"Freaky Friday" Flip indeed.
Dipper and Mabel have gotten into some rather tight tensions lately. Mabel has been having Candy and Grenda over for sleepovers nightly, forcing Dipper to sleep outside. After one such sleepover, Dipper demands that Mabel stop. They go to the reasonable (read: wants everything on TV to fight) Grunkle Stan to settle the affair. As Grunkle Stan declares that there is nothing that they can do, Soos finds a mysterious room in the shack. Dipper and Mabel begin fighting over who gets the room.
Grunkle Stan declares that he will give the room to the biggest kiss-up to him. Dipper is confident that he will get the room, and rubs his socks on the carpet in the room, as a mode of relaxation. However, Mabel catches him, and the two's argument causes their hands to make contact, causing a release of static shock... that causes the two to enter each others' bodies. Apparently, the carpet has body-swap powers that causes bodies to swap if they touch. They take advantage of this to sabotage each others' attempts to get the room.
Meanwhile, Waddles and Soos wind up swapping bodies. Waddles-In-Soos manages to meet an attractive tourist, while Soos-in-Waddles is almost eaten by Old Man McGucket.
Back at the Shack, Candy and Grenda come over for another sleepover, and Dipper-in-Mabel is traumatized by the fact they are going to read age inappropriate romance novels. Mabel-in-Dipper is caught spying on Dipper-in-Mabel, Candy, and Grenda by Grunkle Stan, who reads "him" a book on puberty. ("Goodbye, childhood.") Mabel-in-Dipper then calls out Stan, causing Dipper to win the competition. Mabel then seems to hand Dipper the key, but locks herself in there. To break down the door, Dipper-In-Mabel tells Candy and Grenda to give Mabel-in-Dipper a makeover. One electric shock later, and the status quo is restored.... until Candy decides to test the carpet herself, touching Dipper.
Meanwhile, Waddles-in-Soos, Soos-in-Waddles, Deputy Durland, Sherrif Blubs, and Old Man McGucket (who was about to eat Soos-In-Waddles) wind up in the room, and rampant body swapping ensues. However, it is all sorted out, and everyone winds up back in his/her correct body, but Dipper and Mabel still fight over the room. After a brief skirmish over the room key, they both realize that neither of them wanted to move out of the attic. Mabel surrenders the room to Dipper, but he winds up moving back into the attic before the first night is over, due to the sheer loneliness of the situation (both feel lonely that night). Dipper ultimately gives Soos (who is confused over the fact that he is engaged) the room.
Tropes in this episode:
- Accidental Pervert: Mabel (in Dipper's body) gets caught by Stan peeping through the keyhole of her room, where Dipper (in Mabel's body) is stuck with Candy and Grenda in a sleepover. Stan thinks he caught Dipper spying on the girls' sleepover, and chooses to give "Dipper" The Talk.Stan: Ah, you're at that creepy age where you spy on girls, huh? Guess it's time you and me had a man-to-man talk, about the birds and the bees, y'know?
- Answer Cut: Mabel says Dipper can't keep her up all night with his summer reading, to which Dipper asks how reading could keep her up. Cue a scene showcasing how reading keeps Mabel up.Dipper: (in the dead of night, reading a book) Oh! Interesting. (noisily clicks his pen) But who stole the caperssssss?
- Anything but That!: When Dipper realizes Mabel is having a sleepover he lets out a terrified scream, and goes to sleep outside. He gets his leg gnawed on by a coyote (and later at night attacked by other animals), but still decides it's better than sleeping in his room during the sleepover.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Soos cites this as the Aesop of his own little subplot. How much he actually took it to heart is a matter of debate.
- Big "NO!": The second act ends on three simultaneous ones, from Dipper-In-Mabel, Mabel-In-Dipper, and Soos-In-Waddles. The last of the three kind of invokes it.
- Black Comedy Cannibalism: Old Man McGucket was willing to eat Soos even after he was back in his human body.
- Book Ends: The episode starts and ends with the twins accidentally smashing their window with an eyeball that hits Stan.
- Brain Bleach: Mabel's reaction to having The Talk with Stan.
- Brick Joke: Stan claims cannibals are onto something when he finds an omelet made in his image delicious. At the end of the episode McGucket decides to still try to eat Soos even after he's back in his human body.
- Central Theme: Sharing. The twins decide they need a new room, citing that living with each other is too hectic. They argue over who should get the new room they find... which eventually results in them switching (or, as Mabel calls it, sharing) bodies.
- Chekhov's Gun: The girls try to give Dipper a makeover. Later, Dipper (while in his sister's body) uses the same prospect to get into the room.
- Chew-Out Fake-Out: When Mable (in Dipper's body) starts insulting Stan, in the hope of convincing him against giving the room to Dipper, he responds with a cold and threatening "What did you say to me?". When she keeps pushing... he laughs, congratulates her on having the courage to stand up to him, and decides that he's giving her (that is, Dipper) the new room as a reward.
- Continuity Nod: Waddles is seen wearing the top hat that Quentin Trembly gave to Mabel in "Irrational Treasure".
