A Night to Remember

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“*I want you to know something. Even before you found this amulet – way before all of this – you were always my hero. My beautiful boy...*”
―Barbara to Jim

## Information

### **Written by**

*Story by:* A.C. Bradley, Dan Hageman & Kevin Hageman
*Teleplay by:* Marc Guggenheim

### **Directed by**

Andrew Schmidt

**A Night to Remember** is the twenty-fifth episode of *Trollhunters*.

## Official Synopsis

With Barbara's life hanging in the balance, Jim races to break the spell that bonds her to Strickler. Angor Rot attacks Toby and Claire.

## Plot

Jim calls for help. Barbara fades in and out as she sees Trollmarket for the first time. Jim calls for Vendel.

Strickler gets out of the car. Vendel stops the trolls from killing him, saying it'll kill Jim's mother, too. Vendel has them both brought to Vendel's workshop. The only hope for Barbara is to break the link between them.

They wait outside to see what'll happen. Vendel eventually comes out, with Strickler, whose arm is in a sling. He says Barbara is resting, but they need to move her to the Heartstone. Vendel agrees that they need to break the binding spell so she can properly heal, but it's Gumm-Gumm magic and he doesn't know the proper incantation. Strickler does, though. Strickler says he doesn't have it with him. It's in his office. They have to be careful when they go get it. It's the Spring Fling Dance and Lawrence is going to be roaming the halls. Claire says she'll go with Toby to get the incantation so Jim can be there with his mom.

Once they're gone, they put Strickler in a cell. He asks if he has redeemed himself and Blinky says no.

Toby and Claire arrive at the school. They dodge Lawrence as the walk through the halls, but Toby's stomach gurgles and he hears them. They run from him and Claire uses the staff to get them into the office. Toby finds the book and Claire reads it. Lawrence finds them soon after and thinks they're sneaking away from the dance to make out. He takes the staff from Claire. He makes them come with him.

Jim says this is why Trollhunters can't have personal connections. Blinky says Kanjigar was wrong. Blinky thinks the love humans have for each other is their greatest strength. No matter what Vendel does, it'll be Jim's love for his mother that saves her. He sends Jim in to be with her mother.

Jim explains to Barbara all the things he previously lied about it. She doesn't like him being in danger. He says he's fine and he thinks this is what he was meant to do. He wishes he'd told her sooner. Vendel comes in and says they have a new problem.

Jim is angry that Strickler has said he won't undo the binding spell. He says he cares about Barbara, but he has to consider his own interests. Jim promises not to harm him. He says once his mother is okay, Strickler can leave, no strings attached. They go to shake on it, but Strickler crumples in pain.

Lawrence and Miss Janeth look at the staff and try to figure out what it is. Toby suddenly throws himself to the ground and convulses. Claire says he needs the device, which is his inhaler. Miss Janeth starts CPR and then gives Toby the staff.

Strickler makes it clear that he's only severing the bond for Barbara.

Claire is unable to open a portal. She has to focus harder. Toby is shocked when Angor Rot appears behind them. He attacks them and Claire starts fighting him. Toby then starts throwing bricks from afar. While he's distracted, Claire kicks him in he gronk-nuts. Then she opens a portal. Angor Rot appears before they can go through and takes the paper. Claire throws the staff like a javelin, piercing the paper and sending it through the portal, where it's pinned to a wall.

Blinky grabs the incantation, but there's another problem.

Angor Rot dangles Claire and Toby off the roof. He cuts Claire's purse strap, causing them to fall, first onto the banner, and then into a tree. Angor Rot leaves with her purse and says he'll see them again soon. Lawrence finds them down on the street and orders them back to the dance.

Jim is told that breaking the binding spell will also erase Barbara's memory. She'll forget Trollmarket and that Jim's the Trollhunter. Vendel gives the two of them a moment alone. Barbara asks Jim to promise they'll have the conversation again. She says he's always been her hero. Vendel and Strickler come back in and start the process. Barbara is upset with Strickler. Barbara asks Jim to promise not to keep trollhunting a secret. Vendel says the incantation. Strickler writhes in agony. He asks Barbara to forgive him. Barbara asks Jim again to promise.

Claire and Toby are sitting on the bleachers at the dance. Claire wonders why Angor Rot stole her purse. Toby gets a text that Barbara is going to be okay. Toby then invites Claire to dance and she accepts. Just then, Toby sees the mole dancing nearby and Claire tells him to go dance with her. He says he doesn't know who she is, which Claire says makes it romantic. Toby goes up to her and asks her to dance. A Slow song starts and the mole pulls him into a dance. Señor Uhl says it's time to announce the King and Queen winners. King is Steve. The queen is Darci. The mole takes off her head, revealing that Darci's the mole. Toby is shocked. She says popularity is hard. This way, she can be just herself sometimes. Darci then tells him he's reasonably cute. She says he can be her duke. Claire laughs and leaves the gym.

