Recap: Gravity Falls "Little Dipper"

Today, Lil' Gideon returns to enact his tewwible widdle wevenge against a man who believes that owning ten guns will keep away maniacs with ladders.

Truly, this will require strategy worthy of praise from Sun Tzu himself.

The episode begins with Lil' Gideon sitting at his desk, perusing his mysterious "2" journal in an attempt to figure out the best revenge on the Pines family.

Gideon: "Zombie attack? Never works; they don't take orders."

Well, then I guess we'll never see the Pines family attacked by zombies. Certainly not in the Season 2 premiere.

Gideon: "Blood rain? Ew. Mess up my suit. No thank you."

I think Grunkle Stan would take a blood rain in stride, all things considered. He'd probably just look outside and say "Kids! Go out and put a tarp over my car."

Gideon: "Demon caterpillars?"

That just sounds adorable.

Gideon is none too impressed with the options presented in his book. He realizes that the best way to inflict revenge would be to take something from them that they cared about. And a popsicle model of the Mystery Shack gives him an idea....

"I'll steal all the popsicles out of their freezer!"

Over at the Shack, the Pines family is watching TV. Apparently, the world's premier anatidae investigator, Ducktective, has crossed some sort of line in his investigation. Whatever that line may be, it'll have to wait, since Stan has to answer the doorbell. He does his "Mr. Mystery" schtick, but the guy in the suit on the other end seems rather humorless. Naturally, Stan assumes it's the tax collector, coming to deal with the massive tax fraud he regularly commits. So he smokebombs away and runs to his secret escape stash in the living room. He grabs a duffel bag of cash and searches in vain for the trap door button, but it's too late. The man has followed Stan inside. But oddly enough, he's here to give Stan money, which tax collectors aren't exactly known for.

Man in Suit: "I'm from the Winninghouse Coupon-Savers' Contest. And you are our big winner!"

This truly is a monumental day in Stan's life.

Grunkle Stan: "My one and only dream, which was to possess money, has come true!"

And those duffel bags were filled with what, then?
Your counterfeit money where Ben Franklin looks like a woman?

Dipper: "We're rich! I'm gonna get a butler!"

Mabel: "I'm gonna buy a talking horse!"

All Stan has to do is sign a piece of paper to receive the cash, and he quickly leaves a scribble on it. Suddenly, Gideon bursts through the giant fake check and reveals that this whole thing was just a plot to get Stan to legally sign over the Mystery Shack to the little guy. But it seems as though Stan's signature might not be legally binding....

I mean, if it worked against Pacifica Northwest....

So Gideon is carried out by the man in the suit, vowing revenge all the way. Gideon, that is, not the guy in the suit. He seems pretty okay with everything, all things considered.

Having foiled Gideon a second time, the Pines family casually returns to watching TV.

Mabel: "My favorite part's the theme song."

After Mabel's favorite part, Dipper and Mabel play chess. Or rather, they "play" "chess."

Mabel: "Little guy to black space nine!"

You know, between Avengers Assemble and Beware the Batman, I've seen worse chess.

Dipper: "It's a 'pawn,' that's not your color, and stop stealing the tiny horses!"

Despite telling Mabel that the black piece she was moving wasn't her color (because referring to the square as "not her color" doesn't even pretend to make sense), Dipper uses a white piece to knock over the black king and declare checkmate.

The classic Alfred mistake.

You don't take your opponent's king to declare checkmate; you put your opponent's king in a position where they will be taken next turn, no matter what move they make. You never actually capture the king.

However, I will let this slide.

When Doctor Doom or Batman royally screw up at chess, you bet I'm going to get upset at the animators. But in a game where Mabel moves the wrong pieces and steals the knights? I'm just going to assume that Dipper has simply out-cheated his sister. Which, according to Dipper's tally marks, means the score is 85-0, Dipper's favor.

Soos, who's been organizing attractions in the back, asks Mabel to pass him a brain in a jar, but Dipper offers to do it.

Soos: "Thanks, but Mabel's taller."

