[8.3/10] In the climax of “Not What He Seems”, Mabel Pines must make a monumental decision. Push the button or don’t? Stop the machine causing untold mayhem in Gravity Falls or believe that it’s there for the greater good? On one side is Stan, begging his niece to trust him, to believe that he wants what’s best. And on the other side is Dipper, begging her not to listen to someone who lied to them. The light in the room swirls. The countdown clock ticks toward fruition. The choice for who to believe is nigh.
And I got misty-eyed over it. If I’m honest, I’m not 100% sure why. Gravity Falls is a show overflowing with heart and moments of moving self-sacrifice, but it hasn’t really pierced me in that way before now. But if I had to guess, I would say it’s because it’s easy to feel both of the relationships tugging on Mabel’s conscience right now, easy to internalize the conflict of how she wants to vindicate two people in this world whom she cares about deeply.
You can understand Stan’s pleas in the moment. Maybe it’s just having rewatched “Land Before Swine” recently, but we have reason to believe that, whatever his true identity, Stan genuinely loves these kids. The hurt in his voice, in his eyes, when he asks if she no longer trusts him, speaks to a genuine woundedness to the question, even before we learn what he’s trying so desperately to save with all this.
And at the same time, we can understand Dipper’s sense of betrayal. He’s spent almost a whole summer hunting for mysteries when his great uncle had the answers the whole time. For all he knows, that “uncle” may be a fraud, who stole the life of their real relative or worse. Whoever he is, he built a machine that’s threatening to destroy the town and never said a word about it. The sense of thinking you know someone, only to have their smokescreens and hidden truths uncovered, is palpable.
Of course Stan’s hurt. Of course Dipper’s angry. And somehow, Mabel has to pick between them. That’s the cinch of this mid-season finale, and what makes it so difficult and poignant. Gravity Falls has spent thirty episodes strengthening the bonds between Mabel and DIpper, between the twins and their uncle, between the Pines and Soos, and now it sets them all against one another after the rugs pulled out from under each of them. How can you stop yourself from melting, at least a little, in the face of people who love one another hurting and disappointing each other?
I can’t. The episode drives it home by showing Stan, Dipper, and Mabel basking in the familial joys of launching fireworks and putting out the ensuing blaze with a water balloon fight. This season, we witnessed a paeon to Dipper and Mabel’s willingness to give up the things that make them happy to support one another. Just a few episodes ago, we saw the kids go to incredible lengths to make Soos happy on his birthday, and him give up a magic wish because they were all he needed. In that same episode, we saw him lament his missing dad, and in this one, we hear him amusingly proclaim his plan to become adopted by Stan and change his name to “Stan Junior.”
So it’s painful to see Mabel have to choose between her Great Uncle and her brother, to see Soos have to decide between following Stan’s orders or helping the kids, to see Dipper and Mabel caught between the certainty that their beloved Grunkle would never do what the feds have accused him of, and discovery after discovery that Stan is, as the initial code so famously warned, not what he seems.
Granted, the episode spends a lot of time teasing. It would certainly be easier if Stan had explained to the kids what was up, or what he wanted to use the machine for, or why everything would turn out okay. I assume there’s an explanation, probably one founded on the idea that he wanted to keep them blameless and safe from all of this. But it does seem like some of this could be avoided.
And yet, momentous things are happening! The gravity-shifting effects we see in the (now shortened for some reason?) intro finally come into play on the show proper. The feds have sprung into action and arrested Stan! Stan himself escapes using gravity-fu in his most badass moves since the pterodactyl fight. The machine is set to go into effect in less than twenty-four hours! McGucket’s laptop is flashing a danger sign and he’s ready to get out of town. There’s hints of the friggin’ apocalypse. This episode feels big and epic.
And after everything, even as more mysteries unfold, we get answers! The Author is Stan’s twin brother! He’s the one with six fingers! And he’s been trapped elsewhere for god knows how long. The show teases that Stan is some doomsday device-sporting con artist ready to tear the world apart for his schemes, but the episode rewards Mabel’s faith in her great uncle, despite the implication of some price still to pay, when it turns out he’s done it all to save his brother.
We see hints of a complicated relationship there, from the hints of foul play, to Stan’s comments that DIpper and Mabel get along better than any two siblings should, to the silent outro of the two of them as boys sitting on the swings together. Whatever the reasons, this family just got bigger, and more complicated, and there’s a hell of a lot of fallout to be had from it.
But what I love about the finale is that it’s not just a major payoff of the narrative and mystery elements that have driven the show to this point; it’s just as vital a climax to the emotional connections between Dipper, Mabel, Stan, and Soos. The machine, the feds, the threat to the town, and the secret kept in service of all three set the four members of this makeshift family at odds in a way that tears at their souls. It’s hard to watch at times, heart-rending in how it weighs one bond against another after so much shared happiness and trust. But that’s also what makes an epic, moving, and great highlight episode of this show that never stops surprising me.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-08-29T23:32:41Z
[8.3/10] In the climax of “Not What He Seems”, Mabel Pines must make a monumental decision. Push the button or don’t? Stop the machine causing untold mayhem in Gravity Falls or believe that it’s there for the greater good? On one side is Stan, begging his niece to trust him, to believe that he wants what’s best. And on the other side is Dipper, begging her not to listen to someone who lied to them. The light in the room swirls. The countdown clock ticks toward fruition. The choice for who to believe is nigh.
