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I’m still catching up, and watching Double Dipper right now. Just a reminder to buy the bluray set just so you can find the secret commentary for this episode. Plus there are so so many easter eggs on the set.
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Jun 17, 2022 21:11
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Season 1 Episode 10: Fight Fighters We travel to the local arcade, with the shack crew guided by Soos through his apparently formative experiences there. Dipper and Wendy are playing the titular Street Fighter knockoff only for Robbie to interrupt and sideline Dipper to spend time with his girlfriend. There’s been a degree of tension since the Inconveniencing, but now Wendy and Robbie are dating it is coming to a head, especially when he shows up at the shack the next day only for Dipper to point out she’s out camping and he’d not been paying attention to her. Robbie calls out Dipper for his crush, and after Dipper accidentally breaks his phone, he handles the situation with the tact and sensitivity you’d expect from a teenage boy, and Dipper has an appointment to fight him at the local park. Unsurprisingly Dipper’s not thrilled by the idea, and he seeks refuge at the arcade, discovering a cheat code that allows him to summon Rumble McSkirmish into the real world. A few misunderstandings and lies by omission later, and Dipper has a pixelated bodyguard. As the b-plot, Mabel learns Stan has a fear of heights and naturally decides to help. As expected, while largely divorced from the A-plot we still get some of the best jokes from Stan and Mabel’s interactions. I’m especially fond of Stan’s bafflement when Mabel decides to test her theory by giving him an…unorthodox gift for the non-existent Great-Uncles’ Day (‘High Heels! You shouldn’t have. No seriously, you shouldn’t have. What am I supposed to do with these?’). Moving back over to the A-plot, Dipper finds out that Rumble’s idea of handling Robbie is much more decisive than Dipper’s. Robbie is forced to flee for his life from the vengeful Rumble, and Dipper desperately has to catch up to them before it’s game over for Robbie. He’s able to redirect Rumble’s wrath onto himself for having deceived him, and winds up taking the brunt of his attacks (sadly, it seems he lost all his gains from his training with the Manotaurs, so he never really stood a chance). Fortunately, it turns out Rumble’s victory is shortlived and he returns to the game after he triumphs. While Robbie is still angry with Dipper (and justifiably so, as opposed to earlier) he can’t bring himself to fistfight a non-resisting Dipper. Wendy arrives back from her trip, and the two swiftly emphasize they weren’t fighting (which is technically true). Dipper suggests (following some advice from Mabel earlier in the episode) that they should just resolve to hate one another in secret, otherwise they’ll both drive Wendy away. Speaking of Mabel, her attempt to get Stan to face his fears by getting him onto the top of the water tower actually works, despite Rumble almost collapsing it in his quest to get Robbie. It also means Mabel now has a fear of heights… I think this episode’s overall pretty good, with the plot being an excuse to cram in as many videogame references as they can (and with Paul Robertson on sprite art duties, it looks fantastic), and the subplot is also another great Stan & Mabel showcase. I must admit I do look slightly askew at the framing of ‘fighting like a man’ and passive-aggression being something ‘girls do’, but the overall message of the episode is great.
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Jun 18, 2022 20:39
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I think I was already done with the Wendy crush storyline by this point.
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Jun 19, 2022 02:02
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Double feature to get things all caught up! Season 1 Episode 11: Double Dipper This one is a nice and simple story, with Gideon unleashing several schemes to try and take the Shack from Stan as part of his revenge on the Pines family. However, Stan (given he’s a lifelong conman) always seems to be one step ahead, even when he dips into the supernatural knowledge from Journal Two. Unfortunately (for Dipper, at least) a growth spurt has given Mabel an extra milliimetre of height, which she promptly lords over him (with some encouragement from Grunkle Stan). Like Gideon, he turns to his Journal for a solution, although unlike Gideon he actually achieves it, finding a crystal that, when light shines through it, grows or shrinks things. Unfortunately, Dipper & Mabel wind up fighting over the torch and it falls into Gideon’s widdle ol’ hands, and the twins have to overcome their differences after he shrinks them and before he does the same to Stan! This is a fairly direct episode, with no real B-plot to speak of, with the twins’ squabbles over their height weaving in and out of Gideon’s plot. While Dipper is right to push back against Mabel making fun of him, it’s pretty clear that her mockery comes from a place of insecurity over Dipper’s generally being the more accomplished of the two. And it’s also clear that his response was disproportionate, and their squabbling literally gets in their own way multiple times. Fortunately they’re able to overcome their differences when they finally just communicate and get back on the same wavelength. All in all, it’s a great little (no pun intended) episode, with great character beats to go around for everyone (I’m especially fond of the revelation of Soos’ dream of inheriting the mantle of Mr. Mystery). Season 1 Episode 12: Summerween It’s time for Summerween! Gravity Falls is a town that loves Halloween so much it decided to double-dip on the holiday, and the Pines are all eager to get involved - the twins because they’re both devotees of the holiday and eager to trick-or-treat (with Candy, Greta and Soos tagging along), and Stan is eager to scare some kids as the self-proclaimed ‘master of fright’. Wendy & Robbie drop by to pick up Wendy’s jacket and she invites him to Tambry’s non-S&P-approved party, and Dipper, once more obsessing over appearing mature, decides that he’s officially too old for trick-or-treating and in doing so incurs the wrath of the Summerween Trickster, a local legend that turns out to be real, and the kids (and Soos) must trick-or-treat like their lives depend on it, because they do. Back at the shack, Stan meets his match in a pair of particularly jaded trick-or-treaters, who are not only unimpressed by Stan’s very impressive attempts at scaring them (with an assist from Waddles), and even scare him with a screamer video. However, it turns out he gets the last laugh when they sneak into the Shack to get some candy and witness the true horror of an old man in his underwear. The real conflict of the A-plot is really between Dipper & Mabel, as she discovers the real motivation for him being so reluctant to get into the spirit of things (despite it being counterproductive both for ‘get to Wendy’s party’ and ‘don’t be eaten by the lame candy golem’ purposes), as well as revealing her motivation for being so engaged with it - she’s well aware they’re growing up and she wanted to try and have one last great night of Trick-or-Treating. Of course, we still get a great action scene when it turns out Dipper trying to hide their activity means they lost all of their candy to offer to the trickster and we get a battle in the Summerween superstore, culminating in the discovery of The Summerween Trickster’s origin (complete with the return of the teens from The Inconveniencing as a partial cause), and we get some great horror out of his physical performance. Also as a brief aside: Soos is kind of the comedic MVP of the episode (his commitment to hearing that talking skull bowl Is brilliant). Also the action MVP, given he’s ultimately the one who defeats the trickster (both with his truck and then in a truly heroic scene of gastric fortitude, devouring a grateful trickster). The gang return to the Shack, when Wendy’s shown up to hang out. She doesn’t judge them for trick-or-treating (looking back, it was all Robbie and she actually defended), because the spirit of Summerween is for all ages. The fact we have Soos, Manly Dan out with his kids, and Blubs and Durland all out getting candy and Stan trying to scare the kids is proof of that. Plus hey, Stan has the candy left from the kids who he finally scared off means they get to have a great evening watching an old scary movie and candy galore. This is a great thematic episode - with some scares, plenty of excellent jokes, and some great emotional bonding, too. Also Soos ate a man alive tonight.
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Jun 19, 2022 20:00
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Took a while to find the time but here's Season 1, Episode 3: I said I was gonna rob you!
And while I'm at it: Season 1, Episode 3: Headhunters Commentary Commentators: Alex Hirsch, Mike Reanda Observations:
readingatwork fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Jun 19, 2022 |
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Jun 19, 2022 23:30
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The_Doctor posted:I think I was already done with the Wendy crush storyline by this point. The Wendy crush is interesting to me because it's so obvious that the main reason Dipper is crushing on her is that... she's there, she's a she who isn't old enough to be his mother and is also not his blood relative. In some weird alternate universe GFs Tambry works at the Mystery Shack, so Dipper would be crushing on her. For a really fun mind-blower, go watch The Event, which predates Gravity Falls by a couple of years but somehow feels a little like a "15 years later or so" take where Dipper is dating Pacifica and they get involved in shenanigans with aliens.
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Jun 19, 2022 23:45
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My wife and I do the whole “looks like you really QUAKED the case” “don’t patronize me” bit at least a few times a month.
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Jun 19, 2022 23:46
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Didn't have all that much to say about these two, so have a double feature review! Season 1 Episode 13: Boss Mabel A nice high-concept episode, where Mabel challenges Stan over his management style, which unsurprisingly she (and the rest of the shack crew) aren’t terribly enthused by. Stan’s a gambling man, so he suggests they make a bet of it - he’ll go on vacation for three days, and Mabel will run the shack in his absence. OF course, it turns out that Mabel is great at employee morale management, actual management is a bit beyond her abilities, with her people-pleasing nature abused by shack patrons (and to a lesser extent, Wendy), while perhaps being a bit too encouraging of Dipper & Soos’ ideas, culminating in the twin terrors of a Gremoblin and Questiony the Question Mark in the shack. Stan, meanwhile, decides to spend his time competing on the TV show Cash Wheel to make some money in his time away. Of course, it turns out he lost it all, because he couldn’t say ‘please’. Another episode with some great jokes (in particular Stan on Cash Wheel is great and the fight with the Gremoblin are both great, in particular the rather spectacularly unhelpful advice from the Journal) and some nice character insight. Season 1 Episode 14: Bottomless Pit! We get a fun little anthology tale, where the shack crew (sans Wendy) fall into the titular pit and decide to tell a series of stories to pass the time. We get some fun jokes in the framing story, of course, but the real meat of it is of course in the three stories. Voice Over is Dipper’s tale, of him, growing tired of mockery over his cracking voice, winds up drinking a serum devised by McGucket to grant him a new one (A. Smith Harrison), which swiftly proves more than he bargained for (I kind of like the running gag when he immediately gets attacked by Mabel & then Soos when they hear his new voice). He’s offered a new one, but he decides he’s happy with his own voice. So he just dumps the new serum in Stan’s coffee for a funny last-minute gag. Soos' Really Great Pinball Story (Is That A Good Title? Do They Have To Be Puns Or Whatever?) is somewhat self-evident, with Soos (given some prompting by the twins) finally achieves his dream of pinball success through tilting the table - only to find themselves trapped in the game. Unlike in Fight Fighters however, there’s actual excitement and peril going on. Another fun mini-story. Grunkle Stan Wins The Football Bowl is a one-note joke, but dammit if it’s not a good one and a brief peek into Stan’s mind. Trooth Ache is Mabel’s tale, and unlike the others, actually happened. Growing tired of Stan’s near-constant lying, she finds the location of truth-telling teeth, and quickly finds out that you can have too much of a true thing. This is my personal favourite, not just because it features Blubs & Durland, but because Stan has some great line deliveries (not just when he has the teeth - ‘I’m going to teach this bear…to drive!’ is I think the line of the episode). The twins’ consternation at Stan’s truth-telling is particularly enjoyable, too. All in all, a great anthology of short tales. Yvonmukluk fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Jun 22, 2022 |
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Jun 22, 2022 15:21
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I'm currently watching/reviewing The Loud House episodes in the kid's show thread and holy crap is this a better show. It's frankly kind of bizarre to watch them right next to each other like this. Anyways... Season 1, Episode 4: I CAN BUY AND SELL YOU OLD MAN!!!
