[8.7/10] It’s a tough needle to thread for big reveals to be both narratively satisfying and emotionally satisfying. Get lost in the byzantine plot details, and you neglect the characters that made those stories come to life. Focus too much on the psyche’s of your major players, and it can feel like the creators are taking narrative shortcuts in the name of reaching the right emotional result. But in “A Tale of Two Stans” Gravity Falls services both the stories behind its overarching mysteries, and the characters here populate them, with near-perfect balance, and it’s a nigh-miraculous achievement.
It succeeds in that effort by rooting the big reveals here in a tale of two brothers who loved each other deeply, but also felt as though the other sibling ruined their life. Stanley (who I’m going to refer to as “Stan” for convenience/consistency”) was the rough-around-the-edges twin, who was better at rough-housing than book-learning and had inherited his mother’s penchant for misleading people. Stanford (who I’m going to refer to as “Ford” for the same reasons), was the bookish but outcast twin, whose extra digits made him a target for bullets but also gave him a fascination with the unexplained and unusual.
Despite their differences, the brothers loved one another, with Stan giving Ford the fraternal friendship and support he needed, and Ford helping Stan get through school. Both dreamed of building the “Stan-o-War” and sailing away together in search of treasure and adventure, a boon to both their wants and their friendship.
That’s a hell of a place to start! The most impressive element of this momentous episode is the way it takes a character like Ford, who hasn’t been a presence until today, and makes his impact on the world of the show, and how he figures into Stan’s life, seem like the most natural, lived-in thing in the world. Their brotherly friendship despite their differences, the mutual support amid schooling and slacking, the solace they found in one another is something easy to buy, and makes it so we mourn the loss of their bond even though we only learn about it in the same episode.
That loss comes when Ford is offered the chance to attend a thinly-veiled CalTech analogue, which would scuttle he and Stan’s plans to sail the world. What I like about the conflict is that it’s comprehensible from both sides. Ford wants to be able to live out his hope of answering the big questions about the strange and supernatural, and Stan doesn’t want to lose his best friend or their big dream. So when Stan accidentally messes up the science fair project that would have gotten Ford into the college of his choice, and his brother confronts him about it, you buy the emotions on both sides. For Stan, it was a slip-up made in a moment of justified frustration. For Ford, it was a selfish act of what must have been deliberate sabotage. Each can understandably feel like the other robbed them of something sacred and important to them out of a sense of selfishness.
The two men’s paths from there make sense, and answer some of the big questions of Gravity Falls. Ford got his degree and a grant to study the paranormal, so he went to the place in the USA with the largest preponderance of mysterious happenings. While there, he built the not-yet-named Mystery Shack, as well as his lab, so he could test and examine the peculiar happenings in the town. His theory that there was another, weirder, probably Cipher Bill-infused dimension adjacent to our own leaking into a thin point in Gravity Falls is a nice explanation for all the odd stuff that happens around these parts. And him building a device to try to breach that dimension, with McGucket having a bad experience with it, accounts for the existence of the machine and what “Fiddleford” saw in there that made him want to wipe his own memories. Ford wrote the journals to keep track of his findings, including the gnomes and shape-shifter and other odd beasties our heroes have encountered.
There’s still some outstanding questions worth answering. What’s the deal with the bunker under the tree, who was Ford afraid of when he met his brother, and why did it seem like there was someone actively (and currently) planning for the apocalypse down there? But this is a surprisingly satisfying accounting for big questions like who wrote the journal and why, why there’s so many supernatural occurrences in Gravity Falls, and how all of this technological wizardry sprang up.
But there’s also a satisfying explanation for Stan’s history and trajectory. I appreciate the fact that he wasn’t always money-obsessed, but rather when his dad kicked him out for costing the family “millions” due to accidentally throwing a monkey wrench into Ford’s future, it spurred a psychological need in Stan to make up for it. His fake IDs come from his state-to-state treks selling various bits of schlock and other rip-offs that left him constantly on the run. He was always something of a huckster, and watching him sell Sham-Wows and bandaids that give rashes brings the laughs.
It ends in tragedy though. Ford is at his most paranoid about what this interdimensional gateway could mean, and reaches out to his brother when Stan’s nearly hit rock bottom. After ten years apart, there isn’t a tearful reunion, but another airing of long-held grievances. A fight ensues, which explains Stan’s odd tattoo and, after the skirmish sends Ford into the portal, also explains his thirty-year absence and Stan’s crusade. Here too, the blend of the “What” that accounts for the raw plot details, and the “why” that accounts for the complicated emotions in play between brothers elevates the episode.
Ford’s disappearance leaves Stan alone, helpless, and broke. The way Gravity Falls threads the needle is masterful. He plays on Ford’s reputation as a mysterious scientist out in the forest to raise money, after the townsfolk take an interest in this local celebrity. I particularly love the way that Stan’s huckstery qualities make him the perfect proprietor of this oddity emporium, one where people want to be taken in by the ridiculous and entertaining, where his fibs and cons are charming rather than destructive. In a strange way, his brother led Stan to what he was born to do, where his talents met the right opportunity. The poetic irony of that adds a poignance to what it cost Stan to achieve.
