Review: Gravity Falls – “Roadside Attraction”

Instead of giving us a continuing storyline, the recent Gravity Falls episodes have been alternating between Stan-centric and Ford-centric episodes. Since Ford was trying to save the family from Bill Cipher in the last episode, we’re given a roadtrip with Stan and the gang this time around.

Stan has an ongoing rivalry with other local roadside attractions. For the past few years, the owners of the other attractions have been pranking the Mystery Shack. Sick of it, Stan gets an RV and takes everyone (minus Wendy) on a pranking roadtrip. Stan, Soos, Dipper, Mabel, Grenda, and Candy all pile in for a fun ride. Dipper, however, is sad that he blew his chances with Wendy. Everyone convinces him that this is his chance to forget about her and move on.

The first attraction on the list is the largest ball of yarn. The girls immediately leap into the yarn ball. Dipper attempts to talk to a girl but fails miserably. Stan gives him some (terrible) advice as they tie the end of the yarn to the RV’s bumper. The gang jumps in the RV and drives off, unraveling the entire ball of yarn.

Next is the upside down house. Dipper tries Stan’s flirting tips on another girl and manages to get her email address. This time Stan flips the house so it is right side up.

Montage time! The gang hits up Log on a Stick, where Dipper gets another number and Stan lets a beaver loose on the attraction. Then there is a corn maze with another girl’s number and some corn weevils. Unfortunately, Soos got lost in the maze and everyone drove off without him.

As the gang sets up for the night at an RV park, Dipper and Stan hang out in the hot tub, discussing how well Stan’s advice is working. Meanwhile, the girls are roasting marshmallows while playing Truth, Dare, or Don’t. Candy tries to pick Don’t but the other girls convince her to pick Truth. The question Mabel poses is: Do you like someone? Candy confesses that she has recently begun to like someone whose name begins with a D and ends with ipper. Mabel is ecstatic that her best friend likes her brother. She insists on getting them together.

On the ride to the next stop, Mabel moves to the passenger seat while Grenda takes up a whole seat by herself. The only seat left is next to Candy. Dipper is, of course, weirded out by Candy’s advances. When he tries to talk to Stan about it, Stan tells him to take advantage of the situation.

The final attraction the gang hits up is Mystery Mountain. It has mummies and spider people. Stan hits on the pretty lady at the ticket booth while Candy tries to get Dipper to go on a date with her. Stan and his new girl head up the mountain, leaving the kids behind.

Candy and Dipper sit and talk in the mummy room. Soon, all of the other girls Dipper talked to show up. Everyone is upset that none of them really meant anything to Dipper. Even Candy is upset with him. Dipper tries to talk to Stan (via walkie talkie) but it turns out that the ticket booth girl was a spider woman and the kids now have to save Stan from being eaten.

The kids race up the mountain. When they reach Stan, they pull all of the spider webbing off him and rush off. Candy tells everyone to get into the SkyTram. She has a plan! However, it is the slowest ride ever. Obviously, the spider woman quickly catches up to them. Candy, who has been reading all of the pamphlets from the attractions, comes up with an idea to release the tram car from the overhead wire. It will land on an erupting Old Reliable, bouncing them to a Paul Bunyan statue, which will them stomp on the spider woman, saving them all. Man, Candy is smart.

Back in the RV, Dipper gives candy a pamphlet apologizing for his behavior. She accepts his apology. Back at the Mystery Shack, all of the other roadside attraction owners have gotten together to vandalize the Shack. Stan will never win against them. But what about Soos? He’s still in the corn maze!

Of all of the recent episodes, this one is my favorite. It’s feels like a throwback episode from the first season, before all the really weird stuff started happening. There were some weird things but most of the episode was just the characters having fun together. I miss these episodes.