readingatwork fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Jun 26, 2022 |
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Jun 23, 2022 03:02
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Season 1 Episode 15: The Deep End Gravity Falls is gripped by a heatwave, and the shack crew seeks to beat the heat at the town’s public pool. (Although not everyone makes it,  Wax Stan). Mabel’s eye, in particular, is drawn to a mysterious loner, while Dipper’s is drawn to Wendy in a swimsuit in her new role as lifeguard. As Dipper strives to achieve the coveted role of Assistant Lifeguard by earning the favour of the profoundly intense Mr. Poolcheck, Mabel gradually wins the trust of Mermando (Matt Chapman), who as the name implies, is in fact a Merman who through a run of bad luck has found himself confined to a municipal pool.While the twins are struggling with affairs of the heart (and the pool), Stan is entangled once more with Li’l Gideon, as he gleefully (pun very much intended) takes Stan’s favoured pool chair and antagonizes him the whole way. While obviously still the overall antagonist of the series, the fact he’s still a child and the extreme pettiness of the stakes means it’s still easy to enjoy the schadenfreude of Stan’s repeated defeats. Ultimately, the problem of Mermando’s entrapment and Mabel’s desire to free him runs headfast into Dipper’s desire to keep his job (and its proximity to Wendy), as Mabel sneaking back into the pool after hours (damaging pool equipment in the process) incurs Poolcheck’s wrath and he orders Dipper to keep watch when she returns to break him out. Since Mabel’s unwilling to explain herself, the twins find themselves at odds before coming together to save Mermando, who gives Mabel her first kiss in gratitude (technically Dipper’s too, but reverse-CPR doesn’t really count). Dipper loses the lifeguard job, but so does Wendy for abusing snack privileges, so it works out alright in the end. A fun standalone, as the twins once more find themselves at cross purposes and we get two great one-episode-wonders with Mermando and Mr. Poolcheck. Jokewise, personal highlights are Soos’ running subplot of seeking to liberate the pool ducks, and of course, the poor kid in Pool Jail Solitary. Season 1 Episode 16: Carpet Diem Good news everyone! We get a lot of Candy and Grenda this episode, as it seems that their sleepover with Mabel at the end of ‘Double Dipper’ has become a regular occurrence. Unfortunately, it turns out that Dipper is not as much of a fan of them as the audience, deciding to vacate his space to sleep outside (after rejecting Soos’ break When it actually happens to the twins, we get probably the most realistic reaction to this plotline I’ve ever seen - the twins immediately go into a total existential freakout over being dissociated from their own bodies. However, once the shock’s worn off, the twins quickly realise that they can both turn this situation into an advantage for the contest over the new room, and both immediately launch into sabotaging each other. Soos, on the other hand, after rubbing Waddles’ belly, also finds himself bodyswapped, although being Soos, he takes it more or less in stride. Unfortunately, while living his best pig life in town, he runs afoul of Old Man McGucket, who’s in the mood for some pork. To add insult to injury, it turns out Waddles might actually be a better Soos than Soos, since he manages to both get a raise and a fiancee out of it, entirely accidentally. The bodyswapping doesn’t just backfire for Soos, though, as both Dipper and Mabel find themselves waylaid - Dipper-as-Mabel by Candy and Greta for yet another sleepover, including a Dream Date-type game an age-inappropriate romance novel readings, and Mabel-as-Dipper, trying to participate in the aforementioned sleepover vicariously, is confronted by Stan for apparently creeping on the girls, and gets a very unwanted lecture on the birds and the bees. The bad luck keeps on coming for Mabel, as it turns out Stan likes what appears to be Dipper standing up for himself and awards ‘him’ the room. Mabel decides to lock herself in the room to stop Dipper from reclaiming his body and getting the room, but Dipper leverages Candy and Greta to give himself (presently occupied by Mabel) a makeover and thus get into the room, and more importantly, his own body. His plan is thrown off the rails when Mabel explains the situation to an understandably confused Candy & Greta, and Candy (who seems to be the designated agent of chaos of the three girls) decides to try it for herself, leading to a sequence of bodyswaps that sees the 4 kids, Soos-as-Waddles, Waddles-as-Soos, Old Man McGucket and Blubs & Durland all randomly swapping bodies in an escalating series of absurdity. The twins eventually reclaim their original bodies and confront each other in the attic, and the truth comes out - neither really want to move out - Dipper was feeling shut out in favour of Mabel’s new friend. Mabel decides to surrender the new room to Dipper, but they both realise they’re willing to give sharing a room another chance (and Dipper decides to let Soos have the new room as a break room). Another great episode, addressing a common plot device in genre fiction but giving its own spin on it. The final bodyswapping sequence in particular is brilliant, with jokes flying thick and fast, and the twins’ conflict (electron carpet aside) feels very real. A definite highlight. Yvonmukluk fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Jun 26, 2022 |
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Jun 26, 2022 15:21
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Season 1, Episode 4: The Hand That Rocks The Mabel Commentary Commentators: Alex Hirsch, Mike Reanda, Robert Renzetti (supervising producer) Observations:
readingatwork fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Jun 26, 2022 |
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Jun 26, 2022 19:01
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Season 1 Episode 17: Boyz Crazy It’s a great day for the Pines Twins, as Mabel’s favourite boyband Sev’ral Timez is in town and she and her friends are ready to go. Meanwhile, Dipper’s hanging out with Wendy providing running commentary on the CCTV footage (and dunking on Mabel’s taste in music). Unfortunately for Dipper, Robbie shows up. But it turns out that he might be on the outs with Wendy, much to Dipper’s joy, until he plays a CD of a song that he wrote for Wendy that seems to win her over. Dipper’s suspicious (despite Mabel’s assertion that girls like music) and resolves to reach the bottom of the mystery. Meanwhile, Mabel, Candy and Greta find that the Sev’ral Timez concert is sold out, and decide to sneak backstage to meet the band, only to discover that Dipper & Wendy’s jokes were true - they really are a manufactured band! The girls promptly smuggle them to the relative safety of the Mystery Shack, however Mabel fins herself at odds with ehr friends when she succumbs to the lure of having her own pet boyband to herself. Dipper enlists Stan, who is sympathetic to his theories (and has a fun flashback to his youth). They’re eventually able to find out a nefarious subliminal message on it - they confront Robbie over it, and when pressed he admits that he didn’t know, it was a song he just took credit for. It’s not really clear if the subliminal messaging even worked - Wendy says outright it was the belief that Robbie had written a song for her that had convinced her to forgive him (proving Mabel right). Dipper, completely failing to read the room, tries to invite Wendy to go bowling with him and Stan, but unsurprisingly Wendy chews him out for it. Mabel, after having Sev’Ral Timez drive out Greta & Candy, comes to realise after a musical number form the band thanking her for her help, finally realises what they were right and sets the band free and reconilies with her friends. Dipper feels bad about how he handled the whole situation with Wendy, but Stan offers him some words of reassurance, before chasing off one of the bandmembers raiding the garbage. Another fun story, with the a-plot bing a particular highlight (Lance Bass as the band is an inspired choice, and they’re the source of some of the best comedic moments in the series so far). The Dipper subplot is also good, with a rare Stan & Dipper team-up. Season 1 Episode 18: A mysterious monster is haunting Gravity Falls, but Mabel is far more interested in her bond with the one and only Waddles. Stan, however, is much less impressed with his porcine lodger, especially after he devours one of his prize exhibits. Left in charge of Waddles while Mabel rushes out to buy a baby carrier for her prize pet (after the Infomercial makes clear we understand IT WORKS FOR PIIIIIIIIIIIIGS), he eventually - and against Mabel’s instructions - leaves Waddles outside, where he quickly falls prey to the beast - a pterodactyl! Dipper, of course, keen to solve the mystery - before it takes Waddles, he and Soos have joined forces to photograph the creature. Unfortunately Soos’ enthusiasm tends to be more of a hindrance than a help - he accidentally destroys the photos of the pterodactyl before Dipper develops them. Mabel returns from her shopping trip and is understandably distraught by the loss of Waddles, and Stan’s false tale of heroics. The foursome follow a trail of Waddles’ sweater to an abandoned mine where they join up with Old Man McGucket and discover a lost world of dinosaurs trapped in tree-sap. Unfortunately, Stan’s idle musings on the business opportunities sees Mabel learn the truth of Waddles’ pignapping, and Dipper finally explodes at Soos after one mess-up too many. Mabel declares she’ll never speak to Stan again. The fractious fivesome finally finds the Pterodactyl’s nest, where Waddles is alive and well. However, the returning Pterodactyl sends stan and Waddles tumbling into an abyss with the egg in the nest hatching into an infant that swallows MacGucket whole. However, Soos comes to the rescue with his dinosaur knowledge, getting the twins to stand behind him in the baby Pterodactyl’s blind spot until they reach safety. Stan, hunted by the Pterodactyl, considers sacrificing Waddles, but in the long dark mid-afternoon of the soul, realises he can’t break Mabel’s heart and dons the carrier and takes on the dinosaur head-on, culminating in him riding on its back and punching it in the face, finally living up to his initial claims and winning Mabel’s affection once again. The gang manage to escape with the help of a Geyser (triggered by Soos with a cry of ‘BROS BEFORE DINOS!’). They ponder if the dinosaurs might be a problem in the future, before figuring that it’ll probably be fine…while at the abandoned church that lead into the old mine, McGucket climbs out, having eaten his way out of the dinosaur. Another fun episode, with the characters having very believable conflicts, with Soos and Stan’s respective flaws, while contributing to the problems in the episode, but both in turn help overcome the issues later in a way that feels earned. Also I want a PTERODACTYL BROS shirt.
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Jun 29, 2022 22:49
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Season 1 Episode 19: Dreamscaperers Gideon, after yet another failed attempt to rob Stan of the Mystery Shack (in this case by attempting to break in and steal the deed from Stan’s safe), with Stan bragging that he’ll never get the combination, has finally resorted to Journal 2’s greatest secret, and a mystery that’s been with the show the whole time - the mysterious behatted triangle that appears at the end of the intro. Gideon’s not the only one who’s reached a breaking point - Dipper is fed up of being saddled by Stan with all the worst chores and other duties, the latest of which is driving out a bat. Mabel & Soos try and reassure him that Stan likes all of them and that he shouldn’t feel singled out. The two set out into the woods, only to stumble upon Gideon undertaking a summoning ritual and introducing us to Bill Cipher (Alex Hirsch). While Gideon is clearly expecting a minion, it’s clear from the outset he’s far more than he seems, appearing almost amused with Gideon’s plans and gleefully (no pun intended) exhibiting his power (the deer teeth sequence is particularly unsettling). He also seems to have some knowledge of Stan, agreeing to break into Stan’s mind for unspecified help at a later date, which Gideon agrees to. Mabel & Soos rush back to the shack, and Dipper (reluctantly) tags along to save Stan and the shack, and they enter Stan’s mindscape and browse through Stan’s memories to find and hide the one with the combination. Bill confronts the trio when they arrive, shooting a hole through Dipper and summoning Xyler & Kraz, two teen hearthrobs from an old 80s/90s video of which Mabel is fond of in the mindscape as a demonstration of his powers, apparently deciding they pose no threat to him. The quintet starts examining Stan’s mind, a construct in the form of the shack, and we get some fun glimpses into Stan’s past (including his disastrous date with Lazy Susan). Dipper gets sidetracked to see what Stan really thinks of him, and is disappointed to find that that is apparently very little. Mabel, Soos, and Xyler & Kraz eventually find the combination, but it turns out ‘Soos’ is in fact Bill in disguise. However, Mabel & the real Soos are able to successfully knock the combination memory into Stan’s memory of the bottomless pit, enraging Gideon enough to break off the deal and in turn incurring Bill’s wrath. Unfortunately his mental powers make it easy to torment Soos & Mabel, and Dipper has gone off to mope. Fortunately, Dipper stumbles back into the initial memory that disillusioned him and sees Stan’s true feeling - he was in fact repeating some of the things his father said about him, and how he was trying to toughen Dipper up. Dipper winds up getting a more direct pep talk from memory Stan, who patches the hole in his chest and reminds him that Bill’s not the only one who can manifest power in the mindscape. Dipper catches up to the fight, and the three use their combined willpower to retaliate against Bill. It’s not clear if they really defeated Bill or if he’s just lying to save face, but he tells them that he’s not interested in fighting them any more, but that he’s going to be watching them, and that someday soon everything they know will change… The twins and Soos return to the real world, and reconcile with Stan in more ways than one. The mood is rather spoiled by Gideon’s plan B: sneak into the shack with dynamite and blow the safe open while the Pines family is distracted. Gideon has won, and the stage is set for the season finale… This is a great episode. We get an excellent introduction to Bill and some excellent character work for the relationship with Dipper & Stan. Looking back, you can definitely see that Stan usually approves of Dipper when he asserts himself (like in Dipper Vs. Manliness and Carpet Diem, even if the latter case was actually Mabel). The cliffhanger is an excellent setup, showing that even while Bill stole the spotlight, Gideon’s still a force to be reckoned with, and he'll need to be overcome. Season 1 Episode 20: Gideon Rising Gideon has seized control of the Mystery Shack, and the gang is stuck living with Soos and his grandma. Unfortunately, as far as the law in Gravity Falls is concerned, it’s a case of Gideon’s word against Stan’s, and everyone takes the side of the littlest psychic. Soos is undertaking a bunch of side jobs now the shack is closed, and Stan is lying to the twins’ parents that everything is fine while he tries to figure out what to do next. Gideon, meanwhile, is hard at work remaking the shack (and Waddles) in his image, but reveals that his true motive is to find Journal 1, which he believes is hidden somewhere on the property. The twins decide that, given Stan ultimately decides to send them home since he can’t care for them, they’ll have to use the one thing they have at their disposal - Mabel’s grappling hook! Ok, actually Journal 3. After some perusing, they decide to use the gnomes to do their bidding, finding Steve having a squirrel bath which he assures them is a totally normal thing that all gnomes do. They convince the gnomes to take Gideon as their new queen, however it turns out the same whistle Gideon has been using to train Waddles also works on the gnomes, who swiftly switch sides. Worse still, Gideon gets his hands on Dipper’s journal, and has the twins thrown off ‘his’ property. The twins, feeling as defeated as Stan, get on the bus back home, seen off by Wendy, Stan, Candy, and Grenda. Gideon gets a much less pleasant surprise, as he discovers that there are in fact three journals. He reaches the erroneous conclusion that Dipper had both journal 1 and 3, and he must have the other one too, and so sets out in the statue of himself, which, since it was built by McGucket, naturally is also a giant robot. Stan, mulling over how Gideon was puling off his act, has a sudden epiphany after his hearing aid gets feedback from a pin that Gideon gave him back when they confronted him at the start of the episode The stage is set for a final confrontation between the twins and Gideon, with Soos as the bus driver (explaining why he also wasn’t there to see the twins off). Unsurprisingly, two tweens in a bus with a driver with only 40 minutes’ experience is not remotely a match for a giant robot, and Gideon captures and taunts the twins, planning to keep Mabel as his girlfriend while Dipper is left to watch helplessly. Since he lost the journal, some of Gideon’s earlier taunting has been sticking with him - that without the journal, he’s nothing. Of course, that’s not true, and with his sister in peril, Dipper manages to pull off a jump onto the robot that’d make a Mantoaur proud. We get a rematch of Gideon and Dipper fighting, and Dipper takes advantage of Gideon’s motion-controls of the suit to make it punch itself in the fact, defeating it and Gideon in one fell swoop through the old ‘stop hitting yourself’ maneuver. The twins find themselves in freefall as the robot tumbles from the bridge across the town, and Mabel’s grappling hook saves the day. The townsfolk gather at the crash site, and Gideon tries to blame the whole incident on the twins attacking him. Stan arrives to save the twins from prison, having figured out that Gideon was secretly spying on the town through hidden cameras hidden in the pins, and the townsfolk, feeling betrayed, instead turn on Gideon and he’s arrested (not before Stan literally shakes him down to get his deed back, though). The shack (& Waddles) are de-Gideonized, and the twins decide to share Journal 3 with Stan. He laughs it off, asking to borrow it for ideas for new attractions. Dipper of course, is distraught to lose it again, but Mabel points out he defeated Gideon & his robot without needing the journal. And besides, he’ll get the journal back - it’s not like Stan would hold onto it for any particular reason. Of course, it turns out there’s a reason Stan wants the journal - earlier in the episode Dipper noted a set of pages that seem to form a partial schematic for some kind of machinery. The same device that it turns out is hidden under the shack in a laboratory of some kind - a device that Stan can now operate, since he has Journal 3 (borrowed from Dipper, Journal 2 (swiped from Gideon through some sleight of hand as he reclaimed the deed), and Journal 1, which it turns out was already in his possession… All in all a great finale. Gideon was already a villain you love to hate, and it’s great to see him finally be defeated, with all three members of the Pines family playing their part in his downfall. But at the same time it’s clear that there’s still plenty of mystery to go around, between Bill and what exactly Stan’s up to in the basement.
