Gravity Falls / Full Series Critique & Analysis / All Episodes Ranked

Hello! Thanks for watching! This is my full series retrospective! (I think I'm allowed to use that term) At the very least it's a very in-depth review of Gravity Falls and its episodes! I hope you enjoy, and thanks for stopping by! :D

00:00 Intro
03:13 40
06:49 39
14:19 38
17:56 37
20:12 36
25:37 35
29:22 34
33:02 33
34:41 32
40:06 31
42:46 30
45:32 29
52:13 28
56:46 27
1:06:12 26
1:11:08 25
1:13:22 24
1:17:52 23
1:20:58 22
1:23:22 21
1:28:11 20
1:43:14 19
1:46:35 18
1:49:21 17
1:58:51 16
2:04:53 15
2:06:23 14
2:22:46 13
2:25:12 12
2:29:36 11
2:31:21 10
2:34:29 9
2:36:05 8
2:37:19 7
2:42:23 6
2:44:02 5
2:46:49 4 & 3
3:05:03 2
3:08:43 1
3:11:42 Closing Thoughts
3:13:42 Outro

Patreon:

Socials:

[JaruJaruJ]

Quick pinned comment: I was not comparing the LGBT with the DND community. I was pointing out that blind and ignorant discrimination is harmful towards any group. I was not implying that DND fans have somehow suffered more than the LGBT. Just wanted to clarify that for any future irate commenters who’ve gotten the wrong idea.

[KoopaKaper]

You’re absolutely right that GF’s problem with female characters was an accident. Alex Hirsch has said many times that he and the team tried to make a Wendy episode but every single time they just couldn’t find a conflict or hook that fit because Wendy was just too chill and cool

[Yuti]

God the idea of Dipper freaking out at Mabel and basically telling her she’s “just as horrible as Stan” is such an incredible idea

[Smiley.]

One thing I have to say about this when I’m barely an hour in, let a one off villain be a one off villain. No, not every villain or bad guy needs to return. Sometimes they can just show up in an episode, be defeated and we move onto other bad guys. Summerween trickster wouldn’t make sense showing up in any other context, I don’t know why anyone would want to see them again. Giffany didn’t need to be redeemed. She served her purpose for the plot and didn’t need to do anything else, I don’t know how else she could’ve served the plot in any meaningful way. Just let a one off villain be a one off villain, simple as that.

[KoopaKaper]

As much as a cop-out it was to restore Stan's memories, I genuinely think it was a 100% necessary thing to happen for the finale to be satisfying. I mean, without it, the scene where Dipper and Mabel go on the bus and Stan says goodbye would've been less emotionally resonant without the person who made the single biggest impact on their lives that summer present. And Stan finally getting to go on world-sailing adventures with his brother like he always dreamed of is such a perfect way to end his story in the show that if they wiped his memory, that plot point would've hit way less hard than if he was essentially some random guy who was only really Ford's brother by blood but who was a completely different person. Everyone critiques that he just gets his memory back, and while it does feel like a cop out, this is the one "shortcoming" of the series I will wholeheartedly defend because the entire ending of the show depends on the fact that Stan is present and himself. Originally there was going to be an entire episode after Weirdmaggedon 3 dedicated to Stan getting his memory back, but they could never crack it, and they also decided that pacing-wise it wouldn't really make sense since Weirdmaggedon 3 is so obviously a finale. If they could've added another 5 or 10 minutes to the episode to dedicate to getting Stan's memories back, or did it in a different way, it would've been better, but having it not happen is just not an option in my opinion. And while your take on grudges is an interesting way to take it, and I respect that opinion, I just can't agree.

sorry if all my comments are getting annoying lol I just have a lot of things to say about Gravity Falls lol

[GraceonGaming]

The implication that the pool kid in solitary was there for the whole summer means he was in there through the entirety of weirdmageddon, which makes the joke even funnier

[melodyMonger]

While I can absolutely understand all of your criticism on the d&d episode, I wanted to share how I saw it as well. Me and my family all love d&d, to the point where we would have weekly d&d sessions, with everyone from my cousins to my grandma playing, and we thought this episode was really funny. To us, it came across more as making jokes about how people who don't understand d&d think d&d is, rather than saying what it's actually like, and I definitely took what Durland said at the end as not being a serious statement, but more just for the absurdity of "Oh, this guy who usually says random funny one-liners goes on an entire monologue, just to then say he's a fortress." That's just how I saw it though, I can absolutely understand disliking it as well.

[Yuti]

I think the weakest aspect of the show is that after revealing the author, barely anything is done with it, when a huge status quo change like that would be such a big opportunity to do some new stuff but it just… doesn’t

[packmore]

genuinely fantastic. i don't agree with everything you said, obviously, but there's a lot of stuff in here that i think is amazing. i never even realized how lackluster wendy was throughout the story, just as an example. it never even occurred to me, and seeing it laid out like this was really eye opening.

