Although the show’s first season was mostly episodic with few plot lines carrying through multiple episodes, the second season was largely serial in nature. We liked this format more than the first season’s format because it felt like everything mattered, and everything did matter. Every small detail mattered and was a nice reward for being observant.
The season has a million different things to talk about, so we will keep it brief with the main ideas. Also, we must add a spoiler alert. The season starts pretty episodic. There are a few ideas that carry through episodes like a few side characters and villains showing up in later episodes and a couple of clues to an underlying plot line. This changes in episode eleven and twelve. These episodes reveal that the character Grunkle Stan has a twin that’s trapped in another dimension, and he frees him. There’s some sibling drama, and the episodes become more episodic, but episodes fifteen and seventeen show Stan’s twin preparing for a possible threat posed by an earlier villain, Bill Cypher. The preparations include making a shield to protect the main characters’ house from the apocalypse and finding alien technology. Episode seventeen would end up splitting the main set of twins, Dipper and Mable. Then we get the literal apocalypse with “Weirdmageddon.” We must put a spoiler alert for this absolute perfection of an ending to an extraordinary show. Mable is manipulated into releasing Bill and starting the apocalypse. Dipper and Stan’s twin fail to kill Bill, and Stan’s twin is taken prisoner because Bill can’t escape the town without him. Most of the main characters meet up to find Mable. They find her and convince her to leave her ideal reality. They go to their house and find Stan and many side characters there. All of them use the house and many references from other episodes to build a robot to fight Bill and save Stan’s twin, Ford. They fight Bill, save Ford, and almost kill Bill, but sibling drama causes their plan to fail. Stan and Ford work out their issues, they trick Bill into getting stuck in Stan’s head, and erase Stan’s memory, killing Bill. They manage to reverse the erasure, and everyone ends up with a happy ending.
This show is the best animated show ever, and the second season is the best season of a show ever. The characters’ relationships are amazing. You don’t want the show to end, but the second season perfectly finished the show. One of the best characters is Stan. He’s done a lot of bad things like faking his death several times, he has scammed countless people, and ruined his brother’s life, but all his life he’s tried to fix the problems he’s caused. He feels bad for what he did to his brother, and when he saved his brother all he wanted was a “thank you.” He feels like a real person, and it’s hard to hate him. Also, he’s a really funny character. Now, another character that’s hard to hate for a different reason is Bill Cypher. He has no redeeming qualities. He would probably kick a puppy for fun, but he’s so hilarious that you can’t hate him. Also, fun fact: Bill and Stan are both voiced by the same person who is also one of the creators, Alex Hirsch. My favorite episode is episode two because the villain is the scariest thing in the entire series. It’s not like he’s unique to the show, it’s just a shapeshifter that is well executed. Kai’s favorite is episode thirteen, and it’s because it’s just funny. It takes a weird version of “DnD” and makes a hilarious episode in a way that only Gravity Falls could.
Overall, the show is great, the season is great, and it’s a ten-out-of-ten from us. There are very few shows that can compare to it. If you have not watched it, then watch it.