Dipper has a hard time believing this, since they've always been the same height, but Soos's measuring tape doesn't lie; Mabel's exactly one millimeter taller. Mabel takes this as some sort of sign that she's evolving into the superior sibling and begins chanting "Alpha Twin! Alpha Twin!"

Dipper: "Come on guys, nobody even uses millimeters. It only makes you taller than me in Canada."

Mabel: "You know, Dipper, I've always wanted a little brother. Who knew I already had one?"

Which is Stan's cue to get up from his nap.

Grunkle Stan: "I was awoken by the sound of mockery. Where is it? Show me the object of ridicule!"

Mabel explains the situation, to Dipper's chagrin, so it's Grunkle Stan's turn to try and find a short joke that wasn't already used in Shrek.

Grunkle Stan: "Hey hey! Don't get... short with your sister!"

Mabel: "Now, Grunkle Stan, I hope you don't think... little of him!"

Grunkle Stan: "Yeah! And, uh, he's short!"

Mabel and Grunkle Stan share a laugh, but Soos suggests that enough is enough.

Soos: "Dude, maybe you should lay off a tiny bit."

Which only makes them laugh harder, thanks to Soos's "tiny" comment.

"Curse my ability to inadvertently pun. Curse it to heck."

So Dipper walks off as Mabel and Stan continue their revelry, culminating in a veru painful high-five.

Mabel: "I high-five hard."

Dipper fumes in his room for a bit before deciding to check the Journal for advice. But it seems as though he can't quite reach it.

Makes you wonder why he put it up there in the first place. Actually, how did he put it up there?
Did Stan lose his hatred of ladders when Mabel cured his fear of heights?

After kicking the shelf to knock down the book, he opens it up and briefly skims over some sort of strange diagram which I'm sure won't become important.

I mean, it's not even complete. It looks like it needs two more parts. Useless.

But he manages to get to the juicy stuff eventually: Oddly-large or small animals, deep in the forest. So Dipper heads out to investigate. He trips over a branch while checking the Journal, but he ends up stumbling all the way downhill to a crystal grove. When he sits up, he finds the tiniest deer on his chest, so he must be getting close.

The deer runs off to its tiny family as a small eagle flies in front of Dipper's face. And a mountain lion shows up. Dipper can't tell if it's actually tiny, or just far away, but the answer reveals itself when it attacks.

Dipper: "Perspective! Perspective! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!"

The great cat leaps at Dipper, ready to maul, but it gets caught in a pink beam, which makes it a few inches big, but just as fierce as it bite's Dipper's thumb.

Dipper: "It still hurts, but less."

"I wonder if this means my future rabies symptoms will be less severe."

A nearby monarch butterfly zips through one light beam to become tiny, then through another to become Earth's protector, Mothra.

I guess that tree was an enemy of the Earth.

Dipper realizes that the strange crystals surrounding him apparently shoot out growth/shrink rays, so he pries one out of a rock to take home.

You got 200 Rupees! Your face is just beaming!

With a piece of string, Dipper hooks the crystal up to a flashlight. A turn of the crystal allows him to switch between embiggening and shrinkification, which he tests out on a chess pawn.

Soon enough, Dipper interrupts Mabel's conversation with Soos, who notices that Dipper has gained a millimeter. But Mabel's still content with the situation. After all, hers happened first.

Mabel: "I'm gonna be taller in the end. It's science, Dipper."

So Dipper heads off to add a little more magic into the situation. He gives himself a brief zap, and Mabel enters to find Dipper several millimeters taller than she is.

Mabel: "What happened?"

Dipper: "You know. Puberty and stuff."

I think that was a book they made us read in school.

But Mabel's no fool.

...Let me try that sentence again.

But Mabel's not that much of a fool, so she starts looking around the room for whatever wizard cast a growth spell on her brother, to Dipper's incredulity.

Mabel: "You're telling me there is not wizard in this closet? You're telling me that if I open this door right now...."

Dipper: "Fine! Open it."

And when she does, they see nothing but the inside of the closet.

