Claire and Present Danger

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“*Your brother has been switched with a changeling, but now, goblins are after you because of something he did, and now, I'm here to save you.*”
―Jim telling the truth about Enrique to Claire

## Information

### **Air date**

December 23rd, 2016 (Netflix)
2 September 2018 (CHRGD)

### **Directed by**

Andrew Schmidt

**Claire and Present Danger** is the twelfth episode of *Trollhunters*.

## Official Synopsis

The Killahead Bridge is complete, but the door to the Darklands still won't open. Jim is forced to tell Claire the truth when she becomes a target.

## Plot

The episode starts at the museum, where the goblins chant as Strickler carries the Amulet of Daylight to present before Gunmar, viewing from behind Killahead bridge. Gunmar commands them to open the bridge, with Bular taking the Amulet so that he could free his father with his own hands. Nomura realizes that NotEnrique isn't there and Strickler joins her side as he watches Bular jump on top of Killahead bridge. Strickler sends out the goblins to fetch the changeling. Bular places the Amulet in the bridge, but he notices that something is wrong when the bridge doesn't open. Strickler tells him to take it out and Bular tries in vain to remove the Amulet. The portal collapses and Strickler realizes that their plan didn't work because Jim commands the Amulet. It wouldn't work without him. Bular holds Strickler by the neck as the latter explains. The Gumm-gumm orders Nomura to bring the Trollhunter to him.

Meanwhile at the Nuñez Estate, Toby offers socks to NotEnqrique in exchange for going through the fetch and into the Darklands to resuce his familar, Enrique. Not Enrique refuses. NotEnrique settles into his crib, but then hears Fragwa moving around. NotEnrique doesn't want to go with Fragwa. They fight and Fragawa is killed by falling books. More goblins come and see a picture of Claire in the pile of goo that was Fragwa, so they believe she killed Fragwa. One goblin shows the picture to the others and they leave to get revenge.

Jim wonders why the amulet can't help him rescue Enrique. The Darklands are a labyrinth, so even finding Enrique would be nearly impossible. And if he got into the Darklands, he couldn't be saved, because it would risk freeing Gunmar. Gnome Chompsky then comes out of the dollhouse and offers to go himself.

As they send Gnome Chompsky in, Jim tells him to tug the rope when he finds Enrique and they'll get him back. He jumps in and the rope follows. Jim is surprised when he quickly feels a tug. He tries to pull Gnome Chompsky back, but he can't and the rope snaps. NotEnrique then comes in and tells them about the goblins and how they're after Claire. Jim takes the fake amulet and goes to save Claire. Once he's gone NotEnrique reveals that they have all the bridge pieces now. All they need is Jim. Toby and AAARRRGGHH!!! go to protect Jim. Blinky is going to find the bridge and NotEnrique is going to help.

As the Nuñez parents watch a movie, Claire sits on her bed. Jim comes to the window and climbs inside her room. He tells her he has to come with her because she's in danger. She doesn't believe him and tells him she doesn't want him anywhere near her. Jim then confesses the whole truth to Claire. She just believes he's crazy. He pulls out the amulet to prove it to her. He tries to use it, but because it's fake, it doesn't work. Jim hears the goblins and warns Claire that they've taken her brother, so she should check the crib. Claire is horrified to discover that Enrique really is missing, but she is convinced Jim did something to him. Jim repeats the truth and says if she wants to find him, she has to come with him now. The goblins give chase as Jim and Claire run away. Jim tries again to get the amulet to work, but Claire is still not convinced. Jim wants to take Claire to Trollmarket. She reluctantly takes his hand.

Toby rings Claire's doorbell. As her parents answer, AAARRRGGHH!!! holds up Claire's bag, which was abandoned in the yard. Toby pretends he wants to sell them a magazine subscription and they slam the door on him. Then he and AAARRRGGHH!!! leave to find Claire and Jim.

Jim leaves Claire to find a weapon in the woods he can use. She hears the goblins and starts to approach them. When one drops in front of her, Jim appears and defends her. More goblins attack and Jim defends them. When one attacks Jim, Claire picks up a stick and hits it. Jim tries the amulet again, but then realizes it's a fake. Claire and Jim prepare improvised weapons as the goblins surround them.

Strickler and Bular watch as the amulet spins.

Claire and Jim fight the goblins. In desperation, Jim calls out for the amulet, asking it where it is.