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Jul 4, 2022 05:22
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My wife and I are celebrating our 5th year anniversary today, and she got me this: Done by Mystery Illustrations (Instagram). Since the 5 year anniversary gift is wood, she got me this as a puzzle. She's too awesome. Also related to our marriage and Gravity Falls, on our way to a Toronto con, we stopped at Niagara Falls and I proposed to her there. At the con, we dressed up as Mabel and Dipper.
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Jul 5, 2022 14:52
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Season 2 Episode 1: Scary-Oke The Shack is Back! And Stan is throwing a party to commemorate the family’s triumph over Gideon and his enterprise’s triumphant return. Unfortunately for Stan, his activation of the machine has drawn the attention of a vague yet menacing government agency in the form of Agent Powers (Nick Offerman) and Agent Trigger (Jeff Rowe). Dipper is thrilled at the prospect of having people to work with to help unravel the town’s mysteries, especially since he seems to have reached the limits of what he’s been able to glean from Journal 3 (which Stan has returned, having photocopied every page). Stan, of course, doesn’t want anyone sniffing around the shack when he’s not operating some kind of ominous device in his secret basement, so he downplays Dipper to the agents and confiscates their business card. Dipper, frustrated by Stan’s seeming wilful ignorance, manages to get the card and meet up with the agents. Unfortunately, in his eagerness to overcome their skepticism of the journal’s contents, he inadvertently raises the dead. Fortunately, Wendy manages to evacuate the townsfolk (believing it to just be a mundane earthquake), but that just means the Pines are left alone to fend off the living dead. Soos, perhaps their greatest asset in this struggle, gets bitten by a zombie and becomes the face of the horde, cheerfully trying to get the kids to accept their fate and get eaten. The twins are only saved by the arrival Stan, who sets about the undead with a bat and brass knuckles to buy time for the kids to escape, before finally confessing (once they’ve barricaded themselves in the attic) that he knew all along but played dumb to try and keep the kids safe. The blacklights they’ve used for the party reveals that the author of the journals also wrote in invisible ink, including the secret weakness of zombies - a three part harmony. This means Mabel gets her dream of Love Patrol Alpha (‘I never agreed to that name’, says Dipper) defeating all of the zombies through the power of karaoke. Dipper apologises for endangering everyone and ruining the party, but Mabel forgives him. Stan & Dipper also make peace over the journal, with Dipper promising he’ll only use it for protection rather than seeking out trouble, and Stan promising he’s not got any other revelations he’s hiding. Both are lying. It turns out there’s one survivor of the horde - Soos, who naturally got distracted watching TV and thus avoiding death by karaoke. Fortunately the jorunal has a cure for zombification, so the shack’s beloved handyman will be back to normal next episode. Elsewhere in the woods, Powers & Trigger have managed to escape the undead and realise there’s a lot more to investigate in this town then they thought… This is a strong start to season two, and we get three major plot developments (the agents coming to investigate the town, Stan admitting he knows about the town’s weirdness, and Dipper discovering an extra layer of secrets in the journal). The zombies are a great villain (and a nice thematic tie back to Tourist Trapped, with the Pines family now facing the undead for real), and having Soos as the face of the horde provides some much needed levity. Season 2, Episode 2: Into the Bunker Dipper, having discovered the author’s hidden messages, convenes an adventuring party to the spot he found Journal 3, since it also conceals an entire bunker created by the Author. While Mabel & Soos are natural companions for this kind of story, we also get Wendy coming along on this adventure. She naturally fits into the group, effortlessly scaling the fake tree to reach a lever to access the bunker. Of course, Dipper’s crush is still there, and Mabel decides to help her brother by shoving him into a closet with her to confess his feelings. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a contamination chamber, leading into a lab where a monster has broken containment and is roaming around. Dipper &Wendy wind up fleeing further into the bunker, and find a mysterious old man (mark Hammill), who seems to be the author of the journals, but is actually the creature, a shapeshifter that wants the journal so he can gain new forms to transform. The group manages to reunite and set a trap for the creature. However, it goes awry and the group is separated. Dipper finds Wendy, who was apparently knocked unconscious, and laments that the whole situation could have been avoided had he just confessed his feelings…which makes things awkward for the real Wendy, who was behind him and heard the whole thing. The shapeshifter and Wendy get into a brawl, leaving Dipper to have to judiciously apply Wendy’s hatchet to the impostor. Wendy uses the ‘zipped lips’ gesture the two have used between them since ‘The Inconveniencing’, and Dipper hits the right target, staggering the creature another for the duo to shove it into a cryo chamber for Mabel & Soos to freeze it, but not before the creature taunts Dipper that seeking out the author will only lead to his own doom. The group are disappointed that they didn’t discover any more clues, but it turns out Soos picked up a smart guy briefcase that turns out to be a laptop that he thinks he can fix up. Of course the real follow-up is Wendy & Dipper finally talking about his crush. Wendy reveals that she’s more or less known the whole time, and that while she doesn’t reciprocate his affection since she’s too old, she affirms that he’s her best friend and still wants to hang out despite the potential awkwardness. It’s one of the few flaws in season one that Wendy didn’t have the chance to actually participate in the plot, usually just serving as the catalyst for Dipper to take action, but here she more than makes up for lost time, showing both a willingness and ability to take Gravity Falls’ weirdness head-on. At the same time, this episode also decisively ends the plot of Dipper’s crush. It was something that had kind of overstayed its welcome, and they ended it pretty much perfectly. Season 2, Episode 3: The Golf War Mabel is feeling kind of bummed after she gets bumped from the front page of the Gravity Falls Gossiper in favour of fashion tips from Pacifica Northwest, and Dipper suggests minigolfing as a way to take her mind off things. We saw the twins playing it back in ‘Carpet Diem’ in their room, but apparently Mabel’s quite the prodigy. Unfortunately, the whims of the minigolf windmill spoil her mood, not helped by Pacifica’s return, entirely unhumbled by the events of Irrational Treasure, on account of her immense wealth. And as a child of privilege, naturally she also plays a lot of golf (even the miniature kind) and is as good if not better at it than Mabel. Even Mabel can only tolerate so much smugness and calls Pacifica out for being a one-dimensional mean girl stereotype. Naturally this incurs her wrath, and Mabel finds herself agreeing to a midnight showdown back at the mini-golf course. The twins sneak in early to practise and accidentally uncover the secret of the minigolf course- the Lilliputtians, a joke that really does work better written down. These tiny denizens of the course, as they are so very eager to sing about (although Dipper demurs), control the balls. We first meet the inhabitants of the windmill, and their leader Franz (Patton Oswalt), but it quickly becomes clear that all of the holes maintain a longstanding bitter feud over which is best. They beg Mabel to bestow a sticker Stan gave her for good luck on one of them, and Dipper suggests getting them to rig the match against Pacifica. Mabel is reluctant, but Dipper points out Pacifica is cheating at life due to her wealth, so she goes along with it. Pacifica arrives with her ex-Soviet coach in tow, after her parents brush off watching or even expressing much of any interest in her at all, really. Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t take humiliation at the hands of Mabel & the Lilliputtians well (given she apparently is world-ranked at minigolf). We also get the heroic death of Big Henry down in the Miner hole, helping seal Mabel’s victory and possibly winning them the coveted sticker - until Franz decides to try and top them by kidnapping and killing Pacifica. Mabel swallows the sticker to try and stop the fighting between Lilliputtians once and for all, only to find they instead unite against the kids, forcing Mabel and Pacifica to putt liek their lives depend on it. Because they do. The kids escape (although Sergei is captured and forced to listen to the Lilliputtians’ song) and Pacifica and Mabel mend at least some of their fences in the car ride back to the Northwests’ manor, where Mabel introduces Pacifica to something called ‘sharing’. This episode does wonders for turning what was seemingly (as Mabel accuses) a one-note stereotype and giving her a lot more depth. We also get some great gags out of the Lilliputtians, as well as some great jokes from Stan & Soos’ hanging out in the car. Including Soos’ W-neck shirts, which even Pacifica likes.
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Jul 11, 2022 21:28
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Big Henry remains one of my favorite jokes of all time.
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Jul 11, 2022 22:23
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It's so good. Truly audacious for a kid's cartoon.
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Jul 11, 2022 22:52
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The Pacifica Northwest redemption arc is, to me, the show's biggest dropped thread.
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Jul 11, 2022 22:59
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Madurai posted:The Pacifica Northwest redemption arc is, to me, the show's biggest dropped thread. Yeah it always seemed to me that the last major episode to focus on her should have been the BEGINNING of her redemption arc, not the end of it
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Jul 11, 2022 23:08
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I'm sure people have noticed that there was only 3 episodes covered in that one post, and there's a reason for that: I noticed that there's in fact 21 episodes in Season 2 (they broke up the finale into two parts). Thus, I'm now doing 3 episodes a week instead of 4. While rewatching Gravity Falls is a delight, actually sitting down and writing about it is proving a lot harder.
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Jul 12, 2022 07:17
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Yvonmukluk posted:I'm sure people have noticed that there was only 3 episodes covered in that one post, and there's a reason for that: I noticed that there's in fact 21 episodes in Season 2 (they broke up the finale into two parts). I was doing that for a newbie watchthrough of Babylon 5, and by the time I got halfway through the series, I was basically writing an essay per episode. I liked watching the show, but it was becoming work, and killing my enthusiasm to sit down and watch. I really need to carry on at some point, but ugh.
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Jul 12, 2022 11:25
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Season 2, Episode 4: Sock Opera It’s a big day for the Pines Twins, as Soos has fixed up the laptop he found in the bunker and they’re one step closer to finding the author of the journals - with the interface clearly reminiscent of the device Stan’s been working on in the basement. Unfortunately, it seems it has a password protecting it. Fortunately Mabel is optimistic, suggesting between the two of them they can crack the code. Unfortunately she immediately finds herself taken with a handsome puppeteer. Gabe Bensen (Jorma Taccone) really loves puppets, enough that he at one point was called ‘puppet-crazy Gabe’. The artist presently known as ‘puppet-crazy Mabel’ likes him a lot. When pressed on when she’s throwing her next puppet show (because if you love puppets, you throw puppet shows or you’re clearly some fake fan), she promptly creates an elaborate lie that she’s launching an elaborate show this Friday, which she promptly pleads for Dipper’s aid with. He is put out by this (after all, he did not care for her last summer romance, as he deadpans), but agrees to help Mabel while working during the nights to try and crack the code (and inadvertently tries eating his own shirt - apparently not for the first time). He decides to sit out on the roof and keep trying, but (having apparently dozed off) gets an unwelcome visit from Bill Cipher, who’s come back and is as disturbing as ever, giving Dipper a ‘prize’ of a head that’s always screaming. He offers Dipper a hint with the laptop, who understandably refuses the aid of someone who he last saw invading Stan’s mind. Bill derisively disregards Dipper’s assertion he, Mabel and Soos ‘defeated’ him, and suggests that he’ll be around if Dipper changes his mind… Dipper immediately warns Mabel about Bill showing up in his dream, although affirms he’d never actually trust him. Mabel assure him she’s ready to help, having finished the preparation for her show, only for Gabe to skate on by and offhandedly mention having ghosted a girl whose efforts didn’t meet his standards, she immediately goes into panicked rewrites to make her show perfect and blows off helping Dipper. Dipper unsurprisingly isn’t pleased at what he sees as random obsession over a guy she met a few days ago, but Mabel does point out that depriving himself of sleep over something that isn’t actually time-sensitive. Unfortunately it turns out it is time sensitive, because Dipper apparently has reached the limit of guesses and now has only 5 minutes and one chance to get it right before the laptop wipes all its data, and wouldn’t you know it, Bill is right there! He offers his terms - a puppet, since they’re apparently running a surplus, and in exchange he’ll help him get into the laptop. Dipper is reluctant to offer up one, since Mabel has worked hard making them, but Bill promptly brings up all the times he’s sacrificed things for Mabel. Between the time crunch and being annoyed at being taken advantage of he agrees - and finds out he is the puppet Bill was thinking of. As it turns out Dipper’s been getting too close to certain truths that might disrupt Bill’s plans, so he smashes the laptop (technically fulfilling his bargain) and sets out to destroy the Journal. Fortunately it turns out Mabel’s laserlike obsession on the play worked in Dipper’s favour - she took the Journal as a prop for the play, preventing Bill from finding it - while he does volunteer to play the role of the reverend, the journal is still out of reach until act 3, and Dipper is able to possess his sock doppelganger to communicate the truth to Mabel (in a scene that’s maybe a series highlight). She goes to retrieve the journal while Dipper fills in for her (apparently doing a