To skip storyline segment scroll down until you see 'END'
Blood, blood everywhere. The boy was surrounded by it. What had just happened? The boy felt something in his hand. He looked down and saw it was a knife. He choked at the thought of the possibility of what he had just done. He looked around the house and saw the one thing he didn't want to see. The thing to prove his theory correct. The corpse of a young girl named Abigail. The person who had angered him so. The person who was to blame for his sister's execution. The boy couldn't breathe. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He begun to panic. He dropped to the ground the knife still in his hands. To the boy there was no way to get out of the mess he put himself in. Well...he still had the knife. To him there was no other solution. The boy impaled himself with the sharp blade and fell to the ground in the pool of blood that was only partially his.
END
Hello my name is Evan A.K.A. The Animated Critic. I finally get a chance to talk about Gravity Falls. Man is this show great. Honestly I kind of feel bad I never got to talk about it while it was still airing. I was planning on it, but then it got pushed back by other things. In fact I think I was even going to review it last year for Toon-O-Ween but then opted to do a Tokyo Ghoul review instead (which never even materialized.)
Point is this has to be one of Disney's greatest animated shows, and I think this episode is a prime example of why. It has to be one of my favorites from the show. So let's dig into Soos and the Real Girl and try to avoid making an obvious Five Nights at Freddy's joke.
The episode starts out with Mabel getting her braces stuck in the wiring on the door. How? Well it's Mabel. Soos though is there to help out. Later at Soos' home his grandmother informs him that his cousin is engaged and soon having a wedding. His grandmother also asks if he could find a girl to go to the wedding with. She says she wants to see him be happy with a girl before she dies. Soos thinks this well be a piece of cake, but he has trouble. Seriously I thought I had trouble talking with girls. Dipper and Mabel see the mess Soos is in and decide to help him since he always helps them. Aww, that's sweet. Mabel is also happy to do it because she gets a chance to live her dream of match-making someone.
They go to the mall, but the results there are similar to earlier. Every girl Soos talks to runs away in fear. Eventually Soos runs away into a game store and finds a dating sim. Dipper and Mabel think this will be a good way to train him in the art of dating. You know like how Pokémon is a good way to teach people how to tame wild animals. Or how Cooking Mama instantly makes you a master chef.
Or how Call of Duty turns you into a killer, but no one is stupid enough to believe that.
Well crap. I put too much faith in humanity.
Well anyway they get warned that this is the third time the game has been returned and there's a note on it saying to destroy it at all cost. They buy it anyway. I think considering how much weird crap has happened to them, including bringing a video game to life, you'd think this would be a red flag for them that something was up with this game, but guess not.
Soos plays the game and we of course get gags making fun of the cliches and tropes found in these anime like dating sims. The game even has bad translation.
The game begins talking to Soos. Now at this point you'd think he'd panic, or at least worry a bit. Nope. He just goes with it. Then again you could make the argument that that's just the type of guy Soos is. He just never really questions this stuff. You could also say that so far the game hasn't done anything to cause worry. By the way the character in the game is named Giffany, and Soos seems to enjoy talking to her. He gets so attached to the game he misses work the next day. That's when Mabel and Dipper start to worry. They take Soos away from the game to go back to the mall. Giffany somehow is there as well. She apparently has the power to travel through electrical things, and appear on other computer or TV screens. She also tells Soos that the programmers of the game tried to get rid of her...so she got rid of them.
So now does Soos begin to worry? Well...he says it raises some red flags then just ignores everything she said and continues to enjoy time with her. Love makes you do some crazy things man. While riding a tiny train Soos meets an actual real girl named Melony. She seems to take a liking to Soos and Soos actually isn't nervous talking to her. So they decide to go on a date to, where else, a Chuck-E-Cheese clone. Of course now that Soos has a real date he calls it quits with Giffany. Being the yandere parody she is, she is not to happy about that.
We'll get back to the main plot later. First we should probably talk about the B-Plot. It follows Stan as he comes to the realization that one of the shop's machines is completely trashed now.
That's terrifying. I think I can make it even more scary though.
.....
Why do I let myself go through with these ideas.
Stan ends up throwing the thing out. Thank God. He then sees a Badger animatronic at the aforementioned Chuck-E-Cheese clone. He sees how much money it's making and decides he needs it. So he makes plans to steal it.
Back to the A-Plot Soos is on his date with Mabel and Dipper watching close behind him. He's doing good until he sees Giffany on one of the TV screens. He panics of course and warns Melony they have to leave. Melony is very confused. Eventually Giffany takes control of the animatronics and the only people left in the restaurant are Soos, Melony, Dipper and Mabel. Giffany has made sure to lock them in.
