Gravity Falls

[lilboocorsola]

Haven't seen the ep yet, but thought I'd share these cute comics from moringmark:

All aboard

What we're all thinking

I also like this one about Stan.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Season 2 Episode 10:

Spoiler: show

This. episode. was. in.credible.

Dipcifica shipping fodder that goes beyond "fodder" and enters the realm of "quality character development for both parties"? Check.

Plot development, and on multiple plot threads no less? Check.

Humor? Check.

Drama? Check.

Awws? Check.

Well animated? Check.

Well directed? Check.

The episode was just plain good. Possibly my favorite episode of all time, but I think that even if I didn't care about Dipper x Pacifica as much as I do I'd still feel it was a solid 8/10. Really, really great way to kick off the second half of the season.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Let's start with the obvious: Dipper's and Pacifica's relationships with one another. It was great to see the writers provide a natural evolution towards the possibility of a Dipper x Pacifica coupling that didn't toss the S1 baby out with the bathwater either. Dipper still hasn't forgotten that the Northwest clan's ancestor deceived the town of Gravity Falls, rewrote the history books to make himself the town founder instead of Quentin Trembley, and produced a lineage of scheming rich assholes that trickles on down to this very day. Nor has he forgiven the family for it: even Pacifica Dipper continues to hold in contempt for siding with her parents instead of breaking away from them and doing the right thing. It's easy to be judgmental, and the writers do a wonderful job of showing things from Pacifica's side as well, exploring how she would like to do the right thing -- wouldn't we all? -- but there are numerous factors which stay her hand, from a deeply-engrained fear of going against her parents' wishes to that phenomenon common to almost all children of placing family before strangers/outsiders. She understands that what her parents are doing is wrong ... or at least she thinks she does ... but she's also, like all children her age, subconsciously aware that her parents tend to be wiser and more aware of the world's workings than she is and she just sort of goes along with what they tell her to do. There's this conflict for Pacifica where she's being forced to choose between her parents who love her (even if they're twisted people) and this new kid on the block who she totally has a crush on now and who is stretching out his hand and bidding her to join him on Team Light Side.

I also liked how the episode was written with Pacifica being in the know that she was using Dipper, but then finding herself falling even more hotly and heavily for him than before, and by the end of the mission she really truly likes him and doesn't want him to think ill of her. So then when he inevitably finds out the truth about how the Northwests were just using him, Pacifica is lumped right in with her parents by an angry, hurt Dipper ... and you can just see how it breaks her heart. Excellently explored later in the episode when we see the heartbroken girl retreating to her newly-discovered secret room amidst the chaos of the logger turning everyone in the ballroom into wood. It's like nothing even matters to her anymore -- not the guests, not even her parents. She just wants to be alone right now -- the boy she likes has just (paraphrasing) declared her to be a piece of filth he wants nothing to do with ever again. When he shows up asking for her help, I felt it was realistically explored: she outwardly gets angry with Dipper and expresses no desire to help him out even though you can tell that inwardly she's very confused and hurt right now, wanting to help him but not if there's still no chance of the two of them patching things up. But she likes him too much (and you could say he's a bit too physically persuasive ) and she ends up helping him in the end. It doesn't hurt that his very life is at stake and she's in part doing this to save his and everyone else's lives, not just to help him ghostbust and get back in his good graces.

While the ending felt a little too cliche, a little too Team Disney Kids Shows, I still liked how things ended for the two of them. Pacifica makes a pretty bold declaration of loyalty towards doing the right thing rather than placing her morally bankrupt family first. She chooses to trust in Dipper's words -- that just because she was born into the Northwest family, it doesn't have to mean that she's destined to be as immoral as her ancestors.

I also love how things work out for the Dipper side of the equation. The episode's first half sees Dipper starting to like Pacifica -- maybe not romantically, but definitely placing her on his list of potential friends. Then the majority of the second half of the episode sees him going back to his original position on Pacifica -- she's a Northwest, she's not to be trusted, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," etc. And then finally we have the episode's final few minutes, where Dipper seems to have returned to an ever-so-slightly weaker version of his position that he held mid-episode. He's back to being amicable towards Pacifica, but it's not like the episode sends us signals that he's crushing on her or anything. While it's clear to viewers that Pacifica is now being written to have a crush on Dipper, it's not clear that the same is true in reverse. The relationship will hopefully be built up gradually. If Gravity Falls is to be a two-season affair, then I guess we'll see a lot of gradual developments over these next few weeks such that we can arrive at a Dipcifica ending by Episode 18 or 20 or whatever number it is that we're going to get. If instead we're planning on three seasons (or more), then I could see the developments in their relationship being taken at a slower pace, with the fandom being supremely aware of Pacifica's feelings by the end of S2 but with Dipper being a clueless idiot well into S3.

I'm interested to see if the writers will write Dipper gradually falling in love with Pacifica independent of the knowledge of how she feels about him (preferred route) or if they'll have him be clueless of her feelings right on up to the point where she confesses to him how she feels (less preferred route but still fine).

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I thought that this week's antagonist was really neat. Great backstory, easily sympathizable with, loved the plot twist, etc.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The part with Mabel, Candy, and Grenda was neat. I was disappointed that the girls never made the connection, but to this viewer it was clear that their behavior was an alarming mirror of S1 Pacifica and her cronies. The girls were basically behaving like rich princess bitches, scheming and plotting to get their man even if it means betraying their best friends. I also liked that Grenda, easily the least attractive (and I think also the least popular) of the three friends, was the one who got Prince Charming in the end. Again, slightly cheesy and Disney Kids Show-esque, but whatever. This is a Disney kids show, after all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I almost forgot! McGucket at the very end of the episode. So yeah -- looks like we'll be getting even more plot development with the next episode.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I felt like I had a lot more I wanted to say but all I can keep thinking of to discuss is Dipper x Pacifica. HRNGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I love this so much. I love this so, so much.