Mabel: "...An invisible wizard. Really, Dipper."

Over with Grunkle Stan, he has to deal with an altogether more visible problem: The return of Lil' Gideon. He's returned to the shack with two things. A baseball bat and a jar filled with a thousand cursed Egyptian Super-Termites. And he threatens to unleash them unless he gets the deed to the Mystery Shack.

Grunkle Stan counters by distracting Gideon with the ol' "What's that behind you?" trick before knocking the jar onto the floor. The Super-Termites fly around, eat Gideon's bat, and decide to swarm around in his hair for a bit.

Grunkle Stan: "Hey, Soos, get in here! I wanna take pictures of this!"

The score is now 3-0, Pines' favor.

Upstairs, Mabel tries to summon the invisible wizard with "Expecto Wizarium!" but Dipper gives in and shows her the magic flashlight. Mabel chases after Dipper and the flashlight, briefly stopping to let the invisible wizard know that she hasn't forgotten bout him, and the chase takes them outside. They trip, knocking the flashlight away, and it activates, turning a caterpillar into a larval Mothra Leo.

Good thing it wasn't a demon caterpillar.

Mabel gets up, grabs the flashlight, and tests it on her own hand because she doesn't think things all the way through.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what I expected when I used a growth ray on my hand."

So Dipper shows her the shrinking function. With her newly-restored hand, Mabel performs a "Normal-Hand Karate Chop” with all the power of one of her high-fives, taking the flashlight and renewing the chase, with comedic effects.

Big Head Mode activated!

They both return to normal during the ensuing scuffle, but the flashlight ends up getting tossed away... right next to where Gideon has finally eluded the Super-Termites.

Mabel: "Maybe he didn't see us use it and doesn't know it's a magic flashlight that can grow and shrink things?"

I don't think seeing you is what tipped him off, Mabel.

So Gideon tests out this new toy on the Pines twins, letting out a goofy giggle that sounds like demonic laughter to the twins. And since he has an empty jar, he captures the two like snatching a fairy from a fountain.

You caught a Dipper in a bottle! Your mortal enemy will not give you life energy the moment you completely run out.

Over with Bud Gleeful, he's selling broken-down jalopies to rubes at his car dealership.

Bud: "Engine possum at no extra charge."

Old Man McGucket: "I want that there car!"

"Take our money!"

When Gideon returns, Bud asks about the jar, so Gideon turns on the charm to play to the assembled crowd.

Gideon: "Dat's mah widdle secret!"

Gideon heads inside the house, greets his frazzled-nerved mother...

A lifetime of Gideon-sized tantrums will do that to you.

...and heads to his room to deal with the Pines twins. He tells Mabel that no harm will come to her... as long as she agrees to be his queen.

Mabel: "We live in a democracy! And never!"

Well, she is already a congresswoman. I doubt that being Gideon's queen would afford her with similar legislative power.

Gideon keeps her pacified by putting her in an open bag of gummy koalas, then he turns his attention to Dipper. He shoves the desk lamp in Dipper's face while interrogating him about where he got this enchanted item.

Gideon: "Somebody tell you about it? Did you read about it somewhere?"

Dipper tells Gideon to lean closer for the answer, and he blasts a nearby air horn when Gideon complies. Gideon, in his rage, threatens to simply smash Dipper and be done with it, but he manages to compose himself. After all, he's got hostages now.

Back at the Mystery Shack, Soos is setting up a new attraction.

Grunkle Stan: "Soos, this Maze of Mirrors is your best idea that I'm taking credit for yet."

Stan sets down the fez for a moment, and gets a glimpse of his ears in a mirror.

Grunkle Stan: "Have my ears always been this big?"

The Doctor knows your pain, Stan.

When Stan leaves to answer the phone, Soos takes the opportunity to try the fez on and admire the way it sits on his head.

Soos: "One day...."

Man, this episode's full of foreshadowing.

Stan answers the phone, only to hear Gideon's voice. Stan doesn't believe that Gideon has the twins, since he saw them in the yard only a few minutes ago.

