Gravity Falls: S1E2 "The Legend of the Gobblewonker" (Ep-By-Step #3) · 4:38pm Oct 3rd, 2022
In which I don't know what's more incredible: the secret behind the Gobblewonker, or the idea that Grunkle Stan has no ulterior motive.
SPOILERS
GENERAL SPOILER POLICY: "Blogs in the Ep-By-Step series may or may not spoil content found in later episodes. Viewer discretion is therefore advised."
This episode flies the fun flag proudly, for good or ill.
Having gotten its basic premises and plot setup out of the way, Season One of Gravity Falls quickly settles into its comfortable "monster-of-the-week" format. This is quite a contrast to Season Two's approach, and I'm in two minds about it.
Looked at one way, Season Two trims the fat, cuts to the chase, and - some local trends notwithstanding - overall drives faster and with more purpose. Looked at another way, Season One is a lot more leisurely, a lot more easy-going, and - some plot coupons notwithstanding - takes the scenic route and indulges a bit more giddily.
Unfortunately, that makes it harder to discuss these early eps in much depth, since a lot of them amount to either clarifying what species of characters we're dealing with or going "Ooh, ooh, look! There! That's going to be important later!"
With that in mind, it's probably a good move to show us "Family Man" Grunkle Stan this early on. The nature of his business (and a hilarious flashback at the beginning of this very episode) all make clear he's a shady type, and apart from his loveable rogue persona (or at least his entertaining sarcasm), it just seems a good investment to show us his warmer, nicer side as soon as possible.
Even as we're laughing at Stan's cruddy attempts to win first the twins' favour and then anyone's favour, the effort puts him under a sympathetic spotlight that'll leave afterglows long after he's reverted back to his scabbier persona.
Meanwhile, Dipper and Mabel the Mystery Twins (not to be named so until the next episode) basically treat today as another summer vacation activity, lake monster aside. They might as well be visiting a theme park. That's why I find it hard to get on their case for ditching Stan when the prospect of nabbing a cash prize via the sprucier boat trip is so much sweeter. Mabel is already my firm favourite, especially when she blackmails Dipper into making her Co-Captain by throwing one of his emergency cameras overboard.
"Whoa... I can hear Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home..."
See, even as she's making the rules of the game work for her (or just changing the game at random, such as when she uses a pelican as a ventriloquist's dummy), it's clear a lot of this really is just a game, and we the viewer are invited to enjoy it playing out.
This is precisely the sort of casual adventuring where Mabel's fun-loving attitude works in her favour, especially as Soos quickly establishes himself as the loveable big brother figure joining in. For the most part, the search for a supernatural photo-op is treated as a lark, and Gravity Falls has the endearing habit of loving to tap into that larky side at calm moments, even with the lurking fog of threat overshadowing the story.
Speaking of threats, the Gobblewonker draws upon the classic worldwide cryptid of the mysterious lake monster (don't believe the Loch Ness Monster is the only one; lots of countries have their own versions!). This kind of makes it less memorable than the other monsters we'll be seeing later - heck, it's less memorable than the sheer absurdity of the previous one - though I do like how it's an amalgamation of various mundane explanations for such monsters (plesiosaur, seal, giant fish, even submarine and elaborate hoax).
When it finally shows up, the episode dives right into comedic action chase and stock roar sound effects, and you could argue the comedy either helps (because it adds belly-laughs on top of the tension) or hinders (because it counters the tension with distractions). It's probably indicative of my view that the most memorable part is the ridiculous use of the "two men carrying a pane of glass during a chase scene" gag... in the middle of a lake!
Lastly, something Gravity Falls, the series does early on is throw us a bunch of memorably off-beat citizens from Gravity Falls, the town, and let us enjoy their weirdness (a common theme in this series, trust me). While it makes for a fine enough medley of "aren't these people crazy!?" gags, I think it works better when we get proper introductions to each of them later on.
Manly Dan, for instance, is basically just here as a quick gag character, whereas next episode we'll see him in his natural habitat and have a full scene devoted to his manly manliness. Which makes him even funnier, because we get to wallow in the weirdness of the "habitat" itself and poke fun at it for a dedicated stretch, rather than have him appear and vanish so fast it barely registers.
All these threads come together in the climax, where it's revealed that the Gobblewonker is...
