Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Summerween

Welcome back to our month-long Halloween celebration here on Deep Dive Disney. Today is a special one folks because today, we’ll be taking our first look at Gravity Falls. For those that don’t know, Gravity Falls, created by the incredibly awesome Alex Hirsch, is easily my favorite modern Disney animated series and third favorite overall behind Darkwing Duck and Gargoyles. The show stars the Pines twins, the awkward yet intelligent Dipper and his lovably extroverted sweater-enthusiast sister, Mabel, who are spending the summer in the remote backwoods town of Gravity Falls Oregon helping their Great Uncle Stan, a sleazy con artist with a secret heart of gold, run The Mystery shack, a road side museum full of bogus oddities. Aiding the gang in the Mystery Shack are Wendy, a too cool for school teenager and Dipper’s crush, and my favorite character, Soos, Grunkle Stan’s personal handyman who seems dumb but is actually a big lovable teddy bear who is wise beyond his years. Even though the exhibits in the Mystery Shack are completely fake, the town of Gravity Falls seems to be crawling with all manner of weirdness. Indeed, zombies, gnomes, eldritch horrors, multi-headed bears and god knows what else are common place in this strange town and Dipper has made it his mission to understand the secrets of Gravity Falls with the help of a mysterious journal he found in the woods. I actually don’t want to say much more than that because I feel that going into further detail will spoil a show that you all really need to watch. Just take my word for it, the show is great and you should be watching it if you haven't already. Fortunately, the episode we’re covering today doesn’t really deal that heavily with the main mystery of the series so I feel comfortable sharing it with you guys. Welcome to Summerween! See, the show takes place entirely in the Summer, so having a Halloween episode would normally be quite tricky, but the writers of a show devised a pretty clever solution. Apparently the town of Gravity Falls loves Halloween so much that they celebrate it twice a year, only this time of year it’s called Summerween and instead of carving Jack-O-Lanterns, they carve Jack-O-Melons, which are just Jack-O-Lanterns but made out of watermelons. In any case, let’s waste no further time and get right into, Summerween.

Our episode opens with Dipper, Mabel, Soos and Grunkle Stan pulling up to the local Summerween super store as Stan explains the concept of Summerween to Dipper and Mabel… but does not explain why he carries a calendar around all the time. Mabel thinks something about Halloween in Summer feels unnatural but hey, there’s free candy so the twins are all in. As Dipper and Mabel start picking out their costumes and Stan stocks up on supplies to scare the bejesus out of small children, Soos goes to town pushing all the buttons that make the annoying novelty decorations talk, much to the annoyance of the girl behind the counter. Speaking as someone who used to work at a store that sold talking Halloween decorations, I feel that girl’s pain. The family is having so much fun they end up wrecking the store and scaring the other customers so the girl behind the counter tries to call the police, but Stan is an expert in evading the authorities and escapes by throwing a smoke bomb, leaving counterfeit money on the desk and driving away as fast as he can.

That night, Dipper and Mabel are excited about making their Summerween plans. Turns out Halloween is their mutual favorite holiday. Apparently, people go nuts for twins in matching costumes so they've always managed to get a ton of candy. Soos, dressed as a luchador, appreciates their enthusiasm, but warns the twins of the legend of the Summerween Trickster. Apparently, every Summerween, the Trickster goes door to door eating children who have lost the Summerween spirit. Dipper and Mabel aren’t particularly worried since they both have plenty of spirit to go around. Dipper takes a bite out of Grunkle Stan’s candy bowl and finds it to be full of disgusting cheap knockoff brand candy no one wants to eat. Apparently one of the candies is literally just labeled “Homework The Candy.” Point is, it’s all what the twins refer to as “Loser Candy.” Keep in mind, Grunkle Stan shoplifted all of his Summerween supplies and yet still he went for the cheap stuff. How hilariously in character. Dipper starts throwing the loser candy out the window, an action that appears to get the attention of some sort of creature lurking outside in the shadows.

Wendy and her asshole boyfriend Robbie arrive and both seem to think that Dipper is too old to go trick-or-treating. Desperate to impress Wendy, Dipper denies that he’s going trick-or-treating and decries it as being for babies. Wendy invites Dipper to a Summerween party at nine and Dipper is excited to go, but sadly, this means he has to find a way to get out of trick-or-treating with his sister.