decent enough job despite his distaste for the material), only to be confronted by Bill-Dipper or ‘Bipper’ as Mabel dubs him. He demands the journal in exchange for not ruining the show - and her shot with Gabe. Mabel, however, decides it’s time to sacrifice for Dipper and gets in a brawl with Bipper (to Stan’s delight, after having been aggressively uninterested in the whole thing - ‘children fighting! I can sell this!’) Mabel takes advantage of Dipper’s weaknesses - his ticklishness and sleep deprivation) to wear out Dipper’s body, making it pass out and letting Dipper reclaim it, to his joy - until the aforementioned sleep deprivation and pain from Bipper’s various self-inflicted injuries hit him. Bill promptly possesses the Dipper puppet to taunt the twins once more, but Mabel decides to trigger the grand finale of a fireworks show that destroys the puppet and most of the set. Unsurprisingly, the audience is unimpressed, and none more than Gabe, who storms out, making out with his puppets all the way (‘I might have dodged a bullet there’, Mabel observes - although it’s apparently not a dealbreaker for Candy). Mabel apologizes to Dipper, and the twins swiftly reconcile. This is a very strong episode, with the return of Bill and showing him as a powerful villain in his own right. Bipper is a very disturbing yet entertaining way to bring him back - he expertly maniuplates Diper's resentments, and in hindsight it's clear that the whole countdown was likely a dream manipulated by Bill to make Dipper agree, illustrating that for all his apparent whimsy he's a master manipulator. Journal 3’s revelation that his actual endgame in this episode would have been to throw himself off the water tower once he destroyed the journal just hammers home he's not to be trifled with. We also get to address the fact that a recurring plot beat in season one was Dipper sacrificing things for Mabel with little in return (granted, most of the times what he sacrificed were attempts to spend time with Wendy in pursuit of his crush which we now know would never go anywhere, but still). It's also the first writing credit for Shion Takechi, who has since gone on to make Inside Job on Netflix (it’s good, check it out!). Season 2, Episode 5: Soos and the Real Girl We begin with Mabel in peril, having run face first into the shack’s screen door and got her braces stuck. Soos is here to save the day, though, before heading for home where his grandma informs him his cousin Reggie is getting engaged, to Soos’ surprise. His grandma urges Soos to try and find someone to come as his date to Reggie’s engagement party, since she wants to see him settled before she passes to live with the angels (but not her late husband). Needless to say, while Soos is a man of many talents, talking to women is not one of them, having never been on a date before. Fortunately, Dipper & Mabel are willing to help (Mabel in particular is eager to matchmake). As such, they set out for Gravity Malls, the town’s mall, where his first attempts…do not go well (including a joke with an androgynous goth which kind of feels a bit off). Ultimately Soos takes refuge in BeeblyBoop's Videogames, where Soos finds Romance Academy 7, a dating sim, in the sales bin. Although there’s some vague warnings from the cashier and a post-it note (complete with table-flip emoji), but the twins suggest getting it so Soos can practice. Soos launches into the game and meets .GIFfany (Jessica DiCicco), who quickly bonds with him, especially since she’s happy to agree with whatever he wants, and is very keen to please. They get along so well, Soos plays the game all night and actually misses work for the first time ever. Dipper & Mabel basically drag him back to Gravity Malls for more practice. Unfortunately it turns out that his skills don't seem to translate into the real world at first. For one thing you can’t undo when you mess up. .GIFfany appears on the display in a TV store and reveals her backstory - she became sentient and ‘deleted’ her creators, and now has powers to transfer across electronics, suggesting she be Soos’ full-time girlfriend, which despite the red flags he accepts. While spending time together on a childrens’ train ride, he hits it off with Melody (Jillian Bell), a mall employee. Now he’s not obsessing with the need to get a girlfriend, his natural affability shines through and he accidentally gets her to agree to a date that even at Hoo-Ha Owl's Pizzamatronic Jamboree, the Mall’s Chuck E. Cheese ripoff. The twins are thrilled for him (especially Mabel), and suggest that he can get rid of the game. In the subplot, Stan finds himself looking for a replacement for Old Goldie, a rather primitive mechanical prospector that vaguely resembles McGucket, only goldish in colour and far more horrifying. Dumping Goldie in the dumpster behind the mall, he witnesses Will E. Badger, an animatronic at Hoo-Ha’s, and decides he will steal it for himself, sneaking in the night of the date, partly to replace Goldie and partially because he felt slighted by the ageism of the Hoo-Ha’s manager. Soos reluctantly comes home to .GIFfany and decides he has to break it off. She takes it…poorly, to say the least, and he ultimately resorts to pausing the game and decides to return it after the date. Of course, her powers mean that she winds up crashing the date and commandeering the animatronics, endangering Soos, the twins and Melody (as an aside, a lot of people seemed to think it was a nod to Five Nights At Freddy’s, but that game was released about 6 weeks before the air date, so given the lead time it’s . Also Stan, since his badger heist is interrupted and he finds himself in a brawl with his would-be prize. Soos ultimately manages to overcome .GIFfany by throwing her game disc in a pizza oven (which as according to Journal 3, didn’t actually destroy her but trapped in Hoo-Ha’s copy of Fight Fighters where she hits it off with Rumble McSkirmish, apparently). Old Goldie inadvertently saves Stan by catching Will E. Badger’s armin his jaw, and Stan decides to take him to Vegas where he marries him in the over-the-credits montage (it can’t work out worse than his last Vegas marriage to Eda Marilyn, who divorced him after 48 hours and stole his car). Soos apologises to Melody, but she forgives him (apparently it’s not even her worst date, having once dated a magician). She agrees to be his date for Reggie’s engagement party, and although she’s moving back to Portland, she’s willing to continue the relationship. Soos is perfectly happy to have a video-chat based relationship, since it’s not unlike his last one (although thankfully much less toxic), much to the happiness of the twins. And Soos’ grandma, who’s been following him around because his life is apparently her soap opera. Another great episode, with Paul Robertson returning to provide great pixel art once more, and some great character development for Soos, and a steady stream of gags. Season 2, Episode 6: Little Gift Shop of Horrors We get the second compilation episode, with the framing device of you (yes, you) showing up at the shack after your car broke down after hours to be regaled by Stan with ‘Tales designed to SELL MY MERCHANDISE!’ The first story ‘Hands Off’, aside from being an instruction to put down what seems to be a Palantir, is about Stan incurring the wrath of a witch by stealing a faux-gold watch. And it turns out she cursed him an stealing his hands. This naturally gives a great montage of jokes, as Stan initially refuses to even consider returning the watch or worse apologising and tries to make a go of a handless existence. They find the Hand Witch (who as her name implies, has a theme and sticks to it) in her lair, but she declares that now Stan has to kiss her - on the lips! This is a step too far even for him, an the twins challenge her arbitrary changing of the terms. She finally admits she’s lonely and wants a date, but most suitors tend to flee unless she takes their hands hostage. Mabel offers her help, and the Pines family through the power of montage give her home a makeover (and a book of pick-up lines). Although Stan declares he’s learned nothing from this experience, he gets his hands back, and the Hand Witch hits it off with a handsome lost hiker. The second tale, Abaconings, sees Dipper trying to solve a new puzzle he got through mail-order, and decides to resort to the journal, in particular some magic mushrooms (not that kind) that he smushes into a paste and applies to his head to boost his brain power. He didn’t account for the Waddles factor, who eats the paste and becomes the world’s smartest pig (with his own vocoder/wheelchair/nerf rocket launcher combo, giving him the voice of Neil DeGrasse Tyson), to Dipper’s joy at finding a kindred spirit, and Mabel’s heartbreak having lost hers. While Dipper & Waddles give Grenda and Candy some inventions to use (showing that while they’re both smart, they might not have the best judgment. Especially giving Candy a plasma rifle). It culminates in Waddles’ invention of the Smarticle Accelerator, boosting his intelligence to solve all the world’s problems. A heartfelt plea from Mabel sees Waddles deciding to turn the device into reverse to sacrifice his intelligence to be there for Mabel once again, but not before giving Dipper some words of wisdom. Dipper is sad to have lost his companion (and their invention, which collapses immediately after its use), but Mabel offers him ‘a simple hug from a simple pig’ as a consolation prize. A somewhat bittersweet ending, and it does seem odd that Waddles couldn’t keep his intelligence and just have a healthier work-life balance, but that can be chalked up to dramatic licence on Stan’s part. Our final yarn, Clay Day, is about Mabel’s phobia of stop-motion animation. Stan (after unknowingly traumatising her due to showing her one of his old favourite films) decides to help her overcome her fears by taking her to the home of the director, who lives in town, to show it’s all fake. Unfortunately it turns out they’re all too real, since the director used black magic to animate his figurines and it turns out with the death of stop-motion they went mad with rage and enslaved their creator, and now plan to turn Stan, Soos, and Dipper into clay monsters too! Mabel manges to escape and discovers she can just reshape the clay to her liking, so she manages to turn the cyclops into a friendly character from the show she was watching at the start of the episode, and it (largely offscreen in silhouette) vanquishes the other clay creations, and the day is saved! Mabel is still terrified of stop motion, but now knows her fear is actually rational and faced it, and nobody is turned into a clay monster. Except for Soos, who is a Gumby-type creature until Stan kills him and reassures the kids they’re safe. Back at the shack, Stan is baffled that none of his sales pitches have worked, and offers a ‘free sample’ that knocks out the viewer, who is turned into the shack’s newest attraction. This is a fun non-canon compilation, with some great jokes throughout, from Stan in the framing story, to some great deadpan work from NDT as Waddles, to some shout-outs to Harryhausen in the last story. While some of the stories seem to have abrupt endings, they do kind of work given the teller - Abaconings in particular will make a lot more sense in hindsight. While non-canon (although Journal 3 suggests the Hand Witch is actually a real character), it’s a must-see. Yvonmukluk fucked around with this message at 12:42 on Jul 19, 2022 |
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Jul 18, 2022 21:16
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 It made me smile that the monster that puppet Gabe goes off to fight in The War looks very much like the shapeshifter they found in the bunker. Guess it actually did a number on Mabel! 
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Jul 18, 2022 21:37
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My wife is playing Stray on the PlayStation and found this. (This is a random person’s Twitter account who has used the hash tag and has the picture.) https://twitter.com/gasmask666/status/1549975670498873344 Twitter has cropped it, so you may want to click through. Also the game has a weird future font, but that’s journal 3.
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Jul 21, 2022 12:10
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Just want to say that I have loved reading all of these reviews of gravity falls. When I first started teaching esl in Thailand we had a part of the class where you had to describe a person and then draw them. Everyone drew Messi apart from one kid who drew Biĺl.
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Jul 21, 2022 17:54
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Zombie Squared posted:Just want to say that I have loved reading all of these reviews of gravity falls. When I first started teaching esl in Thailand we had a part of the class where you had to describe a person and then draw them. Everyone drew Messi apart from one kid who drew Biĺl. Bill is great character. He's what you'd get if Yog-sothoth and the Joker somehow had a baby that was raised by Kevin Trudeau
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Jul 21, 2022 18:35
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I hadn’t realized Inside Job on Netflix was a GF alum’s show until after watching a few eps, but my headcanon is now that Bill is one of the shadowy bosses
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Jul 21, 2022 18:40
