Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls

"Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls" is the series finale of the American animated television series Gravity Falls, created by Alex Hirsch. The episode was written by Shion Takeuchi, Mark Rizzo, Josh Weinstein, Jeff Rowe, and Hirsch, and directed by Stephen Sandoval. The series follows twelve-year-old twins Dipper (voiced by Jason Ritter) and Mabel Pines (voiced by Kristen Schaal), who stay for the summer with their great uncle Grunkle Stan (voiced by Hirsch) in a tourist trap called the Mystery Shack, set within the fictional town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. In this episode, Stan's brother Ford (voiced by J. K. Simmons) discovers the extent of Bill Cipher's plans, while the Mystery Shack crew forms a plan to fight back and reclaim the town. A final confrontation with Bill leads to the Pines family's ultimate fate and greatest sacrifice.

"Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls"
Gravity Falls episode
The main and supporting cast of Gravity Falls join hands around the zodiac
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 20
Directed byStephen Sandoval
Ian Worrel (art director)
Jeffrey M. Thompson (assistant art director)
Written by
Editing byKevin Locarro
Production code618G-221
Original air dateFebruary 15, 2016 (2016-02-15)
Running time44 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

"Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls" was first broadcast on February 15, 2016 on Disney XD, and was watched by 2.47 million households in the United States. It became the most watched telecast in the history of Disney XD, beating "A Tale of Two Stans", another episode of Gravity Falls.[2]

Plot

Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy return to the Mystery Shack to find Stan, a handful of town residents, and several of the paranormal creatures they have befriended taking shelter there. The unicorn hair Ford lined the base of the Shack with protects them from Bill's powers. Stan believes they should wait it out, but the others agree to mount a rescue mission. Old Man McGucket leads the survivors to transform the Shack into a giant mech. They drive to the Fearamid and readily defeat Bill's allies. Bill himself comes out to fight, but the humans tear out his eye, blinding him temporarily.

Dipper and Mabel lead a small group aboard the Fearamid. They find a keystone in Bill's throne that, once dislodged, restores the petrified humans including Ford. Ford spray-paints a Zodiac wheel on the ground, having seen the image described as a means to trap Bill in artifacts from earlier civilizations. The wheel requires ten specific people, indicated by symbols on it that Ford only recently had deduced the meaning of, to stand on it and hold hands in a ring. Stan refuses to join until Ford both apologizes for allowing Bill a foothold on this world and thanking him for rescuing him. Ford reluctantly does so, but as Stan joins the wheel, Ford corrects Stan's grammar under his breath, and Stan and Ford get into a fight. Before they can be broken up, Bill appears, his eye having regenerated and having defeated the Shacktron after finding its Achilles' heel.

Bill burns the Zodiac wheel, secures Dipper, Mabel, Stan and Ford, and turns the others into banners as to keep them from interfering. Bill threatens to kill Dipper and Mabel unless Ford allows him into his mind to find out how to escape Gravity Falls. Mabel sprays paint into Bill's eye, giving her and Dipper enough time to escape. Bill gives chase. Left alone, Stan and Ford have a heart-to-heart talk. Although there is a way to defeat the demon by erasing him from someone's mind using the memory gun, Ford believes the only way to save the kids is to allow Bill into his mind, since his own memories cannot be erased because of a metal plate in his head.

Dipper and Mabel lead Bill in a chase around the Fearamid but are eventually caught. Bill returns them to the throne room and again threatens to kill them. Ford agrees to allow Bill into his mind. Bill leaves his physical body, which petrifies, and enters a white void with one door. Bill enters the door and is shocked to find himself in a replica of Stan's Mystery Shack den. Stan's mindscape self reveals that he and Ford swapped places to trick Bill into entering a mind susceptible to the memory gun's effects, and expresses his willingness to sacrifice his memories to save the world and his family. In the real world, Ford reluctantly fires the memory-erasing gun at Stan. Bill starts to burn and is punched into oblivion by Stan’s mindscape self, while the rest of Stan's mindscape is consumed in blue flames. With Bill erased from existence, the portal to the other dimension closes, drawing in all of Bill's demon cronies. Once closed, the town and its population revert to their pre-apocalyptic states. Stan's family and Soos take him back to the nearly-destroyed Mystery Shack, hoping the sight of the building will help bring back his memories. Mabel finds her scrapbook and shows Stan all the fun they had over the summer, slowly bringing back Stan's memories.