And I got misty-eyed over it. If I’m honest, I’m not 100% sure why. Gravity Falls is a show overflowing with heart and moments of moving self-sacrifice, but it hasn’t really pierced me in that way before now. But if I had to guess, I would say it’s because it’s easy to feel both of the relationships tugging on Mabel’s conscience right now, easy to internalize the conflict of how she wants to vindicate two people in this world whom she cares about deeply.
You can understand Stan’s pleas in the moment. Maybe it’s just having rewatched “Land Before Swine” recently, but we have reason to believe that, whatever his true identity, Stan genuinely loves these kids. The hurt in his voice, in his eyes, when he asks if she no longer trusts him, speaks to a genuine woundedness to the question, even before we learn what he’s trying so desperately to save with all this.
And at the same time, we can understand Dipper’s sense of betrayal. He’s spent almost a whole summer hunting for mysteries when his great uncle had the answers the whole time. For all he knows, that “uncle” may be a fraud, who stole the life of their real relative or worse. Whoever he is, he built a machine that’s threatening to destroy the town and never said a word about it. The sense of thinking you know someone, only to have their smokescreens and hidden truths uncovered, is palpable.
Of course Stan’s hurt. Of course Dipper’s angry. And somehow, Mabel has to pick between them. That’s the cinch of this mid-season finale, and what makes it so difficult and poignant. Gravity Falls has spent thirty episodes strengthening the bonds between Mabel and DIpper, between the twins and their uncle, between the Pines and Soos, and now it sets them all against one another after the rugs pulled out from under each of them. How can you stop yourself from melting, at least a little, in the face of people who love one another hurting and disappointing each other?
I can’t. The episode drives it home by showing Stan, Dipper, and Mabel basking in the familial joys of launching fireworks and putting out the ensuing blaze with a water balloon fight. This season, we witnessed a paeon to Dipper and Mabel’s willingness to give up the things that make them happy to support one another. Just a few episodes ago, we saw the kids go to incredible lengths to make Soos happy on his birthday, and him give up a magic wish because they were all he needed. In that same episode, we saw him lament his missing dad, and in this one, we hear him amusingly proclaim his plan to become adopted by Stan and change his name to “Stan Junior.”
So it’s painful to see Mabel have to choose between her Great Uncle and her brother, to see Soos have to decide between following Stan’s orders or helping the kids, to see Dipper and Mabel caught between the certainty that their beloved Grunkle would never do what the feds have accused him of, and discovery after discovery that Stan is, as the initial code so famously warned, not what he seems.
Granted, the episode spends a lot of time teasing. It would certainly be easier if Stan had explained to the kids what was up, or what he wanted to use the machine for, or why everything would turn out okay. I assume there’s an explanation, probably one founded on the idea that he wanted to keep them blameless and safe from all of this. But it does seem like some of this could be avoided.
And yet, momentous things are happening! The gravity-shifting effects we see in the (now shortened for some reason?) intro finally come into play on the show proper. The feds have sprung into action and arrested Stan! Stan himself escapes using gravity-fu in his most badass moves since the pterodactyl fight. The machine is set to go into effect in less than twenty-four hours! McGucket’s laptop is flashing a danger sign and he’s ready to get out of town. There’s hints of the friggin’ apocalypse. This episode feels big and epic.
And after everything, even as more mysteries unfold, we get answers! The Author is Stan’s twin brother! He’s the one with six fingers! And he’s been trapped elsewhere for god knows how long. The show teases that Stan is some doomsday device-sporting con artist ready to tear the world apart for his schemes, but the episode rewards Mabel’s faith in her great uncle, despite the implication of some price still to pay, when it turns out he’s done it all to save his brother.
We see hints of a complicated relationship there, from the hints of foul play, to Stan’s comments that DIpper and Mabel get along better than any two siblings should, to the silent outro of the two of them as boys sitting on the swings together. Whatever the reasons, this family just got bigger, and more complicated, and there’s a hell of a lot of fallout to be had from it.
But what I love about the finale is that it’s not just a major payoff of the narrative and mystery elements that have driven the show to this point; it’s just as vital a climax to the emotional connections between Dipper, Mabel, Stan, and Soos. The machine, the feds, the threat to the town, and the secret kept in service of all three set the four members of this makeshift family at odds in a way that tears at their souls. It’s hard to watch at times, heart-rending in how it weighs one bond against another after so much shared happiness and trust. But that’s also what makes an epic, moving, and great highlight episode of this show that never stops surprising me.