Gravity Falls "Not What He Seems" Review

I haven't reviewed Arrow or Flash in a while, i need some TV to review, so here's a one off review of the latest episode of Gravity Falls. Now if you don't watch Gravity Falls, two things, One: what the hell is wrong with you? Two: Spoilers ahead. And for those of you thinking "oh come on, how many spoilers can there be in a kids show?" trust me, this show has one hell of a mystery plot to it and you will get engrossed and you do not want it spoiled for you. Now Gravity Falls, despite only watching it for a few months has pretty much taken over my life, i binged watched the entire show, fell in love with the characters, the animation, the theme song, the writing, it's without a doubt the best cartoon--screw it, the best show on television right now, it's amazing.

So in this episode, after 1 and a half seasons, we finally start getting answers, Gruncle Stan is arrested for stealing radioactive waste, Dipper and Mabel begin to learn that he may not be who he says he is and they even discover the portal that Stan had been keeping a secret from them, and amongst all of this madness, all the betrayal, drama and lies, what's the big reveal? The author is brought in through the portal and is actually Stan's brother. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!? *Mind blown*.

This episode was fantastic all round, the comedy is still brilliant, while there was no gut busting joke in this episode like there are in most, it was still a very funny episode, especially the whole rock face argument returning (Side Note: Grappling Hook mothafuckas!). But I feel like the writing of the episode definitely shines through with the drama, Dipper and Mabel beginning to doubt Stan for who he is and having to make a life or death decision based on whether or not they trust him, and you know what, i didn't know what to do either, the relationships between the characters have been so well developed that i know Stan would never intentionally hurt the kids, but at the same time he's kept so many secrets from them that it's hard to know what to believe anymore. And then there's Soos caught in the middle who stand by the kids and tries to protect them because Soos is just that awesome. Fact of the matter is that this is one the best written Gravity Falls episodes there is, there's a great balance between comedy and drama, the relationships have been developed so well that we get this great pay off and the reveal of the mystery was paced perfectly.

The animation of the episode was also some of the best it's ever been, there's so much detail in the action and the use of colours to create drama was outstanding, every frame of this episode looks like it could be a painting. I've always felt that while Gravity Falls' animation was simple, it was never dull, the colours were always vibrant, the characters always expressive and every frame just beautiful to look at. You can tell that they definitely gave their A-Game here and they really wanted to impress us.

And finally there's the big reveal, we've been waiting months and months to find out what Stan was doing, why he was doing it and who the author of the journals are. And boom, we get all of our question answered...well, not all of them, in fact this reveal raises a whole lot of questions, but even so, this show is yet to let me down, i doubt they would drop the ball now. But you have to admit, you were shocked at this reveal and i doubt you saw it coming, I certainly didn't. Also anyone else find it really creepy on that final scene of the two of them as kids just sat on the swings? Nothing was said yet i really got this uncomfortable atmosphere from the entire thing. And that's what makes the show so great, it has a perfect use of atmosphere.

This episode was amazing from beginning to end, it was perfectly written, perfectly paced, perfectly animated, i could have used a few more gut busting jokes, but that is really a nitpick. This episode gets a 10/10.

-Danny