Review: Gravity Falls -“The Stanchurian Candidate”

Unfortunately, Ford doesn’t appear very often this time around. Instead, we are given an episode that mostly deals with Stan’s inferiority complex when it comes to his twin brother.

The episode begins with Stan waking up. Everything seems to be going wrong for him. First, Mabel used his slippers to carry milk and now his slippers are sopping wet. Then the lightbulb in the kitchen burns out. When he goes to replace the bulb, it turns out that Dipper used all of the bulbs to make a planetarium costume for Soos. As Stan stands in line to buy more bulbs, Wendy’s friends start harassing him for being old. Stan, rather stupidly, yells back that he was going to steal most of the stuff instead of buying it and he gets nabbed by security. To top it all off, he finds Ford replacing the broken bulb when he gets home. Since there weren’t any replacements in the house, Ford created his own lightbulb that burns for 1000 years and makes skin feel softer.

Frustrated, Stan sits down to watch television. He finds out that the mayor of Gravity Falls has died and now the town needs to hold a new election. Buddy Gleeful, used car salesman and father to Lil Gideon, is the first resident to throw his hat into the ring. When no one else runs against him, Stan also throws his hat in. Even though the rest of the town throws their hats into the ring, only Tyler the Cute Biker actually runs against the other two.

Knowing that Bud can’t be allowed to be mayor, Mabel and Dipper decide to help Stan win the election. Dipper turns to Ford, who gives him a set of mind-controlling ties. One person is able to completely control another when they are both wearing the ties. With this trick up their sleeve, the kids manage to get the entire town to love Stan. But Stan gets too cocky and decides to go into the final debate without his tie. Dipper reveals that they have been controlling him and Stan storms off. In a last ditch attempt to keep Bud from the office, the kids enter Soos into the election, complete with mind-controlling tie.

However, Bud also has a trick up his sleeve. It turns out that his campaign manager is Gideon. When he finds out that his father is losing badly, Gideon performs a spell that allows him to mind-control his father. In the final debate, it is mind-controlled Bud/Gideon versus Stan versus Tyler versus mind-controlled Soos/Mabel and Dipper.

Gideon figures out that the twins have been controlling Stan. He decides to get rid of them once and for all by tying them up in the monument of the former mayor, where there happens to be way too much dynamite. (Supposedly, the dynamite is needed to finish the monument.)

As the debate begins and Stan’s personality angers the residents, Dipper and Mabel manage to roll out the nose of the monument. Stan decides to throw the election in order to save his family. Of course, this endears him to the residents. In the end, he saves the kids and wins the election. Only to find out that he is disqualified due to his criminal past. Only one person actually filled out the necessary paperwork anyway. Yes, Tyler the Cute Biker is now the mayor of Gravity Falls. But Stan is the mayor of Dipper and Mabel’s hearts.

As cliched as this plotline is, I thought the episode was still rather cute. Only Gravity Falls would have a kissing eagle choose the mayor of their town. It would have been nice to have a little more Stan/Ford interaction but, hopefully, that will happen next time. I would really like to see the estranged brothers become close again. It is super sad to see the brothers barely talk to each other. At least Stan will always have Mabel and Dipper. Even if Dipper seems to favor Ford right now, he knows that Stan will always love him and have his back.