So my thoughts were provided on the previous page, but what is the Internet saying? Tumblr gold follows: (spoilers for Season 2 Episode 10)

Spoiler: show

Galleries & Commentary:
"Character development is so important."

Pacifica's heartbroken conversation with Dipper, provided in animated gif form.

Speculation fuel that Pacifica, not Mabel, may be the llama on the Cipher Wheel.

A fellow fan echoes my thoughts on Pacifica the Obedient Child.

Fans speculating that the Northwests abused Pacifica.

Fanart:















And above all else, a gallery that I just have to link directly 'cause you have got to see it!





















YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! A thousand times yes. Anime tsundere Valentine's Day tropes, in my Gravity Falls? It's more likely than you think!

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Spoiler: show

Fans speculating that the Northwests abused Pacifica.

OTGW spoilers:

Spoiler: show

"THE RINGING OF THE BELL COMMANDS YOU"

Seriously, I can't be the only one who was immediately alarmed by the bell and thought Pacifica was going to show signs of possession, was I? *shot*

Also I feel like the exact lines in that tsundere comic came from an animé, but I can't remember which one.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by lilbleucorsola

Also I feel like the exact lines in that tsundere comic came from an animé, but I can't remember which one.

Yeah, I think the dialogue is almost verbatim taken from an anime love story I've seen before but I can't identify which it is.

Spoiler: show

(I thought it might have been from Episode 02 of Toradora! but can confirm that the cookie scene there has the eater approach things rather differently.) But yeah, it seems very familiar. Like, more than just being the trope about a tsundere giving poorly-baked cookies or chocolates to her crush and asking him how they taste. It seems like I've seen this exact scene with different characters before. For example, when Dipper offers Pacifica the first half of his honest verdict on the chocolates, I can just hear the female response in my head: "Warukatta wa ne!" Different from what is provided here in English, but still. The fact that I hear it so closely on the heels of Dipper's assessment makes me feel like that's one of the small changes the artist made to an otherwise preserved setup.

Really driving me crazy that I can't find it now that you've led me to try. I had been willing to pay it no mind upon discovery, but now that you've brought it up I want to identify the source. But Google is not helping: all the hits I get for things like 手作りチョコ 苦い 悪かったわね are hits from 2015 for things like Idolmaster, and that's definitely neither the right time period nor the right source.

One possibility that I can't confirm right now is Hyouka (with Mayaka baking for Satoshi), another is Nagi no Asukara (with the possibility that Hikari ate bitter cookies/chocolate made by Chisaki, though this I can find no evidence for while googling). The most memorable eating example I can think of has nothing to do with sweets nor is it a contender for being this particular dialogue -- and that's the scene from the second season of School Rumble where Harima eats all of ______'s leftover _______.

Man ... this is driving me crazy.

Also ...

... Is that really all you have to say about the episode? ^^;

[RealMrGame10]

Yay!

Spoiler: show

Also, it's been a while since I've watched Gravity Falls, so this may just be me, but I felt like the episode was really freaking dark

Like, first of all, there's the lumberjack ghost's backstory

Ending with him dying from a mudslide and an ax in his head, even if we didn't technically see his death.

Then there's the whole ghost-y thing

And then

Oh my god, and then

"We'll eat the butler"

"Ancient Sin
Ancient Sin"

But yeah, also,

Dipifica for life

[Talon87]

Moringmark has made a lot of fanart to do with Northwest Mansion Mystery, both before and after its airing. This one is one of my favorites. (Though that grammar error ...! >.<) Not saying I'd like to see this actually happen in the show. (It'd be way too much way too soon.) But I just enjoy the general feel of this piece.

[Talon87]

The viewership ratings for Season 2, reported on Wikipedia, appear to be one-third to one-fourth those for Season 1. :\ Seems the franchise hemorrhaged many followers owing to the hiatus between seasons. Regrettable for Gravity Falls -- especially if it means Disney scraps plans for either a third season or a movie -- and a harsh lesson to be learned by Disney.

[deoxys]

I've learned before that posting while drunk is a bad idea but I can't help the fact that I just now noticed that Talon has jumped on board with GF. even though I can't properly share my thoughts on the newest episode now (it took me a long time just to write this) , I'd like to know his thoughts on the most recent episode. When I'm in a more stable state of mind I will share my own - it was the most insane episode of GF yet.


This post w brought to you by autocorrect

also Alex only planned for three seasons. Disney would have been better off probably if they didn't air their new episodes for season 2 on Disney XD befote Disney Channel, as that probably contributed to it.

[Talon87]

Season 2 Episode 11:

Spoiler: show

This was a really great, really flawed episode. Like, it was such a good episode ... but it was also an episode with so many flaws. Overall, I would say that I greatly enjoyed it.

Stanley Pines: This is a prediction that the fandom made long before I started watching. And even I was strongly on board well before Season 2 began to air. So when I say, "We all saw this coming from a mile away," I think it's pretty fair. ^^; Rather than dissecting that aspect of the Stanley reveal, I'd rather focus on what it means for the story, whether we like it or dislike it, etc.

