Bad Coffee

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**Bad Coffee** is the forty-second episode of *Trollhunters* and the third episode of Part Three.

## Official Synopsis

Something strange is brewing at school, where the teachers are more agitated than usual. Claire's illness shows disturbing side effects.

## Plot

Claire, Mary, and Darci practice their music. A neighbor outside hears and covers his ears. Claire suddenly hears Morgana's voice and drops her guitar.

Claire wakes up on the couch. She has something dark coming out of her nose. Mary and Darci are worried about her.

Strickler and Nomura teach Jim about Gravesand. It's derived from the pulverized bones of fallen Gumm-Gumms and aids Changelings in shedding their human forms. In humans, it hones feral instincts. Some of the changes are permanent. Stricker blow some in Jim's face. Jim feels angrier and Strickler tells him to use that anger. The three of them fight. Blinky comes in to find Jim with Nomura pinned to a wall. Blinky quickly figures out what has happened. Blinky tries to bring out the humanity in Jim. Jim apologizes, saying he lost himself. Strickler says Jim is a good kid and a good kid can't kill Gunmar. Blinky disagrees with Strickler's strategy. Blinky tells them that Gunmar has left Trollmarket. He's chasing the Eternal Night. They must prepare and remain vigilant.

Jim makes himself and his mother lunch. He finds her painting in the basement again. Around the room are many paintings of trolls. Her most recent painting is of Strickler in his troll form. She only remembers that he disappeared suddenly with no explanation.

Toby is worried about Claire being sick.

Lawrence tells Steve his mother is working late and suggests pizza for dinner. Steve is upset that Lawrence is talking to him at school. Lawrence wants to be his friend. Toby and Jim overhear part of the conversation, so Steve shoves them to the side, sending the can of gravesand out of Jim's bag, where it's kicked into the teachers' lounge. Jim peeks inside and sees it on the counter. He sneaks in and overhears the teachers complaining about the students. Toby appears in the doorway dancing, distracting them while Jim grabs the can. After he and Toby leave, Lawrence finds an identical can on the floor and wonders why the coffee is down there. He makes coffee using the gravesand.

Lawrence drinks his coffee and becomes enraged. In his rage, he berates several students including Steve, who feels betrayed because he has revealed to the other students that he's dating Steve's mom. Steve runs off in tears.

Jim goes to his locker and finds that the can he grabbed was coffee, not the gravesand. Steve confronted Jim and knows he's involved. Jim tries to explain, but stops when they hear Lawrence nearby. Steve tells Jim to undo whatever he did. Jim calls Strickler and asks him about someone eating gravesand and learns it amplifies the effects tenfold. Jim lies and says it was Toby's cat. Lawrence hears Toby pretending to be the cat and starts looking for him. Strickler recommends putting the cat down as it's most merciful. The other option is to break through his delusions and connect emotionally with him before the state becomes permanent. Lawrence finds them and they run away.

Strickler watches Barbara from a distance.

They've escaped Lawrence. Mary and Darci then tell the Señor Uhl made them wash and wax his entire truck and Miss Janeth flipped a desk and started eating their papers. Jim decides to call Claire so they can portal the teachers to a safe place. Claire doesn't answer.

Uhl is angrily writing on the board when Toby comes over the intercom and announces there's free tacos outside as long as they last. Everyone races out to get some except the infected teachers. Strickler enters the school and sees what's happened. Uhl and Ms. Janeth attack him and knocks him out.

The students realize there are no tacos, but get locked out of the school when Toby closes the gate. First Darci and some other students try to get in, but then realize that they don't have to go to school and go to find the tacos.

They hear Strickler over the intercom and realize he got a dose, too. Jim sends Steve to handle Lawrence, Eli to Miss Janeth, and Toby to Uhl.

Eli goes to find Miss Janeth. She drops things on him and scares him.

Toby goes to find Uhl and asks him how an Austrian dude becomes a Spanish teacher. Toby is scared when Uhl looks at him.

Steve finds Lawrence climbing the rope in the gym. Lawrence rips down the rope and swings it around.

Jim finds Strickler on the roof, ranting angrily about Jim's weakness. He tells Jim to kill him or be killed. He turns into his troll form and attacks Jim.

Eli fights with Miss Janeth using a cardboard sword. He quotes Romeo and Juliet back to her and tells her she's an amazing teacher. That breaks the spell for her, leaving her confused.

Toby tries to connect with Uhl but can't figure out how. Eli then comes in, saying he saved Miss Janeth. Eli jumps on Uhl, who swings him around. Eli reminds Toby that he loves his truck. They implore him to think of Susannah. It breaks the spell.

Lawrence is still attacking Steve. Steve knows he has a soft spot for dogs. Steve meant what he said when he said Lawrence is not his father. His father is never around and can be a real buttsnack. But Lawrence isn't like that. He sticks around, which makes him cooler than Steve's dad. Lawrence isn't his father, but he is his friend. Steve says they're going to hug it out. The spells breaks and they hug, before pulling back awkwardly.

Jim asks Strickler why he came back to train Jim if he didn't believe in him. Strickler says he came back to protect her. Jim gets Strickler cornered, but won't kill him. Jim uses his desire to protect Barbara to connect with him. That breaks the spell. Strickler agrees to talk to the other teachers, who are very confused. Strickler says there's hope for Jim yet.

Gunmar has come to see Morgana. He says they seek the same thing, the Eternal Night. Morgana says she and Claire will show him the way. Claire throws Angor Rot's head at Gunmar. Morgana says he will rise again and together, they'll free her and they'll bring forth Eternal Night.

## Cast

* Kelsey Grammer as Blinky
* Anton Yelchin/Emile Hirsch as Jim Lake Jr.
* Charlie Saxton as Toby Domzalski
* Lexi Medrano as Claire Nuñez
* Jonathan Hyde as Mr. Strickler
* Fred Tatasciore as Señor Uhl
* Clancy Brown as Gunmar
* Lena Headey as Morgana le Fay
* Amy Landecker as Barbara Lake
* Laraine Newman as Miss Janeth
* Yara Shahidi as Darci Scott
* Cole Sand as Eli Pepperjack
* Lauren Tom as Nomura/Mary Wang
* Thomas F. Wilson as Coach Lawrence
* Steven Yeun as Steve Palchuk

## Trivia

* Emile Hirsch provides much of Jim's dialogue in this episode.
	+ Anton Yelchin's dialogue is present during Jim's first scene in the episode, in which he is introduced to Gravesand by Stricklander and Nomura. Upon inhaling the substance, it affects Jim's voice, and Hirsch voices Jim for the remainder of the episode (and the series itself).
	+ For an in-universe explanation for Jim's change of voice from Yelchin to Hirsch, Strickler subtly says that, "some of the changes [from the Gravesand] are permanent." Blinky lampshades Jim's voice change when he catches him infected by the substance.
* This episode takes place a week before "Beetle Mania" in the timeline.
* Steve and Lawrence start to bond in this episode, which is the very thing that cures Lawrence of his feral curse.
* **Title:** Obviously, it refers to the teachers' coffee being spiked with Gravesand and sending them on a high trollish caffeine fix.
* **Continuity:** Señor Uhl remarks the events of "The Reckless Club" when Jim, Toby, and Claire "stole" his truck and "poisoned" him with a Diablo Maximus Breakfast Burrito.
* **Getting Crap Past the Radar:** When Blinky bumps into the coffee can of Gravesand, if you listen closely he can be heard muttering 'What the hell,' under his breath.

## Gallery

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