You know, I'd like to find out how many people dropped out of Gravity Falls early on. Because it takes a while for all its sheer ridiculousness to start coming together satisfyingly.
For instance, without knowing ahead of time about Old Man McGucket's backstory (as revealed later on in Season Two), and why his mechanical genius actually works in context, this just comes off as another stupid twist for the sake of a stupid twist. The gnomes were already a hard sell: that some raving old hillbilly stereotype can be smart enough to make robots in his spare time yet simultaneously not be smart enough to make money off it... well, it seems like the sort of thing that'd alienate some prospective viewers.
Heck, it isn't until next episode that we ever start getting genuinely unnerving twist monsters (like a twist villain but, you know, in monster form) as opposed to these jokes. And even they are played for comedy sometimes.
Having said that, let it not be said the story elements don't come together quite well here. Look past the dumb plot twist, and what we have here is an elegant economy of storytelling.
Old Man McGucket is today's unlikely oddball who gets his madness paraded for our viewing pleasure, only he'll later turn out to be crucial to the larger plot, and his skills in this one retroactively turn out to be a piece of the puzzle. In fact, Grunkle Stan's family-oriented frustrations get their tidy parallel in Old Man McGucket's crazy stunt, which gives the Gobblewonker plot more relevance than if it had really been nothing but another generic monster. This is right down to the fact that both men are perfectly capable of doing dodgy things when motivated enough (remember a large chunk of Grunkle Stan's money-chasing is an attempt to prove his worth to... but I'm getting ahead of myself!).
The whole episode reminds us of the "fun with family" motif of the summer vacation ethos: it's not just window-dressing, but genuinely informs the nature and mood of the story, similar to the more overtly preachy "Christmas spirit" themes of stories set at Christmas. Consider this the "Summer Vacation spirit" theme of a story set during Summer Vacation.
And while I think the comedy of the chase sucks some of the tension out of it, on balance that's probably just as well for a typical monster-of-the-week format, especially considering what kind of easygoing mood the rest of the episode is aiming for (later episodes I think will do a better job of balancing tension with comedy without sacrificing either).
So it's quite reassuring to see that, slight episode or not, there's some good work going into its construction. All things considered, it's a sign we're in good hands.
But holy cow, that twist is kinda dumb. 
They'll get better later.
Minor points of interest:
- The episode establishes its breeziness early with the syrup race. Although I look forward to when the cold opens have more dramatic punch, this is at least a quintessential case of "yes, kids do random nonsense like that, and it's kinda cute".
- According to Wikipedia, this is actually the first production-order episode, and like most such things, it has some early installment weirdnesses. The most obvious to me is how the Mystery Twins talk as though they've already solved a lot of mysteries despite this only being the second ep.
- How on earth Grunkle Stan thought kids could forge convincing dollar bills, I don't know. It's a hilarious quick gag, though, and has to be a quick gag to avoid us dwelling on the less appealing implications.
- To be fair, I'd be wary if a family member offered to blindfold me. Grunkle Stan was introduced as a prankster, as well.
- Among the lineup of what I shall call "side character cameos" are Lazy Susan, Toby Determined, and Manly Dan. More on them later.
- Gravity Falls is at its most satirical when it deliberately has cynical add-ons to its in-universe products. As if the book being called 1001 Yuk 'Em Ups wasn't terrible enough, the caption under it says "Uncle Approved!" I love this sort of snide detail: it's as clear a signal as any not to take everything too seriously.
- Ooh, ooh, look! There! Another Blendin sighting when Old Man McGucket is running through the crowd! That's going to be important later!
- Old Man McGucket's poor relationship with his son is sad enough in its own darkly comedic way. It becomes outright tragic once you've learned how the hornswoggled old coot ended up like this.
- Speaking of tragic, what's Stan's tiny boat called? "Stan 'O' War". That's going to have a lot of significance later. Unfortunately, it's also another example of why an ep's better on a rewatch than on a first viewing, and possibly (I suspect) why some people might have dropped out early (if they did, which I don't know).
- Early cameo of Xyler and Craz in Mabel's daydream. Again, another example of things that make more sense on a rewatch, though in this case Xyler and Craz are weird one-note jokes anyway.
