Terkel in Trouble

During a casual recess in the schoolyard, Gunnar approaches Terkel and claims that he sat on a spider. Terkel shrugs it off, trying to laugh it away. Still, Gunnar’s odd presence lingers in the background, quietly unsettling Terkel and his friends.

In Danish class, Gunnar announces that the previous teacher, Yvonne, has been killed by a car. He steps in as the new substitute teacher, shifting the classroom's energy with his odd, unsettling authority. The students respond with a mix of shock and uneasy cheer as the lesson resumes under the stranger.

At home, Terkel watches his parents Sheila and Leon marry, a ceremony that sends ripples through his social world. The wedding becomes a catalyst for new power dynamics at school and among friends. The event sows curiosity and tension as Terkel navigates changing loyalties.

During the reception, two bullies, Nigeland and Saki, pressure Terkel to steal beer for them. Stewart Stardust, Terkel's volatile grand-uncle, intervenes and knocks the bullies down. In retaliation Sten and Saki blame Terkel, deepening the harassment he endures.

An overweight classmate named Fat Dorit sends Terkel a love letter, prompting taunts from the others as they pretend they are a couple. Terkel wavers between defending Dorit and going along with the taunts, then speaks cruelly about Dorit, uttering a line he will regret. The moment seeds guilt and fear that foreshadow her heartbreak.

Dorit's heartbreak drives her to a desperate act, and she jumps from a fourth-floor window. The class is stunned, and the tragedy reverberates through the school as suspicions and loyalties shift. The event marks a turning point in how the students view one another.

In the aftermath, Sten and Saki draw closer to Terkel, gaining his protection while his friendship with Jason becomes strained under fear and threats he receives. Terkel begins receiving multiple death threats at home and at school, heightening paranoia about who might be targeting him.

A school trip to the woods to study salamanders starts with a tense bus ride as Sten and Saki invite Terkel to sit with them, straining Jason's patience. In the woods, the uneasy alliances among friends come into relief as they navigate the trip.

In the forest, Terkel tries to reconcile with Jason but fails; Jason accuses him of selling out. Terkel ends up sleeping in Sten and Saki’s tent, where he talks about Jason’s aloof behavior. Sten reveals that Dorit was Jason’s sister, deepening Terkel’s fear that Jason is orchestrating the threats.

Seeking safety, Terkel confides in Gunnar and ventures deeper into the woods. A terrifying sequence unfolds: a dead cat appears in his sleeping bag and a text arrives from Jason's phone reading 'I'm coming to kill you.' Gunnar warns that danger may be closer than Terkel realizes, and he hints that Jason could be involved.

A desperate chase erupts as Gunnar corners Terkel and tries a chokehold, but Jason intervenes, knocking Gunnar out with a pipe and saving his friend. The danger seems to subside for a moment as Gunnar lies unconscious. The fragile peace is short-lived as Gunnar’s presence resurfaces.

Gunnar resurfaces, and a brutal struggle follows as they fight for the weapon. A pipe strikes Gunnar in the head, and the injury appears to kill him, though his fate remains ambiguous as the scene shifts away. The line between fear and memory lingers as the woods and the school keep their secrets.

With the immediate danger easing, Joanna enters the storyline, reshaping the dynamic between Terkel and Jason. The pair navigate a new presence in their lives as the social web around them shifts.

The film occasionally steps into meta territory, with Arne Nougatgren the hockey mask narrator trying to wrap the tale in a moral but forgetting the exact takeaway. The final mood is haunting and unsettled, leaving Gunnar's fate and the truth behind the events blurred. The woods and the school keep their quiet, uneasy secrets.