Gravity Falls

 

If I told you that Disney created a TV show that is 100% on rotten tomatoes, would you be interested in watching it? Honestly, I bet most of you have already seen it. If you haven’t, then you should watch this show. If you have watch it again. Gravity Falls is a masterpiece that has only two seasons, 41 episodes, so their is no excuse to watch this short series. 

artist: Linabug

Gravity Falls follows twins Dipper and Mabel as they are sent to their great uncle (Gruncle) Stan for the summer. The town, Gravity Falls, has mysteries to be solved which piques Dippers and Mabel’s interest as they try to explore the oddities that this town brings. Thanks to this show I refer my great uncles as gruncles and the best part is they accept it. Thank you Gruncle Sam and Fred.

There are phenomena that only occur in this town and Gruncle Stan profits from it by his tourist trap buisness called the mystery shack. What is ironic about the mystery shack is nothing special is contained in it. However, outside in the woods lies the mythological environment: Demons, Dinosaurs, Multi-Bear, Unicorns, and of course Gnomes. All of which is well documented in a journal that Dipper finds.

This may sound like a children show, which it is, but adults will love it too. The reason it appeals to all ages because the characters in Gravity Falls grow with their experiences and develop. Unlike shows like SpongeBob that reset the characters after every episode, the characters use the knowledge they gained in previous episodes which make them more realistic.

artist: Teandstars, sakisketches, maddigzlz 

One of the best character developments is from Mabel. She starts the series as being simpleminded only caring about getting a boyfriend at a young age. She follows her brother Dipper and is mostly obedient to him, she trusts him completely. In one of the best episodes Not What He Seems accusations about Gruncle Stan are being surfaced which make us, the audience, second guess ourselves. Would Disney really make a main character a villain?

Anyway, Gruncle Stan is doing some shady experiments while Dipper and Mabel learn some truths that make them question their so called Gruncle. At the pinnacle of the episode, we see Mabel having to decide: 1) listen to her trusting brother and turn off the sketchy machine that is affecting gravity built by Gruncle Stan, or 2) Trust the person that is untrustworthy. It’s a beautiful scene; one that I will never forget.

Not only do the characters develop, but so does the story: everything leads up to the climax of the series. In the first season Dreamscaperers, a rival towards the protagonists releases a triangular inter-dimensional demon named Bill Cipher. He shows up throughout the series working on his goal is to start an apocalypse which is referred as weirdageddon, oddpocalypse, or weirdpocalyse. Obviously, Bill is the main antagonist of the series. Dipper and Mabel must join with friends, family, betrayers, and the whole town to stop Bill Cipher. This being a Disney show you can probably guess what will happen in the end, but what makes it memorable is the way they finish the series. They are told there is one way to defeat Bill and how they execute it was clever.

To me what makes a show great is how memorable it is and how much I contemplate it after I turn it's over. The more I think about it the better the show is. Gravity Falls is one of those shows for me. The show is rewatchable, I have watched the show multiple times and I notice foreshadowing that I missed the first time watching the show. For example, did you know that Bill Cipher can be seen in the first episode Tourist Trapped?