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Thanks for all the kind words, now here's some belated reviews! Season 2, Episode 7: Society of the Blind Eye We start out at Greasy’s diner as Lazy Susan drives out the possums (and McGucket). She also runs into Jeff and most of his crew from the pilot, making the first time we’ve seen one of the townsfolk interacting with the paranormal without the Pines twins being involved. Before she can report it to the police, she’s abducted by some robe-wearing weirdos. After the opening credits, Dipper has gone through another of his thinking pens while he’s pondering his board of mystery when Mabel rushes in with a message in a bottle from Mermando. Unfortunately, despite her high hopes and a strong start (‘Dear Mabel’ - so far so good! ‘it is with a heavy heart’ - so far so good!) it turns out he’s wedding the queen of the manatees, much to Mabel’s dismay. Dipper commiserates, noting he’s not been having much luck with his goals. Mabel, however, winds up inadvertently using the bottle as a magnifier, noticing a plaque inside the smashed laptop that says ‘McGucket Labs’ - it turns out Bill technically did provide a clue back in ‘Sock Opera’. Dipper is initially baffled, then realises that all of the evidence does suggest that McGucket might in fact be the author of the journals. For all his eccentricity he’s clearly a technical savant, for one thing. The twins round up Soos and Wendy (appropriately enough, given they were there for the bunker excursion) from arguing over a new pop song Soos loves and Wendy can’t get out of her head to her annoyance. McGucket steadfastly asserts he’s not the author when they find him, although he freaks out when he sees an emblem drawn in Journal 3. At the group’s prompting, he reveals his earliest memory was being found amnesiac and disoriented outside the town museum, and the group sets out (although Wendy tosses Soos’ ‘Straight Blanchin’ CD out the window on the way, although she does offer to buy him a new one). The gang face a tougher task infiltrating the museum than in Irrational Treasure, albeit not too much difficulty. They find a hidden passage to the lair of the Society of the Blind Eye, who have gathered to wipe the mind of Lazy Susan, and the group move in after the Society departs, with Wendy & Mabel keeping watch while Dipper, Soos & McGucket try to track down the latter’s memories. Mabel winds up explaining to Wendy about her romantic woes, although takes her advice to just forget about guys for a while in not quite its intended spirit, deciding to try and use the memory-erasing gun to wipe the memory of her failed summer romances. Meanwhile, the guys have found the collection of memories, including some taken from Pacifica and her father, Mrs. Gleeful, and Robbie (specifically the events of ‘Fight Fighters’. McGucket finds his memories, however retrieving them sets off an alarm that gets the others captured (to his consternation). The other four are confronted by the Society, who reveal themselves to be several prominent background characters, most notably Bud Gleeful and Toby Determined, along with several other prominent background characters, including the witch-hating farmer from The Time Traveller's Pig, the guy who married a woodpecker (his marriage is not going great), and the tattooed bouncer. Their leader, however, is Blind Ivan (Peter Serafinowicz), who they’ve met before and exposits their backstory - their founder, who the society has forgotten, created it as a means to help the townsfolk cope with the weirdness of the town by blocking out their memories, often against their will (and perhaps explaining some of the quirks of the townsfolk). Now they’ve captured the four, they’re about to wipe their memories of the whole summer, leading to some last minute confessions (including that Wendy’s cool act is a front and she’s stressed the whole time - which given her family is rough-and-tumble lumberjacks, makes sense). However, McGucket rides in to the rescue, having plunder the mining exhibit for weapons, exhorting the others to ‘fight like a hillbilly’. Dipper races Ivan for the tube containing McGucket’s memories while the others fight off the Society - but Ivan gets there first, and is about to wipe Dipper’s memory when McGucket intercepts the ray. It turns out he’s completely immune - in his own words ‘my mind's been gone for thirty-odd years. You can't break what's already broken!’, before headbutting him into submission. With the tables turned, the society vows revenge - but Dipper turns the memory gun on them, wiping their memories of the society’s existence (and in a scene of shenanigans that’d make Stan proud, get the amnesiac members to donate to ‘miner appreciation day’). Blind Ivan, however, has no collection of who he is, although Mabel swiftly grant him the identity of Toot-toot McBumblesnazzle, travelling banjo minstrel. The group reconvenes at the memory device, and although there’s some brief reluctance on McGucket’s part to witness it, he puts in the device - and we witness Fiddleford Hadron McGucket, who has been the assistant to a visiting researching (clearly the author), who wishes to forget what he has seen. Deeply troubled by his work (including a device intended to help mankind), he created the portal gun to get rid of his memories, then the society to help others with theirs, then we get to see his degradation through repeated mind-wipes into who he is now. However, despite the revelations, McGucket is upbeat - he knows who he is and now he hopes he can begin to rebuild his life. Mabel has decided to keep her memories of her summer romances in the hope of learning from her mistakes rather than going all denial crazy. They all pile into Soos’ truck and head back (and ‘straight Blanchin’ comes on the radio to Wendy’s consternation). McGucket can’t recall much of his life and work with the author, but he notes that some of it is starting to seem familiar, like illustrations of the machine, which Stan is operating, noting it seems to be getting stronger. He gets injured on his hand by a pipe that gets sucked in, whih he bandages up, declaring that he doesn’t care if it’s dangerous or how long it takes, he’s going to pull off…something. This is a great episode with deep lore, in particular recontextualizing McGucket. He’s been almost a punchline the whole series, acting weird and crazy (and building devices that usually seem to endanger the situation), but this episode shows that there’s far more than meets the eye to him. Great jokes as usual, or course, and it’s always a treat to see Wendy brought on adventures. Season 2, Episode 8: Blendin’s Game In the distant future, Blendin Blandin has managed to successfully escape the Infinitentiary, something that has apparently never been done before - although being Blendin, he almost immediately botches it and bangs his time-knee. However, as he’s recaptured he invokes Globnar, naming the Pines Twins as tributes. In the present year of 2012, the twins are getting candy out of the vending machine when it gets stuck - fortunately they’ve got a guy on the inside to free their candy in the form of Soos, much to the twins’ gratitude. They notice when rifling through Soos’ wallet out of curiosity that today is his birthday, to their surprise. Speaking of surprises, they decide to show their gratitude by throwing Soos a surprise party with assistance from candy & Grenda - as twins, Dipper and Mabel qre apparently birthday experts - with all of Soos’ favourite things like cake-flavoured pizza and pizza-flavoured cake. As the capper they even have Toby Determined as ‘The Razz Dazzler’ (‘this is what my life has become!’). However, Soos quickly makes his excuses and leaves, and Wendy & Stan (still sporting a bandage from his injury last episode) show up to reveal that Soos hates his birthday. Stan even campaigned for the government to remove this date from calendars and somehow got banned from flying for his trouble. It’s a nice detail that Wendy & Stan were both on Soos’ side about this but also don’t get mad at the kids for something they didn’t know about. The group decide to make it up to Soos by using some of the other knowledge gleaned from Soos’ wallet - namely his love of laser tag. Dipper & Mabel promise they won’t leave his side, but unfortunately the time police have other plans, diverting them to the far-future to face the challenge of GLOBNAR! The gladiatorial sport of the future. Dipper & Mabel are understandably not keen to participate, especially since Blendin declares that when he wins, he’ll have them erased from existence. Some bluffing from Mabel manages to distract one of the guards enough for Dipper to swipe his time tape and they attempt to escape back to Soos’ birthday, although thwy overshoot and find the laser tag place is still a mattress store (albeit clearly on the verge of going out of business). Since the tape seems to have been damaged in the trip, they set out to the Shack to get tools for Dipper to fix it (along the way running into a lot of younger townsfolk, including Tambry and Wendy, the latter of whom thinks Dipper is cute, in a turn of irony) and we get a brief glimpse of Stan and a much slimmer handyman - this is also the heyday of the Gravity Falls Wax Museum, so we get a cameo of Wax Sherlock Holmes, too. Another familiar face is trying to get some candy from the vending machine, and Mabel applies the technique Soos used at the beginning of the episode - which in a classic predestination paradox, she’s just taught to his younger self. His abuelita shows up to take him home for his birthday, much to his excitement, and the twins realise they might be able to find out just what happened to make him hate his birthday. Arriving at Soos’ house, they see him having a great time with his abuelita and cousins, although the seat of honour is reserved for his dad. When the doorbell rings, he rushes to the door - only to find the mailman with a postcard from New Orleans we’ve seen his present self looking at. His dad, it seems, can’t make it, but promises he’ll be there next year - just like he did all the previous years, going by the box of postcards. The twins realise that’s why Soos hates his birthday - and that this is a problem no amount of parties can fix. They’re forced into hiding as Blendin and the timecops arrive, and overhear how by winning Globnar they can claim a Time Wish, allowing for the alteration of time, paradox-free. Realising this could be a way to make it so Soos’ dad did show up for his son, they decide to surrender themselves and face Blendin in Globnar, because Soos would do the same for them. As it turns out Blendin’s not quite the joke he was previously, having apparently been training for Globnar, but the twins more than put up a fight and the final score is neck-and-neck as they enter the final round. Unfortunately for Blendin, the final round is laser tag, and Dipper promptly keeps shooting him while Mabel claims the victory orb. As the victors, they’re free to decide Blendin’s fate, and while Mabel’s initial verdict is death, Dipper points out they did get him fired and put him on the path to vengeance, so they decide to show mercy and not only give him his job back but also pretty hair. Back at the non-Globnar laser tag, Soos is feeling down and contemplating going home when Dipper and Mabel return, escorted by Blendin. While they think that using the time wish to make his Dad show up would be what Soos wants, the decided to give the wish to him directly and make the choice himself. Soos ponders, uses the wish…and cleans up the twins’ appearance from all their scuffs from Globnar. Because he’s realised his birthday is about spending time with the people who care about you. And they’ve just fought through all kinds of trials to give him this wish, whereas his dad never even cared. He declares that they’re his family. Blendin is outraged at the wastage of a time wish, but is mollified when Soos reveals he also wished for a slice of infinite pizza. With that, the kids and Soos charge off to have some more laser tag to celebrate his birthday. Over the end credits, we see young Soos find the screwdriver and return it to the shack, just in time for Stan to fire hiis previous handyman, the future Deputy Durland, and he promptly hires Soos, cementing his role as Soos’ surrogate father. This is another fantastic episode - we get more focus on Soos who in this rewatch might be my favourite character, Blendin and the time police are great sources of jokes (‘they might have powder muskets or slap bracelets!’) and Globnar is an inherently funny word, especially when screamed by Justin Roiland. It’s definitely one to recommend. Season 2, Episode 9: The Love God Dipper & Mabel are hanging out with Wendy and her friends - although at this point it’s easier to just call them Dipper & Mabel’s friends, too, since they’ve assimilated into the group - at the cemetery, where they see a bunch of hot air balloons heralding the Woodstick festival, a local music show, including a bunch of Oregon’s up-annd-coming indie acts, including the titular Love God (John DiMaggio), star of an unfortunate viral video. Robbie is notable by his absence, but some creepy groaning from an open grave turns out to be him, since he has not been handling his breakup with Wendy well. Mabel takes pity upon him, and decides that he clearly needs to move on with a new girlfriend. Dipper is skeptical, worryin that it might disrupt the fragile group dynamic they’ve just been accepted into, but Mabel points out her success at matching up Soos & Melody (who are still going strong long-distance) and Waddles & Gompers (presently duct-taped together). Mabel decides to press on, going to visit Robbie at home - the town’s funeral home, with Robbie’s very cheerful parents. Robbie is reluctant, given he blames Dipper for the breakup, but ultimately relents. Mabel gets to considering who in town might be a match (Multibear apparently is a ‘maybe’), before ultimately settling on Tambry. The blind date goes poorly, with the would-be lovebirds mostly sniping at one another. The Love God, however, crashes into Greasy’s diner spreading love (which would have included two old women, but S&P apparently nixed a same-sex relationship, the cowards), and Mabel promptly asks for his help. He reveals he’s actually a cherub who mostly stepped away from his old job now the internet does much of it for him to focus on his music career, and reveals the secret to his power is his love potions - which he cautions only a professional like him can use responsibly. Mabel promptly take advantage of his getting distracted by a groupie to swipe some and generously apply it to Tambry and Robbie’s food. It kicks in immediately, and the two promptly leave the diner for some public displays of affection (Tambry even leaves behind her phone!). However, the revelation of the relationship immediately tears apart the rest of the friend group - Wendy is outraged that Tambry would date her ex, Nate is outraged Robbie would date Tambry when he knew Nate liked her, Lee is outraged that Nate told Robbie that but not him, and Thompson is outraged that his social circle that he’s let pick on him in the name of having friends has disintegrated. Dipper of course is outraged Mabel went against his advice. As the Woodstick festival kicks off, Mabel get the idea to fix the situation by stealing some anti-love from Love God to undo what she’s done in the hopes of fixing the group dynamics. Dipper tags along, but the heist quickly unravels and the Love God launches into pursuit. Over the course of the chase, Mabel maanges to nab a spray bottle top, but is waylaid by illusions Love God summons of her former crushes - including Alexander Hamilton from the pilot and the ‘Yes/Definitely/Absolutely’ kid from Tourist Trapped. Having reclaimed his potion, Love God declares only a greater being from the heavens can stop him. In an unrelated b-plot, Stan apparently has a longstanding grudge against Woodstick (possibly related to his grudge against that hippie who stole Carla McCormick’s affections all those years ago), but Soos suggests rather than turn away potential customers they should try and appeal to them. To that end, he has Soos construct a hot air balloon in his image, but unfortunately it goes awry, launching prematurely, and the signage falling away so that the festival is terrified by the sight of a burning balloon in Stan’s likeness, labelled I EAT KIDS. The two plots collide (literally) as the runaway balloon crashes into Love God, who’s finally had enough and lets the kids have the potion, while Stan revels in the festival goers’ newfound fear of him. As Mabel prepares to spray Tambry and Robbie, he notices her and thanks her for helping him move on. Ultimately Mabel can’t bring herself to meddle further, and Thompson proves an unlikely solution, getting busted trying to bring snacks and the rest of the gang are reunited cheering him on as he’s humiliated - just as planned. This is a great episode, with DiMaggio a great guest star, a focus on Robbie as a character and for once not an antagonist at all. The one damper on things is the whole love potion angle (although Journal 3 establishes that the potion only has a temporary effect, suggesting that their feelings are in fact genuine - an interpretation supported by the fact that neither just immediately left the initial blind date, they just needed a nudge). That aside, it’s still a great episode.