- Mabel's "you can look but you can't touch" line during her hamster ball fantasy is pretty damn risque for a family-friendly cartoon, isn't it?
- I do like how Soos' boat actually isn't a whole lot better than Stan's. He uses a brick on a chain for an anchor, for Pete's sake.
- Dipper rapidly proves himself to be the crazy-prepared adventurer in this episode, not least of all re: the emergency cameras. So of course they start getting taken out like flies. Mabel remembering his last one under his hat at the end is... what's the heartwarming version of a Chekhov's Gun? Anyone?
- On that note, the funniest one is when Dipper loses his cool with the other two for wasting cameras, slams his fist on the table... and without changing his expression or looking down realizes he's just smashed another camera himself.
- "But her aim is getting better! Her aim is getting better!" I love how Grunkle Stan delivers that punchline both times. He's one of those people whose delivery automatically makes any joke ten times funnier.
- Scuttlebutt Island was named just for the obvious joke, wasn't it?
- Don't know what it says about Dipper that he fantasizes being interviewed for ditching Grunkle Stan and approves of it. Read one way, it's just a self-aware lampshade hanging of the plot and its inevitable feel-good ending. Read another way, it's a red flag hinting that Dipper's kinda ready to throw others under a bus to achieve his ends. I'm genuinely not sure, because he's mostly pretty agreeable otherwise and it doesn't come into play for a long time.
- OK, those beavers have taken something they shouldn't.
- For all that this episode is mostly a barrel of laughs, the Gobblewonker gets a nicely menacing introduction, complete with Dipper's camera-centric POV scaling up to its glowing eyes.
- Oh look, the Dipper and Mabel copies from the first ep's cold open are back. And hilariously saccharine. Grunkle Stan's reaction of "OH COME ON!" is well-earned.
- Seriously, though, that glass pane gag is such a great random jab at chase tropes. The only way it could've been better would've been if the thing was followed by a fruit cart boat as well.
- Shirtless Soos. Not a fan.
- What is Old Man McGucket's son reading in the flashback when he blocks his father out? Stoic magazine. Love it.
- Sooooo... I guess we're going to ignore the possibility that McGucket's robots have caused mass casualties?
- My favourite nostalgic photo at the end is Mabel blindfolding Grunkle Stan while he's baiting a hook. The grins are extra generous on that one.
- Given the twist this episode throws, I'm kind of disappointed it added the reveal that there's a real Gobblewonker in the lake. It doesn't even pay off later. Come on, Gravity Falls: that's a bit too cliche a level for you to sink to.
- Lastly, the pelican joke at the end came straight out of 1001 Yuk 'Em Ups, didn't it? And I'm not ashamed to admit it got a laugh out of me. What? I like (some) corny jokes.
That's all for now! Impossible Numbers, out!
Also, a blunt heads-up that the scheduling for this Ep-By-Step series is entirely flexible. I'm spinning a lot of plates at the moment, and I don't want to give myself any extra reasons to get tense. So the official line is that this is going to be a case of "if and when I feel like it".
I mean, I'll try to keep them regular, but I'm not making rash promises either.
I'm one of those:
Who dropped the series pretty early on. I remember watching the first two episodes, then the one with the magical photocopier, then another one with I want to say a haunted convenience store? It just didn't grab me in any way...though I think I may have watched a few more random episodes in later seasons and I'm pretty sure I watched the series finale with no real understanding of what was going on.
I did pretty much the same thing with Steven Universe and Adventure Time, too, now that I think about it...
Mike
Definitely the latter.
Of course Grunkle Stan absolutely has ulterior motives, mainly the fact he's been estranged from the family for ages, and is in fact lonely.
It also feels the most thought out plot wise.
There are less contradictions, and it feels like all the plot threads are more relevant than the rushed mess we got in the end.
I hated that personally.
Having your stuff held hostage is no fun, and this moment probably would have cemented her as "the obnoxious sibling", had more narrative weight been put on it.
By contrast, this was the moment when I started liking her character.
There's just something hilariously enduring about watching her in this scene and the end credits.
It helps that she appeals to my sense of humor.
And makes it that much easier to draw parallels between hoaxes of generic monsters, both real and in fiction.
Eh. I grew up on fast paced action and super heroics, so I can tolerate ridiculous, as long as it's fast paced and attention grabbing.
