Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls

"Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls" is the series finale of the American animated television series Gravity Falls, which was created by Alex Hirsch. The episode, which serves as the twentieth episode of the second season and the 40th episode overall, was written by Shion Takeuchi, Mark Rizzo, Josh Weinstein, Jeff Rowe, and Hirsch, and directed by Stephen Sandoval. The series follows twelve-year-old twins Dipper (voiced by Jason Ritter) and Mabel Pines (voiced by Kristen Schaal), who stay for the summer with their great uncle Grunkle Stan (voiced by Hirsch) in a tourist trap called the Mystery Shack, set within the fictional town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. In this episode, Stan's brother Ford (voiced by J. K. Simmons) discovers the extent of Bill Cipher's plans, while the Mystery Shack crew forms a plan to fight back and reclaim the town. A final confrontation with Bill leads to the Pines family's ultimate fate and greatest sacrifice.

"Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls" was first broadcast on February 15, 2016, on Disney XD, and was watched by 2.47 million household viewers in the United States and garnered a 0.51 rating in the 18-49 demographics. It became the most watched telecast in the history of Disney XD, beating "A Tale of Two Stans", another episode of Gravity Falls.

Plot
Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy return to the Mystery Shack to find Stan, a handful of town residents, and several of the paranormal creatures they have encountered taking shelter there. After defending themselves from one of Bill's eye bats, Stan tells the gang that the unicorn hair Ford lined the base of the Shack with protects them from Bill's powers. Stan believes they should wait it out, but after Dipper reveals Ford knows Bill's weakness, the others agree to mount a rescue mission, especially when they learn the rest of the townsfolk are being petrified by eye bats and stacked into a makeshift throne for Bill. Old Man McGucket leads the survivors into turning the Shack into a giant mech. Meanwhile, Bill unfreezes Ford, seeking to understand what mysterious force is keeping him and his lackeys trapped within Gravity Falls. Ford knows the secret, but refuses to tell Bill, so he proceeds to torture him.

The newly built Shacktron travels to Bill's base of operations and readily defeats his minions. Bill himself comes out to fight, but his eye is torn out of its socket by the mech, blinding him temporarily. While the Shacktron keeps him distracted, Dipper and Mabel lead a small group aboard Bill's base. They disassemble Bill's throne, restoring the petrified citizens. After reuniting with Ford, he spray-paints a Zodiac wheel on the ground, having seen the image described as a means to defeat Bill. The wheel requires ten specific people, indicated by symbols on it, which Ford realizes are some of the most important of the townsfolk (Dipper, Mabel, Stan, Ford, Soos, Wendy, McGucket, Gideon, Robbie, and Pacifica). The group stand on the ring and hold hands to commence the plan, but Stan refuses due to his bitterness towards Ford. He eventually joins after Ford apologizes and thanks him, but another petty comments spurns the brothers to fight, causing enough of a ruckus for Bill to return after having destroyed the mech.

Bill burns the Zodiac, traps the Pines family, and turns the others into tapestries to keep them from interfering. Bill threatens to kill Dipper and Mabel unless Ford allows him into his mind to find out how to escape Gravity Falls. Dipper and Mabel manage to escape, with Bill in pursuit. Stan and Ford reconcile, with the latter mentioning they could potentially defeat Bill by erasing him from someone's mind using the memory gun. Ford believes the only way to save the kids is to allow Bill into his mind, though his own memories cannot be erased because of a metal plate in his head, which gives Stan an idea.

Dipper and Mabel lead Bill in a chase around his base but are eventually caught. Bill returns them to the throne room and threatens to kill them, causing Ford to reluctantly agree to allow Bill into his mind. Bill leaves his physical body, which petrifies, and enters Ford's mindscape, but is instead greeted by Stan's mindscape self. Stan reveals that he and Ford had swapped places to trick Bill into entering a mind susceptible to the memory gun's effects, and expresses his willingness to sacrifice his memories to save the world and his family. Ford reluctantly fires the memory gun and erases Stan's memories. A terrified Bill starts to weaken and is then punched by Stan's mindscape self, destroying him forever as the rest of Stan's mindscape is erased by the memory gun's effects. The gateway to Bill's dimension closes, drawing in his minions and base, causing the town to revert to its pre-Weirdmageddon state. The Pines' and Soos devastatingly take the memory-wiped Stan back to the nearly-destroyed Shack, where Mabel finds her scrapbook and shows him all the fun they had over the summer, which gradually restores Stan's memories.

Over the next week, the townsfolk clean up the last traces of Weirdmageddon as the mayor passes the "Never Mind All That Act" to ease their worries; the Northwest family goes broke and loses their mansion, prompting McGucket to move in; and Gideon promises to behave more like a normal citizen. Many of the townsfolk join Dipper and Mabel's friends and great uncles to celebrate the twins' 13th birthday at the Shack. Ford offers to sail around the world for a year with Stan, a dream they had together as boys, but Stan states that he would have to close the Shack, which disappoints the townspeople; Stan then appoints Soos as the Shack's new manager.