Back when I was watching the final episodes of S1 and had fallen in love with the Stanley theory, Yuki shared that she kinda hoped that Grunkle Stan wouldn't prove to have a twin brother because {reasons}. I don't want to put words in her mouth so I'll leave it to her to refresh my memory what her reasons were, but I'll turn the question over to you: did you want Stanley to happen or did you not? Personally, I really, really like it. It may be a plot twist that is more obvious to adult viewers than to younger ones, and for adult viewers the GH team may have more or less spoiled the surprise with too many easter eggs planted throughout the show (most damningly the eyeglasses in the locked room, glasses which matched the ones "Stan" was wearing in the one scene of the time travel episode); but I believe that for the children at whom GH is ostensibly marketed, the plot twist will have been mindblowingly epic. This is right on up there with Magic Knight Rayearth: adults see it coming but children go "HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS STORY CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER! "

Another reason I like the Stanley/Stanford plot twist is that I'm a sucker for literary romance and damn if Stanford's quest to save his lost brother doesn't qualify. There is just something so ... so romantic about that, not lovey dovey romance but like ... "hrnggh" tragedy drama romance, if you know what I mean. Maybe it's cliche or common, I don't know, but I enjoy it and here it is.

Stanley Pines: Now for the not so good. ^^; I'm a little worried, given the manner of Stanley's introduction, that he is going to end up proving to be a foe rather than a friend. And that will really, really suck if it's true. :\ I'm hoping to be proven wrong, and that the direction Hirsch & Team plan to take is to have Stanley Pines be the antidote to Bill Cipher's shenanigans, that Stanley holds the key to Bill's defeat and that that's why it was imperative for Bill to see that Stanley remain locked away in the other dimension. But what worries me is Fiddleford, a.k.a. Old Man McGucket. :\ McGucket specifically warns Dipper that the apocalypse is upon them, that the world will end in less than 24 hours. Likewise, the journals expressly warn Stanford that when the timer reaches 0 then the world will be torn asunder. Yet what do we see happen? Seemingly nothing -- aside from the return of Stanley Pines and the physical destruction to the town that the gravitational imbalances caused, there are no visible changes to the world whatsoever. This is bad. Because it means that either McGucket's doom-and-gloom about the end times was wrong -- doom and gloom backed up by Stanley Pines' journal writings -- or else it means that Stanley Pines is the bringer of the end times. That it was for the best that he stay locked away on the other side of the portal. That Stanford, in prioritizing his brother over the fate of the world, is in effect acknowledging that his brother's salvation will mean the end of the world.

Another thing I'm kinda concerned about is, Stanley is clearly the nerd of the two brothers. He's the physicist, Stanford's the charlatan. He's the journal writer, Stanford's the musclehead. The problem with this is, it kinda sorta takes a baby dump on what Stanford told Dipper towards the end of S1: that Dipper reminds Stanford of himself when he was Dipper's age. Wouldn't it make more sense for Stanford to compare Dipper with Stanley? Weak, nerdy? I dunno. This is a weaker complaint since I acknowledge that Dipper can both remind Stanford of Stanley and of himself. They don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Gravity Falls: I absolutely adored that the big return of Stanley Pines was 1) connected to a gravitational event referenced in the series' own name and 2) connected to a gravitational event depicted in the OP credits. It was right under our very noses this entire time and yet we, or at least I, never questioned it. I just wrote that mini-scene off as being "the part of the OP that reflects on the series' name." I didn't think it was forecasting future events. After all, have we ever seen a massive footprint in an episode before? Or how about Grunkle Stan telling scary stories by the campfire? How about the W-H-A-T weather vane coming into play? Since none of those things have shown up, I figured it was a similar case for the gravity scene. But nope! Foreshadowing one of the biggest climaxes of the series. Pretty nifty.

Dipper not trusting Stanford: This really, really upset me. Dipper wouldn't give Stan any chances to explain himself. (And even more irritating for us real-world viewers, the writing team kept cheesily making it where Stan wasted precious seconds asking for chances to explain himself rather than just having him explain himself. ) Worse yet, Dipper has evidence to draw on that proves that Stan cares about him and Mabel and isn't just being nice to them to keep them from asking questions about his activities:

• saving the kids from zombies at the risk of his own life (S2E01)
• keeping a framed photograph of the kids on his work desk (revealed to Dipper this very episode)

The zombie event isn't the sort of thing that Dipper should forget either consciously or subconsciously: Stan literally risked his own life to save theirs, and you can see that he physically exhausts himself to kick the zombie hoard's asses. As for the framed photograph, COMMON SENSE, DUDE: what would an escaped convict want with a framed picture of the two of you in his Secret Lair of Doomsday Destruction if he didn't genuinely care about you? C'mon, dude.

Soos turning on Stanford: This one really, REALLY upset me! I thought it was just plain retarded that Soos, who fanonically has wanted Stan to be his father since the Soos's birthday episode and who canonically was revealed to want Stan to be his father as of this episode, would turn on Stan MERE MINUTES after his confession of wanting to be Stan's legally adopted son ... and for WHAT!? Because he had a secret underground lair he hadn't told anyone about? Because according to Dipper -- Dipper, a 12-year old boy who has been wrong about things on one too many occasions -- tells him that Stan isn't who he seems to be? C'mon, dudes. This was just painful to see. Soos should not have tackled Stan like that. I told Yuki on Skype after first watching this episode -- if anyone should have been agonizing over whether to hit the button or not, it should've been Soos and not Mabel. Placing Mabel in the driver's seat felt weird to me, but placing Soos there would have made perfect sense. Torn between his father-son relationship with Stan and his older brother-younger brother friendship with Dipper, not sure who to believe, not sure what to believe, I could see the simple-minded Soos agonizing over whether to hit the button or not. But Mabel?

Mabel's Moment: This just felt really weird to me. Asymmetric is I think the word I'm looking for. It felt asymmetric. It generated a really, really palpable asymmetry between Dipper and Mabel. Granted, they're not identical twins -- never have been -- but they're still twins and have always been portrayed as being sort of these "two sides of the same coin" kinds of kids. So it just felt really weird to me to ... well, not to have Mabel making a different decision from Dipper, no, that part's fine, but to have Mabel being in this "I trust you ¯_¯ *hands raised up*" scene all to herself, like she's just turned into Jesus Christ, Superstar, while Dipper stands on the sidelines looking like a member of the peanut gallery. Best way I can explain it might be to say that if Dipper and Mabel have always been co-stars of this series, then planting Mabel in the driver's seat for the button press decision made it feel like suddenly Mabel is the Yugi Mutou of this series while Dipper is the Tristan Taylor.