[JJSSBU]

"But just a reminder, you typically don't want heroes to give permanent brain damage to people"

[bluemoth]

Damn, now I want to see this alternate timeline's version of gravity falls. I also really do appreciate you pointing out the flaws in the show, some of which I was aware of and others I wasn't. It's so interesting to see genuine critiques of such a universally loved and praised show. Gravity Falls has always been one of my favorite shows, and while its number one spot has been taken by Amphibia in the past couple years, the show still holds a very special place in my heart. Thank you for making such a thought-provoking critique of this amazing show.

[Mr_Just_JoJo]

Always felt that headhunters had little impact on first watch, yet actually shows a lot on rewatches. Stan having the "perfect twin" he never had rather than Ford with whom he often fought, and not to mention their separation (which must have left Stan scarred for years as he tries to get his brother back) is interesting to me. I'd say it makes complete sense how Stan would be so overreactive of his wax counterpart. The death of wax Stan must have triggered trauma for him, and, at least to me, his behaviour during this episode is pretty understandable if you keep stands relationship with ford in mind.

[countyfactswailuigi]

Bruh gave Summerween a 2 in comedy. Literally the episode with the most classic gags. Stan and the kids are also hilarious, why you hating? The first 90 seconds is the best opener the show has to offer in regards to comedy. Past that, Gorny is twuamatized. Lazy Suzan getting all the costume names wrong. Soos saying "I ate a man alive tonight", Homework: the Candy. I can go on with the amount of top-tier jokes. The biker tearing up, Toby's "That's just my face", MCGUCKET, not s&p approved, Gorny getting eaten, the low-budget alien film they watch for four seconds.... yeah, top-tier. Deserves a 5/5 in comedy. You made some good critiques on the structure of the episode though.

[monobro]

Also the Lumberjack ghost named Archerbald Corduroy is Wendy's ancestor and in the journal Dipper mentioned that in her house was a picture if him when he was alive but in the show Wendy doesn't bring him up also the zombies in Scary Okey are his lumberjack friends after they died in the same mudslide

[epicdudes]

It actually makes me sad how underrated you are, your videos are great and you definitely deserve more recognition.

[maxzapsgamingzepzeap]

Honestly with how plot relevant Northwest Family Manor is, they easily could’ve made it a two parter and involved Wendy in it

When hearing about the legend, Dipper takes great note of the fact the ghost has the exact same last name as his friend Wendy, and so enlists her help to try and calm down the spirit since they’re family. Likely the attempt wouldn’t be successful, but it’d still give Wendy some room to grow and maybe even cause some tension between her and Pacifica, not because of Dipper, but because Wendy now learns that her ancestor died at the ignorant hands of a lineage of thieves that, while Pacifica is distancing herself from them, is still a part of

[littleeusbee]

Wendy was my third favorite character, yet I found myself agreeing with all your problems with the character. As it stands I suppose her character comes down to whether you found her cool or not. I'm thinking my biggest reason for liking her is that she has a similar color pallet to Frankie Foster from Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, thus causing some primordial reaction in my late teen brain to make me instantly like her. Otherwise idk, I thought she was cool, I guess.

[hershelf]

your comments on Wendy’s anxiety as a potential character trait and plot threads has instantly become a head canon for me. incredible brainstorming and in 5 minutes you’ve deepened the character in such a meaningful and relatable way better than the writers did in the entire show. thank you for making wendy a better character and a form of representation in my own headcanon

[azureii_]

I like the concept of Dipper of getting angry at Mabel for *seemingly* wanting to selfishly hold him back, just as Ford accused of Stan, but I’m not sure the fatal flaw is coldness or lack of empathy so much as it is a desire for self-grandiosity and also the reoccurring trust issues.

Dipper’s mistrust of Stan in NWHS is built up so strongly and then gets immediately resolved with a quick apology. We get an echo of it in Mabelcorn when Dipper thinks he can’t trust Ford and nearly attempts to erase him, and then Dipper seemingly never struggles with huge trust issues (between family) again. I feel like bringing that back a third time and making Dipper believe in the moment that he can’t trust Mabel would be an ever deeper parallel to Ford, and the fear and hurt would cause him to lash out or say/do something very rash. Maybe Mabel says something in their argument that is something similar Stanley says, and that caused Dipper to think that Stanley is manipulating Mabel into creating a rift between them (or maybe he comes to believe Bill has been talking to Mabel, or any other variety of situation).

It would be sympathetic while still incredibly flawed, though just because Dipper is the intelligent one doesn’t mean he doesn’t have incredibly emotional moments too. I think it would be more natural to his character as Dipper’s struggles with suspicion and paranoia don’t ever really come to a conclusion. In Weirdmaggedon Part 2 this could be rechallenged in a situation where Mabel provides 0 reason for Dipper to trust her or no sign that he should believe in her to make the right choice, but in a moment of danger Dipper chooses to let go of his logic and blindly trust Mabel anyway.

[standardhuman]

thank you so much for getting upset at wendys writing! i love her basic idea so much, and i wish she was more than just a cardboard cutout. i just wanted one episode where shes the focus, but we didnt get anything

also, i think giffany could just be vibing on a computer or something. hanging out with my dorks, working with ford on tech... i like that idea a lot. great vid, jaru!