And it adds pathos to the less-than-warm reception he receives from his brother upon his return. Stan labored for decades to undo the damage, to rescue Ford from god knows where. He took these chances, tried to decipher these journals, to work himself ragged at nights, all to try to make things right.
When he does, though, it changes nothing. Ford isn’t grateful. Stan isn’t satisfied. It’s just another chapter in the fight that broke them apart, where Stan wants to keep his brother away from the kids, and Ford wants Stan out so he can resume his life. Nothing’s fixed. Nothing’s better. Everything’s just back to the way it was when this whole contretemps started, only with both Stan and Ford marking the extra years and extra resentments that come with them. This is, for the moment, a tragedy. Stan’s life’s work, his attempt to repair what went wrong with his brother, that only earns him an impending eviction, no hint of gratitude, and undoes the life and good he tried to do in Ford’s absence.
This being a wholesome show, I expect reconciliation eventually, but this is a canny choice to help the show raise new questions and new issues, while answering the old ones. Sure, it’s a little convenient that Ford is able to throw off all the feds with the help of the mind-wiper from the Blind Eyes society in one fell swoop. But setting that aside, this sets off a new status quo. Stan’s mission is complete, but a new countdown looms. His brother is back, but their issues aren’t resolved. The feds are gone, but who knows what trouble Ford continuing his life’s work may create. THere’s plenty more runaway for the plot to travel in the show’s final eight episodes.
But there’s also an emotional path to walk down too, between Stan and his brother, between the inquisitive Dipper and Mabel and they’re newly discovered great uncle, and most of all, between Dipper and Mabel. This story is not mere exposition or even a tragic story of two people broken apart. It’s a cautionary tale that leaves Mabel and Dipper wondering if, as close as they are now, they might turn out the same way.
Who knows? I doubt young Stanley and Stanford imagined themselves ruining one another’s lives, fighting in front of an interdimensional gateway, or having a reunion as old men that is more bitter than sweet. And yet, here they are, answering the audience’s questions, but finding themselves no better or happier for the journey they’ve completed to this point. It’s a hell of a story, one that satisfies both emotionally and narratively, and all we can do now is hope that Dipper and Mabel’s story will turn out differently, in this series and in their hopefully long lives ahead.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-08-31T01:22:43Z
[8.7/10] It’s a tough needle to thread for big reveals to be both narratively satisfying and emotionally satisfying. Get lost in the byzantine plot details, and you neglect the characters that made those stories come to life. Focus too much on the psyche’s of your major players, and it can feel like the creators are taking narrative shortcuts in the name of reaching the right emotional result. But in “A Tale of Two Stans” Gravity Falls services both the stories behind its overarching mysteries, and the characters here populate them, with near-perfect balance, and it’s a nigh-miraculous achievement.
It succeeds in that effort by rooting the big reveals here in a tale of two brothers who loved each other deeply, but also felt as though the other sibling ruined their life. Stanley (who I’m going to refer to as “Stan” for convenience/consistency”) was the rough-around-the-edges twin, who was better at rough-housing than book-learning and had inherited his mother’s penchant for misleading people. Stanford (who I’m going to refer to as “Ford” for the same reasons), was the bookish but outcast twin, whose extra digits made him a target for bullets but also gave him a fascination with the unexplained and unusual.
Despite their differences, the brothers loved one another, with Stan giving Ford the fraternal friendship and support he needed, and Ford helping Stan get through school. Both dreamed of building the “Stan-o-War” and sailing away together in search of treasure and adventure, a boon to both their wants and their friendship.
That’s a hell of a place to start! The most impressive element of this momentous episode is the way it takes a character like Ford, who hasn’t been a presence until today, and makes his impact on the world of the show, and how he figures into Stan’s life, seem like the most natural, lived-in thing in the world. Their brotherly friendship despite their differences, the mutual support amid schooling and slacking, the solace they found in one another is something easy to buy, and makes it so we mourn the loss of their bond even though we only learn about it in the same episode.
That loss comes when Ford is offered the chance to attend a thinly-veiled CalTech analogue, which would scuttle he and Stan’s plans to sail the world. What I like about the conflict is that it’s comprehensible from both sides. Ford wants to be able to live out his hope of answering the big questions about the strange and supernatural, and Stan doesn’t want to lose his best friend or their big dream. So when Stan accidentally messes up the science fair project that would have gotten Ford into the college of his choice, and his brother confronts him about it, you buy the emotions on both sides. For Stan, it was a slip-up made in a moment of justified frustration. For Ford, it was a selfish act of what must have been deliberate sabotage. Each can understandably feel like the other robbed them of something sacred and important to them out of a sense of selfishness.
