1x20 Gideon Rises (2)

[8.3/10] I’m not a dummy. (Most of the time, anyway.) I knew that, chances were, by the end of the episode, all of the Pines family and their allies would pull out a victory and the status quo would be restored. As off the wall as Gravity Falls is, this is a Disney show after all. And as loopy as the characters and their world are, it’s also a surprisingly optimistic show, one that’s suffused with heart and wholesomeness that make the weirdness that much more endearing. So I knew, or at least had good reason to think, our heroes would best Gideon and save the day here.

What’s astonishing, then, is how Gravity Falls still makes the stakes matter here, because of the emotional element to everything. Wendy having to go work at a logging farm upstate matters because it would tear Dipper away from his crush. (And I’m not talking about eucalyptus trees.) Regaining the Mystery Shack matters because, despite some quality humor, it’s clear that bunking with Soos’ grandmother is not a long term solution and has thrown everyone out of sorts. The prospect of Dipper and Mabel having to go back home hurts, both because it would spell the end of the summer of adventure and excitement and camaraderie they’ve found in this oddball locale, but also because it’s a selfless but pitiable admission from Stan that he failed, he lost, and he can’t take care of his niece and nephew anymore.

Yes, savvy viewers can reasonably expect all of those problems won’t be permanent. But the characters can’t, and the show sells the sense of having tried your best and still failed, of being discouraged, beaten, and having to admit defeat to salvage what you can. Stan’s lost his livelihood. The Pines twins have lost their summer escape. And most importantly, this makeshift crew is losing each other. That’s why it matters so much to defeat Gideon, and why it’s so satisfying when they do.

It also gives the group personal arcs. For Dipper, it means proving that he is brave and strong and smart even without the benefit of Journal #3. His journey is a good excuse for the callbacks in this one. I love that we go back to the gnomes for a spell. And plenty of side characters get a moment in the sun, including the good ol’ “Get ‘em!” guy who has an amusingly pained version of his usual catchphrase here.

More to the point, with Gideon stealing the journal, Dipper has to prove that he’s still good without him. The pugnacious and determined little guy leaping off a cliff to pummel a well-coiffed evil-doer inside a giant robot is an...unusual way to dramatize that idea. But the episode shows us his inner turmoil and self-doubt about what he has to offer without his little guide, so it’s extra heartening to see him best Gideon without it.

Likewise, Stan is at rock bottom as well once Gidoen steals the deed to the mystery shack and manages to keep it by parlaying his popularity with the town in contrast to Stan’s status as a pariah. That’s why it’s equally satisfying when Stan exposes Gideon as manufacturing his psychic persona by secretly spying on everyone in town using his little pins. It plays on the well set up detia of Stna’s hearing aid and flips the admiration game, to where Stan becomes the town hero and Gideon’s exposed as the contemptible fraud he is. Giving Stan a win that focuses on recognizing a scam when he sees one and rehabilitating his reputation in the community is a pleasantly poetic win for the conman codger.

Mabel’s arc is not quite as deep, but god help me, I just love the fact that after moment after moment of silly escapades with her grappling hook, it really does help her save the day in the end. I may have genuinely laughed and clapped. One of the consistent treats of Gravity Falls is that even when it’s epic and heartfelt, it never stops being hilarious. Along with Mabel, Soos bumbling his way through every odd job in town cracked me up. His abuelita being at the ready to vacuum everything got a laugh out of me. And the file photo of Stan dressed as the devil, provoking complaints that it was taken out of context, split my sides too.

The only thing I’ll knock this one for is that Gideon jumping into a giant robot in his likeness is a little empty as a set piece. The gnome attack was more entertaining, and him fighting Dipper to get Journal #1, when neither of them has it, makes it feel a little pointless. But Gideon wearing little trackballs inside the suit, and him interrupting the twins’ bus ride home for a mecha fight still has its thrills.

If that weren’t enough though, we get some major progress on the big mysteries. Gideon’s exposition about the lore of Gravity Falls and who buried the journals raises all kinds of intriguing questions. (For Kingdom Hearts fans, seeing someone in a big hooded robe burying something on a Disney show starts the mind spinning.) Plus, wow for Stan’s development! There’d long been hints that he knew more than he was saying. But I like the reveal that his skepticism of Dipper’s oddities isn’t just implausible skepticism, but rather a smokescreen for his own conspiracy-tinted efforts. The fact that he has Journal #1, and combines it with the other two to unleash some wild powerful machine deep underground beneath the shack is one hell of a tease for season 2! (It’s also sweet that he has a picture of his niece and nephew down there).

But more than those teases, more than the laughs, more than the epic confrontations, what sticks with me for this one is how close this challenge seems to ending in disaster, despite the fact that deep down, we know things will almost certainly turn out right. It speaks to how well Gravity Falls makes us care about these characters, their relationships, and the joys they’ve carved out of this loony summer together, to where even the faint prospect of it going away is cause to be melancholy, and their ultimate triumph to preserve it is that much more rousing and exhilarating.