Mabel's Moment: That stated, I do at least like that someone trusted Grunkle Stan. Though I like it more for IRL reasons of wanting to see where the story goes from here -- e.g. if she really should have stopped him and has "dun goofed" by not hitting the button -- than for the touchy feel-good reasons I'm sure many fans will want to explore with this scene. Not saying I don't have those myself too! Just saying I think the one factor outweighs the other for me in terms of why I like this development.

Dipper's Bill Cipher Face: I think it's hard not to notice that when Dipper is energized/blown away by the portal that his face resembles his possessed-by-Bill-Cipher face from several episodes back. Yuki says that this has led many in the fandom to speculate that the person we see here isn't Dipper but is in fact Bill, or that it's at the very least a Dipper who is still controlled by Bill. I don't think he's Bill, I'll toss that out there right now. And I don't think he's actively being controlled by Bill either. But I do agree that this show, which has a team who goes to painstaking lengths to plant easter eggs and to animate everything super duper deliberately, would not have Dipper's face resemble Bill's in that moment by pure accident. It has to mean something. What it means -- that's the question.

Alex Hirsch provided an interview with the AV Club, an interview they published as soon as S2E11 aired on Disney XD. You can read the interview by clicking this link. Two of the big pieces of information to take away from the interview are:

1. we won't be getting any new episodes of Gravity Falls until the summer
2. Alex Hirsch believes S2E11 to be the "mid-season finale" and argues as though the season is only just now going on hiatus again

This second point really pisses me off. I'm not sure if Alex is in denial or is just in the dark, but everyone I talked to or read comments of at the time indicated that they felt the season had gone on hiatus after S2E09 "The Love God" and had resumed airing after hiatus with S2E10 "Northwest Mansion Mystery." The gap between those two episodes was roughly two months. The gap between this latest episode and "summer" will be about three months at the earliest, five months at the latest. I don't really see how Alex can therefore justify a claim that the season hadn't been on hiatus between 09 and 10 but is oh so totally now "officially on hiatus" between 11 and 12. Maybe it comes back to what Deo mentioned about Disney XD airing the episodes one way and the regular Disney Channel airing them another way. I don't know. All I do know is, I think it's horseshit to pretend like the episodes "haven't aired yet" just because they've only aired on a members-only channel. In this day and age with Internet and message boards and spoilers and such, you can't expect kids not to know about the latest developments in the plot within days to weeks of the episode airing on the first channel it airs on. So I don't really care if "The Love God" aired on Disney in mid-February but aired on Disney XD back in December -- as far as I'm concerned, the episode aired for all intents and purposes for EVERYONE back in December and it's garbage to argue that there wasn't a two-month hiatus in between it and "Northwest Mansion Mystery." If Alex doesn't like the sound of this, then I'd sincerely encourage him to talk with Disney about reconsidering the early-access privileges they give XD members. The Internet just plain doesn't allow for that sort of monetization scheme to work anymore. Not when we're talking super popular shows with a spoiler-happy demographic. (And no demographic is more spoiler-happy than children.)

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Season 2 Episode 11:

Spoiler: show

Yuki shared that she kinda hoped that Grunkle Stan wouldn't prove to have a twin brother because {reasons}.

Generally I dislike this trope, but I said that I wouldn't mind it in GF because

Spoiler: show

there's already a precedent/large focus on twin relationships through Mabel and Dipper so it sets up a parallel. I just hate it when a "surprise secret twin" appears out of nowhere since it seems like a cheap plot device.

Tangentially related (not a spoiler):

Spoiler: show

Alex and Ariel as kids.

[Talon87]

Soooo, is this a reference to something that actually happened in an episode? Or is the fan artist just imagining the entire thing? Like, I get that the second half is probably imagined, but it's the first half that I'm wondering about.

[Talon87]

Hahaha, yes. (Spoilers through S2E11, i.e. only safe to click if you're caught up.)

[Talon87]

Moringmark's been making this dry spell bearable. Disney should reimburse him handsomely.

Here is his latest piece. 17,500 Tumblr reblogs and counting.

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Moringmark's been making this dry spell bearable. Disney should reimburse him handsomely.

Here is his latest piece. 17,500 Tumblr reblogs and counting.

Spoiler: show

Was going to show you this (+ HxH cosplays) whenever you got on Skype, but it seems I kept missing you today.

[Talon87]

Alex Hirsch confirms a July 2015 airdate for the next episode of Gravity Falls. So we'll see! Hopefully there are no further delays. And hopefully it's early July rather than late July.

[Talon87]

Morningmark continues to make this wait bearable. Two excellent works recently.

First this one: (spoilers through S2E11)

Spoiler: show

(link)

And then this more lighthearted one:

Spoiler: show

(link)

[Talon87]

Season 2 Episode 12:

Spoiler: show

Weee're baaaack! After almost five months of waiting, we finally get a new episode of Gravity Falls. And not just any episode: a 29-minute in-depth look at the senior Pines twins' backstory.

If I had to give the episode a school grade score, I think it'd be a B+. It was a pretty good episode, and above average for the series as far as excitement and entertainment both go, but it ended too soon, omitted a lot of things any one of which I think fans were expecting to find in the episode, and I guess worst of all it didn't live up to expectations. I know, I know: those tend to be shoes impossible to fill by even the strongest of series. But there's no use in hiding from the truth either: some chapters do live up to expectations after months, years, or even decades of anticipation ... and S2E12 didn't. :\

So let's take a look at it, shall we?