- The heatwave from last episode is still on, as Stan mentions "searing 105 degree heat" outside.
- Cue the Flying Pigs: When Dipper and Mabel propose that they should have their own rooms, Stan says that'd be impossible because there are no more avaible rooms in the house. He then asks "What, do you think there's some kind of secret hidden room in the shack?" Soos then immediately yells "Dudes! I found some kind of secret hidden room in the shack!"
- Early-Bird Cameo: Sev'ral Timez appears on one of Mabel's DVDs before their proper introduction in the next episode.
- Eyes Are Mental: The characters, when swapping bodies, tend to not just switch voices, but other aspects of their eyes and face tend to go with them (characters Dipper end up in, for example, tend to have bags under their eyes).
- Foreshadowing:
- The shag carpet in the room has two arrows in a circular motion in the center, implying it can swap things. Special attention is also paid to the static electricity it generates and an experiment tag is shown.
- Stan takes a pair of glasses from a dresser in the room. He’s later seen being uncharacteristically somber while looking at them...
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Between Dipper and Mabel, and between Soos and Waddles. Until the final act, that is; at that point, it's between pretty much the entire cast besides Stan and Wendy. This episode originally aired as part of Disney Channel's "Freaky Freakend" programming gimmick, in which all of the primetime shows had an episode involving body swapping.
- Freak Out: When Dipper and Mabel realize they swapped bodies, they... don't take the news well. Mabel pukes and punches her stomach in an attempt to knock her conscious out of her brother's body and Dipper screams and rushes off upon seeing his reflection in the mirror only to just purposefully run in front of the mirror so he can terrify himself again. According to the DVD commentary, the crew felt that characters in Freaky Friday Flips typically aren't outright horrified by the swap, so they decided to subvert this by having Dipper and Mabel be as horrified as possible.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- One page of Grunkle Stan's book on puberty has a cryptogram that translates into "PUBERTY IS THE GREATEST MYSTERY OF ALL. ALSO: GO OUTSIDE AND MAKE FRIENDS."
- Mabel prepared numerous romantic comedy movie DVDs, with titles such as "Boy Cray Cray", "Smooch Town", and "Oh No, She Di'nt".
- The sign Mabel wrote for her room originally said "No Boys Allowed!", but, in red marker, she crossed out "boys," replaced it with "girls" before crossing that out as well. She settled with "boys?".
- Gender Bender: Effectively so for Dipper and Mabel when they switch bodies, given that they're opposite gender twins. Many of the other body swaps involve people of opposite genders.Candy (in Dipper's body): I am a boy now! (in a deep voice) Wassup, bro. Let's grow some mustaches.
- "Getting My Own Room" Plot: The plot is kicked off by Mabel and Dipper both wanting to get a room of their own. In the end, however, both twins change their minds and decide to again share the attic bedroom.
- Hollywood Board Games: Candy and Grenda have a sleepover with a body-swapped Mabel (it's actually her twin Dipper inside) and engage in stereotypically girly activities. One of which is playing a Mystery Date knock-off. The board is majorly pink-colored and has a retro desk telephone at the center, numbered cards for the various dream boys, two dice, and tokens. Dipper is utterly bored.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Even after Soos returns to his human body, McGucket doesn't care either way. "I'LL STILL EATCHA!"
- I Taste Delicious: Grunkle Stan's reaction to Mabel making him an omelet shaped like his face. "Those cannibals were on to something!"
- Innocence Lost:
- After hearing where babies come from from Stan, Mabel mutters to herself "Goodbye childhood".
- Old Man McGucket inverts this when he gets into Candy's body where he happily proclaims "I've regained my innocence!".
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Dipper claims that, once they get separate rooms, they'll "never have to share anything ever again." This claim doesn't exactly pan out for him, because right after he says that, he and Mabel switch bodies.Mabel: Now we're sharing bodies?
- Jerkass Ball: Mabel is extra-obnoxious and selfish in this episode, bringing her girlfriends into the bedroom she shares with her brother for an insanely loud and wild slumber party without asking him until he's forced to sleep outside (where he'd prefer to let a coyote chew his leg than go back in), and when he complains about it (and the fact that the party destroyed their elaborate minigolf course) the next morning she acts like nothing she did was in any way wrong and starts poking him with a stick to try and cheer him up. The only complaint she can come up with about Dipper's behavior in return is his habit of muttering aloud to himself and clicking his pen repeatedly while reading mystery books and when, after Dipper finds a cool new room to use as his bedroom when he can't stand the prospect of sharing with Mabel any more, she decides she should have it instead, just because. Even when Stan officially awards the room key to Dipper, she goes to extreme lengths to try and keep it from him because she can't accept not getting her way.
- Just the Way You Are: Mabel tells Grenda that she doesn't need make up, since she's already so beautiful.
- Laugh of Love: When Waddles in Soos' body runs out of the gift shop when a lady stops by to ask for directions, she says "You'll show me the way? [giggles] Such a gentleman!" before following him out. She shows up again at the end of the episode and happily accepts Soos' apparent marriage proposal.
