Gravity Falls: “The Last Mabelcorn” Review – AVClub

AVClub: Gravity Falls, from the very first episode in which Dipper discovered the journal and Grunkle Stan disappeared behind the vending machine, has run on secrets. To keep its overarching narrative intact, the show has had its characters keep information concealed at every possible turn. In this effort, the general craziness of the show’s characters has been of great help. For the longest time, it was just about plausible for Stan to studiously avoid interacting directly with the show’s paranormal elements—and then to shrug them off when he occasionally did—because, well, he was a loon, and far too obsessed with his own monetary gain to care much about what was going on about him. Since we’ve learned about the true story of Stan and his brother Ford, though, the show can no longer entirely hand-wave its tendency to withhold crucial information by distracting us with jokes. There kind of has to be some reason why Stan—and now Ford—just won’t tell people the truth, even when it seems like it would make everything so, so much easier to just go ahead and do so.