Over the next week, Sprott the farmer and the Valentino family deal with remaining supernatural phenomena; Mayor Tyler Cutebiker passes the "Never Mind All That Act" to ease the town's worries; the Northwest family goes broke and loses their mansion, prompting McGucket to move in; and Gideon Gleeful promises to behave more like a normal boy. Many of the townsfolk join with Dipper and Mabel's friends to celebrate the twins' 13th birthday at the Shack. Ford offers to sail around the world for a year with Stan, a dream they had together as boys, but Stan states that he would have to close the Shack, which disappoints the townspeople since it draws tourists to their town. Stan then happily names Soos the new manager of the Shack.

Later, Stan, Ford, Soos, Wendy, Candy and Grenda all see off Dipper and Mabel as their bus for home pulls up. Wendy trades hats with Dipper and gives him an envelope to open on the ride home. The bus pulls away as the group waves goodbye. As the twins think back on their time in Gravity Falls, flash-forwards show Soos successfully running the Shack with his girlfriend Melody, as well as Stan and Ford at sea. When the bus passes the town's limits, Dipper opens Wendy's letter to find their friends' and great uncles' signatures, promising to see them next summer.

The credits of the show include a montage of twins' summer and eventual arrival in Piedmont, California. In a live-action post-credits scene, the stone body of Bill is seen, partially submerged in the ground in the woods.

Production
The first thing to know is that the show isn’t being cancelled- it’s being finished. This is 100% my choice, and its something I decided on a very long time ago. I always designed Gravity Falls to be a finite series about one epic summer- a series with a beginning, middle, and end. There are so many shows that go on endlessly until they lose their original spark, or mysteries that are cancelled before they ever get a chance to payoff.

—Hirsch regarding the ending of Gravity Falls[3]

"Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls" is the twentieth episode of the second season and the final episode of Gravity Falls, created by Alex Hirsch. He wrote it with Mark Rizzo, Jeff Rowe, Shion Takeuchi, and Josh Weinstein. It is the fifth episode to be directed by Stephen Sandoval. Storyboards were provided by Emmy Cicieriga, Ben Holm, Dana Terrace, Luke Weber, and Sabrina Cotugno.

On November 20, 2015, before Weirdmageddon 2 & 3 aired on Disney XD, Hirsch announced in his Tumblr that he decided to end Gravity Falls. He explained that Disney wasn't cancelling the show, but instead being finished by his own choice, and that it was a decision made months in advance. Hirsch went on to explain that he did not want Gravity Falls to lose its original spark, and he never meant the show to be a series that goes on forever, but an exploration of the experience of summer and a story about childhood itself. According to Hirsch, the fact that childhood ends is exactly what makes the show so precious – and why the viewers should cherish it while it lasts.[3]

The episode features a number of guest stars who had already appeared on the show once or twice, such as Cecil Baldwin as Tad Strange, Kurt Braunohler as Greg Valentino, Louis C.K. as The Horrifying Sweaty One-Armed Monstrosity (he has since been redubbed by Hirsch[1]), Nathan Fillion as Preston Northwest, Danielle Fishel as Pyronica, Larry King as a wax version of his disembodied head, Andy Merrill as Teeth, Alfred Molina as the Multi-Bear, and J.K. Simmons taking the recurring role as Ford Pines. There is only one new character in the series finale: the bus driver who takes Dipper and Mabel back to Piedmont, California, voiced by Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan.[4]

Broadcast

The episode premiered on Disney XD on February 15, 2016, at 7:00pm EST. On its premiere day, the episode garnered an average of 2.47 million viewers across the United States, beating "A Tale of Two Stans" as the most watched telecast in the history of the network.[2]