Ahh. The father of Wendy. Hopefully we touch on that at some point.
I do so love a good mad scientist trope though.
Macguget in particular, has a pretty good excuse for being anti-social and unproductive.
Exstesental dread about the end of the world will do that to you.
Especially if you helped set it motion. rehpic llib
Speaking of cynicism, the twist of this episode does a fairly subtle job of poking fun at monster hunters and hoaxes.
Which has a delicious flavor of irony, given what the show is about.
I just love how they designed him.
He's the most unassuming character in the whole show and it just works.
Especially once you find out his real role.
Only if you interpret it that way.
It's ironic that most of the Pines family do that on a regular basis.
Ford is probably the nicest of the bunch, and even he is more than happy to ditch someone when he can't get what he wants from them.
Although it is implied that Macguget walking away was what convinced him to take a closer look at his project.
It's ironic that (outside of the antigonists) the Pines may be the most selfish inhabitants of Gravity Falls.
Best Joke of the episode, not going to lie. In fact that was probably the joke that got me into gravity falls in the first place.
Pretty much a staple of any cartoon worth it's salt these days, is to either ignore any and all dark implications, or to go out of the way to give the impression that they didn't happen.
It's how they keep what would otherwise be sympathetic characters from being hated by the audience.
It's gotten to the point where the only way to unironically enjoy these cartoons is to A: play along with the writers, or B: root for whichever character isn't caught up in the madness.
Ironically, sometimes that's actually the very character we are supposed to hate.
Case in point.
I dunno, I think it actually works pretty well, given Gravity Falls' general atmosphere of weirdness. It breaks that Scooby-Do "If it wasn't for you darn kids" moment with McGucket, and reminds us that yes, all this stuff is real in Gravity Falls.
5690158
Yeah, it's unfortunate that Hirsch wasn't able to do the full three seasons he had originally intended, and had to wrap things up faster than the story called for.
Also, "Roadside Attraction" was clearly an early-sequence episode that was obviously intended for a pre-reveal stage in the show.
Have I ever talked about how much I love Soos? Because I love Soos. He is the best character in Gravity Falls and some of the show's best moments arise from him simply existing. Shine on, you crazy diamond! Shine on!
5690188
Huh. I thought he made the decision to wrap it up in the second season.
Then again, it's certainly not beyond Disney to lie about stuff like that.
I may have mentioned how much I love this show before, but it was a slow burn for me. The fact that I can go back and rewatch the eps and get more out of them, just proves how good the writing was from the beginning.
5690191
Soos is wonderful! Could have been a generic Big Dumb Guy to mine for easy jokes, but he became a real heart-center of the show. Also, his nana is so damn true.
5690228
Oh my god, his nana. :D
5690219
My knowledge is still that Disney asked him to do a third and he said no - after all, Hirsch has no particular reason to lie about what Disney said, and I’m pretty sure he’s the actual source on that particular bit anyways.
Like the blog tho IN
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5690219
5690188
I think the reason was that Hirsch felt burnt-out after the effort required to produce Season One, so instead of producing three seasons, he decided to wrap things up in Season Two. It'd certainly explain why Season Two comes across as a double-headed beast, given it abruptly switches gears after the climax halfway through.
5690191
I get the impression you love Soos. I could be misreading this, though.
5690228
5690231
There's a little bit of "haha he's dumb" here and there (the dating episode makes it clear he has no clue - actually a terrible clue how to interact with women), but yes, it's remarkable what a loveable guy he turns out to be. And just wait till we get to Season Two's time travel ep.
5690228
I was helped by the fact that I tend to binge once I've picked a target series: if anything, it takes effort (or a bad experience) for me not to. My own view is that Gravity Falls was good stuff early on, and it largely got better and better until it hit its greatest peak mid-Season Two.
The over-the-top camera abuse gag is still one of my favorite jokes in modern animation.
5690274
Part of it is just how quickly and in how many ways they get destroyed. Topped with Dipper's complete exasperation each time.
5690219
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5690263
Hirsch had originally planned out three seasons; but after season 1 he found running the show so stressful it was causing him health problems, so he cut it to two seasons instead. Not Disney's fault this time.
5690287
Ah, good to know - didn't realizeI had outdated information.