Oh by the way she's even taken control of the Badger that Stan is currently in the middle of stealing. The Badger begins to attack Stan, but it gets its hand stuck in the mouth of the broken machine Stan threw out earlier.
Inside the restaurant Soos tries to distract Giffany from the rest of the gang as he is the one she wants. I gotta say Giffany, for as comedic as she is, is pretty frightening. Especially in that animatronic body. Soos is able to beat her though by throwing the disc into the oven. This also makes the badger animatronic stop working, but Stan thinks it's the broken machine who defeated him. As such he reconnects with it by going to Vegas with it. It's actually quite humorous.
After Giffany is defeated Soos asks Melony to go to the wedding with him. She says yes, but she reveals that she's leaving town soon. Can I just say how much I hate this cliche. A character finds a real love interest and they never say anything about leaving town until the end of the fricking episode! They agree to keep video chatting though. I think the reason they had Melony leave though is so they can make a joke about how Soos is now in a relationship with a girl he can only see on his computer screen once again. And to be fair it is a funny joke.
Anyway this episode is great. The characters are great, the comedy is solid, and it's legitimately terrifying. The one thing I love about Gravity Falls is how well it balances comedy and horror. Even while I'm being frightened by Giffany there are still many laughs to be had. I'll admit I laughed plenty of times during this episode. It's fricking hilarious. As I said though it's pretty terrifying. Giffany is somehow comedic and terrifying at the same time, and it's fantastic.
Stan's little B-Plot is also very hilarious.
I also must mention it's moral. Weather intentional or not the episode does have one. Yes, going out and actually interacting with people (especially those of the opposite sex) might be scary and unpredictable, but you can't be cooped up in your room all day playing games. Trust me, that's how I live my life and it sucks. All joking aside though you shouldn't be afraid of human interaction. It may be unpredictable, but that's what makes it so fun, and interesting. Things may go wrong, but when it goes right and things begin to click then it gets amazing.
The animation is really good as well. I love Giffany's 16-bit aesthetics. The episode also has plenty of good shots and images that just add to the mood of it.
Overall this episode has it all. Comedy, horror, and it has its fair share of heartwarming moments as well. My only complaint is that the characters don't really seemed concerned about the things going on, even when they should. Like Soos just brushing off that Giffany said she killed the programmers. Though you could make arguments as to why they act like that.
So overall it's not too big of a deal.
Plot-Check
A nice blend of humor, horror, and some heartwarming moments as well.
Characters-Check
Great as usual
Sound and Animation-Check
Enjoyment-Check
Overall-Check
So now we have 3 out of 5 Toon-O-Weens done. I'm gonna end off this episode guys. Next week is a Courage episode, and because it's been such a long time since I've seen Courage I need to marathon a good chunk of the series to find the perfect episode. That'll take awhile so I better get started.
Peace.
Evan: I also have a depressed ghost to deal with. Hey Daniel when are you going to come out of my closet. You've been in there for two weeks.
Daniel: I don't know.
Evan: What's up man. I've been asking if you need help and you keep turning me down.
Daniel: I killed myself.
Evan: What?
Daniel: That's how I died. I killed myself. I feel like this cry for help from my brother may be caused by my death. I feel I may of caused him some form of depression. Maybe he felt abandoned. Our sister also died not to long before my death.
Evan: Ah, I see. You feel like you left your brother behind.
Daniel: Exactly.
Evan: You know I once abandoned someone close to me. It was for a stupid reason though.
Daniel: What happened.
Evan: Well she tried to destroy my blog, but we're cool now. Because I talked it out with her. You just need to find the spirit of your brother and talk things out with him. Trust me it will ease the guilt.
Daniel: But....what if he's mad.
Evan: Well if he really did feel lonely then he missed you. I'm sure he'll let his anger go in order to talk with his brother.
Daniel: I....just....don't know man.
Evan: Listen, I know it's scary and unpredictable, but you have to try and work things out with him. He's your brother. Try now, and if it goes bad be proud that you tried. It's better than just sitting and wallowing in regret like I've been doing for most of the year.
Daniel: You're absolutely right. I need to find him. Only....there's one other problem.
Evan: What is that?
Daniel: Where do I find him?
Evan: Oh....good point.
To be continued!
Edit 7/24/17-Changed "Irs better than just sitting and wallowing in regret like I've been doing for most of the year." to "It's better than just sitting and wallowing in regret like I've been doing for most of the year."
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