Gravity Falls Season 2 Episode 8 “Blendin’s Game”
Tough times never last, but tough people do. - Robert H. Schuller
How has it taken me this long to review a Gravity Falls episode? Like seriously, I’d think that would taken extreme amounts of priority. As I said in my Over the Garden Wall review, this show leaves me pining for childhood in ways I didn’t think were possible, but here we are.
I have to say, this second season was initially very dodgy for me. I kept thinking this would be their seasonal rot moment. On the contrary, the show has become more streamlined and efficient with its use of character. A major plot thread about a relationship was dropped because everyone thought it was too hokey. The mysteries of the town were heightened and finally revealed, getting the teasing out of the way. Dang, Gravity Falls, you aren’t messing around.
I’ve decided to review a recent episode I hadn’t seen before this entry in my series, as to keep everything fresh. Speaking of fresh, let’s dive further into the wonderful world of Jesus Alzamirano “Soos” Ramirez.
The head custodian and repair man at the Mystery Shack, Soos is a lovable lay-about that hasn’t gotten much attention. Oh ho, says Season 2, wish granted. This season, he has been the focus of two of the best episodes in the show’s history. “Soos and The Real Girl”, which features guest star Jessica DiCicco as Giffany, a rogue A.I. that was trapped in a Japanese dating sim (it’s that kind of show). Soos learned to confront his social anxiety head on, and for it he earned the right to maintain a healthy long-distance relationship with someone he really connected with. This time, “Blendin’s Game” focuses on his past.
Our episode begins in the year 207̃012 (distant future). A hooded figure is begin chased by two G-men in green battle attire named Lolph and Dundgren. Get used to 80’s references, because Gravity Falls has them in spades. The individual is named Blendin Blandin, a time-traveler who appeared earlier in the show. Also, Justin Roiland, who has one of the most unique voices in the acting business, voices him. Having been surrounded by guards who will most likely imprison him for life, he declares an act of Globnar on our two leads, Dipper and Mabel Pines, in exchange for his freedom. His reasoning is they are the two who are responsible for his ruined life. One of the great qualities Gravity Falls has shown time and again is the use of intrigue and suspense. Here, we’re seeing it used against our leads instead of being instigated by them, a rare choice for the show.
Cut to present day, and the Pines siblings are grabbing food from the vending machine. Soos jiggles loose a stuck treat, and even busts open the machine, making it rain candy. He remarks that he would do anything for the Pines, and hears the shack proprietor and owner Stan saying he has an itch in two places at once. Anything.
The twins start chowing down when they notice Soos’ wallet on a counter. He has a laser tag coupon, emergency salami (again, that kind of show), and his driver’s license that states that today is his birthday. As twins, Dipper and Mabel consider themselves geniuses when it comes to birthdays, so they throw their friend a surprise party.
Soos shows up out back expecting a giant hummingbird and receives his surprise in the form of cake-flavored pizza, pizza-flavored cake, and the local news reported Toby Determined as the show stopping dancer The Raz Dazzler. Yet it seems nothing can cheer him up, and he sinks into indifference. Stan and the shack’s sales clerk Wendy show up to let everyone know it wasn’t their fault, but Soos hates his own birthday for some reason.
To cheer his up, they all head to a laser tag venue for an afternoon of fun. Only the future has caught up with the past as the G-Men ensnare the twins in a white room as part of the still unknown Globnar. Mabel kicks one of them in the crotch, and the codpiece says, “Thank you for buying Digi-Cod, the smart codpiece!” (insert the phrase “that kind of show” at your leisure).
Blendin Blandin emerges from the ether and explains what went down during their last encounter. The twins had stolen a time machine from him and as punishment, he was stripped of rank at the Time Monopoly Center and given ten squared life sentences for allowing civilians to alter the time-space continuum. Since then, he has plotted revenge and the day has finally come for revenge. He enters them both in Globnar, or Gladiatorial Time Combat for short, in which the winner receives a single time wish that falls outside of possibility and decides the loser’s fate. It’s been said before, but let me reiterate – this is Disney?
The twins trick Lolph into misplacing his time device by convincing him Mabel is his long lost ancestor. They travel back in time, but overshoot the laser tag building, and bend up back when it was just a mattress store ten years in the past in relation to present day. Of course, the citizens of 1990’s Gravity Falls are all similar to their present day counterparts. They even get a joke in about how Wendy and Dipper’s age role have reversed, and it is still super weird that they have feelings for each other.
They head to the Mystery Shack where they meet Soos in the past on his birthday. Realizing this may be the moment where he begins to hate his birthday, they tail him and his aunt to a birthday party. It’s here we learn that his father is always away from home on business, and has missed his son’s birthday for the past eight years. Ever since, he’s felt alone on his birthday because he could never share it with his dad. It’s a cutting blow to one of the most optimistic characters in the show, and brings a great weight to broad, yet weak shoulders.
They have to hide, as Blendin Blandin has traced them. In a spur of genius, Dipper actually wants to compete in Globnar to win Soos the time wish so he can see his dad again. Returning to the far future, they enter the arena. With the contest being overseen by The Almighty Time Baby (TKOS), they compete through several challenges that oozes eighties. American Gladiators and Tron make guest appearances, as well as Monster Chess and Time Hot Dog Eating Contests. For a final contest, they must compete in the ancient art of laser tag (HA!), as it is the exemplar of strategy and combat (HA!). The twins trounce him in seconds and win the time wish. As for his fate, Blendin Blandin is set free from prison, returns to his old job, and is given hair on his baldhead.
They return to present time to give Soos his time wish to reunite with his father. Instead, he reasons that because his father was never there for him, it wouldn’t matter if he met him or not. Birthdays, he reason, are supposed to be spent with those who care about you, and given that Dipper and Mabel fought in gladiatorial combat, he chooses to fix their injuries from the arena. Blendin Blandin screams that so many have died to get this opportunity and wars have been fought over the time wish. Also, Soos wished for an infinite slice of pizza, which everyone agrees is a good wish. End episode. DON’T DO THE TIME CRIME IF YOU CAN’T DO THE TIME TIME.
Gravity Falls has a unique way of getting through to the audience that regardless of all the craziness that occurs, the show is still grounded in reality. As such, the characters exude natural behavior and offer wonderful personalities. It’s a slice of the weird Americana that so often is given precedence in myth tales that many forget science fiction also plays a huge role.
This isn’t the greatest episode the show has offered, but its up there because of its pacing, its humor, and the gravitas of a jolly character’s sorrow. Just another classic in the roundhouse of this show. I could really go for pizza-flavored cake, though. That sounds stupid good.
