Chapter 85: Fallen Angel
Art by Crash X Fusion: You're not the girl I used to know.
Luz, her friends & family are brought to Purgatory, the Archangels' base of operations where they discover they're not the only magic users they have a grudge with.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Abusive Parents:
- Angel's mom had her daughter's memories of her friendship with Eda erased, something that Angel was very much opposed to.
- Victor Frankenstein continues to be this, using a shock collar to control his monster and force him to attack his enemies.
- Accidental Murder: While putting Michael under the memory spell, Gus caused him to die from a heart attack, much to his own shock.
- Awful Truth: As much as Eda doesn't want to accept it, her old friend Angel is the cold, heartless Witch Hunter everybody was expecting Abigail to be.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Director Gates definitely counts as she shows why she's the head honcho of the Archangels after ambushing everybody she comes across.
- Bait-and-Switch: It seems like Angel discarding her gun for a knife means she's about to stab Dipper. It turns out to be for Camila when she lunges to save Dipper and the knife is made of iron.
- Battle Trophy: Director Gates keeps the severed heads and other assorted body parts of creatures she killed mounted in her office. She also keeps Tinker Bell in a jar on her desk.
- Berserk Button:
- Mocking Vaggie to Gus's face got to him, and Michael payed for it big time.
- Camila doesn't take it well when she hears Angel call her daughter a freak.
- Seeing Luz wearing her childhood jacket seems to trigger something in Angel.
- Big Damn Heroes: Willow leads Jake, Randy, Acorn, Ghost and Fazio in freeing her friends trapped in Purgatory along with all the magical beings they've captured. Before then, Sam (having escaped capture) does reconnaissance and is able to get a layout of Purgatory before busting the Boiling Isles residents out of their cells.
- Big Damn Reunion: Luz, her family and her friends reunite with Willow.
- Being Good Sucks: Before setting Eli Pandarus, Vicky Fickling, and Bananas B free, Jake hopes that he doesn't regret it.
- Bottle Episode: Not including the flashbacks, the entire chapter takes place within Purgatory, the stronghold of the Archangels.
- Broken Tears: Eda sheds these at the end of the chapter after realizing that her first human friend is no longer the girl she knew.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Victor Frankenstein and his monster make their main storyline debuts after first appearing in "Somhaim Tales of the Boiling Isles" through flashbacks and a non-canon appearance in present day.
- Joke R. McPolka and his clowns, the Monsters of the Week from "Summerween Fright" are shown to be prisoners of Purgatory.
- Call-Back:
- Jenny admits she traveled to Earth the same way Lilith once did: using the dimensional scissors Vanz Ator had, which she stole.
- Lilith intentionally uses her lightning powers for the first time since obtaining them in her Raven Beast state in "Grandmother Knows Best". She actually mentions she almost forgot about them.
- Calling the Old Woman Out: All the Boiling Isles residents swiftly chew out Jenny for what she did to her family, but she doesn't really feel guilty about what she did.
- Cliffhanger: The Boiling Isles residents and their allies escape Purgatory, but there's a Department A van following them back to Gravity Falls, Eda, Stan and Camila have all been injured (Eda breaking down crying from Angel nearly taking her life) and there's still the matter of Ford's portal and the fallout of Stan's true identity lingering over the Pines' heads. Not to mention it isn't confirmed if Angel, Powers, Trigger, and Tinker Belle made it out of Purgatory before it started exploding.
- Connected All Along: Because of Helga's actions regarding the Atlantis incident, her family's had close connections with the Gates family and Department A for almost 70 years.
- Continuity Nod:
- Because of the Immediate Sequel trope, Amity, Gus, the Pines twins, Vee and Eve are still in their formal wear for the Northwest party. Mabel also mentions having just gotten a girlfriend.
- Everyone coaches Vee out her panic attack using Willow's technique for said moments.
- Dipper tells Camila about when Luz beat the monster in his closet. Mabel mentions fighting clown monsters with her, and McPolka and his clowns are shown as prisoners.
- Vee's friendship with the Multi-Bear is shown when they meet up during the prison riot.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Angel was forcibly brought back to life then had her memories of Eda wiped out, putting her on the path to become Joseph's wife before succeeding him as Director Gates.