Stanford Pines: we finally get to meet the author of the journals, Stanley P-- ... wait, what? Stanford Pines? Yes, that's the first of several plot twists Alex Hirsch decides to drop on viewers this episode: the man we know as Grunkle Stan is Stan Pines, but his real name's not Stanford: it's Stanley. Stanford Pines is his brother, the author of the journals, the inventor of the portal to another dimension. I thought this plot twist was kinda childish of Alex -- it felt like something he came up with after S1 in order to "Ha! Gotcha! " the know-it-alls in the fandom who were so sure they'd figured it all out with the Stanley Mobile. I dunno. Personally? I think Alex's vision of "Stanley" (i.e. Grunkle Stan) as a used car salesman type fit better with the Stanley Mobile belonging to the long-lost brother, not to the con artist himself. Someone that poor should have a hard time keeping a car maintained, especially for frequent cross-country travel. It'd make more sense to me if Grunkle Stan had had to resort to hitchhiking and Greyhound bus rides, if he arrived in Gravity Falls with only the shirt on his back, that he stole-borrowed the Stanley Mobile from his brother like everything else he stole-borrowed in the house. But that's okay: Hirsch can have his "Gotcha! " moment if it matters that much to him, and it's unkind of me to assume that that's even what's going on in the first place.

J. K. Simmons lends his voice to Stanford and it's pretty great. I mean, it's distracting! ^^; But it's pretty great. I love Mr. Simmons' work and I love even more that he's been really sinking his teeth into voice acting as of late. Korra's Tenzin, Portal 2's Aperture Science CEO, and now this.

A long time ago, I called the possibility that neither Stanford nor Stanley would prove to be the kids' grandfather. I chastised the fandom for running with that idea like it was gospel, and explained the possibility that the senior Pines twins had another sibling who was in fact the younger Pines twins' grandparent. Hirsch goes ahead and confirms this, giving the senior twins a younger sister who is revealed by Stanley to be the kids' grandmother. But I gotta say ... this is one time I'm disappointed to have been proven right. ^^; I had really cozied up to the idea of Stanford Pines as the kids' long-lost grandfather, encouraged by lots of great fanart from the community. I had been looking forward to meeting Stanford's love interest, how the two of them met, what became of her in the immediate wake of Stanford's disappearance, etc. Oh well.

Stanley Pines: Everything we saw in this flashback was well in keeping with the character of the "Stanford Pines" we had come to know and love over two seasons. So I had no problems there. What I did have a major problem with though ... was, paradoxically, this! Allow me to explain: I'm upset that Child Stanley matches Adult Stanley so well because the season finale of S1 already had Stanley declare that Dipper reminded him of himself when he was young: and that doesn't fly unless Young Stanley was anything at all like Dipper. It gets worse. In that same episode, we're treated to a flashback of Stanley going to the movies. As he gets in line, we see a pimple-faced geek in dress shirt and glasses. He looks like a white Steve Urkel. He then "HULK SMASH! "es a douchebag in line and begins his journey towards the man he would become in later life, a man who is a lot less geeky and timid than what we're shown in the S1 flashback. This clashes so hard with S2E12's flashbacks it's not even funny. Eight-year old Stanley? He's already looking and acting like an idiot tough guy. Teenage Stanley? Idiot tough guy. There's never a point in any of these flashbacks where Stanley looks geeky, acts timid, or is shown wearing glasses. From start to finish, he's a tough guy with 20/20 vision and a box of rocks for brains. Hell: at age 8, his solution to a boarded-up cove is to punch the boards with his own fists, splinters wedging into his skin in the process. HOW IS THIS COMPATIBLE WITH THE S1 FLASHBACKS AND COMMENTS? I'll tell you:

It's not.

And that's the problem. While a lot of Gravity Falls was envisioned in advance, I hate to say it but it's pretty damn clear that Hirsch is making changes to the script as he goes -- and that sometimes these changes contradict foundations he laid down in earlier episodes. I can understand his frustration as a creative writer when every 10-year old fan and his mother is able to predict where Hirsch is taking the story. I can understand his desire to surprise people, his desire to not deliver them something that bores and will be accused of being too predictable. But it weakens the overall integrity of Gravity Falls when the changes he makes to his vision are incompatible with facts that have already been cemented in courtesy of being broadcast.

The portal, the other dimension, and Gravity Falls: I wasn't too thrilled with this part of the episode either. (Sorry! ^^; ) I've always considered Gravity Falls itself to be a supernatural focus in our world, a place where for whatever special reason or reasons a huge number of supernatural entities congregate. But that has never meant for me that other corners of the world don't ever see even one single supernatural entity. Nor has it meant for me that the supernatural entities in Gravity Falls are ... otherworldly. Now Alex Hirsch goes and declares that Gravity Falls is nothing more than the receptacle for a tear in the fabric of space-time through which beings from another dimension pour down from time to time. (And we're talking before Stanford created the portal too. This tear I'm referring to is different from the "punched hole through the fabric of space-time" he brings up his device doing later.) I just ... I don't like that! Why would dinosaurs rain down from another dimension when they are fundamentally earthly creatures? Why would time travelers visiting our world be the result of a gateway between universes rather than independent of any such gateway? Maybe for supernatural entities that don't exist in real life you might get away with this, like gnomes and werewolves and sasquatches. But for the ones that do exist in real life yet are then slightly tweaked -- like a dating sim that comes to life, or like a lumberjack who in death becomes a ghost seeking vengeance upon traitors -- it just seems stupid to me to play the, "LOL! Gravity Falls is the way it is because ALIENS! " card. I don't like it.