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Jul 25, 2022 21:24
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I Heart Kids is not just a top five Gravity Falls sequence, it is full stop a top five sequence. I don’t think much has made me laugh harder in the decade since. Okay, M Night Shyamalan’s Old managed it since her only regret was having boneitis. But just an absolute goddamn master class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyu0n1pTfhg Nikumatic fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Jul 26, 2022 |
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Jul 26, 2022 18:05
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Season 2, Episode 10: Northwest Mansion Mystery As the name implies, this episode turn an eye to the richest family in town, as they prepare to throw their annual party (with so much diversity, having both millionaires and billionaires). We’ve seen hints at the somewhat dysfunctional family dynamic before, but they kind of casually drop in that the Northwests apparently used pavlovian conditioning on Pacifica. However before we can dwell upon the horrifying implications, a sudden bout of paranormal activity strikes, as Preston Northwest (Nathan Fillion) acts as though this is something very unwelcome, but not, it would seem, unexpected. Of course, as a 1%er, doing something about it himself is out of the question, and he has just the person in mind… We get the debut of the truncated opening credits, which recurs whenever an episode is particularly overstuffed with content. We swiftly move onto Dipper (who having apparently recently fought a giant bat, going by the Gravity Falls Gossiper we saw in the cold open) is happy to spend the day relaxing watching a marathon of Ghost Harassers on the Used To Be About History Channel. Unfortunately his plans get derailed by three connected things - a special bulletin about the Northwests’ party (which only allows the elite of the elite in, although the townsfolk tend to congregate at the gates anyway), Mabel, Candy and Grenda rushing in to watch aforementioned broadcast, and then Pacifica Northwest, right after Dipper has declared that she is the worst and he’d say that to her face. Naturally, he does just that and slams the door in her face. He’s also reluctant to help her, but Mabel asks him to do it in exchange for invites for her and her friends. It’s worth noting, of course, that while Pacifica, if not Mabel’s friend, is no longer her enemy. However, as seen back in ‘Irrational Treasure’, Dipper is more than happy to be mad at her on Mabel’s behalf. But he’s also willing to support his sister and gets Pacifica to fork over the tickets. At the mansion, the girls are quite taken with all the finery (and the guest list, especially one Marius Von Fundhauser, a very, very, very rich young Austrian aristocrat - but agree he’s out of their league and swear not to pursue him). Dipper is all business (after Pacifica gets him a tuxedo) and the two of them head to the room that’s the epicentre of the activity. At this point the ghost of Northwest Manor (Kevin Michael Richardson) reveals himself, a vengeful spectre of a lumberjack who causes blood to seep from the taxidermy and with unsurprisingly toting an axe to complement the one lodged in his skull. He manages to shattered the vial of anointed water Dipper planned to banish him, and Pacifica and Dipper flee for their lives. Meanwhile back at the party, as Marius arrives, Candy suggests breaking the deal and working together so at least one of them might have a shot - as long as it’s not Grenda, whose…unique approach they feel would ruin their chances. Mabel reluctantly agrees, and the flirting is on. Out in the gardens, Pacifica and Dipper flee from the ghost (and have a brief run-in with a peacock) and find a mirror that’d be perfect for the task - but it’s one the other side of her parents’ famous rug and Pacifica stops them from getting it, more afraid of her parents’ wrath than that of the ghost. Fleeing form the ghost, the duo find a hidden room, and Dipper is able to find a replacement mirror and finally capture the ghost. Pacifica hug him in joy (and then promptly offers a bribe). The Northwests offer some token gratitude, and Pacifica suggests Dipper stay for the party, but he decides to prioritise getting rid of the ghost. On his way to do so and musing that Pacifica’s not actually, the ghost exposits his backstory - over a century and a half ago, the Northwests got the lumberfolk to build their mansion, promising a party as a reward. Some time and lives later, The Northwests renege on the deal, turning away the lumberfolk, many of whom perish in a mudslide caused by the deforestation. As Archibald Corderoy (the ghost’s true name, as established in Journal 3 - an ancestor of Wendy) is dying, he declares a dying curse - in 150 years, if the Northwests still bar the gates to the townsfolk, then he will return to take his vengeance. Dipper immediately returns to confront the Northwests over the fact they used him to escape the curse instead of just giving the ghost what he wants. Pacifica tries to apologise for the deception but is silenced by the bell. Dipper storms off to banish the ghost, who urges Dipper to release him, but even though Dipper sympathises, he doesn’t want to endanger Mabel. He is willing to grant one final request - to let the ghost gaze upon the trees one last time - however, it was a trick and the spirit manages to heat the mirror so Dipper drops it, shattering it and freeing him. Back at the mansion, Mabel and Candy’s flirting is not going well (Mabel mixing up Austria and Australia, and the twosome squabbling over their ‘tag’ system), not helped by Grenda discovering their violation of the truce. Affronted, she marches over to Marius and gives him her best ‘you have something on your shirt’, to the shock and horror of the party goers. The possible disintegration of their friendship winds up getting slightly overshadowed by Archibald’s vengeance - the taxidermy comes to live, and the party guests are transformed into wooden statues as the forest seems to overtake the manor. Dipper finds Pacifica hiding in the hidden room they discovered previously, filled with evidence (including commemorative portraits!) of the Northwest family’s various crimes. Dipper urges her to open the gates to appease the gates, but is turned to wood as he tries to use a platter to re-trap the ghost. Pacifica moves to do it, but Preston emerges from the panic room and orders her to come join him. Pacifica refuses, even after he uses the bell, and finally opens the gates. The townsfolk flood into the mansion, appeasing the ghost and horrifying her parents. Mabel, Candy, and Grenda reconcile, and Marius, utterly smitten by Grenda’s boldness, gives her his phone number. Dipper and Pacifica also reconcile, bonding over ruining her parents’ prized rug (Dipper also wonders in Journal 3 if there seemed to be a vibe going on between them - which he promptly scribbled out). However, while Pacifica steps out, Dipper is waylaid by one of the other attendees - McGucket, who declares he’s fixed his laptop, and has terrible tidings. Dipper, tired from the day’s events, suggests it can wait. However, the laptop has a countdown suggesting there’s only hours until whatever happens, happens. The post-credits scene focuses on two other attendees - Agents Powers and Triggers, who’ve been showing up in cameos over several episodes, and are concerned about the machine. Of course this episode is also rather noticeable for its complete absence of Stan. Stan, who as the end cipher notes, is not what he seems… This is an all-time favourite episode of mine, giving some excellent characterisation to Pacifica, building on what we saw in ‘The Golf War’. The direction is excellent, with an excellent atmosphere and a degree of horror I’m amazed Standards & Practices allowed. This episode was directed by Matt Braly, who won an Annie Award for direction for this episode. For more of his work, you should check out his own series Amphibia. The next few reviews will take a while given their plot relevance and I'm trying to move away from just recapping the episodes.
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Aug 2, 2022 19:12
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I just remember seeing that episode and thinking How they could have blood leaking from a "lumberjack's portait and not have two old women macking out in the previous episode." Also this episode has made me realise I dont know how to spell the term whem written. Is is making out or maccking out or macking out?
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Aug 2, 2022 21:29
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Zombie Squared posted:I just remember seeing that episode and thinking How they could have blood leaking from a "lumberjack's portait and not have two old women macking out in the previous episode." "Macking" and "making out" are similar but separate terms.
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Aug 2, 2022 22:22
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I'm so sorry for the delay everyone, I've kind of been trying to move away form just recapping and getting into more in-depth discussion, and I'm not sure if it's quite worked out.  But here it is: Season 2, Episode 11: Not What He Seems This is the episode the entire series has been building towards, as the title indicates. The mystery of just what Stan has been up to in the basement has been present since the beginning, and we also have Agents Powers and Trigger who showed up at the start of this season. This episode sees these two plots crash into each other, as what starts as a sleepy Saturday morning after the party at Northwest Mansion (as far as the Pines twins are concerned) sees the Federal Government charging in to haul off their beloved Grunkle. Of course, the twins are determined to prove his innocence of the charges of stealing nuclear waste and having a doomsday device, charges that we the viewers know are not unfounded. As the countdown keeps ticking, unknown to everyone but Stan, Dipper & Mabel find themselves repeatedly confronted with the possibility that their beloved Grunkle really is not what he seems. Agent Trigger lays the seeds of doubt (at least in Dipper’s mind), but it’s only when they see with their own eyes that Stan lied about his innocence that it really hits home. Much like the scene in the gift shop way back in Tourist Trapped, this episode’s plotline does a great job of illustrating Dipper & Mabel’s personality - as evidence piles up against Stan, Mabel is the one who keeps believing in Stan, as Dipper grows inresingly determined Stan’s up to no good. Even when they’ve successfully reached the very lab with the machine, Mabel points to the fact Stan keeps a photo of the twins down there - while Dipper fixates on the other two journals that (as far as he knows) Stan’s kept the whole time. Even Soos, who clearly regards Stan as his surrogate father right down to planning his own option and renaming to ‘Stan Two’, finds himself siding with Dipper. It all culminates in the final scene, as the countdown nearly reaches zero (something the journal warn could herald disaster, and Stan, who has successfully escaped custody and misdirected pursuit away from the Shack, implores them not to shut it down. The gravitational anomalies mean that in the end only Mabel can press the button as Stan beseeches her not to and Dipper begs her to do it. Stan declares what he meant to at the start: Stan Pines posted:I wanted to say that you're gonna hear some bad things about me, and some of them are true, but trust me. Everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all for this family! And then he asks the real question of this episode, even more than what his plan is: ‘you really think I’m a bad guy?’ Because after all, Mabel is the one person who’s always tried to believe in the goodness of people. Even former antagonists like Pacficia and Robbie who she's willing to try and befriend or help. Only two characters have been so far beyond the pale that she (at this point) is unwilling to forgive: Gideon and Bill, not coincidentally the two who’ve directly targeted Dipper. Stan has lost Dipper and even Soos. If Mabel doesn’t believe in him, then there’s no hope. Her sweater’s been staring us all in the face - she’s the key to this moment. And thankfully for Stan, she chooses to trust him. Although there’s a great flash of energy (and some great shots of Dipper and Mabel floating in a white void as the machine activates) the world is still there. Along with a mysterious trenchcoated, six-fingered figure - Stan’s brother. The Author. This is the episode people were waiting for since that first shot of Stan opening the secret door, and it does not disappoint. It’s a great character study of all three of the Pines family (four if you count Soos - and frankly adopted by Stan or not, he’s an honorary Pines as far as I’m concerned), with some truly cinematic action setpieces and while the trademark humour is somewhat subdued it still shines through in places (the agents contemplating Rock That Looks Like A Face Rock is fun moment, for one). The final scene is (as I hope I illustrated) one of the best not just in the show, but maybe even in cartoons in general. And of course, it leaves plenty of questions still to come… Season 2, Episode 12: A Tale of Two Stans This episode was almost as hotly anticipated as the last, finally offering the truths of what exactly Stan’s motivations (and for that matter, his identity) were. Although a lot of people had put together the clues of there being two Stans (to the point Alex Hirsch staged a fake leak of McGucket writing one of the journals to misdirect and/or troll the fans), the exact nature of their relationship was still up in the air. The twins (and Soos) speak for the fandom as they demand explanation (Soos in particular declares if it doesn’t align with his fanfiction he will be very disappointed). The Author (J.K. Simmons) is also very interested to find out what Stanley’s been up to… And so we get the story of Stanford Pines, the six-fingered seeker of the strange, and his twin brother Stanley, the Stan we all knew and loved. We did get a very brief glimpse of Stan’s childhood back in Dreamscaperers (complete with an appearance of Ford on the bleachers with his head concealed by a book and his hands concealed by his gloves), but now we get a closer look at his upbringing (with Johnathon Banks as Filbrick Pines, a man who as the credits cipher reveals, when confronted with unexpected twins just named them both variants of ‘Stan’). The original mystery twins are clearly as close as Dipper & Mabel in their youth, with big dreams of taking a boat they found to tour the world and leave their tiny New Jersey home behind. Unfortunately reality intrudes as the twins’ paths diverge, with Stanford’s clear brilliance and the promise of scholarships leaving Stanley behind. Some accidental sabotage later, and the twins have thoroughly become alienated. A reunion tne years later sees Stanford accidentally lost in the multiverse portal he built, leading to a remorseful Stanley assuming his identity and leveraging his talents in showmanship into the Mystery Shack to keep paying off the mortgage so he can keep trying to bring back his brother, culminating in the events of the series so far. The twins and Soos are able to forgive Stan, but Stanford (or ‘Ford’ as he prefers to be called) can’t let go of the past so easily - he agrees to let Stan keep running the shack for the summer to keep watch on the twins while he tries to finish his work of dismantling the portal, but once the summer ends, he declares that he’s taking back his home and identity. Stan agrees, but demands he stay away form the twins for their own safety. This episode had to do three things - establish Stan & Ford’s backstory, resolve the Powers & Trigger subplot, and subsequently integrate Ford into the narrative. It succeeds on all three counts, thankfully. Simmons is excellent casting as Ford, both as the hopeful and later betrayed young man and later as a bitter and wary older one. While Ford’s usage of the memory gun and some bluffing to wipe all the federal agents’ memories and taking their case file might seem a rather unceremonious end to a plotline that’s been with us all season, it does also establish very quickly that Ford is a very competent adventurer in his own right, able to take swift and decisive action when he has the right tools at his disposal. At the same time, this is a man whose last writings in Journal 3 were a warning to ‘trust no one’, and he is still bitter over his involuntary exile and what he sees as Stan’s recklessness in bringing him back. At the same time this episode is great at recontextualising Stan’s own behaviour. While a lot of it was clearly intended as foreshadowing (his attachment to Wax Stan, sealing up the room with the electron carpet where he spent a long dark night of the soul after accidentally banishing his brother), there’s other things that in hindsight make a lot more sense now we know about Ford. The first is ‘Abaconings’. Now obviously that episode isn’t canon, but that story now seems more like a parable of his relationship with his brother, only in this case the ending sees the genius instead stepping back from the pursuit of knowledge and focusing on staying with the companion who he would have left behind. The second part of it, of course, is his treatment of Dipper. While I think it’s fair to say he was (for once) being honest when he talked about trying to toughen Dipper up in ‘Dreamscaperers’, him trying to keep Dipper away from the supernatural was likely not just a matter of keeping him safe also because he probably saw far too much of his twin in his nephew, worrying he might go down a similar path of obsession (given the last he saw of Ford he was not exactly in a good place), also leading to his demand Ford stay away from the twins. While the episode is obviously rather dramatic, it nonetheless still fits in some humour both in commentary from the twins and Soos (Dipper squeeing over Ford beginning to keep his journals, much to his Great Uncle’s befuddlement is a highlight) as well as in the narrative (NEW JERSEY SCIENCE FAIR: What are ya, some kind of smart guy?), culminating in Soos explaining the entire thing to an exasperated Wendy over the credits. This episode had a lot of expectations to deal with, but thankfully it was up to the task. But while Stan’s life story has largely been explained and the agents seen off, summer’s still not over, and Ford likely won’t spend all of it in the basement…
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Aug 7, 2022 17:31
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I've just started watching this series and I'm going in blind -- it's incredible so far.
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Aug 7, 2022 23:59
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I'm sure you've all seen it before, but "Call me Mabel" is an absolute banger. The best song of the 2010s with the best cartoon of the 2010s at last?