- A Day in the Limelight: If the title didn't spell it out, Angel's the primary focus in addition to Department A, her ascension to becoming Director Gates being revealed.
- Distant Prologue: The chapter opens 30 years ago when Isaac brought the deceased Angel's body to Dr. Victor (then known as Herbert West) in order to bring her back to life.
- Everyone Has Standards: Powers and Trigger are appalled by how Angel treats magical beings, especially being disgusted by how she's willing to end the lives of the children she captured.Trigger: How was any of this approved!?
- The agents also admit to the Pines family that they only gassed the Mystery Shack both because of all the magical beings there and because they didn't want to risk harming the kids trying to capturing Stan.
- Evil Former Friend: Thanks to Department A and her own mother, Angel has completely fallen into this as she no longer remembers Eda or their friendship.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Lilith's mane in harpy mode now bears the red from her dying her hair.
- Eye Scream: Tinker Bell is shown to have lost one of her eyes somehow and Eda loses one due to getting bomb shrapnel in it thanks to Angel.
- Fantastic Racism: The Archangels have no qualms about how they treat all the magic users and creatures they imprison, not seeing them as sentient beings but rather mindless animals. Angel's enforcement of it stems from her being Brainwashed and Crazy.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Before a sniper shoots Blubs and Durland, something with "red talons" stops them from doing so.
- Foreshadowing:
- Angel already knows what a Mewman is.
- The agents at the Mystery Shack get surrounded by red smoke before being attacked by vines. Sure enough, it's Willow and Randy having arrived there.
- Forgot About Her Powers:
- Camila had forgotten she was a shadow and could phase through walls while imprisoned with the Pines and Old Man McGucket until she remembered it for herself.
- While fighting Victor's creations, Lilith (while in harpy mode) uses her lightning attack, admitting to Star that she had almost forgotten about that.
- Given Name Reveal: Abigail and Joseph's father is called Isaac.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Isaac, Mrs. Sinclair, Victor and Blind Ivan all played a role in turning Angel into a shadow of her former self and her slaughtering several magical beings over the years.
- Happy Ending Override: In regards to the events of Atlantis: Milo's Return: not long after Kida decided to raise Atlantis so her people could interact with the surface once more, Helga (surviving the first movie's events) told the US government that the Atlanteans could not be trusted and they sunk the city again, with the Expedition team dropping off the face of the Earth for supporting them.
- Hate Sink: Everyone in Department A embodies this greatly throughout the chapter. None of them hide their disgust towards magical beings, Michael gleefully confesses to killing Vaggie to Gus, Naomi is quick to show her homophobia by degrading Blubs and Durland, and Angel calls Luz a freak after saying the Nocedas are no longer human and tries to murder Dipper after forcing Stan to admit he's been impersonating Ford.
- Mrs. Sinclair is also one of these, as she paid off Department A to have her daughter brought Back from the Dead against her will and her memories of Eda erased not caring about her feelings on the matter.
- Helga Sinclair, Angel's ancestor, counts as well, claiming Atlantis was a threat to the world in order to sink it again and being declared a war hero for her actions.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters
- Immediate Sequel: After the Distant Prologue ends, things continue from the Archangels loading the Boiling Isles witches, the Pines family, Camila and Star into trucks while Ghost and Acorn can only watch, unable to help everyone.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
- Naomi tries to use a knife on Blubs and Durland and lands on it due to a gravitational anomaly, getting it stuck in her thigh.
- Trying to save Dipper from Angel leads to Camila being stabbed by the Director with an iron blade.
- Internal Reveal:
- The Clawthornes, Amity and Gus learn Jenny's been in the Human Realm for half a decade and Eve learns why she fled.
- Gus finds out that Michael killed Vaggie and impersonated her just to cover it up. Gus tells Fazio about it after the breakout.
- Since they weren't properly introduced to each other in the previous chapter, Camila officially meets Dipper and Mabel.
- Willow learns that Eve ended up in Gravity Falls.
- Luz tells Willow about how she failed to contact her.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: The Archangels repeatedly put down every magical entity they come across. Angel, as a result of her forced upholding of this trope, tells Luz and Camila to their faces that they no longer deserve to call themselves humans after how they evolved in the Demon Realm.