I also wasn't thrilled with how little we got to see Fiddleford working on the project with Stanford. Maybe he worked a shitton and it mostly happened off screen, but the way the episode presented it made it feel like Fiddleford was there for the middle but not the beginning nor the end. We don't even address how he reacts to Stanley replacing Stanford in the lives of the citizens of Gravity Falls. Even if he's already descended into the madness that would claim him as Old Man McGucket by this point in time, I still would've liked to have seen him interact with Stanley-posing-as-Stanford.

I also wasn't too thrilled with Hirsch's decision to have Stanley not be involved at all in the creation of the portal. Yes, I understand that this would've meant scrapping his idea for two brothers at war with one another (the note we end the episode on), as it would've been a very different tale if the two brothers had rekindled their fraternal bonds, built the portal together, and then one of them had been lost to it before the eyes of the other. But that was what 99.9% of the fandom went with and for good reason: it's excellently heart-wrenching. What we got in the end was heartwrenching too, sure, but nothing near as good as what the fans had imagined. Need I remind you? moringmark's imagined version of the events posted to Tumblr less than two weeks before the episode aired. Yes, I realize that that's far too late for Hirsch to change anything. But I'm not asking him to change the story based on fanart that came out two weeks before the episode's airdate. I'm asking him to consider what fans were speculating about even before Season 2 started airing last summer. I don't want him playing the "It was too far along in production! Sorry! " card on me when fans have been speculating about not only Stanford's existence but about the causes of his disappearance for ages. Oh well. :\

The references: They were pretty low-brow but they were also pretty great for the fandom at large. We had an obvious reference to Caltech in the made-up polytechnic institute on the West Coast that turns science fiction into science fact. We had in-universe references like the mother of the "Git 'im! Git 'im!" guy saying, "Git out! Git out!" We had the origins of Lazy Susan's lazy eye being none other than Grunkle Stan permanently injuring the poor woman. ^^;; We had Stanford demanding floppy disks and being offered a USB stick. Stuff like this, while very, very low brow in my book ^^; , was light-hearted and made the episode fun to watch.

Dipper & Mabel: Not too keen on the weakly foreshadowed concept of Dipper and Mabel having to grapple with the very same issues that ended up driving Stanford and Stanley apart. I feel like what Stanford and Stanley went through has nothing to do with their being twins and simultaneously has a lot to do with the kinds of people they were and are. I don't see why Dipper and Mabel should have to worry about turning out like Stanford and Stanley any more than any two childhood friends should have to worry about it. It feels like a waste of time to have the series re-explore the Stanford/Stanley severance but through the experiences of Dipper and Mabel. Just explore the Stanford/Stanley severance through Stanford and Stanley, will ya? And let Dipper and Mabel be their own people with their own, different issues.

Missing characters: The lack of Bill Cipher was very strange for a fandom that seems to be so convinced of his ultimate importance in this tale. Yes, yes, yes: there were nods throughout (e.g. the hole Stanley punched in the wood forming the shape of a triangle). But there was still no Bill Cipher proper.

I didn't expect Pacifica to show up, obviously, but I'll just throw it out there that yeah, duh, she was missing too.

No Gideon, though. Huh. That was kinda strange. Especially since we didn't get the series' most obvious other villain (Bill Cipher) either.

No Old Man McGucket (as Old Man McGucket). I brought this up earlier.

The shapeshifter: I thought that the shapeshifter couldn't assume the form of the author of the journals because he had never seen his face? Yet he clearly sees Stanford's unshielded face ...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In closing, I'd like to reiterate that I did enjoy the episode well enough and would give it a B+. Sorry that the post evolved into what in hindsight looks like a laundry list of criticisms. I guess the things I enjoyed don't lend themselves as well to discussion in words the way that the things I didn't enjoy do. ^^; :\ Maybe next time it'll be the reverse.

[Talon87]

I forgot to post here last week, but I have seen Episode 13 of Season 2. As you can probably guess from the half-assed nature of this post, I thought the episode was only okay, nothing super special. However ...

Spoiler: show

I did both respect and even enjoy the fact that the episode was a return to form for Hirsch & Co. Recent episodes of Gravity Falls have felt too distracted by the epic subplot lurking behind the shadows of most Season 1 episodes; the show has felt like it's lost sight of itself, like it's forgotten who it is and what it's about. Don't get me wrong: I definitely prefer the grand subplot to the inane silliness of most episodes, but like ... I also kinda grew to enjoy the silliness. Found it charming, even. So like ... a return to "the sillies" was kinda welcome after so many episodes devoted to exploring the Grunkle Stan mystery.

[lilboocorsola]

I wasn't really into the latest episode either until

Spoiler: show

the silly randomness of the actual game challenge. Then it felt like GF was back to form.

Also while I'm here might as well share this moringmark comic. (Spoilers for latest ep?)

[Lucario188]

Me friend got me into Gravity Falls earlier this summer and I love it! I just watched the most recent episode this week and I really enjoyed it.

Spoiler: show

I loved the humor (as always) as well as the D&D and LARPing spoofs, and I was happy to see Ford and Dipper becoming friends and the family getting along better. I thought it was good to have a sillier episode after all the heavy plot recently, and it was nice to have touches of plot included too. I also enjoyed it's self-awareness, for example:

"I'll have you know that Duck-tective has a big mystery element! And a lot of humor that goes over kids' heads!"

"He had a twin brother all along? That's the big twist we've been waiting for!?"
"I predicted that, like, a year ago."

Also here's a cute 2-panel comic.

[Talon87]

Quick post before bed. More tomorrow, hopefully.

Spoiler: show

S2E14 was fine. (Election episode.) Watched it a week or two ago.

S2E15 was amazing. Such a strong, 10/10 return to form coupled with such a strong, 10/10 continuation of the Epic Overarching Story they've been doing for most of the past seven episodes. Holy shit, this was such a perfect episode for the franchise.