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Aug 20, 2022 10:04
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Oh jeez, it's been an entire fortnight since I last posted? I'd better get back on track! Season 2, Episode 13: Dungeons, Dungeons & Even More Dungeons So we’ve at last unveiled the secrets of Grunkle Stan and the identity of the author, so the question becomes: where do we go from here? Can the show survive without those two foundational mysteries? Fortunately, the answer to that question is ‘yes’. While Stan & Mabel are glad things have settled down after the last two episodes’ events with the only upcoming development the Ducktective series finale, Dipper, naturally, wants to learn more about his Grunkle/idol Ford. While Ford being standoffish does make sense, given his past with Stan and effectively a stranger to the twins, in an ensemble show he has to get out of the basement and interact with the others, and the titular game is the perfect link between him and Dipper. Of course, the rest of the cast don’t share their enthusiasm, with Stan and Mabel both rejecting offers to play and even Soos not interested (although he’s not as dismissive as them - a logical move for a man who’s going to go LARP in his grandma’s back yard instead). The matters come to a head when Stan, Mabel and Grenda (appearing without Candy for I think the first time ever) find their watch party has been blocked by Ford & Dipper’s game. The argument between Stan & Ford culminates in Stan accidentally (through an inadvertent roll of Ford’s infinity-sided die) summoning Probabilitor (Weird Al Yankovic) the game’s mascot who promptly abducts Ford & Dipper, forcing the others reluctantly into an ‘epic wizard quest’ to go save the two nerdier twins before their brains are eaten. Of course, if you want an amusing yet relatively harmless villain, Weird Al’s a great pick for the role, being goofy but with just enough menace there’s still tension. Of course, the episode ends with an actual game of DD&D when Dipper & Ford are placed into a contest between the wizard and Stan & Mabel. When Dipper & Ford break down the games into terms Mabel & Stan might actually be interested in (imagination and risk) and they finally embrace the game on their own terms. Stan in particular busts out his gambling (read:cheating) skills to make the critical role. At the same time the episode acknowledges that while it’s not actually something Stan would actually embrace as a hobby, he’s accepted that Dipper gets something out of it. Dipper for his part is happy to join the others in watching the rerun of the Ducktective finale (which has been a rich well of meta-jokes on the show itself all episode). Finally Ford reveals to Dipper what he’s been working on since his return - dismantling the portal, since it’s power has inadvertently torn open a rift in reality he’s sealed away. He also reveals he’s made many powerful enemies who might want the rift. But given the events they’ve gone through together, he’s chosen to trust Dipper - as he notes they’ve both gone a while without a friend. Journal 3 also notes that Ford had initially been dismissive of Dipper, in particular his additions to Journal 3, but notes that having reread it after the events of this episode he’s come to reassess him as a true kindred spirit. This episode had a tough task to follow up the last two, and it manages to deliver a largely standalone tale that smoothly integrates Ford into the ensemble while laying the seeds of future plotline. Come back tomorrow for The Stanchurian Candidate! Yvonmukluk fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Aug 22, 2022 |
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Aug 21, 2022 19:32
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Season 3, Episode 14: The Stanchurian Candidate While the last episode mostly focused on Dipper’s relationship with the returned Ford, this episode sees Stan coping with feeling overshadowed by his brother. The death of the ancient mayor (who may or may not have caused WWI) gives him an opportunity to assert himself (and to block Bud Gleeful from the mayor’s office). Dipper & Mabel, while not exactly thinking Stan has the best shot (and probably not the best qualified to actually do the job) both agree that they should probably stop Bud because it’s probably not great for their non-Bill nemesis to have his father as mayor (which is confirmed later as being a scheme on his part to get a pardon) Of course despite the shack crew rallying behind Stan, it turns out a professional conman isn’t actually a terribly electable candidate - at least in Gravity Falls, Oregon. Of course, when this episode was made it was in the lead-up to the 2016 election when Stan’s antics would, it was believed, be actually detrimental to his chances. As things worked out that’s not necessarily true, but at least in Gravity Falls, ‘teaching kids swears’ as a childcare policy doesn’t play well, even if the stump speeches take place on a literal stump and the mayor is anointed by a ‘Mayor-Pickin’ Eagle’. The twins decide to take a more hands-on approach to their campaign management, using a mind-control tie Ford made for Ronald Reagan’s masters to make sure Stan says and does all the right things. They do actually acknowledge it’s kind of messed up, especially between Soos’ brief existential crisis when he’s used as the guinea pig for testing the tie, Stan understandably being upset when the truth comes out, and Gideon (when he breaks out a possession spell from a page he saved from Journal 2 on his father) calling out the twins for hypocrisy. Stan, having been basking in approval from the town, finds himself bombing at the final debate without their input. Unfortunately Gideon decides to do a little bombing of his own - blowing up the twins with some pyrotechnics. But when Stan notices the twins in peril, he shows his true colours - a man who’ll do what it takes to save his family. When they’re about to leap to safety, his only wish is that if he dies he gets a bigger tombstone than Ford. Thankfully his heroism means there’s a mountain of birdseed to break their fall. While Stan did technically win the vote, it turns out his laundry list of crimes makes him ineligible, and the mayorship goes to Tyler Cutebiker (the ‘get it!’ guy), the only candidate to apparently fill out his paperwork properly. Stan’s not mad, though, since he got the affection of his family, and that’s what counts. Gideon’s still in prison, and although he’s got the affection of his fellow inmates, he’s decided to reach out once more to Bill Cipher, ready to make a deal… Come back tomorrow for The Last Mabelcorn!
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Aug 22, 2022 21:13
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Season 3, Episode 15: The Last Mabelcorn One character has (the tag last episode aside) been rather conspicuous by his absence ever since Ford returned - Bill Cipher. Despite being written of in at least two of the journals, Ford didn’t mention him at all in his explanation of his own backstory. And as the cold open shows, Bill certainly knows ‘Sixer’. While they do briefly hint we’ll get a standalone Jumanji-style adventure at the outset, the main narrative is going to intrude and focus on the threat of Bill. Dipper & Mabel are obviously familiar with Bill at this point and are both willing to help, especially in Mabel’s case since it gives her the chance to interact with unicorns. While Ford is encouraging, he privately admits to Dipper he’s not hopeful about her chances of success. While the episode’s title suggests a Mabel-focused episode, we do get some major development on Ford and Dipper’s mentor-mentee relationship. Ford’s plan B of a mind reading/shielding machine winds up (after Dipper convinces himself to use the device on the sleeping Ford out of curiosity) sees Dipper believing his uncle is under Bill’s sway or even outright possessed, and when confronted by a now awake Ford winds up brandishing the memory gun against him, using the mantra of ‘trust no one’ that Ford left in Journal 3. As it turns out, Ford was telling the truth about the metal plate in his head keeping Bill out and shielding his mind, meaning the memory gun’s blast winds up frying the machine. Ford finally comes clean about his relationship to Bill - he appeared to Ford as a muse to encourage him to build the portal, which he was planning to use to bring about a merging of the worlds, and Ford only realised his true plan after McGucket witnessed what was coming (and Bill straight up told him, I guess to rub it in). Ford concealed this out of shame and guilt, but promises to be honest with Dipper going forward. Ford does wind up complementing Dipper on his decisive action, since if he had been possessed it would have defeated Bill, too. Of course, while he’s bonding with Dipper (and inadvertently foiled his own plan) Mabel, Candy, Grenda and Wendy set out for the unicorns’ secret glade. Mabel is particularly eager, because she loves unicorns and is eager to be the one pure of heart enough to get the unicorn hair Ford’s plan requires. Unfortunately she finds herself experiencing a major existential crisis when the unicorn Celestabellebethabelle (Sam Marin) declares she is impure, even after she undertakes attempts at redemption. Wendy (once more kind of proving she’s the unsung MVP of the shack when it comes to adventure) angered by what she sees as the unicorn’s impossible standards leads Candy & Grenda in taking more extreme measures behind Mabel’s back. Mabel is understandably horrified, especially when Celestabellebethabelle awakens from the fairy-dust induced anaesthesia the others induced and blames her - although some other unicorns come by and reveal they don’t actually have the ability to judge others’ hearts, Celestabellebethabelle is just a huge jerk, one who rather unwisely decides to taunt Mabel when confronted over her hypocrisy. One well-deserved thrashing later, and the girls return to the shack triumphant and with a deeper understanding of moral relativism. In the tag, Bill notes they've protected the shack, so he'll just need to find a pawn on the outside... We get some great character work for everyone this episode, as well as both defining Ford’s past and establishing Bill’s endgame. Plus Stan gets to be a two-scene wonder and is hilarious both times. Season 2 Episode 16: Roadside Attraction And so we come to the last standalone episode of the series. And as is to be expected, it’s a fun high-concept episode as Stan takes Soos, the twins, and Mabel’s friends on a roadtrip across Oregon to strike back at his various rivals in other tourist traps. It also gives Dipper a chance to try and finally move past Wendy. As the last episode hinted, Dipper still has lingering feelings, even though he’s known full well it’s never going to happen and accepted that. Unfortunately while he had some good rapport with Pacifica back in Northwest Mansion Mystery and Wendy for that matter back in Double Dipper, when he’s actively trying to flirt with a girl he gets in his own way, as seen in his disastrous first attempt at the first stop. Stan notices he’s feeling down and winds up giving him some advice, which unfortunately is basically pickup artistry (although thankfully it’s more be confident than outright negging). Dipper is looking for a new approach and finds it works for him. He’s rather worried about toying with the emotions of the girls he meets, though, given he’s only doing this in the name of trying to get over Wendy, but Stan suggests he keep at it for practice, because it’s a road trip and what are the odds he’ll see any of them ever again? Dipper winds up taking his advice, including going on a date with Candy who’s developed a crush from Dipper’s new confidence (while Dipper, while Stan winds up hitting it off with Darlene (Chelsea Peretti) who works at their last stop. However, it turns out Darlene is the one playing Stan, revealing her true nature as a kind of…arachno-woman who preys on guys like Stan for food. She’s a great villain, gleefully hamming it up and deftly deconstructing Stan’s whole crummy pickup artistry. Of course, Mabel is 100% on board with her brother dating her best friend, and she and Grenda are more than willing to facilitate their romance. Of course it runs into the problems that Dipper doesn’t really think of Candy in that way and also basically all the girls he met on the road trip arrive when they’re alone together and Dipper’s house of cards completely collapses. He tries to find Stan to commiserate but learns the truth about Darlene, and winds up rounding up the girls to rescue Stan. Candy Chiu, 6th Grade, finally gets her own spotlight this episode. While she's had excellent one-liners basically since her debut, she’s not really had much if any development on her own - Grenda got to tag along for ‘Dungeons, Dungeons and Even More Dungeons’, while also being the one of the three friends to win the heart of Marius back in Northwest Mansion Mystery. For the first time she gets to lead the subplot, including enjoying the various pamphlets (which as a fellow leaflet enjoyer I can respect). Dipper’s more confident and less awkward self (courtesy of Stan’s advice) catches her eye and she (with some prompting and assistance from her friends) takes a proactive role in pursuing Dipper. At the same time, her hurt when she sees just how much Dipper’s been playing the field (even if it was only intended to be harmless flirting practice) is very palpable, and then when things get serious her love of pamphlets prove to be the key to defeating Darlene. Of course, in the denouement Dipper & Stan commiserate over their shared romantic failures - Stan never had much actual success in love, and he feels bad he likely led Dipper astray. But it’s not all bad - as Dipper notes, it did achieve the goal of getting his mind off Wendy, and he makes Candy a heartfelt apology pamphlet, which she accepts (having gotten over Dipper after seeing him fleeing from Darlene). All’s well that ends well - except for the various other attraction owners vandalising the shack and the sudden realisation they left Soos behind along the way. The final standalone episode gives us plenty of great gags, a good moral about playing with the emotions of others, and a focus on a character who takes full opportunity of her time to shine. Season 2 Episode 17: Dipper & Mabel Vs. The Future We’re just one week away from August 31st 2012, Dipper & Mabel’s 13th birthday, and the mystery twins are pumped to become technically teens. We get to see them basically in sync, bonding over Mabel’s character of Mr. Upsidedownington, excited about the promise of high school and trigonometry, and even bonding with Soos and Stan over their impending life milestones - Soos is finally going to get to eat crackers in bed, and Stan is anticipating his ‘old man ponytail’ - he’s going through some things (like his impending eviction from his home and livelihood by Ford at the end of the summer, but he's either in denial or just not telling the kids). Speaking of Ford, he summons Dipper since his face is on fire (by design, it’s faster than shaving and it creates a sense of urgency to get Dipper there). The rift containment unit is cracking, and he needs Dipper’s help to fix it. He’s obviously eager to help but doesn’t want to abandon Mabel to plan the party alone - Mabel on the other hand is fine with him going, since they’ll be able to do the planning all week. She even prepared backpacks for their respective missions, complete with walkie-talkies to keep in touch as they go. While she’s never had the same passion for mystery as Dipper, she’s always willing to support him. The episode is largely delineated down these lines, as Dipper and Ford undertake their mission while Mabel sets out with Soos to plan for the party. We get some great action in Dipper’s subplot, along with confirmation of the theory that had been around since season one that the unusual cliff shapes were in fact caused by a UFO that crashed millions of years ago and helped form the valley that the town was built upon. He’s reluctant to make that decision, but after a wild adventure to retrieve the alien adhesive they need and subsequently rescue Ford from the ancient alien security system, he ultimately decides to take Ford up on the offer to stay in town as his apprentice. But while Dipper winds up having a great adventure with Ford (and as per Journal 3, actually learns about Ford’s true unifying theory of weirdness and reveals his real name - it’s Mason) exploring the fantastical, Mabel finds herself staring down the mundane future and all it entails. First she’s confronted with the impending horrors of high school, then the fact her friends won’t be there at the end of summer to see her off. Stan gives her some cheering up by pointing out she’ll still have Dipper. But just then, having tried repeatedly to reach Dipper for emotional support all day, the walkie-talkie finally works - so she can hear Dipper accept Ford’s offer to stay in town and leave her behind. Needless to say when Dipper returns, Mabel is utterly despondent, as she’s losing the only link to this summer she’d have at home - while Dipper tries to console her that he’ll keep in touch (which probably rung slightly more hollow 10 years ago before the age of Zoom calls), she grabs her backpack and flees into the woods. She reaches into her backpack to get some chocolate to try and feel better - alone to find she grabbed the wrong backpack by mistake. Her retreat into sweater town is interrupted by Blendin Blandin - he’s come back to help repay her for her and Dipper’s kindness by offering to create a time bubble so the summer can last a little while longer, only needing a ‘gizmo’. Meanwhile, Dipper is having second thoughts about the apprenticeship, but before he can reconsider much further realises the accidental switcheroo. Mabel turns over the rift which she finds in Dipper’s backpack, and Blendin casually smashes it, having been possessed by Bill this whole time. Before Mabel can even process what’s happened Bill renders her unconscious and rejoices that his plan has finally come to fruition… The scene with Mabel giving up the rift has seen a lot of people online (especially around the time of the original airing) suggest that she somehow is responsible for singlehandedly causing Weirdmageddon, but I think that’s unfair. Aside from the fact she’s a 12-year-old girl going through emotional distress, she’s also the one person in the Pines family who always tries to see the good in people. Blendin appearing and wanting to pay her back for the help she and Dipper gave him fits perfectly fine in her worldview. And more to the point, Ford’s love of secrecy means she had no idea that the rift was so dangerous or that it was what Bill was trying to find. For that matter, him suggesting the apprenticeship to Dipper alone (and largely brushing off Dipper’s concerns for his sister) suggests he was still allowing his fraught relationship with Stan to impact his judgement. After all, Mabel pulled off retrieving the unicorn hair, a task he’d thought impossible. And while her interests clearly don’t hew as closely to Ford’s as Dipper’s she’d probably also jump at the opportunity to stay in Gravity Falls if she had the chance, not to mention she’s usually supportive of Dipper’s quests for knowledge (even seen at the outset of the episode, no less). But Ford solely letting Dipper into his circle of trust meant that Mabel was left isolated and ultimately in a position for Bill to manipulate her. Dipper does also bear some blame, but like Mabel he’s still a kid. While Mabel does bear some culpability (Which was addressed in one of the Lost Legends stories), there’s plenty of blame to go around. And besides there’s no time to point fingers, given Weirdmageddon has come to pass…
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Aug 29, 2022 15:44
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Happy 23rd birthday, Mabel and Dipper.