- In Spite of a Nail: Dipper and Mabel learn Grunkle Stan is Stanley Pines and has been trying to bring the real Stanford back to their dimension.
- Just a Kid: The reason why Blubs and Durland don't hold it against Vee for lying to them: she was scared of how they'd react to her true form.
- Karmic Death: Michael murdered many people throughout his life besides Vaggie, including his own mother. Gus conjures up illusions of those people to scare him and he dies of a heart attack.
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Due to still being in their party dresses, Amity, Mabel, Vee and Eve fight effectively during the riot with the former and the latter facing off against Dr. Frakes.
- Kick the Dog:
- Michael mocks Gus about Vaggie several times, not at all regretful about killing her.
- Naomi insults Blubs and Durland for being a homosexual couple and their adopting a child since they can't get one by usual means.
- Angel threatens Dipper and Mabel at gunpoint to get Stan to confess to impersonating his brother and after he does so, tricks everyone into believing she'd stab Dipper only to do so to Camila.
- Killed Off for Real: Michael dies when he ticks off Gus one time too many and the escaping prisoners kill several other Archangels.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- All of Department A got what was coming to them;
- Solomon, Abraham and Naomi, the soldiers detaining Blubs and Durland, get their asses kicked when the cops beat them up during the gravitational anomalies. Naomi even gets her own knife stuck in her thigh before the cops interrogate her for Purgatory's location.
- For trying to shoot Dipper and Mabel and getting Stan in the shoulder when he protects them, Raphael gets his face slashed by Luz.
- Dr. Frakes is electrocuted by Amity and Sam.
- After capturing Vee and killing Vaggie, Michael dies of a heart attack due to Gus giving him a Mind Rape involving all the people he killed.
- All the guards are murdered by several prisoners, Randall performing a Neck Snap on the one who wasn't fooled by his escape attempt and Herbie running over many of them.
- Angel is attacked and knocked out by Luz/Maya for injuring Eda and trying to kill all of Luz's friends and family.
- Jenny, in trying to escape during the rioting, is slugged and tied up by Willow, who decides to bring her with the Boiling Isles group to face justice for her use of love potions.
- The Owl Beast made Angel lose an eye when it accidentally mauled her. Through Eda's harpy mode, the Owl Beast loses an eye to Angel setting off a bomb.
- All of Department A got what was coming to them;
- Locked Out of the Loop:
- Vee doesn't know about Lilith's Heel–Face Turn: as far as she knows, she's still Head Witch of the Emperor's Coven. Luz facepalms when she realizes this.
- Fazio was completely in the dark about Vaggie since Michael had been using her phone to impersonate her so he could track down him and Gus. When Gus tells him the truth, Fazio briefly grieves before driving the Boiling Isles residents and their allies back to Gravity Falls.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After killing Michael, Gus is left horrified by what he did even though he wanted him to suffer as he had made Vaggie before taking her life.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis
- No Sympathy: Once the Clawthornes, Amity, Gus, Star and Eve are free, they leave Jenny behind in her cell as they refuse to help her after learning she escaped to the Human Realm.
- Open-Minded Parent: Upon reuniting with Vee and embracing her while she was still in her basilisk form, Blubs and Durland assure her they understand why she lied to them and the truth doesn't change how much they care about her, making her cry Tears of Joy.
- Papa Wolf: Blubs and Durland step up against the Archangels interrogating them and storm Purgatory with Willow's team in order to get Vee back.
- Pay Evil unto Evil
- Pet the Dog:
- Trigger can't bring himself to leave Tink behind so he goes to free her before he and Powers escape Purgatory.
- With Herbie's help and Wander on board, Randall ends up giving Luz and the injured Eda a lift out of the building.
- Point of Divergence: Towards the first half of "Not What He Seems": because of the Archangels, Powers and Trigger don't try to send Dipper and Mabel to child services. They also learn about Stan working on the portal when he's forced to confess about it and McGucket shows signs of remembering his work with Ford. And instead of Stan, it's Blubs and Durland who are detained by agents, and take advantage of the gravitational anomalies to defeat them.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Consider this your penance!", which Gus says as he inflicts a memory spell on Michael only to end up accidentally killing him.
- The Reveal:
- Angel was revived by Dr. Frankenstein at the request of her mother and Isaac Gates. Afterward, they had the Blind Eye Society erase her memories of Eda.
- Purgatory is located in a hollowed-out mountain a few miles away from Gravity Falls.
- Jenny got captured by Department A and was brought to Purgatory sometime after her second fight with the Ninja. It also turns out that she stole the dimensional scissors Vanz Ator had and Lilith used in the past to escape arrest, traveling through the realms until they stopped working.
- Tinker Bell escaped the destruction of Neverland but lost one of her eyes and got captured by Department A.
- Helga Sinclair is Angel's ancestor, who survived the injuries she sustained from the Atlantis expedition and told the US government the Atlanteans were evil. As a result, Atlantis was sunken back down into the ocean and the government covered up its resurfacing. Helga was declared a hero and her family continued to work with the Gates family while the surviving Expedition team were branded traitors and disappeared.
- Dr. Frakes was found and brought to Purgatory to continue work on the portal.
- Lilith can now initiate a Flash Step that allows for her wings to cut through objects.
- Iron is just as effective on a Fae's shadow as it is on a Fae.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Victor sics his monster on Lilith and Star in order to make an exit.
- Shout-Out:
- Disney characters seen locked up in Purgatory include Randall Boggs from Monsters, Inc., Wander and Sylvia from Wander over Yonder, and Herbie from The Love Bug series.
- Secret agencies O.W.C.A., D.H.O.R.K.S, and Global Justice are mentioned by Angel.
- The events of Atlantis: The Lost Empire and its sequel Milo's Return become part of the LCU.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: Vee ends up in this position when she's brought to Victor for dissection, as he wants to see how she as a shape-shifter can do so.
- Talk to the Fist: Willow decks Jenny when she sees her trying to escape.
- This Bear Was Framed: Subverted. A sniper at Purgatory's gates attempts to kill Blubs and Durland so the guards can make it look like an animal attack, only for Jake to prevent this and takes out the sniper.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Lilith and Star disable the monster's collar to free him from Victor's control.
- Took a Level in Badass:
- Camila shows off some incredible fighting skills when taking out all the guards stopping her from escaping her cell. Seeing her in action makes Mabel remark that she's definitely Luz's mother.
- Thanks in part to the gravitational anomalies, Blubs and Durland take down all the Archangels keeping them hostage before getting Naomi to give up Purgatory's location and joining in the rioting, all to rescue Vee.
- Trash the Set
- The Un-Reveal: How and when did Willow, Jake, and Randy get to Gravity Falls, and who's in the D.A. van following Fazio's truck with the Boiling Isles residents, Jake and Randy and Blubs & Durland's squad car?
- Villain with Good Publicity: Helga Sinclair was celebrated and honored as a hero due to her framing Atlantis as a hostile force and the other survivors of the expedition team as traitors.
- We Can Rebuild Him: Downplayed. Dr. Frankenstein gives Angel a robot arm to replace the one she lost.
- Wham Episode: Willow, Jake, Randy, Fazio, Acorn and Ghost raid Purgatory to free the Clawthornes and their friends along with the other prisoners, Gus accidentally kills Michael, Eda loses an eye at Angel's hands, Trigger frees Tinker Bell, and the Clawthornes and their allies return to Gravity Falls taking Jenny with them (on top of reclaiming the portal key) as a single Department A van tails them.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- The Expedition team vanished after Atlantis was sunken again: whether they joined Milo in Atlantis or not is unclear.
- Nora and the Gatesfield teens don't join in on storming Purgatory, and it's stated in the post-chapter author's notes that their absence will be explained in the next chapter.
- What You Are in the Dark: Angel keeps the severed heads, limbs, and unique body parts of all the creatures she slayed in her office and shows no regrets in allowing her agents or attempting herself to hurt civilians, even if they're children.
- With Us or Against Us: Angel tells Powers and Trigger that they should join her in ridding the Earth — no, The Multiverse — of magickind. The agents refuse to take it given how amoral she and her organization are, so she traps them in a room and knocks them out. She even namedrops this.
- Would Hurt a Child