Later that night, Mabel, dressed as a jar of strawberry jelly, gets together with her two best friends, Grenda, dressed as a witch and Candy, dressed as… a piece of candy. We get this absolutely adorable scene of Mabel showing off her pet pig, Waddles, in a business suit before Dipper comes down the stairs without his costume. Dipper feigns illness in order to get out of trick-or-treating when there’s a knock at the door. Dipper opens the door and is greeted by this shadowy creature dressed like a scarecrow and wearing an unnerving smiley face mask. Said creature happens to be voiced by Jeff Bennett, who you may remember as Brooklyn and Owen from Gargoyles. Actually, if you listen closely, it sounds a lot like Bennett's Brooklyn voice. While it’s obvious to the viewer that this is the legendary Summerween Trickster, Dipper believes that it’s nothing more than a grown man being creepy and trying to get free candy and slams the door in its face. The Trickster knocks again and despite Mabel apologizing on Dipper’s behalf, the Trickster has been insulted by Dipper’s actions and now all of the kids must pay with their lives unless they collect five hundred pieces of candy and offer them up as tribute to the Summerween Trickster before the last Jack-O-Melon goes out. To demonstrate that he’s not kidding the Trickster brutally devours an innocent little kid named Gorney.

Despite the fact that all their lives are now in grave danger, Mabel is happy that Dipper now has no choice but to come trick-or-treating with her and her friends. Dipper is more concerned about how they’re supposed to get five hundred pieces of candy in a single evening and still have time to go to the party at nine. Mabel gives an inspirational speech to boost everyone’s confidence which mostly works, though Dipper is still worried that this means he won’t make it to Wendy’s party. I would personally think that the threat of a man-eating eldritch terror would be a bigger motivator than pre-teen hormones, but Wendy is kind of like Dipper’s kryptonite so he’s not exactly thinking clearly at the moment.

Meanwhile, Grunkle Stan, dressed as Dracula, is getting ready to scare unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. He actually does a pretty good job, making it look like his own skin melted off, but two kids don’t seem particularly impressed and demand their candy. Stan keeps trying, pulling hotdogs out of his shirt and acting like they’re his guts, but these kids have been watching horror movies since they were two so they’re ready for any ridiculous cheap scare that Stan can throw at them. To quote The Grinch, “Kids Today, So Desensitized by Movies and Television.”

Back with our trick-or-treaters, they’re doing their best to meet the Trickster’s demands but Dipper isn’t really getting into the spirit and his lack of costume isn’t impressing those passing out candy, leaving our heroes with only a few pieces of black licorice and circus peanuts. More of that previously mentioned “Loser Candy.” Dipper is still insisting he’s too sick to put on his costume but the Trickster appears to them once again to remind them of what’s at stake. Receiving a much needed reality check, Dipper reluctantly capitulates.

Meanwhile, Stan is still trying to scare the two little kids. One would think these kids would just give up and move on to the next house, but these two little shits apparently now just want Candy from this creepy old man on principal. Stan tries to scare them once again by having Waddles rip out of his shirt like a Xenomorph, but no dice. Stan finally gives up and asks what scares these two little freaks and they show him one of those YouTube videos where you’re just looking at a cat or something and then a big scary face pops out and jump scares you. Man, I hope those aren’t a thing anymore. Stan nearly has a heart attack and runs into the house, hanging his head in shame.

Back with the kids, Dipper has put on his costume, a jar of peanut putter to match Mabel’s jelly costume, and the two get to work, doing a little twin dance for the next house. So moved to tears by Dipper and Mabel’s twin magic is the surly looking biker man who lives at this particular residence that he dumps his entire bowl of candy into their sacs. The gang keeps up this momentum and before long, they’ve met their quota with time to spare. It looks like everything is going to work out. However, as Wendy and Robbie drive by, Dipper quickly removes his costume and hides the candy in the bushes. Dipper assures his crush that he’s coming to the party but Mabel overhears and is pissed and heartbroken that Dipper would ditch her. Things get worse when it turns out that there was a cliff on the other side of the bush dipper pushed the candy into so now they have no tribute to offer to the unholy nightmare that’s trying to kill them. Worse yet, there’s only one Jack-O-Melon still lit. Our heroes prevent Old Man McGuckit, the local feral hillbilly, from blowing out the last Jack-O-Melon, but unfortunately, it goes out soon after. Crap…

The Trickster arrives to collect and with no candy, it looks like the kids are now on the menu. The creature grows to monstrous size and sprouts extra sets of arms as it begins chasing the children. Fortunately for our heroes, Soos rams the Trickster with his truck, seemingly destroying it. As the gang drives back to the mystery shack, Dipper tries to apologize to Mabel, but there’s no time for that as the Trickster has reformed into an even more monstrous form, one that now resembles No-Face from the Hayao Miyazaki film, Spirited Away.