Gideon: "I have them in my possession! You don't believe me? I will text you a photo!"

Grunkle Stan: "'Text me a photo'? Now you're not even speakin' English."

Stan hangs up, leaving Gideon so angry that he demolishes his phone against the wall. But anger is quickly replaced with maniacal glee as he realizes that he has to power to simply shrink Stan Pines. Gideon illustrates the power that would give him over the entire Pines family by ripping the heads off the wooden replicas he'd made and laughs a bit. But more important things need his attention. Like the ice cream truck outside.

So he moves Cheekums the hamster into position to act as a guard while he leaves to get his frosty treat.

"It's Hamtaro Time, son."

Cheekums turns out to be a cuddly pushover, so the real challenge is keeping Mabel away from the delicious gummy koalas. Luckily, she's willing to take part of one for the road, so all that's left is to formulate a plan.

Dipper: "Gideon's got magic and, like, a zillion inches on us. On the bright side, at least we're finally the same height again."

Mabel: "Actually...."

They root through Gideon's school supplies to find his ruler, and Mabel is indeed still a millimeter taller. Which, at their current height, is quite a bit.

Dipper: "Just another reason we gotta get that flashlight back."

Mabel tries riding Cheekums to freedom, but he's too fat and lazy for anything like that.  So instead, they fashion a rope from the loose hairs in Gideon's brush and rappel to the floor.

Once in the living room, they spy Gideon finishing up his ice cream and demanding to have his face cleaned. He also "requests" a ride to the Mystery Shack, but Bud has a lot of work at the dealership, which he explains while giving Gideon a playful little tickle. More than anything else so far, this drives Gideon absolutely berserk.

Gideon: "Never! Never tickle me! What have I told you?! What have I- look at me. What have I told you?!"

Bud: "Ticklin' is no laughing matter...."

Bud offers his son a ride, but Gideon's in too bad of a mood and elects to take the bus, pausing only to knock over an end table on his way out.

Bud: "Precious memories...."

"That I will soon eradicate from my brain."

Mrs. Gleeful: "Just keep vacuuming, just keep vacuuming...."

Dipper and Mabel make a break for the outside, and Dipper thinks they might need to get higher.

Mabel: "Especially you! 'Cause you're short."

They head over to Bud's promotional sale balloon while Lazy Susan the waitress interacts with Gideon.

Lazy Susan: "What cute little thing are you off to, you cute little cutie-face?"

Gideon: "I'm gonna annihilate my arch-enemy's entire family!"

Lazy Susan: "Oh. Okay. Yay!"

Gideon gets on the bus when it arrives, but Lazy Susan stays right where she is on the bus stop.

"I just like sitting here."

With Gideon on his way to the Shack, Dipper cuts the string around Bud's flying discount dollar, and the wind pushes the balloon in hot pursuit... unfortunately for Bud.

Bud: "My sky-high prices!"

The twins figure out how to maneuver the balloon right into the top of the totem pole right as Gideon arrives. They zip down to the roof, and Mabel makes the ultimate sacrifice... by throwing her gummy koala head into Gideon's hair, distracting the tiny terror.

Gideon drops the flashlight and heads over to a convenient mirror to use his emergency hairspray, meaning that Mabel and Dipper have the perfect opportunity to restore the both of them to normal size. Of course, Dipper's definition of "normal size" makes both of them the same height, which starts a little argument between the two of them. ...No pun intended.

Mabel's frustrated at Dipper for making a big deal out of it, but Dipper's frustrated at Mabel for using it as an excuse to make fun of him and call him names. Names like...

Gideon: "Little Dipper."

Gideon grabs the two and enters the Mystery Shack, unleashing the shrink ray. And suddenly, the famous fez falls to the floor as its wearer shrinks down to the size of a mouse. Its wearer being Soos, at the time.

Soos: "Alright, something's definitely different here...."

Gideon drops Soos and the twins into a jar and gives it a good shake before interrogating Soos.