The two men’s paths from there make sense, and answer some of the big questions of Gravity Falls. Ford got his degree and a grant to study the paranormal, so he went to the place in the USA with the largest preponderance of mysterious happenings. While there, he built the not-yet-named Mystery Shack, as well as his lab, so he could test and examine the peculiar happenings in the town. His theory that there was another, weirder, probably Cipher Bill-infused dimension adjacent to our own leaking into a thin point in Gravity Falls is a nice explanation for all the odd stuff that happens around these parts. And him building a device to try to breach that dimension, with McGucket having a bad experience with it, accounts for the existence of the machine and what “Fiddleford” saw in there that made him want to wipe his own memories. Ford wrote the journals to keep track of his findings, including the gnomes and shape-shifter and other odd beasties our heroes have encountered.
There’s still some outstanding questions worth answering. What’s the deal with the bunker under the tree, who was Ford afraid of when he met his brother, and why did it seem like there was someone actively (and currently) planning for the apocalypse down there? But this is a surprisingly satisfying accounting for big questions like who wrote the journal and why, why there’s so many supernatural occurrences in Gravity Falls, and how all of this technological wizardry sprang up.
But there’s also a satisfying explanation for Stan’s history and trajectory. I appreciate the fact that he wasn’t always money-obsessed, but rather when his dad kicked him out for costing the family “millions” due to accidentally throwing a monkey wrench into Ford’s future, it spurred a psychological need in Stan to make up for it. His fake IDs come from his state-to-state treks selling various bits of schlock and other rip-offs that left him constantly on the run. He was always something of a huckster, and watching him sell Sham-Wows and bandaids that give rashes brings the laughs.
It ends in tragedy though. Ford is at his most paranoid about what this interdimensional gateway could mean, and reaches out to his brother when Stan’s nearly hit rock bottom. After ten years apart, there isn’t a tearful reunion, but another airing of long-held grievances. A fight ensues, which explains Stan’s odd tattoo and, after the skirmish sends Ford into the portal, also explains his thirty-year absence and Stan’s crusade. Here too, the blend of the “What” that accounts for the raw plot details, and the “why” that accounts for the complicated emotions in play between brothers elevates the episode.
Ford’s disappearance leaves Stan alone, helpless, and broke. The way Gravity Falls threads the needle is masterful. He plays on Ford’s reputation as a mysterious scientist out in the forest to raise money, after the townsfolk take an interest in this local celebrity. I particularly love the way that Stan’s huckstery qualities make him the perfect proprietor of this oddity emporium, one where people want to be taken in by the ridiculous and entertaining, where his fibs and cons are charming rather than destructive. In a strange way, his brother led Stan to what he was born to do, where his talents met the right opportunity. The poetic irony of that adds a poignance to what it cost Stan to achieve.
And it adds pathos to the less-than-warm reception he receives from his brother upon his return. Stan labored for decades to undo the damage, to rescue Ford from god knows where. He took these chances, tried to decipher these journals, to work himself ragged at nights, all to try to make things right.
When he does, though, it changes nothing. Ford isn’t grateful. Stan isn’t satisfied. It’s just another chapter in the fight that broke them apart, where Stan wants to keep his brother away from the kids, and Ford wants Stan out so he can resume his life. Nothing’s fixed. Nothing’s better. Everything’s just back to the way it was when this whole contretemps started, only with both Stan and Ford marking the extra years and extra resentments that come with them. This is, for the moment, a tragedy. Stan’s life’s work, his attempt to repair what went wrong with his brother, that only earns him an impending eviction, no hint of gratitude, and undoes the life and good he tried to do in Ford’s absence.
This being a wholesome show, I expect reconciliation eventually, but this is a canny choice to help the show raise new questions and new issues, while answering the old ones. Sure, it’s a little convenient that Ford is able to throw off all the feds with the help of the mind-wiper from the Blind Eyes society in one fell swoop. But setting that aside, this sets off a new status quo. Stan’s mission is complete, but a new countdown looms. His brother is back, but their issues aren’t resolved. The feds are gone, but who knows what trouble Ford continuing his life’s work may create. THere’s plenty more runaway for the plot to travel in the show’s final eight episodes.
But there’s also an emotional path to walk down too, between Stan and his brother, between the inquisitive Dipper and Mabel and they’re newly discovered great uncle, and most of all, between Dipper and Mabel. This story is not mere exposition or even a tragic story of two people broken apart. It’s a cautionary tale that leaves Mabel and Dipper wondering if, as close as they are now, they might turn out the same way.
Who knows? I doubt young Stanley and Stanford imagined themselves ruining one another’s lives, fighting in front of an interdimensional gateway, or having a reunion as old men that is more bitter than sweet. And yet, here they are, answering the audience’s questions, but finding themselves no better or happier for the journey they’ve completed to this point. It’s a hell of a story, one that satisfies both emotionally and narratively, and all we can do now is hope that Dipper and Mabel’s story will turn out differently, in this series and in their hopefully long lives ahead.