[Talon87]

Whoops, never did get to gush more about S2E15. Maybe I'll re-watch it and write more detailed thoughts on it. But for now ... just saw S2E16. A few thoughts below:

Spoiler: show

Was never a big fan of Dipper x Candy, and that ship's chances went out the door the moment we got Dipper x Pacifica thrown a canon bone in S2E10. Myself, and tons of other fans, went crazy for "Dipcifica" / "Dipifica" / "The Ship By A Thousand Names". I became a happy little fanboy rocking back and forth in his seat, waiting eagerly for the next Dipper x Pacifica episode to roll around. So when S2E16 shows up ... and it doesn't touch on Pacifica whatsoever ... and it instead decides to advance Candy as the possible new girl for Dipper's affections ... yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, "I'm not happy " is probably the simplest way of putting it.

So what did make me happy, and I'm sure disappointed all of the Dipper x Candy fans out there, was how the episode ended. Dipper apologizes to Candy, he tries to rectify the situation, and Candy is willing to accept his apology ... but tells Dipper that she's lost interest in him after seeing how he fled from the spider. I'm not really sure what she's talking about seeing as how they all fled the cave and how they all panicked when the spider attacked the cable car, but meh, whatever. The point is, Candy says she's no longer interested -- and that's all I really need for the S.S. Dipcifica to set sail once again.

The end of the episode actually makes me wonder if it was retconned by Hirsch & Team after the fandom's response to the airing of S2E10 over half a year ago. Was S2E16 originally written like this:

• the events we see in the real episode, leading right up to the part where the kids free Grunkle Stan
• slightly different events, with Dipper maybe playing an equal part in helping to rescue the team, Candy still providing her side of the equation (as seen in the real episode)
• the episode ends with Candy forgiving Dipper for being a jerk and saying maybe they can start over when they get back home

but then the ending was re-written to have Candy dump Dipper and claim it's because she witnessed cowardice or some such? 'Cause like ... her reasoning really doesn't fly for me. And like, there's no reason to create Dipper x Candy only to demolish it in the very same episode ... unless there's another person you'd rather have Dipper wind up with. Hirsch said, back when S2E10 aired, that he never imagined in his wildest dreams that the fandom would go as crazy for Pacifica as they had. Both before the episode (which resulted in the making of S2E10) as well as after the episode. We already know what the before-S2E10 craziness resulted in, but what about the after? Did Hirsch take the team back to revisit and S2E16, originally written with a canon Dipper x Candy pairing in mind, and have them rewrite it so that the episode ended with Dipper and Candy locked into the Friend Zone and Dipper still being freely available to Pacifica?

I thought the episode had several great messages for the audience.

• Getting over a crush that isn't going to happen. (From various characters to Dipper.)
• Not being someone who treats men/women as disposable when it comes to flirting & romance. (From the spider-woman to Stan; and from the various adolescent girls to Dipper.)
• How vicious cycles are precisely that -- vicious cycles -- and how at some point you've just gotta put the weapons down if you don't want the cycle to continue. (From Stan's victims to Stan at the end of the episode, though it's doubtful he learned this lesson.)

In addition to good morals for the kids, I thought the episode was another solid return to form. We departed greatly from the Stanford Pines & Bill Cipher plot this week, and that was okay. The episode felt like a Season 1 episode, and that's not a complaint. I wasn't too thrilled with the D&D episode, which felt more like a forced interruption, but this episode worked. I guess my only complaint would be how the episode didn't even address Uncle Ford's absence. A simple "he's staying to work on the portal" or some such would've sufficed. Maybe they did say something like that early on and I missed it. *shrug*

[Talon87]

Watched S2E17. Thoughts!

Spoiler: show

This struck me as "a very good but not 10/10" episode that was simultaneously "a very well-written episode," if that makes sense. I disclaim the first part so you don't read the second part and think, "Man, Talon's dumb , Talon thinks this episode was like Shakespeare." No, no, no, I don't think it was that good. When I say "well-written," I just mean how ... I respect how they tied everything in, both loose ends introduced within the episode as well as a couple of loose ends that were introduced earlier. For example ...

• to get the rift in Bill's hands, the rift's gotta get outside the Shack and be in someone's possession who'd hand it over
• to get Mabel outside the shack with the rift, we've gotta have her tearfully run off with Dipper's backpack by mistake
• to have her tearfully run off with Dipper's backpack by mistake, we've gotta have Dipper telling her what she doesn't want to hear about summer's end
• to get Dipper to tell her that, we've gotta have ...

And so on. You can trace it all the way back to the beginning of the episode, or in some cases back to earlier episodes. In that sense, I thought the writing team did a really good job.

So as for the episode itself. I enjoyed it a lot. I think I'd say 8/10? I think it would've been better as a 45-minute-length two-parter that aired back to back. I can appreciate that Hirsch is limited by Disney's funding and scheduling, but it's hard to deny that things I wanted explored more carefully and deliberately were sort of ... rushed. Like, Mabel's heartbreak over the fact that her birthday plans were falling apart ... it more or less consisted of (originally) only two bullet points. "I don't want to get old" and "Grenda and Candy can't come." She was even successful in renting out the high school, she told Dipper, so it's not like that one applies. Yes, once she overhears Dipper telling Ford he wants to stay behind in Gravity Falls, that becomes Big Bomb #3, but up until then she really only has a weak reason for the party to be ruined ("high school sucks!") and one single other, good reason for it to be ruined (her best friends can't attend). Nothing about birthday cake was brought up. Nothing about Grunkle Stan's plans to attend or not attend. Nothing about how Soos failed or did not fail Mabel. A more thorough, fleshed-out "man, this is the worst day ever " would've been nicer than what we got. But what we got was still really good. Hence, 8/10.

I'll admit I did not catch the UFO detail with the cliff at all. If that's been that way since Season 1, then kudos to anyone in the fandom who noticed that and figured it out.

