Reviews WesternAnimation / Gravity Falls

I think the review title is a bit misleading. Otherwise it seems like a fair assessment, even if I don't necessarily agree with everything.

So Okay, It's Average seems to suggest that it's nothing more than mediocre, which your review doesn't suggest at all. I'd go more with "Good, but Flawed", which is fair.

The rather bleak outlook of growing up might be more of stepping stone than the final message - we'll have to see how it ends to be sure (and I'd be lying if I said I didn't think there was some truth to it).

"Default Daddy Issues to Add Character Depth: the Series."

?

I consider it So Okay, It's Average because some of the things I listed in the cons are, for me, absolutely critical and cause my enjoyment to fall through, so while it has its good points, they're pretty much balanced out by it's bad. While I liked the show right around the end of season one and the beginning of season two, it's hard to feel real enthusiasm for it now in hindsight; there are simply too many flaws it can't fix in just the last remaining episode. Gravity Falls has some strengths, but it has an equal amount of weaknesses, and besides the occasional fan-engaging mysteries, its strengths aren't even that unique. Gravity Falls, unfortunately to me, seems to have had a strong start and a mediocre (but gutsy, I'll give the writers that) finish. That can still change with the finale, but considering the heart of the show—Dipper and Mabel's relationship—wrapped up its major emotional conflict in Weirdmageddon Part 2 (very messily, in my opinion), I don't think it will.

The "Daddy Issues" thing is because... well, has anyone else noticed that when they want to expand someone's character, they give them daddy issues? Like, no one's mother has even been given a first name, but we know all about the fathers and most of them... don't seem to have healthy relationships with their children, to say the least. It went from from "odd reoccurring coincidence" to "seriously concerning theme" in the second season.

The daddy issue's thing seems to only be directly relevant to two characters (Soos and Stan), but I guess I can understand the fact that we do see a lot more of the fathers then mothers in this series. I guess that just might be a side effect of the fact that this is very much a "boy's series".

Stan, Soos, Ford, Pacifica, Wendy (implied), Ranger Mc Gucket, the Gleefuls are an inversion... really, if there's a father introduced, chances are their relationship with their shown offspring isn't good.

Now, of all the fathers, we know: their first and last name, the nature of their relationship with their child, a general idea of their personality, and at least one character conflict that has been associated with them. Some seem to try to be good parents, some... don't. Basically, Parents as People, if all people have left emotional scars on their children.

What can you say about anyone's mother? Stan and Ford's was a consummate liar, Pacifica's is shallow... and that's it. The only mother who gets any significant screen time is Mrs. Northwest and she doesn't even get more than a handful of lines—most of them just emphasizing how snooty and fake the Northwest family is. Her husband gets all the key dialogue in this married duo.

No names, no personality, no plot impact—half the time, mothers just aren't even mentioned. Soos'? Wendy's? Ranger Mc Gucket's? Who are these people's mothers? It'd be understandable if fathers were just as absent, but the fathers are usually key parts of a character's backstory. So why the absence of mothers?

When the default father-child relationship of the show seems to be "Daddy Issues" and mothers are like nonexistent ghosts for how present they are in the plot, you've got some underlying issues there.

Have to dissagree about it having a strong to mediocre movement.

To me Season 2 is a lot more top tier than Season 1.

I don't mean Season 2 when I say "mediocre finish," I mean Season 2B, the more rushed second half. I actually wrote a 5,000 word essay reviewing "Weirdmageddon Part 2" for my English class and how (despite its general sweetness) it demonstrates my point of Season 2B's rushed and off-point writing, so be honest, I'm kind of tired of talking about this, and don't have the energy to try and make a shorter 400-word version of my perspective and post it here.

I'll probably condense my points later and make a proper, seperate review of Weirdmageddon Part 2. I'll wait until Part 3 airs, though, on the slim chance it manages to properly address or fix the arc's flaws. Not likely, but having to discuss the cardinal sins of conflict writing has killed my brain so I'll probably be holding off on writing another review until then anyways.

I'd be interested in reading that.

As good as the show is, I think the writing has taken some serious missteps since "A Tale of Two Stans".

Regarding the bleak attitude of growing up, Hirsch has mentioned that the series drew upon the idea of childhood innocence and on its fragility. It doesn't last forever and it serves to remind us to enjoy it. Considering how often kids are in a rush to grow up and seem mature, it's a lesson that some can still be reminded of.

As for the franchise, Hirsch did say he probably would do some stuff with the cast in the future. While the series may be done, there would be other stuff that could be done.

You forgot that the Gremoblin\'s worst fear is turning into his father.