Welcome back to Gravity Talks, the Gravity Falls review series that comes out with the same terrible release schedule of the show itself. We didn’t even review that Love God episode so let’s just get that out of the way.
John DiMaggio is hilarious in a diaper and Tambry and Robbie are cute together, all unfortunate implications aside.
Final Verdict: 7.4 – Love Potion stories are really problematic.
And with that over with, let’s get to the reason we’re here: last night’s episode, “Northwest Mansion Mystery”, which seemed to pull the trigger on some of Gravity Fall‘s stories looming in the background while developing a certain character and pushing the limits of what a Y-7 rating means for the Disney Channel. Check out that review below, with full spoilers ahead.
I’ve never really considered Gravity Falls to be outright “scary” before. Yes, there are some horrific moments that have stood out like Bill Cipher removing that deer’s teeth, but there’s never really been an episode that was overt horrific. And then last night, while Dipper was trying to exorcise the Northwest home of a ghost so Mabel and her friends could attend a major party there, mounted animal heads began to bleed from their orifices while chanting “ancient sins”, a lumberjack ghost with an ax in his head tried to avenge his untimely death, and Nathan Fillion as Preston Northwest, Pacifica Northwest’s dad, exhibited a downright evil control of his daughter. And that’s all before the last 30 seconds which gave us the three-fold punch of McGuckett’s warning, the Cipher tapestry, and the most exciting cryptogram in the show’s history.
That’s where a lot of the show’s vastness seems to come from, in its subliminal messages, ciphers, and riddles. I’ve mentioned this before in approximately every review Multiversity’s done of Gravity Falls but one of Alex Hirsch and the Falls staff’s greatest strengths is their willingness to leave clues for fans, often in the shape of some truly vague foreshadowing. While the show itself gives us plenty to work with, the various clues hidden throughout the show and its tie-ins really heightens some of the show’s seemingly smaller moments. Take for instance, the scene where the lumberjack ghost petrifies the Northwest party guests which leaves Dipper frozen in in the same disturbing pose the shapeshifter from “Into the Bunker” foretold. What seemed like a pretty typically creepy pose now becomes an agonizing callback with horrific implications, considering the shapeshifter said that pose would be the last form Dipper ever took.
Aside from its outright graphic horror (seriously, how did bleeding animal heads get a Y-7 rating) “Northwest Mansion Mystery” also stood out from the other episodes of Gravity Falls by cutting out most of the major cast. Wendy, Soos, and Grunkle Stan don’t make any kind of appearances and Mabel’s relegated to a pretty minor side plot with Candy and Grenda. Instead, this episode finds itself focusing on Dipper, now confident enough in his paranormal skills that he is more or less the town’s ghostbuster, and Pacifica Northwest. Pacifica showed some signs of growth in “Golf Wars”, the first episode to treat her as anything more than the Anti-Mabel, and “Mansion Mystery” shed even more light on her.
At this point, Gravity Falls could write an episode about Tyler the Cute Biker and it would be an emotionally resonant episode. That’s how adept they are at taking previously minor characters like Pacifica and McGuckett and turning them into truly fleshed-out characters. The Pacifica we see in “Mansion Mystery” is conflicted, having grown under the oppressive thumb of her mom and dad who control her with a literal Pavlovian bell. And really, props to Nathan Fillion for being such a delightfully bourgeois bastard. “You are my possessions.” he yells at actually possessed furniture pieces flying around his manor, “Obey me!” That control freak vibe extends to his daughter who slowly breaks out of his control over the course of the episode, culminating with her ignoring the bell’s ring and obeying the lumberjack to break the family’s curse.
There’s clearly room for Pacifica to grow but her actions in this episode were a huge start. What’s just as intriguing, however, is her relationship with Dipper. The two never got off to a good start, especially since Dipper in “Irrational Treasure” cruelly rubbing her family’s fake history in her face without a sign of remorse. That sourness still stands at the beginning of this episode with Dipper literally calling her the worst to her face at the episode’s start. But, while investigating the lumberjack ghost, Dipper and Pacifica strike up a witty repartee which culminates in an awkward hug that, for once, isn’t Dipper’s fault. And then, after lifting the Northwest family curse, Pacifica joins Dipper in throwing cider all over her family’s favorite carpet pattern. I don’t know if it’d be the best choice to see Dipper and Pacifica start dating, the newfound army of Pacifidipper shippers aside, but it’s clear that Pacifica would make for a great addition to the main cast. Either way, over the course of two episodes (“Golf War” and “Northwest Mansion Mystery”) Gravity Falls took one of its more shallow characters and turned her into one of the most dynamic.
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All that said, things likely won’t remain chipper for the Pines Twins and the rest of Gravity Falls for long. After McGuckett swoops in to reveal he fixed the laptop, he urges Dipper to listen to his findings about the impending apocalypse. Dipper, having grown another smidge more confident having won one of his few certain victories, tells McGuckett to calm down and enjoy the party. He walks away while the camera remains on McGuckett, whose laptop reveals that the world is going to end in less than 24 hours. And then we sweep over to a tapestry in the Northwest household featuring a portrait Bill Cipher subjugating several humans. And then. FBI Agents Trigger and Nick Offerman take off their party disguises to reveal that their sensors have picked up signals too. And then the end-credits cryptogram spells out “STANISNOTWHATHESEEMS STANISNOTWHATHESEEMS”, the same cryptogram that’s been on the show’s opening credits since the first episode in 2012.
If there’s one thing I really hate about Gravity Falls, its how it will drop an episode like this on you and then ask you wait until March for any follow-up. And considering the next episode is actually titled “Not What He Seems”, I expect some major ramifications in the weeks to come which, considering we’re on episode 11 of a 21 episode season, is pretty impressive. Everything has been building towards some unspeakable event in the near future for Gravity Falls, even some of the jokier aspects of this episode.
The sub-plot with the Austrian royalty seems like a somewhat out-of-place showcase for Grenda, Candy, and Mabel, but the conclusion where Grenda wins the boy actually follows up on a phrase from Dipper and Mabel’s Guide to Mystery and Non-Stop Fun! book which involves the secret message “Grenda will marry rich.” That may seem like a cool bit of continuity but it also fulfills some of the other prophecies in that book: “The Mayor of Gravity Falls is not long for this world”, demonstrated by the character’s sudden introduction in this episode as an frail elderly recluse and “The end of the world is closer than the end of summer.” as shown by, well, the ending to this episode.
If that last paragraph sounds like a bunch of frantic dot connecting, missing only a “Carol from HR!” reference, then it’s because Gravity Falls isn’t just a show that wants its viewers to merely laugh at its jokes or like its characters. It demands an obsession, an initiation into a world of cryptograms, hidden messages, and vaguely threatening foreshadowing. And when these certain moments are followed through, be it in small moments like Grenda marrying rich or larger ideas like the possibility of Stan revealing what his deal is, Gravity Falls has done an excellent job of keeping its fans invested in the inner working of the town of Gravity Falls.
Essentially, it turns you into Dipper.
Final Verdict: 8.8 – A creepy, heart-warming, and funny melody that proves that Gravity Falls is only going to get better the deeper it digs into its own mystery. Until March, we’ll leave you with this.
