Gravity Falls Review, Season 1, Episode 6: Dipper vs. Manliness.

Airdate: July 20th, 2012

Synopsis: Dipper, Mabel, and Grunkle Stan are at a diner. With Stan refusing to fork up money for breakfast, Dipper tries to beat a manliness tester, but fails. This, alongside Mabel and Stan considering him un-masculine, alongside Stan catching Dipper singing "Disco Girl" (from Icelandic pop group BABBA) a few nights ago, embarrasses Dipper. He runs out to the forest, where dipper meets a beast called a Manotaur. ("Half man, half... uh, taur!) Dipper follows this Manotaur back to his cave, where he meets a bunch of other Manotaurs. Manotaurs, as expected, do manly things. The manotaurs decide to train Dipper to be manly.

One of the last tasks Dipper must do is defeat and kill a Multi-bear, a bear with multiple heads. Dipper defeats the bear in a duel, but decides not to kill him when he realises the Multi-bear's last request.... dying to "Disco Girl", his favourite song. Dipper realises that masculinity does not mean being stereotypically masculine, and realises that the Manotaurs are a bunch of jerks who want to kill a bear based on his taste in music. With the Manotaurs refusing to listen to him, Dipper leaves the Manotaurs.

Meanwhile, Stan wants to date a local waitress, Lazy Susan. Mabel tries to help Stan get in shape and look good, but it ultimately proves futile. Mabel realises that Stan is imperfect, and that he as himself would make a good partner. Stan asks Susan if he wants to give him her number, which she accepts.

Dipper arrives back at the Diner, and Stan commends Dipper for his bravery against the Manotaur's callous behaviour.

Review: Compared to what we got earlier from this show, it's a pretty weak episode we have here.

The message in this episode, for one, is pretty cliche. The idea of "Be Yourself" is a damn good message, but it's a common sitcom message. Other shows have done it. Granted, Gravity Falls took liberties in the setting, and with quite a bit of bullying over males taking feminine interests, this episode gets extra points for taking on something that's pretty damn important nowadays. In fact, this episode comes off as a gender-flipped example of the sitcom plot "tomboy tries to act more feminine, but realises that conforming to expected society norms is not right", except with more fantasy.

Also on the negative side, Mabel. Got. Gypped. Out. Of. A. Good. Plot. The plot she got is incredibly cliche and just plain dull. Mabel works best when she is part of the insanity of the town, NOT trying to fix Stan. Therefore, this episode loses a good chunk of it's points mainly on how weak this plot is.

Still, this episode has a damn good amount of humour to keep your interest. However, given the high standards this show demands, this episode was disappointing.

Favourite Scene: Dipper singing to "Disco Girl". Funny, funny, funny! Must be funny! In a good show's world!

Score: 6. Remember, 5 is a passing grade in this review column.

Bonus: ABBA TIME!