Strickler and Bular are shocked when the amulet flies out of Strickler's hands and out of the museum. The amulet flies through town, knocking Steve off his Vespa, breaking his other tooth, and then arrives at Jim. He uses it and then defeats the goblins. Claire is impressed with his armor and then asks about her brother. She realizes the monsters he talked about in his letter were real monsters. Now everything makes sense to her. Jim tells her she can't tell anyone else about it. Jim assures her her brother is safe. She asks more questions, but he says he'll explain everything later. They hear a strange whistling, so Jim tells Claire to run home. She refuses to leave. Nomura then jumps down from a tree. While Jim prepares to fight her, Claire runs away.

Claire runs home and gets her dad, who jumps up to go with her.

AAARRRGGHH!!! and Toby hear a noise and go toward it.

Jim and Nomura continue to fight. Jim realizes that they had the real amulet and the one he had was a fake. Nomura tells him they tried to use it, but it needs him to work. She's there not to kill him, but to take him.

Nomura drags an unconscious Jim behind her.

Claire and her father approach from one side and Toby and AAARRRGGHH!!! from another. Nomura runs away as Claire and her father approach. Claire's dad calls an ambulance as Jim fades in and out.

Jim wakes up again at the hospital, with his mother, Claire, and Toby above him. His mother promises he'll be okay.

Blinky finds the completed bridge, but then gets taken by Bular and Strickler. They plan to use him to convince Jim to open the bridge for them.

## Cast

* Kelsey Grammer as Blinky
* Anton Yelchin as Jim Lake Jr.
* Charlie Saxton as Toby Domzalski
* Lexi Medrano as Claire Nuñez
* Ron Perlman as Bular
* Jonathan Hyde as Mr. Strickler
* Fred Tatasciore as AAARRRGGHH!!!
* Rodrigo Blaas as Gnome Chompsky
* Clancy Brown as Gunmar
* Tom Kenny as Mr. Nuñez
* Amy Landecker as Barbara Lake
* Lauren Tom as Nomura
* Cole Sand as Eli Pepperjack
* Frank Welker as Fragwa/Goblins
* Jimmie Wood as NotEnrique
* Steven Yeun as Steve Palchuk

## Trivia

* Claire officially finds out Jim’s secret double life. She also learns that her brother is trapped in the Darklands and is replaced with changeling NotEnrique.
* Gnome Chompsky ventures into the Darklands through the Fetch to find Enrique.
* **Title:** The title is the same as an episode of *Full House*. It is also more likely based off of the 1994 spy thriller film *Clear and Present Danger*, which is based on Tom Clancy's novel of the same name.
* The music playing during amulet retrieval scene and subsequent defeat of the goblin horde is "None Shall Live" by Thomas Bergersen (aka Two Steps From Hell).
	+ This track was also used during the portal-conjuring scene in the Part Two finale, "In the Hall of the Gumm-Gumm King". In a callback, the track was also used when the modified amulet traveled from Camelot to Jim in *Rise of the Titans*.
	+ Appropriately, the track would later be altered in terms of arrangement, given lyrics by Bergersen, and sung by Merethe Soltvedt as a song named "Children of the Sun."
* **Getting Crap Past the Radar:** When NotEnrique opens the centerfold of his copy of *Shoe Monthly Magazine*, Fragwa appears immensely attracted at the image. This is akin to magazines such as *Playboy*––which famously feature a portrait of pin-up or a nude––to appeal to its target audience.
* **Running Gag:** When NotEnrique arrives to inform Team Trollhunters of Fragwa's death, enraging the the other goblins, Blinky pins him down to the table, enraged that NotEnrique led the goblin vengeance to their location. Jim tells Blinky to calm down, but once NotEnrique clarifies that the horde believes *Claire* killed Fragwa, Jim pins him down to the table, also angered. Finally, when NotEnrique reveals that Bular has all of the pieces of Killahead Bridge, Toby pins him down to the table one last time.
* **Continuity Error:** When Claire is first seen, she doesn't wear her Papa Skull jacket, but when she runs back to her house to call her parents for help, she is seen with the jacket on. The next scene later, she is once again seen without the jacket on.

## Gallery

***Arcadia Oaks-pedia*** has a collection of images and media related to *Claire and Present Danger* which can be found at
***Claire and Present Danger/Gallery***.