Soos: "You'll never find Stan! On the second door to the left, down the hall! ...Wait, why did I say that?"

So Gideon stuffs the jar in his pocket and follows the directions.

Soos: "Guess I kinda Soos'd that one up, didn't I?"

But Dipper puts the blame on himself for inventing the shrink ray in the first place. But he explains to Mabel that he only created it because Mabel wouldn't stop teasing him about being shorter. And Mabel reveals that she only did that because it was the one thing she could rub in Dipper's face, instead of vice-versa. He always beats her at chess, checkers, ping pong, croquet, you name it.

Mabel: "I guess I finally felt like I was winning at something for once."

With all their issues worked out, Dipper and Mabel make up.

Dipper: "Are we cool?"

Mabel: "We're cool."

Soos: "Am I cool?"

Mabel: "You're cool, Soos."

Soos: "Yes."

But just as Soos gets life validation from a twelve-year-old, Gideon finally comes across Stan. Several of them, in fact.

Grunkle Stan: "Oh, hi, Gideon! I've been looking for someone to try out my new mirror maze. Then again, you're an idiot. That's the end of the sentence."

As Gideon heads into the maze, our shrunken heroes escape from the jar and climb up Gideon's jacket and around his shoulders. Mabel is tantalized by his shiny hair, and Soos is enchanted by his layers of neck flab, which are perfect for making fat angels in. But Gideon swats at what he thinks is another termite, knocking Soos to the ground. Soos survives in the fluffy carpeting, and he finds an old friend.

Soos: "Thought you could get away from me, eh, corn chip?"

Before the twins can grab the flashlight, Gideon fires it at a reflection of Stan, causing it to bounce around and hit a moose head mounted on the wall. In a fit of rage, Gideon breaks the mirror, which gives him an idea. He starts breaking all the mirrors, and that makes Stan mad enough to find Gideon and yell at him for breaking things.

But Dipper gets an idea that might save Stan.

Dipper: "To his armpit!"

Mabel hesitates, but the twins crawl down Gidon's shirt and start tickling like there's no tomorrow. But as far as Stan knows, Gideon just broke down laughing in the middle of his evil speech.

"Why are you laughing? Who's the object of ridicule? I don't get it."

Grunkle Stan: "Look, uh, kid. I think this rivalry thing is getting to you."

He tries giving Gideon some words of wisdom, but eventually resorts to rolling the little tub outside. Once outside, Dipper and Mabel leap away, and Gideon realizes he's lost his device.

Gideon: "My light!"

Grunkle Stan: "You're the light of my life too, pal."

Dipper and Mabel, with no height-related grief between them, restore each other to normal size (with a millimeter in difference between them) and smash the crystal to bits.... moments before they notice Soos on the floor.

Mabel: "Glue."

Dipper: "Lots o' glue."

Back at the Gleefuls' house, it's family meeting time. Gideon paces angrily while Bud tries to console his son. And Mrs. Gleeful, as ever, sits in terror, fearing her son's inevitable wrath.

But Gideon's focus is on his dad, because Mr. Gleeful doesn't understand that it's not just about Stan Pines. He wants the building.

Gideon: "Because it holds a secret you couldn't possibly imagine!"

Once again, Gideon unleashes an evil laugh, but it gets interrupted by Bud's offer of more ice cream.

Gideon: "Did you pick out all the nuts?"

Bud: "Mm-hm."

And so, as Bud spoons ice cream into his son's mouth, the credits roll.

We return to the Pines watching TV when the doorbell rings. The man at the door tells Stan that he won the Winninghouse Coupon-Savers' Contest, but Stan's not falling for that again. When Stan slams the door, they decide to give the ten-million-dollar check to a certain "Fiddleford H. McGucket." Old Man McGucket is overjoyed at the news, and begins eating the giant check right away.

Presenter: "Cross this town off our list."

And with a final message of GSV RMERHRYOV DRAZIW RH DZGXSRMT (The invisible wizard is watching), the episode ends.

So let's review this little adventure.

...Sorry. Couldn't resist.