- The Makeover: The girls try to give one to Dipper at the beginning. Grenda seems to want one too. Dipper-as-Mabel uses it as an excuse to trick Grenda and Candy in getting Mabel to open the door to the room when she's locked herself in it, and Dipper's body does get a makeover as a result.
- Meaningful Echo: One of the first things Mabel says about being in her brother's body is that he's so "awkward and sweaty." Later, once they're back in their own bodies and calm down enough to have a chat, Dipper tells Mabel that having Candy and Grenda over all the time made him feel left out, before remarking that she wouldn't understand what he's going through.Mabel: You're probably feeling awkward and sweaty, huh?Dipper: Yeah. How'd you know?
- Messy Pig: When Soos in Waddle's body finds a mud puddle, he asks "Do I dare live out the cliché?" and dives in.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body:
- While in Mabel's body, Dipper curls his leg in a feminine manner when cheering about winning the room. Later, he refers to his sister as 'Dipper', and when he gets Candy and Grenda to give "Dipper" a makeover he calls Mabel "my brother" without much hesitation in staying 'in character' (in contrast to Mabel who earlier had to take a moment to remember to refer to Dipper as "sister").
- When Dipper ends up in Waddles' body, he starts chewing on an apple core lying on the floor.
- Morphic Resonance: When Dipper and Mabel swap bodies, the ends of Dipper's hair become curly like Mabel's, while Mabel's hair becomes scruffier at the top and back to mimic Dipper's. Dipper's eye bags follow him with every swap. Other characters also keep some of their traits when swapping, such as Sheriff Blubs' moustache when he swaps with Old Man McGucket.
- No Antagonist: The closest we get to one in the episode is Old Man McGucket, and even then it's just because he tries to eat Soos-in-Waddles.
- Noodle Incident:
- While in Soos's body, Waddles somehow did something that made the lady think he was proposing to her.
- McGucket says "That's what they all say!" when Soos says he's a man trapped in a pig's body to convince him not to eat him. How many talking pigs (or perhaps pigs he thought were talking) has he eaten?!
- Just who or what was Grenda kissing in that closet? Gravity Falls: Journal 3 implies that it's the Invisible Wizard.
- No, You:Mabel: The judge says it's out of bounds.
Dipper: No, you're out of bounds! - Ow, My Body Part!: When Dipper's attempts at playing golf at the start ends up breaking the window we get Stan screaming."Oh, my head! It hit me right in the head!"
- Rule of Three: Mabel, Dipper and Soos all do a Big "NO!" (Mabel in Dipper's body, when Stan hugs her, Dipper in Mabel's body, when Grenda says there's more books to read, and finally Soos in Waddles' body, when he's tucked into a corner, about to be eaten by Old Man McGucket).
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Wendy walks in on Waddles in Soos' body chewing on merchandise t-shirts, and wisely chooses to leave.
- Slumber Party: Mabel throws one with Candy and Grenda. Dipper treats it as the most horrifying thing, and when he has to sleep outside then has to contend with a coyote trying to eat his leg. He takes one look at the attic window where the girls are enjoying their slumber party he deems getting his leg getting bitten much better.
- Spanner in the Works: McGucket was just running around town, saying his own name, until he saw something he could eat. That something being poor Soos trapped in Waddles' body.
- Springtime for Hitler: After switching bodies, Mabel decides to sabotage Dipper's chance of getting the room by insulting Stan. This backfires, with Stan being impressed that "Dipper" is standing up to him, and giving "him" the key to the room.
- Status Quo Is God: After their conflict is cleared up, Dipper moves into the room... only to realize that he likes sharing the attic with his sister better. He moves in with her again, and gives the room to Soos.
- The Talk: Grunkle Stan decides it's time to tell Dipper (read: Mabel) about "the birds and the bees." Mabel is, of course, traumatized.
- Tempting Fate:Stan: What do you think? There's some kind of secret hidden room in the shack?
Soos: Dudes! I found some kind of secret hidden room in the shack! - Tongue Trauma: Dipper mentions that while he was sleeping outside, an owl tried to eat his tongue.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Downplayed. When the twins start acting crazy in an attempt to sabotage each other, Stan is clearly quite confused and concerned... but overall doesn't really do much. His most significant reaction is a nonchalant "Welp, this is getting weird" before walking out. He never asks any further questions about their behavior for the rest of the episode.
- Voices Are Mental: The voices switch along with the characters as they move from body to body. The voices are only switched for the audience, since no one else seems to notice any change. Then again, Waddles!Soos can talk to Old Man McGucket.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: When Mabel seems to induce vomiting in an attempt to get Dipper out of her body.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: Mabel's reaction when she wakes up after the slumber party.
- Would Rather Suffer: Dipper would rather sleep outside and have a coyote gnaw on his leg than sit through Mabel's sleepover with Grenda and Candy.
- Wrong-Name Outburst: When he's trying to get Mabel to open the door, Dipper accidentally calls his sister by his own name. He tries to correct himself, but upon realizing the body swap has begun to take a toll on him, he mainly ends up slapping his forehead.
