lake, which has dozens of the things attached to it. Hilda takes the net with her.
When Hilda climbs in a tree on an island in the lake and begins to swing from a rope attached to one of the branches, a large beast that resembles a cross between a spider and a frog leaps from the water, grabs Hilda and runs off with her. Johanna and Twig give chase. The Spider Frog can climb trees and leap between treetops, but Johanna manages to follow the beast to a cave. There, the Spider Frog traps Hilda in spider silk and hangs her from the ceiling. It reveals it can talk, and thanks Hilda for setting it free. However, it is hungry and intends to eat her after also capturing Johanna. It seals off the exit to the cave with more silk and goes to hunt for Johanna.
Johanna and Twig enter the cave, but the webs are too strong to break and Twig gets stuck in them too. Johanna makes her way back to the car, evading the Spider Frog along the way, and returns with a handheld rotating saw. She cuts Twig and Hilda free. As they return to the car, the Spider Frog sees them and follows. While they try to escape the beast, Hilda recalls how the Spider Frog claimed she freed it, causing Johanna to realize the net was holding the Spider Frog trapped and the wooden figures on the net are magic charms. She allows Hilda to take the wheel and throws the charms at the Spider Frog. For a moment it works as the Spider Frog seemingly gives up the chase, but then it leaps onto the car, forcing Hilda to stop.
The Spider Frog grabs Hilda again and swallows both her and Johanna, only to vomit them back out again. It hadn’t realized Hilda and Johanna are humans, and humans upset its stomach. Since it can’t eat them, the Spider Frog decides to be friends instead. It claims it has encountered Johanna before, when Johanna was still a child. It tried to eat her then too, and Johanna’s parents imprisoned it in the lake. Johanna has no memories of these events. When asked by Hilda what it is, the Spider Frog claims it is from a time when creatures were not yet so clearly defined, and it has no words for what it is. It just is. Something that, it claims, Hilda and Johanna will likely understand.
The Spider Frog leaves, and Johanna and Hilda return home. Hilda claims Johanna’s parents must have really loved her to trap the Spider Frog for her.
Featured characters[]
Humans[]
Anders is mentioned but makes no appearance.
Creatures[]
Elves[]
Nisse[]
Deer-foxes[]
Goofs & Errors[]
- In some scenes, the Spider Frog is shown to have teeth even though it doesn't have any.
Trivia[]
- The song played during the end credits is Big Car by Avo-8
- While Johanna was barely holding on to Hilda and as the Spider Frog pulled her, a stretching sound can be heard.
- The sketch that Johanna makes of Hilda in this episode depicts Hilda the way she looked in the graphic novel "Hilda and the Midnight Giant", with freckles on her cheeks.
- While characters have been hurt (either on screen or implied) before, this episode marks one of the very rare times where blood is actually shown on screen. Johanna cuts her hand while hiding from the Spider Frog.