Later that day, Stan, Ford, Soos, Wendy, Candy, and Grenda see off Dipper and Mabel as their bus home pulls up. Wendy trades hats with Dipper and gives him an envelope to open on the ride home. Dipper and Mabel then get on the bus, bringing Waddles the pig with them thanks to Stan and Ford's insistence, and the bus departs as the group waves goodbye. As the twins think back on their time in Gravity Falls, flash-forwards show Soos successfully running the Shack with his girlfriend Melody, as well as Stan and Ford's voyage. Dipper opens Wendy's letter to find their friends' and great uncles' signatures, promising to "see next summer".

The end credits segment features a montage of the twins' summer and their eventual arrival in Piedmont, California. In a post-credits scene, a real-life statue of Bill's petrified physical body is briefly seen partially submerged in the ground in the woods.

Production
"Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls" is the twentieth episode of the second season, and the series finale, of Gravity Falls, which was created by Alex Hirsch. He wrote the episode along with Mark Rizzo, Jeff Rowe, Shion Takeuchi, and Josh Weinstein. It is the fifth episode of the show to be directed by Stephen Sandoval.

On November 20, 2015, before the final two "Weirdmageddon" episodes aired on Disney XD, Hirsch announced on his Tumblr account that he decided to end Gravity Falls. He explained that Disney wasn't cancelling the show, but instead being finished by his own choice, and that it was a decision made months in advance. Hirsch went on to explain that he did not want the series to lose its original spark, and he never meant the show to "go on forever", but an exploration of the experience of summer and a story about childhood itself. According to Hirsch, the fact that childhood ends is exactly what makes the show so precious – and why the viewers should cherish it while it lasts.

The episode features a number of guest stars who had already appeared on the show once or twice, such as Cecil Baldwin as Tad Strange, Kurt Braunohler as Greg Valentino, Louis CK as The Horrifying Sweaty One-Armed Monstrosity (a role that has since been redubbed by Hirsch ), Nathan Fillion as Preston Northwest, Danielle Fishel as Pyronica, Larry King as a wax version of his disembodied head, Andy Merrill as Teeth, Alfred Molina as the Multi-Bear, and J.K. Simmons taking the recurring role as Ford Pines. There is only one new character in the finale: the bus driver who takes Dipper and Mabel back to Piedmont, California, voiced by Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan.

Broadcast
The episode premiered on Disney XD on February 15, 2016, at 7:00pm EST. On its premiere day, the episode garnered an average of 2.47 million viewers across the United States and a 0.51 rating in the 18-49 demographics, beating "A Tale of Two Stans" as the most watched telecast in the history of the network.

On February 8, 2016, one week before the premiere, Disney XD aired a half-hour special titled Gravity Falls: Between the Pines, hosted by series creator Alex Hirsch and Gravity Falls character Time Baby (played by Dave Wittenberg). The special elaborates on the production of the show, giving fans an inside look behind the scenes. A 68-hour marathon aired on Disney XD from February 12, 2016, up until the finale on February 15, 2016, with the entire series airing in order. Because there were only 39 episodes, the show was looped four times to fill the 68-hour slot.

Reception
The series finale received critical acclaim from both critics and fans of the show alike. Alasdair Wilkins of The A.V. Club opined that it was the perfect ending to the series and awarded the episode an "A" for bringing back as many characters as possible, with even tertiary supporting characters getting their own little moment to shine. He applauded the way the episode "exemplifies all Gravity Falls be at its frequent best: it's funny, emotional, beautiful and terrifying in equal measure." According to him, "[B]ack when Gravity Falls started out, it was pitched as a kid-friendly cross of The Simpsons, Twin Peaks, and The X-Files. I can think of no finer final tribute than to say it lived up to all the ridiculous potential implicit in that description … and ended up being something even better than that." In the end, he wrote that Gravity Falls had kicked off his A.V. Club reviewing career nearly four years earlier and was likely to be the only show he would ever get to review wire-to-wire, and so would always have a very special place in his heart for reasons that he couldn't imagine anyone else caring all that much about.

Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a 9 out of 10, praising its way of "balancing all the characters" and "not leaving anybody out of the fun". He also enjoyed the minor references to previous episodes. According to him, "Weirdmageddon 3" was filled with laughs, excitement and heartwarming moments. In his review, "As animated series go, Gravity Falls was an excellent one, and it'll be sad to see it go. At the same time, I'm glad it ended while it was still fresh, so fans can remember it fondly".

The episode gained considerable press attention after the revelation that the characters Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland are gay, with coverage on LGBT-oriented sites as well. The pairing was revealed after the pair threatens anyone who asked too many questions about the events of Weirdmageddon with tasers. When asked if they would zap them if anyone tells what happened, Deputy Durland says that they're "mad with power", then turns to Sheriff Blubs as they add "...and love". Hirsch previously said he believed that he would be blocked from including LGBT characters in the series. He said: "I would love to, but I doubt they'd ever let me do it in kids' TV. But man, I would if I could". This was the first time Disney XD and Disney Channel introduced a gay male couple, a move described as "Disney taking a huge step towards equality".