And speaking of the UFO, I liked all of that part.

While I like the idea of Ford offering Dipper an apprenticeship Mystery Gang-wise, I'm not as crazy about it brainiac-wise. Dipper may have been billed as "the smart one" of the Dipper-Mabel duo, but he's never been billed as brilliant. From Day 1, Dipper's been sort of an average joe -- average looks, neither ugly nor dreamy; average intelligence, neither stupid nor brilliant; average physical ability, neither handicapped nor athletic; average teen interests, neither jocky nor nerdy nor gothy nor anything especially "belonging to a niche group of people" -- and so I don't buy and I don't like mid-S2's insistence that we now look at Dipper as "Baby Ford" and Mabel as "Baby Ley." It feels way too forced by Hirsch & Team and I just don't buy it based on all we saw before in S1 and the first half of S2.

But pulling back, I did say I liked the idea of the apprenticeship mystery solving-wise, right? 'Cause I do. It offers a very convenient avenue for the kids (one, the other, or both, depending on how many stay behind at summer's end) to revisit Gravity Falls in the future, catch up on all they've missed, and go on new adventures. And I do think Dipper's qualified to be Ford's apprentice Indiana Jones. What he lacks in Ford's brains, he matches in Ford's enthusiasm and quick thinking.

Regarding the rift and Bill Cipher, I have a feeling that the time bubble is going to conveniently tie in to how they defeat Bill. Specifically:

• something's going to be explained about how Bill's invasion benefits from / requires the time bubble. For example, maybe the writers will go in the direction, "Bill can't rule Earth in normal time. But he can rule a cut-off portion of Earth in frozen time" (frozen relative to the outside world, that is) "and enjoy tormenting the people trapped there as they are trapped in an eternal Hell on Earth."
• so in order to defeat Bill, it's going to be explained to Mabel that they have to allow Gravity Falls to exit the time bubble
• Mabel will agree, and may even be the one to do the deed in restoring Gravity Falls to the regular flow of time (i.e. with the rest of the world)
• Bill will be defeated, but now Mabel will be forced to confront summer's end
• events / conversations during the brief Hell on Earth period will persuade Mabel that summer's end isn't so bad

Something like this.

I imagine S2 is going to end on a note where:

• if Hirsch doesn't get the all clear from Disney to make a Season 3, he can end the series there permanently and it won't be the end of the world for the fandom
• if Hirsch does get the all clear from Disney for a Season 3, then S3 will pick up anywhere from days to years after S2's ending

Further speculating, suppose S2 ends with Dipper and Mabel going back to Piedmont, California at the end of the summer ... then I imagine that Season 3 will take place after a time skip of one to several years (PLEASE BE SEVERAL!). If it's just one year, not too much will really have changed. If it's several, though, then we'll probably see a lot of time skip consequences like Wendy a young adult, Dipper x Pacifica getting moreso off the ground now that they're not 12 years old but more like 15, 16 years old, and so on.

[Talon87]

Watched S2E18. Thoughts:

Spoiler: show

I enjoyed the episode okay. I guess the two things I really didn't like about it were:

1. it felt very season finale-ey, which signals that we may not be getting much more Gravity Falls for a while
2. it felt very series finale-ey, what with Gideon joining Team Good Guys and similar developments you wouldn't expect to happen if we were slated to get a third season

So that kind of put a damper on a lot of the episode. Damper aside, I still only enjoyed the episode so-so. I've never been a big fan of the Bill Cipher character, so an episode dedicated to his antics, as necessary as it is for this plot, isn't going to rank high on my list. And I didn't much care for his lame cast of Other Dimension characters nor did I much care for the craziness Hirsch & Team shared with us this episode.

But the episode had strong points too. For one, it was nice to have Gideon back in the plot again. He's been forgotten too long, and it was nice to see his plot/character development side of things in this episode (even if I'm disappointed to see him reform so soon as that bodes poorly for S3). For a second, it was nice to have another episode heavy on Dipper-Wendy interactions that simultaneously maintained that Dipper has no shot with Wendy romantically. This lent some important weight to the end-of-episode speech Dipper gives to Gideon about how you can't force someone to love you, etc. Third, it was neat to see Time Baby confront Bill Cipher. That wasn't something I'd ever given much thought to (particularly since I don't place Bill on the same level of power as Time Baby), so the episode went and surprised us with the apparent death of Time Baby at Bill's hands. I very much doubt that Time Baby's been bested though. Whether because the timeline will be altered and restore Time Baby to existence or because Time Baby, like Blendin, actually managed to dodge Bill's attack and make it merely look like he was vaporized.

Animation was fine. (Top of the line for GF.)

I particularly enjoyed the real-live people cameo during that one Weirdness Bubble scene. I assume Dipper was acted out by Hirsch. But it'd be weird if his sister, ostensibly the inspiration for Mabel, played Wendy. So I wonder -- who was that who played Wendy? Was it Alex's sister? Or was it somebody else? And if so, who? Wendy's voice actress, maybe?

Rolling my eyes at how the story has the adults being inept or incapable at this late chapter and it's all down to the kids (plus manchild Soos) to save the world. It's pretty cliche for kids shows to do this and the older I get the less tolerance I have for it. I get that kids want to be the heroes but it's just stupid to see the veteran Stanford being bested again and again and again while Dipper's the one to save the day. If nothing else, I guess I can be happy with these little canon seedlings lending legitimacy to the notion that Dipper's the best suited person in the world to be Ford's apprentice.

[Talon87]

Guillermo del Toro likes Gravity Falls.

The show is ending in early 2016. We get one new episode tomorrow (11/23) and then an hour-long finale sometime next year. And then that's it. (Still holding out hope for a timeskip sequel!)