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nevannaI planned to post a list of my top five Gravity Falls episodes in honor of Dipper and Mabel’s upcoming birthday, but since I couldn’t narrow it down, and because they’re the Mystery Twins, I decided to include twice as many favorites.
I’m hiding the list itself to avoid spoilers, because even though Gravity Falls ended nearly a decade ago, part of its appeal lies in trying to solve the central mystery along with the characters, if one is so inclined (and from what I know of the fandom during the show’s run, they were definitely so inclined). I don’t know how easy it is these days to go into the story without being spoiled, but in 2016, I managed to pull it off, and I recommend that viewers start the series with as little foreknowledge as possible.
1. “The Time Traveler’s Pig”
Time-travel stories are often hit or miss for me, but I think that Gravity Falls did a good job of introducing it as a plot device and then making sure that it didn’t break the world. This episode tells a very sweet story about Dipper and Mabel’s bond and also introduces Waddles the pig, one of the most adorable animal sidekicks in modern animation.
2. “Summerween”
I admire Alex Hirsch’s commitment to including a Halloween episode in a summer-focused show. It furthers the wider emotional arc by offering another affecting examination of the twins’ relationship, and also includes a monster-of-the-week with a great premise and excellent foreshadowing. And “I’m trying to take the ‘die’ out of ‘trick-or-treat or die’!” and “I’ve been twaumatized!” make me snort-laugh every time.
3. “Boss Mabel”
This is another episode with a good setup and payoff (Stan’s refusal to say “please”), Mabel’s command of 1980s business jargon – and business fashion! – are hilarious, and the Stan Wrong Song is even more so.
4. “Dreamscaperers”
Most of you will be unsurprised at how much I adore the episode in which some of the main characters enter another character’s mind. The surreal environment of Stan’s headspace is gorgeous and haunting, and Bill Cipher is both funny and genuinely threatening in his first onscreen appearance. (Gideon, who was already a fixture in the story, is likewise in fantastic form.)
5. “Sock Opera”
And speaking of Bill, he dials up the menace in this second-season episode when he possesses Dipper. The goofiness of Mabel’s puppet show offsets the horror but doesn’t cancel it out; likewise, dramatic moments like “Dipper would!” and comedic ones, like the set exploding with “Ave Maria” in the background, balance each other perfectly.
6. “The Society of the Blind Eye”
I’ve already talked about this episode as an attempt to comment on and even subvert the trope of the Masquerade, which I appreciate, even if it’s undermined slightly by the use of Fiddleford’s memory gun to solve problems for our heroes (excluding the finale, which works perfectly).
7. “A Tale of Two Stans”
There were apparently people who guessed ahead of time that Stan Pines had a secret twin, but I was not one of them… and I certainly didn’t suspect that said twin would become one of my favorite characters. Even if some viewers might not like Ford at first – and he doesn’t necessarily make it easy either in the past or the present timelines – his obvious delight in Dipper and Mabel’s presence invites them to at least give him a chance (and the “floppy disks and 8-tracks” moment is charming). Although this episode is longer than average, it still needs to tell two parallel stories spanning a significant number of in-universe years, and it uses its time very wisely, filling in some long-awaited narrative gaps while still leaving a few surprises ahead.
8. “Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons”
I will probably never be a fan of tabletop games, but I enjoy witnessing other people’s enjoyment, both in real life and in fiction. Ford and Dipper’s bonding is very sweet, even as it starts to pull him away from his sister (and Ford definitely doesn’t make things any better, when he asks Dipper to keep secrets from her and Stan at the end). But, crucially, this divide doesn’t exclude Mabel from either the game or the storyline; in fact, it’s her imagination and exuberance that help them win. Also, the Ducktective fandom and Weird Al as Probabilitor are a lot of fun.
9. “The Last Mabelcorn”
The message about purity standards as represented by the unicorns is absolutely sublime, and the revelation of Ford and Bill’s backstory was and is narrative catnip for me as a viewer. I was already a fan of Gravity Falls by this point in my viewing, but this was the episode that pointed me toward participation in the fandom.
10. “Weirdmageddon”
I have almost no complaints about this series finale. The transformed setting and the narrative stakes (both personal and global) are suitably and believably frightening, and every major character and a lot of minor ones get standout moments and satisfying conclusions to their arcs. Stan’s sacrifice (even though its effects are temporary), and the episode’s final moments, have thus far made me misty-eyed every time I’ve watched them, and are the primary reasons why I’ve nicknamed this show “Gravity Feels.”