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Aug 31, 2022 22:11
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Madurai posted:Happy 23rd birthday, Mabel and Dipper. Xpcveaoqfoxso/Weirdmageddon Part 1 The worst has come to pass - Bill has come to wreak his own kind of havoc along with his ‘henchamaniacs’ from the Nightmare Realm upon the town. Mabel is sealed within a giant bubble prison, and Blendin Blandin desperately calls for backup. While most of the townsfolk stand up to Bill, Preston Northwest is perfectly happy to act as a Quisling for his new top-hatted overlord, only for Bill to promptly shuffle the functions of the holes in his face, which kind of sets the tone for what’s to come. We even get a remixed version of the theme and intro illustrating the devastation Bill and the henchmaniacs wreak upon the town. Honestly, a great element throughout this whole run of episodes is the casual warped horror of the town - nothing that’d traumatise a person (hopefully), but still disturbing its own way. Dipper’s first though, naturally, is to find Mabel, but Ford shuts that idea down before in favour of his own plan to use his ‘quantum destablilser’ - the gun he was carrying with him when he arrived back in this reality, specifically designed to kill Bill (and therefore end Weirdmaggedon in its tracks). However, although he lines up the shot, a wave of weirdness ruins the shot and Bill promptly captures him, but not before he lets Dipper know Bill has another weakness - but he’s swiftly turned into a golden back scratcher for the triangular tyrant. Dipper winds up confronting Bill, but despite desperately flipping through the journals and Bill taunting him to take his best shot, he can’t find anything to help. Bill casually destroys the journals, and leaves two of his minions to eat Dipper as a snack. Dipper’s now more or less in the same spot he was back in ‘Gideon Rising’ with no journal, no sister, and the stakes higher than they’ve been before. To his credit, though, he manages to survive 3 days of Weirdmageddon on his own, before reuniting with Wendy and Toby Determined. Wendy manages to snap Dipper out of his funk and soon they have a plan to reach the giant prison bubble Mabel’s trapped inside. However, as they try to procure a vehicle from Bud Gleeful’s car dealership, Li’l Gideon makes himself known as Mabel’s jailor (as part of his deal with Bill) and leading his prison buddies in a full-on Mad Max style road gang. While Toby is left behind, Wendy and Dipper manage to seize the key and bust out in a cop car and we get a great chase sequence with the added benefit of roving weirdness bubbles adding some fun sight gags. Although they get close to Mabel’s bubble, they wreck the car, and although Soos comes to help (having become a folk hero of sorts in the last three days), Gideon and his goons catch up to them, summoning reinforcements from the Fearamid, Bill’s seat of power - which had a brief visit from Time Baby and the Time Police who were promptly obliterated by Bill’s power, but that’s not important right now. Dipper realises the only way to get through to Gideon is empathy. After all, he knows what it’s like to love someone who doesn’t love you back, and notes that you can’t force someone to love you. Gideon balks, at first, at the thought of defying Bill, but ultimately decides to lead his road warriors out to buy time for Dipper and the others to free Mabel. I think it’s interesting that Dipper takes this approach - since of the two of them it’s Mabel who tries to see the best in people. But in the end, it works - even Gideon, despite everything, at the end of the world, still does the right thing in the end. Weirdmageddon Part 2: Escape From Reality Bill is naturally pleased with how things are going - Ford’s been turned to gold, hus dominion over the town is effectively complete, and then he sends his minions out to take the weirdness worldwide - only for (in a particularly great bit of comedic timing) them to splat on a forcefield around the town - it turns out that Weirdmaggedon is a strictly local affair, with the rest of the world untouched outside a bubble around the town, vexing Bill and forcing him to consider returning Ford to normal as the one person who might solve his new conundrum. Of course, the main meat of the episode is Dipper, Wendy, and Soos breaching Mabel’s prison to break her out. They’re rather taken aback by Mabelland, a bright, glittery cloud cuckoo land. After a brief tour from xyler and Craz, the trio storm the tower where Mabel is, only to discover that she’s the one running the place - it’s the most devious kind of prison, where the inmate doesn’t want to leave. She doesn’t remember handing over the rift, just thinking she ran off into the woods and woke up here, where she has everything she could ever want, even a backup Dipper in the form of Dippy Fresh, who Dipper naturally hates with every fibre of his being. Even Wendy and Soos aren’t immune - Wendy, hanging out with her friends and trashing the school and for Soos, his long-last dad (or at least his imagining of him) showing up to play catch. Dipper wanders off despondent, but Wendy shows up to support him, before idly suggesting he could always ask Mabel to make him older - old enough to date Wendy. Of course, Dipper’s had experience with a fake Wendy and realises the trick - and the glamour on Mabelland fades for a couple of terrifying seconds, leading to Dipper breaking the one rule of Mabelland - invoking the outside world. Dipper is brought before Judge Kitty Kitty Meow Meow Face-Shwartstein (Jon Stewart) in the case of fantasy vs. reality, to be decided by a jury of Mabels. Xyler and Craz are the prosecution, and they produce several incidents of reality proving disappointing or upsetting, both from the show itself and in flashback. Dipper manages to turn things around with context - with both flashbacks showing one twin’s misery ameliorated by their sibling’s support. Dipper continues by declaring that he’s not going to take Ford’s apprenticeship, that instead he’ll come home with Mabel so they can face the future, whatever it holds together. This proves to be enough to bring Mabel around, and after a sincere sibling hug (complete with back pats, just like in ‘Tourist Trapped’) the glamour wears off for good. Unfortunately that means Mabel’s control over Mabelland’s denizens also ends (except for Xyler & Craz who I guess were legitimate constructs of Mabel’s mind), but with the help of Waddles, they shatter the bubble. Mabel declares she’s OK if Dipper does want to take the apprenticeship but he affirms his decision (given he was already reconsidering at the end of Dipper & Mabel vs. The Future I’m sure this is the choice he always would have made) and the group retreats to the shack, where Stan and many other residents of the town are waiting. Weirdmageddon Part 3: Take Back The Falls/Weirdmageddon Part 4: Somewhere in the Woods I’m reviewing these two together as a unit, as they were after all initially a single double-sized episode before being split into a two-parter for lter airings and on Disney+. I’ll admit the split is fairly seamless, but there is one thing in particular that leaps out at me - they use a cut-down shorter version of the Weirdmageddon intro - whereas in the initial airing, it’s the full intro, only Dipper, Mabel and Stan’s character intros are back in their rightful place to indicate they’re taking back control of their lives from Bill’s tyranny. OF course, boiling things down to simply ‘the Pines family vs. Bill’ is an oversimplification. The other survivors of Weirdmageddon come together, much like the Shacktron they build to fight Bill, to be more than the sun of their parts. While Dipper and Mabel are the ones to motivate the others to action, it’s McGucket who devises Shacktron itself and everyone comes together to help build and operate it, from Candy & Grenda piloting Pacific Rim style to Sev’ral Timez providing auxiliary power to Multibear as lookout, the town (those not turned into Bill’s throne of inanimate human suffering) comes together to challenge Bill’s power, helped by a rock remix of the title theme (and I can apologise for omitting coverage of Brad Breeck’s masterful music to this late stage in the game - go check out his youtube, he’s got a lot of musical suites from the show!), vanquishing the henchamaniacs and even blinding Bill, buying time for the rescue team to break the Fearamid to save Ford and everyone else. Of course this theme is reinforced with the concept of the Zodiac - something that’s been in the opening credits along with Bill this whole time, representing the a group of people fated to come together to defeat Bill. Ford didn’t believe in the prophecy, preferring to go it alone, but the confluence of allies and former enemies (and the seeming lack of other options) sees our heroes from the necessary mystical alignment, complete with swirling eldritch energies. Of course there’s been one man this whole episode who’s been even more reluctant than Ford was to be a team player this whole episode - Stan. Having been the self-appointed leader of the shack refugees, getting sidelined to in favour of his brother once again has seen his resentment over not being thanked for saving Ford in the first place boil over, leading to him refusing to take his place in the circle until Ford actually does it. Ford does do it, but after Stan completes the circle, Ford can’t resist correcting Stan’s grammar, and the two devolve into squabbling - giving Bill the time he needs to defeat Shacktron and interrupt the ritual. Bill’s psychology throughout this episode has been rather interesting. We get a very brief explanation of Bill’s backstory, but it’s really all we need - he hails from a two-dimensional world he couldn’t stand, that he ‘liberated’, the same way he intends to do to Gravity Falls. He needs the information in Ford’s mind - that he needs Ford to give him access to, due to the plate in his head. And yet his first pitch to Ford once he’s returned him to normal is to lay out exactly how he and the henchamaniacs are going to destroy the universe and offers Ford the chance to join, despite having repeatedly betrayed him and threatened his loved ones. When Ford refuses, he tortures him and then decides to torture Dipper & Mabel by proxy. He promptly turns all the other Zodiac members into harmless tapestries, and demands the knowledge he seeks. After Dipper & Mabel escape and are recaptured, he once more demands Ford surrender what he wants, who promptly does - only for it to be revealed that while Bill was distracted, the elder twins swapped identities, meaning Bill has been lured into Stan’s mind as Ford can use the memory gun to erase them both. Bill desperately tries to find an incentive to get Stan to free him, but he’s forgotten the message that’s been with us since the beginning: Stan is not what he seems. He can make short-sighted and petty decisions, but when it comes to his family, there’s nothing he won’t sacrifice for them. The idea of someone doing something selfless seems so alien to him that he never saw it coming. With Bill’s defeat (between the mind wipe and a right hook from Stan in the mindscape) the town is largely restored, at least physically, from the events of Weirdmageddon (save for the overgrown stone physical form Bill left behind when he went into Stan’s mind), but Stan himself seems completely amnesiac. Ford, the twins, and Soos take him home to the shack, and Mabel in desperation hits upon her scrapbook of summer memories. It works, which might seem rather sudden, but there is at least precedent in the form of McGucket. We get to see Dipper & Mabel’s birthday party, as the town congregates at the shack to celebrate them, with Wendy and the other teens officially welcoming them to teen-dom, Pacifica getting them very thoughtful personal gifts, and Gideon vowing he’s going to quit the schemes and just focus on being a regular kid (with a bunch of ex-convict bodyguards). Ford pulls Stan aside to ask him for help to investigate some anomalies at sea - fulfilling their boyhood dream of sailing around the world in search of adventures. Stan declares that the shack is closing as a result, to the townsfolk’s dismay - and none more dismayed than Soos, who for the first time actually stands up to Stan and declares he can’t shut it down - to which Stan decides Soos is the worthy successor. And so we come to the bus stop at the edge of town for the second departure of the Pines Twins. Like last time, it feels too soon, but all good things must come to an end. We see the twins make a heartfelt goodbye with their Grunkles and closest friends, with Dipper getting Wendy’s hat and a note as souvenirs, while Mabel gets Waddles (after Stan, unable to bear seeing Mabel have to abandon her companion, declares the twins’ parents have to take care of him now, and along with Ford intimidating the bus driver into compliance). The bus driver is played by Kyle MachLachlan, as a symbolic choice on Hirsch’s part, with the star of one of Gravity Falls’ greatest inspirations shepherding the Pines twins onwards to the next phase of their lives beyond the show. And speaking of next phases, we get some glimpses of the future over the final montage - Stan & Ford at sea on the Stan’O’War II, McGucket settling into his new home (formerly known as Northwest Manor), and Soos as the new proprietor of the Mystery Shack, with a statue honouring Stan and Melody working alongside him. And Dipper opens the note to see a message from everyone who they met during their time in Gravity Falls:  I don’t know if we’ll ever see a revisitation of Gravity Falls. There’s been some tie-in media (I’d heartily recommend Journal 3 and Lost Legends for any fan who’s craving more), but even if they never made anything else, it’s a tale that’s almost perfectly formed in the telling. While the production was troubled, I don't know I'd say there's a single bad or even mediocre episode. Even the filler episodes are unskippable, because you love the characters and want to see more of them. I must admit I never expected I’d actually manage to get this done, let alone ending before the end of August, but getting these reviews done . But while I’ve certainly had my struggles getting my thoughts on the show written down, watching the episodes themselves has been nothing short of a delight - like seeing an old friend again after a long absence and catching up after all this time. When I started this, there was a lot of concern over whether the current ‘golden age’ of animation was coming to an end, something that’s only further grown with current events in the industry. Maybe that’s the case, but it’s only a matter of time until animation comes back around, and I’m sure there’s kids who grew up watching this show who are going to make great animation of their own because of what they saw in this show. Thanks for putting up with the delays, those of you who've stuck with it, and I leave you with these words of wisdom: Dipper Pines posted:If you've ever taken a road trip through the Pacific Northwest, you've probably seen a bumper sticker for a place called Gravity Falls. It's not on any maps, and most people have never heard of it. Some people think it's a myth. But if you're curious, don't wait. Take a trip. Find it. It's out there somewhere in the woods. Waiting. Final End Credits cryptogram posted:FADED PICTURES BLEACHED BY SUN. THE TALE’S TOLD, THE SUMMER’S DONE. IN MEMORIES THE PINES STILL PLAY. ON A SUNNY SUMMER’S DAY.
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Aug 31, 2022 23:49
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