During the chase, Soos crashes his truck into the Summerween store from earlier where our heroes hide from the monster. While hiding from certain doom, Dipper and Mabel finally have a chance to talk. Dipper admits that he was starting to feel that he was getting too old to go trick-or-treating. Mabel agrees, but feels that that’s exactly why they need to go trick-or-treating, because they only have so many Halloweens left and is saddened to learn that it’s already their last one. Using some of the costumes in the store as camouflage, our heroes almost manage to escape without the Trickster seeing them, but Soos can’t help but press the button on the novelty decorations. It’s been a stressful day, the dude needs some levity. This, of course, alerts the monster who quickly devours Soos. Well, at this point, the kids have had it. This monster has ruined their Summerween and now it’s eaten their friend. Our heroes grab whatever plastic costume weapons they can find and charge the Trickster. Grenda manages to chip off a piece of the monster and finds that it tastes like candy. It’s here where the Trickster’s true nature is revealed. Turns out the Trickster is a sentient amorphous blob comprised of every discarded piece of black licorice, every unwanted bar of old chocolate with that white powder stuff on it and all the other loser candy no one wants to eat and now seeks revenge on the picky children who have cast it aside. Just as the Trickster is about to eat Dipper and Mabel, Soos bursts out of the monsters chest, having apparently eaten his way out. Soos isn’t exactly the picky type. To him, Candy is candy. And so the monster dies crying joyful candy corn tears, finally happy that someone thought it tasted good. Also, Gorney is alive, and has apparently been “twaumatized” for life.

Back at the Mystery Shack, the two little kids are still trying to get candy from Stan and have just decided to just break in and steal it. Stan meanwhile, feeling he’s lost his touch as the master of fright, prepares a bath so he can wash off the foul stench of shame. However, the kids accidentally stumble into the bathroom and come face to face with the most terrifying thing they’ve ever seen, GRUNKLE STAN’S SHRIVELED UP OLD MAN PENIS!! Scarred for life, the children run away screaming as Stan takes pleasure in the fact that he’s still got it.

Later, Dipper and Mabel meet up with the rest of the gang back at the mystery shack. Wendy asks Dipper why she didn’t see him at the party to which Dipper proudly replies that he was trick-or-treating with his sister. Turns out the party was pretty lame anyway. Robbie ate a lollipop stick first and had to be taken to the hospital. Dipper and Mabel are happy to be alive and not in the digestive system of an unholy abomination made of licorice and necco wafers, but they’re still bummed that they didn’t get any candy. Fortunately, Stan managed to steal the candy from the two underaged children he accidentally exposed himself to earlier in the evening and everybody digs in as they enjoy a scary movie marathon. And so our episode ends with Stan saying that at the end of the day, Summerween isn’t about costumes or candy or scaring people, it’s day when the whole family can get together in one place and celebrate what really matters… PURE EVIL!!! Also, Soos ate someone alive, that’s a thing. Whatever, enjoy the montage of adorable pics of Waddles in his business suit as Dolly Parton’s Nine to Five plays us out.

This episode is awesome. Frankly, the entire series is awesome, but this one definitely ranks amongst the best in the series. Given the nature of the show, almost any episode could technically be a Halloween episode, but this one really upped its game in terms of the creep factor. The Summerween Trickster is a great villain with a cool twist about his true nature that I didn’t see coming. The stuff with Grunkle Stan is hilarious, even if those kids are probably going into therapy and Stan is going on a sex offender’s list. I also loved the stuff between Dipper and Mabel as it showcases one of the main ongoing themes of the series, that of growing up and how Dipper and Mabel both deal with that differently. While Dipper is always trying to grow up way too fast, Mabel clings to childhood as hard as she can because she knows that it won’t last forever. It’s a great dynamic that’s explored throughout the series. If any of you haven’t seen Gravity Falls, I cannot recommend the series enough. It’s only two seasons so it’s not too significant of a time commitment and the show has some of the quickest and funniest dialogue I’ve ever seen in any show for kids or adults. If you want to know even more about the show, I’d also like to take this time to plug the Mystery Shack Look Back podcast, a nostalgic time capsule and no-spoiler book club of the original Gravity Falls fandom hosted by friends of Deep Dive Disney, Charley Marlowe, Ella Cesari and Shelby Sessler. They, along with several special guests, went through the entire series episode by episode as well as discussed supplemental material such as video games and books. Check them out on the Pipe Dream Podcast Network if you’re looking for something fun to listen to. They recently finished their Gravity Falls retrospective and have moved on to Over the Garden Wall, a show I'm regrettably less familiar with, but either way, you're in for a good time. In any case, our month-long Halloween celebration rolls on as next week, we’re looking at Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie!