YMMV / Gravity Falls S2 E17 "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future"

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Blendin is even more stammery than usual. Is it because Bill is doing a less than perfect impression, or that the real Blendin is trying to fight him from the inside?
  • Ford. Much of the fanbase seems to have taken Ford's speech to Dipper as disparaging Mabel and/or projecting his own feelings onto Dipper, but he could just as easily be seen as merely recognizing Dipper as the ambitious person he's always been and showing concern for the kids' (and particularly, Dipper's, who has always put his goals and dreams secondary to Mabel's) developement as individuals rather than parts of a package, something he seems to feel was sorely lacking in his own upbringing, and that this, and always being together at the expense of everything else, is what he's describing as "suffocating", rather than Mabel (or even Stan) as a person. After all, he does remark on Mabel's own gifts as a person and doesn't think she should be dependent on Dipper any more than he should be dependent on her.
• Broken Base:
  • Fans are split on whether or not Mabel is really at fault for unleashing the rift. On the one hand, she was very emotionally compromised at the time and had someone she thought she trusted prey on her fears and insecurities, plus she had no knowledge of the Rift's dangerous nature, only that it was some mystical object of her brother's. On the other hand, Blendin showing up with a miracle cure for her exact problem seemed almost too good to be true and she should've been far more wary, and while Mabel didn't mean for the Apocalypse, per se, it was her express intention to freeze everyone in Gravity Falls so she would never have to face the future, something incredibly terrible and horrifying in its own right. Also, regardless of whether she knew what the Rift could do or not, she still consciously put her happiness over Dipper's right to decide his own life. There are also fans who think that Mabel should have decided to stay in Gravity Falls with Dipper.
  • The fandom is also divided on whether Ford's apprenticeship offer is a good thing or bad. Some see Dipper and Mabel's relationship previous to Ford's arrival as the ideal sibling relationship that they should be trying to return to, and see Ford's offer for Dipper to live with him separately from Mabel as a horrible thing (since their refreshing, loving, non-squabbling sibling team-up is one of the things drew people into the show in the first season). Others see Ford's offer as a way for Dipper to grow out of the pattern of unhealthy co-dependence and identity issues being a twin has given both him and his sister—something Stan and Ford didn't manage to do peacefully, hence their awful relationship as adults. Of course, some are also making the argument that, twelve PhDs or not, Ford is one of the last people on the planet who should be essentially homeschooling him, given the situations he's hauled the boy into already. Dipper's going to be thirteen, after all; Ford has no business asking Dipper to constantly risk his life for his studies even (or especially) if Dipper is willing to do so.
• Never Live It Down: Mabel's detractors will never forgive her for her role for nearly ending the world, albeit unintentionally.
• Nightmare Fuel: Even for a show that is very liberal with horrifying imagery, the credits clip is a new high for them. All we get is a close up of a crumpled invite for Dipper and Mabel's party, as the screams of the entire town can be heard in the background. Whatever Bill is doing, it is living up to the idea of it being The End of the World as We Know It.
  • Blendin's eyes when possessed by Bill has been described by many as the scariest thing ever shown in Gravity Falls.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: After previous episodes hinted that anyone, anyone in Gravity Falls could be a potential sleeper agent for Bill Cipher and that none of the supporting cast outside the Mystery Shack could be trusted, in this episode Bill's avatar is revealed to be....Blendin Blandin, a man who lives two hundred thousand years in the future and who doesn't show up at all until the very last minute, acting creepy as all hell. No mystery. No intrigue. No mind-control paranoia. Just a bit of a Diabolus ex Machina.
• The Woobie: Both twins.
  • Dipper. He finally gets a good opportunity for him as he agrees to be Ford's apprentice, but Mabel doesn't allow him to and inadvertently unleashes Weirdmaggedon.
  • Mabel. She's already had an awful day, and Dipper tops it off by agreeing to be Ford's apprentice, causing her to run away in tears.

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