On February 8, 2016, seven days before the premiere, Disney XD aired a half-hour special titled Gravity Falls: Between the Pines, hosted by creator Alex Hirsch and Gravity Falls character Time Baby (played by Dave Wittenberg). The special elaborates on the production of the show, giving fans an inside look behind the scenes. A 68-hour marathon aired on Disney XD from February 12, 2016, up until the finale on February 15, 2016, with the entire series airing in order. Because there were only 39 episodes, the show was looped four times to fill the 68-hour slot.[5][6]

Reception

The finale received critical acclaim from both critics and fans of the show alike. Alasdair Wilkins of The A.V. Club claimed that it was the perfect ending to the series and awarded the episode an "A" for bringing back as many characters as possible, with even tertiary supporting characters getting their own little moment to shine. He applauded the way the episode exemplifies all Gravity Falls could be at its frequent best: it's funny, emotional, beautiful and terrifying in equal measure. According to him, "[B]ack when Gravity Falls started out, it was pitched as a kid-friendly cross of The Simpsons, Twin Peaks, and The X-Files. I can think of no finer final tribute than to say it lived up to all the ridiculous potential implicit in that description … and ended up being something even better than that." In the end, he wrote that Gravity Falls had kicked off his A.V. Club reviewing career nearly four years earlier and was likely to be the only show he would ever get to review wire-to-wire, and so would always have a very special place in his heart for reasons that he couldn't imagine anyone else caring all that much about.[7]

Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a 9/10, praising its way of balancing all the characters and not leaving anybody out of the fun. He also enjoyed the little nods to the previous episodes of the show. According to him, "Weirdmageddon 3" was filled with laughs, excitement and heartwarming moments. In his review, "As animated series go, Gravity Falls was an excellent one, and it'll be sad to see it go. At the same time, I'm glad it ended while it was still fresh, so fans can remember it fondly".[8]

The episode gained considerable press after its revelation that the characters Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland are gay, with coverage in LGBT-oriented sites as well. The pairing was revealed after the pair threatens anyone who asked too many questions about the events of Weirdmageddon with tasers. When saying they would zap them if anyone tells what happened, Deputy Durland says that they're "mad with power", then turns to Sheriff Blubs as they add "...and love". Hirsch previously said that he believed that he would be blocked from including LGBT characters in the show. He said: "I would love to, but I doubt they'd ever let me do it in kids' TV. But man, I would if I could".[9] This was the first time Disney XD and Disney Channel introduced a gay male couple, described as "Disney taking a huge step towards equality".[10]

Notes
  1. Because of his sexual misconduct admission in 2017, C.K. has since been redubbed by the series creator Alex Hirsch.[1]
gollark: How much would white, 8 stacks cost, by the way?
gollark: Can anyone get some concrete from wolfmall (if I pay)? Hydronitrogen in his infinite wisdom banned me from it.
gollark: I have an end base, a giant skycube, and an underwater base.
gollark: Do the endermen run potatOS?
gollark: I should use this place as one of my "why would you put a base in a ridiculous location like this" bases.

References
  1. Shanely, Patrick (December 21, 2017). "Disney Redubs Louis C.K.'s 'Gravity Falls' Character After Sexual Misconduct Admission". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  2. "'Gravity Falls' Series Finale Sets All Time Disney XD Ratings Records". Variety. February 22, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  3. Alex Hirsch (November 20, 2015). "Goodbye Gravity Falls". Tumblr. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  4. "Alex Hirsch on Kyle MacLachlan being on Gravity Falls". Twitter. February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  5. "Disney XD's 'Gravity Falls' 68 Hour Marathon to Lead to Hour-Long Series Finale; Behind-the-Scenes Special to Air February 8". Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  6. Adams, Erik (Feb 19, 2016). ""See you next summer": Alex Hirsch says goodbye to Gravity Falls". A.V. Club.
  7. "'Gravity Falls' Has The Perfect Ending". The A.V. Club. February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  8. "Gravity Falls: "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls" Review". IGN. February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  9. "Disney cartoon 'Gravity Falls' confirms gay romance". PinkNews. February 18, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  10. "Disney Channel Adds First Gay Male Couple To Cartoon "Gravity Falls"". NewNowNext. February 17, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
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