By the Time You Finish This Piece, Summer Will Be Over. Now Go Watch ‘Gravity Falls.’
The fleeting essence of summer and childhood is everywhere in your new favorite show, which turns five this year.
Editor’s Note: Nothing snarky today, folks. This one Eric and I had planned, and as such, it doesn’t quite count as #JHMhijacksDnL. That said, since I’ve been forced to be good for one whole piece, who knows what shenanigans will be unleashed tomorrow? Stay tuned!
When does summer truly begin? Memorial Day weekend? The summer solstice? The end of the school year?
It doesn’t really matter. Summer’s already almost over. Somehow, it always is. It doesn’t matter how many long days, longer weekends, outdoor outings, and fruit-laden adult beverages you cram into that sucker. Like childhood, summer always ends before you know it and before you’re ready.
Just like Gravity Falls.
Clocking in at two 20-episode seasons with only its final episode running double the runtime of its standard 22 minutes, plus a handful of shorts and the inevitable creator commentary special featuring showrunner Alex Hirsch, Gravity Falls packs seemingly all of childhood and summer alike into a show brimming with narrative complexity and emotional maturity. Here are five reasons—one for each year we’ve had this show, and for each day of the week you won’t be in school, kids!—the story of the Pines family is worth bingeing this summer, even if you’ve seen it already.
Mystery
OK, OK, you got us. We led with the Twin Peaks reference on purpose. And frankly, there’s nothing terribly mysterious about the scene pictured above—although some of its elements become mysterious as the series evolves. Sound familiar? Hirsch definitely has a thing for David Lynch and Mark Frost’s finally-returned masterpiece, and it shows. (He’s also big on The Simpsons, another show with some Black Lodge nods.)
And not just here: The show is rife with government plots, alien weirdness, interdimensional demonic possessions, and more than just a hint of Douglas fir needles in the air. There’s even a one-eyed lady who serves pie at a diner shaped like a log! Plus there’s the Pines twins’ great uncle, Grunkle Stan, who is as filled with secrets as the tourist trap he runs, which is literally called the Mystery Shack. But most of all, Gravity Falls is all about an overarching mystery much deeper than the one initially teased, with knotty codes and ciphers (heh—more on that later) to puzzle even the sharp mind of Federal Bureau of Investigations special agent Dale Cooper—or at least that of his heirs, the so-called Mystery Twins, Dipper (the serious one) and Mabel (the silly one) Pines.
Summer and childhood are both mysterious in their own ways. You never know what will change over the course of a single season. Friends leave, new friends come, romances begin and end. But by the end of the summer, something is always different, and rarely in the ways you expect. Childhood, too, is like that—except the real mystery is always yourself.
Adventure
Yes, yes, gone are the days of the unsupervised escapades of Stand By Me—which is probably good, because nobody needs that kind of childhood trauma—and here are the days of playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and, well, binge-watching TV. But there’s summer camp and beaches, right? Summer and childhood are still filled with adventure, even if a lot of it is pixelated, organized, or metaphorical.
But in the town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, the adventure is as real as the gnomes trying to kidnap Mabel, the shape-changing monster that has it out for Dipper, and the wax figurines that come to life and try to take down Stan. That’s not even mentioning the incorporeal horror of the dream-dwelling evil entity Bill Cipher, an archvillain who manages to be both riotous and harrowing in nearly every moment he’s on screen. Seriously, this series tells a nuanced narrative filled with twists and turns that could make Game of Thrones do a doubletake, and it’s an all-ages show! And the Pines twins are always ready for whatever crazy thing comes their way—usually with their friends Wendy and Soos right by their side. Which leads us to…
Friendship
Many of us meet our closest friends during childhood, and summer is all about camaraderie away from the rows of desks to which kids are confined during the school year and new relationships that pop up in new places, often when you least expect them. It’s no surprise, then, that while Mabel and Dipper are visiting Grunkle Stan in Gravity Falls for the summer, they meet more than their fair share of friends: the super-cool teenager Wendy and her crowd of hip kids (including Dipper’s frenemy, the ever-emo Robbie), cheery and eerily prescient manchild Mystery Shack handyman Soos, and Mabel’s newly-made forever besties, Candy and Grenda. Then there’s Mable’s pig, Waddles, who, on one occasion, is voiced by Neil deGrasse Tyson—a true friend to science, and, as such, to us all.
Hard-Earned Self-Knowledge
In “Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future,” the last episode before Gravity Falls’s big three-part finale, Dipper and Mabel are forced to finally talk about what it means that they’re about to turn 13—and that the school year is about to begin.
Mabel Pines: I just wish summer could last forever…
Dipper Pines: But it can’t, Mabel. That’s part of growing up. Things change. Summer ends.
It’s a crushing moment made more emotional for some of us by the probably accidental American Football reference, but it’s part of what makes this series so powerful. All mysteries and adventures and frolicking with friends aside, Gravity Falls is a show about growing up. Summer, childhood, and TV series all have at least one thing in common: No matter how wonderful they are, they all end. As the series comes to a close, Mabel and Dipper—and, it seems, their creator, Alex Hirsch—are forced to come to terms with that while finding a way to remain optimistic and eager for what’s still to come. If that isn’t what growing up is about, what is?
Family
Mabel and Dipper are perhaps the most healthy, loving, supportive siblings in television history. In a medium filled with sitcom families that drive each other up the wall and prestige dramas starring families with last names like Draper and Soprano, that may not be saying much. But it’s heartwarming to watch Mabel look out for Dipper, and Dipper for Mabel, over and over, even after the occasional but natural sibling spat. And their relationship with Grunkle Stan, along with some other family members you’ll just have to watch the show to meet, just gets stronger and more heartwarming as the show goes on—with one exception you’ll just have to watch the show to see.
Childhood and family don’t always make the perfect match. Some families have a harder time getting along than others, and some kids have a harder time learning to accept who they are and who their family is—if they’re lucky enough to have a loving family at all. But if Gravity Falls teaches us anything, it’s that you get to decide who your family is. Your friends—you know, the ones you solve mysteries, go on adventures, and learn hard truths with—can be your family. Sometimes, your family can even be your friends. And summer’s the perfect time to spend time with both.
Convinced? If not, it’s your loss. There’s not enough time left to twist your arm. Summer’s almost over. It’s time to rewatch Gravity Falls.
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