Jim waits by Barbara's bedside at the hospital. He tucks her and tells her she'll be safe there. Barbara wakes up and asks Jim what happened. Jim holds his amulet, and lies to Barbara she fainted and bumped her head and he drove her to the hospital. Barbara says she knows there are things going on with Jim he doesn't want to tell her. She tells him there's nothing he can't share with her. She can take it. He knows she can.

Claire sits outside on the curb. Jim comes and updates Claire on his mother. Claire says the dance isn't over yet. Jim just wants to get out of there. Claire's upset, but says okay. Jim then offers her a helmet. She puts it on and climbs on the Vespa.

Jim drives the Vespa to the overlook. He plays music and they dance together. After a few minutes, they lean in closer, but then Claire pushes Jim back. She knows why Angor Rot took her purse. He has the key to Trollmarket.

Angor Rot says Jim can't hide from him now as he holds up the key.

## Cast

* Kelsey Grammer as Blinky
* Anton Yelchin as Jim Lake Jr.
* Charlie Saxton as Toby Domzalski
* Lexi Medrano as Claire Nuñez
* Jonathan Hyde as Mr. Strickler
* Fred Tatasciore as AAARRRGGHH!!!
* Ike Amadi as Angor Rot
* Amy Landecker as Barbara Lake
* Laraine Newman as Miss Janeth
* Victor Raider-Wexler as Vendel
* Cole Sand as Eli Pepperjack
* Yara Shahidi as Darci
* Thomas F. Wilson as Coach Lawrence
* Steven Yeun as Steve Palchuk

## Trivia

* Barbara loses her memory of Jim's secret life and trolls as soon as the binding curse with Strickler is gone.
	+ She would later regain her memory by the Part Three episode "Parental Guidance".
* The song that Jim and Claire dance to is "Eres Tú" by Carla Morrison.
* Stricklander officially reforms in this episode (although Blinky and the others don't necessarily believe so).
* Steve wins the title of prom king, despite never winning any of the events. There are three possible explanations:
	+ Steve somehow rigged the votes.
	+ The events were not designed to win votes, but win the opinions of the students, so they would more likely vote for them. Since all the students clearly hated Eli when he was nominated, despite winning two events, they'd be more likely to vote for either Steve or Jim.
	+ Or, of course, it's eventually learned in Part Two that Coach Lawrence has been dating Steve's mother, so it's likely the faculty teacher unfairly changed the votes to ensure his future stepson could win to earn his good graces. This was mostly evident since the coach was present when Uhl announced the winner of Spring King and looked proud (and pleased) that Steve won.
* **Title:** The title refers to the Arcadia Oaks High's "Spring Fling" dance taking place in this episode. The Spring Fling is depicted as a sort of homecoming school dance and/or prom night as they're often referred to as "nights they'll never forget". Additionally, it looms over Barbara's fate of forgetting Jim being the Trollhunter and the magical world.
	+ The title likely also refers to the 1958 film of the same name.
* **Continuity:**
	+ Barbara mentions the "camping trip" Jim went on, but he confesses that he was actually on a quest to find the Birthstone in Gatto's Keep. Then she recalls how Steve crashed his Vespa, Jim says that he was being chased by a Vulture Troll (Stalkling).
	+ Toby remarks to Claire to quickly find the Book of Ga-Huel and get out of Strickler's office fast since he's "not a big fan" of the office, recalling the events of "Recipe for Disaster" when he had to run away from a deadly Antramonstrum that was guarding the office.
* **Getting Crap Past the Radar:**
	+ When Coach Lawrence catches Toby and Claire inside Strickler's office, he's quick to accuse the two "lovebirds" that they're playing "romper room" unsupervised (much to their disgust).
	+ Miss Janeth is way too excited about giving Toby mouth-to-mouth. It gets treated and depicted as though she is making out with him. It does not help that she says, "I always wanted to do CPR," and that she wipes her mouth afterwards as though she just finished an intense make-out session. The only way she could excuse herself from be accused of paedophilia is that she was visibly blowing air into his mouth, though she never did chest compressions, which is the most important part of CPR. It also doesn't help that Toby was left visibly disturbed and nauseated from the experience.

## Gallery

***Arcadia Oaks-pedia*** has a collection of images and media related to *A Night to Remember* which can be found at
***A Night to Remember/Gallery***.