I’m hiding the list itself to avoid spoilers, because even though Gravity Falls ended nearly a decade ago, part of its appeal lies in trying to solve the central mystery along with the characters, if one is so inclined (and from what I know of the fandom during the show’s run, they were definitely so inclined). I don’t know how easy it is these days to go into the story without being spoiled, but in 2016, I managed to pull it off, and I recommend that viewers start the series with as little foreknowledge as possible.
1. “The Time Traveler’s Pig”
Time-travel stories are often hit or miss for me, but I think that Gravity Falls did a good job of introducing it as a plot device and then making sure that it didn’t break the world. This episode tells a very sweet story about Dipper and Mabel’s bond and also introduces Waddles the pig, one of the most adorable animal sidekicks in modern animation.
2. “Summerween”
I admire Alex Hirsch’s commitment to including a Halloween episode in a summer-focused show. It furthers the wider emotional arc by offering another affecting examination of the twins’ relationship, and also includes a monster-of-the-week with a great premise and excellent foreshadowing. And “I’m trying to take the ‘die’ out of ‘trick-or-treat or die’!” and “I’ve been twaumatized!” make me snort-laugh every time.
3. “Boss Mabel”
This is another episode with a good setup and payoff (Stan’s refusal to say “please”), Mabel’s command of 1980s business jargon – and business fashion! – are hilarious, and the Stan Wrong Song is even more so.
4. “Dreamscaperers”
Most of you will be unsurprised at how much I adore the episode in which some of the main characters enter another character’s mind. The surreal environment of Stan’s headspace is gorgeous and haunting, and Bill Cipher is both funny and genuinely threatening in his first onscreen appearance. (Gideon, who was already a fixture in the story, is likewise in fantastic form.)
5. “Sock Opera”
And speaking of Bill, he dials up the menace in this second-season episode when he possesses Dipper. The goofiness of Mabel’s puppet show offsets the horror but doesn’t cancel it out; likewise, dramatic moments like “Dipper would!” and comedic ones, like the set exploding with “Ave Maria” in the background, balance each other perfectly.
6. “The Society of the Blind Eye”
I’ve already talked about this episode as an attempt to comment on and even subvert the trope of the Masquerade, which I appreciate, even if it’s undermined slightly by the use of Fiddleford’s memory gun to solve problems for our heroes (excluding the finale, which works perfectly).
7. “A Tale of Two Stans”
There were apparently people who guessed ahead of time that Stan Pines had a secret twin, but I was not one of them… and I certainly didn’t suspect that said twin would become one of my favorite characters. Even if some viewers might not like Ford at first – and he doesn’t necessarily make it easy either in the past or the present timelines – his obvious delight in Dipper and Mabel’s presence invites them to at least give him a chance (and the “floppy disks and 8-tracks” moment is charming). Although this episode is longer than average, it still needs to tell two parallel stories spanning a significant number of in-universe years, and it uses its time very wisely, filling in some long-awaited narrative gaps while still leaving a few surprises ahead.
8. “Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons”
I will probably never be a fan of tabletop games, but I enjoy witnessing other people’s enjoyment, both in real life and in fiction. Ford and Dipper’s bonding is very sweet, even as it starts to pull him away from his sister (and Ford definitely doesn’t make things any better, when he asks Dipper to keep secrets from her and Stan at the end). But, crucially, this divide doesn’t exclude Mabel from either the game or the storyline; in fact, it’s her imagination and exuberance that help them win. Also, the Ducktective fandom and Weird Al as Probabilitor are a lot of fun.
9. “The Last Mabelcorn”
The message about purity standards as represented by the unicorns is absolutely sublime, and the revelation of Ford and Bill’s backstory was and is narrative catnip for me as a viewer. I was already a fan of Gravity Falls by this point in my viewing, but this was the episode that pointed me toward participation in the fandom.
10. “Weirdmageddon”
I have almost no complaints about this series finale. The transformed setting and the narrative stakes (both personal and global) are suitably and believably frightening, and every major character and a lot of minor ones get standout moments and satisfying conclusions to their arcs. Stan’s sacrifice (even though its effects are temporary), and the episode’s final moments, have thus far made me misty-eyed every time I’ve watched them, and are the primary reasons why I’ve nicknamed this show “Gravity Feels.”
no subject
Date: 2025-08-28 03:56 pm (UTC)Thank you for recommending this show to me lo those many years ago! It's become an all-time favorite and holds up incredibly well every time I revisit it.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-29 03:30 pm (UTC)