Hey Mabel, wanna go on another date with Gideon? No pressure or anything.
The fourth episode of Gravity Falls.
An alleged psychic called Li'l Gideon has come to town and Soos, Dipper, and Mabel go to see his show against Grunkle Stan's wishes. The psychic turns out to be a little kid who fails to demonstrate any actual powers in his show (besides making the twins and Soos stand up inadvertently), leaving Dipper unimpressed. Li'l Gideon and Mabel start hanging out, and soon Gideon is asking Mabel out for a real date. Mabel is reluctant, wanting to remain friends, but agrees to one date so her new friend won't be sad. She keeps getting pressured into more dates and becomes increasingly distressed by her inability to return to just being friends until Dipper offers to break things off with Gideon for her. Dipper breaks the news to Gideon, who claims not to be upset. Later, Li'l Gideon lures Dipper into a trap and reveals that his lucky bolo tie amulet grants him supernatural powers. He tries to eliminate Dipper, whom he sees as being in the way of him and Mabel being together. Mabel arrives just in time to save her brother, smashing Gideon's power source. Li'l Gideon vows revenge and leaves. As the Pines family mock Gideon, confident he can't do anything to harm them, the child is plotting against them while poring through a book—one exactly like Dipper's journal, but marked 2.
Tropes in this episode:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Gideon is this for Mabel. It certainly doesn't help that he's also a Yandere.
- An Aesop:
- As Mabel learns, you have to do your own dirty work. Sending someone else to take care of an unfortunate situation for you isn't fair on anyone involved, and can have unforeseen consequences.
- More subtly, just because someone seems nice and they're your friend, you aren't obligated to date them if you don't want to. Be kind when refusing, but know that you have a right to say "no." And if they don't respect that the first time they hear it, that's when it's time to bail.
- And Then I Said:Gideon: ...And so I said, "Autograph your own head shot, lady!" Ahaha!
- Big Brother Instinct:
- Well, slightly younger brother, but still. After seeing how miserable Mabel is with Gideon, Dipper decides to help her by breaking it off for her. It doesn't go well.
- Played straight by Mabel as well. She arrives at the factory to see Gideon preparing to kill Dipper (or at least cut his tongue out) with shears. She plays nice with Gideon long enough to snatch away the amulet that gives him his powers, then makes it clear that she has no desire to even be friends with him at all anymore now that he attacked her brother.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lil' Gideon.
- Blatant Lies: Gideon pretends to be okay with Mabel breaking off the relationship through Dipper when he assumes that Dipper is trying to come between them.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: During Gideon's song, he faces the camera and winks, saying, "And thanks for visiting."
- Call-Back: Remember the amulet that was attached to Journal 3 in the first episode? That's where Gideon's getting his powers from.
- Captain Obvious: The 'predictions' Gideon makes during his show;Gideon: You wish your son would call you more
Old lady with a cat: I'm leaving everything to my cats!
Gideon: I sense that you've been here before
Sheriff Blubs, covered in Gideon merch: What gave it away?
Gideon: I'll read your mind if I'm able / Somethin' tells me your name's Mabel
Mabel, wearing a sweater with MABEL stitched on: How did he do that? - Chair Reveal: How Gideon reveals himself to Dipper at the meeting place. For extra dramatic flair, he has the lights come on one at a time, with the last one illuminating the chair just in time for him to spin round.
- Continuity Nod:
- Dipper apologizes to Toby Determined for accusing him of murder in "Headhunters".
- Mabel is seen wearing the llama sweater that Wax Larry King suggested she wear in the previous episode.
- The S on the Mystery Shack is still detached from the previous episode.
- Creepy Doll: Gideon has a whole toy line of them.
- Dartboard of Hate: A photograph of Stan riddled with darts hangs in Li'l Gideon's house. Gideon's dad has to hastily take it down when he's negotiating with Stan and realizes it's still there.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When Dipper breaks up with Gideon in Mabel's stead, Gideon's response was to try to kill Dipper.
- Distressed Dude: Dipper has to be saved from being killed by Gideon.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Gideon is the creepy kind, masquerading as the sympathetic kind. He comes off as friendly at first, and his crush on Mabel seems cute and harmless, but his refusal to take "no" for an answer, habit of repeatedly asking her out even when she's made it clear she's not interested, and big, public gestures that make it difficult for her to refuse him are all huge red flags. He exposes himself as a full-blown Yandere by the episode's end.
- Easily Forgiven:
- Mabel tells Gideon they can still be friends after turning him down. She was lying to get the amulet from him; after she gets it, she tells him there's no way she'll be friends with someone who just tried to murder her brother.
- Toby Determined is surprisingly okay towards Dipper after Dipper accused him of murder "last week" (the episode "Headhunters").
- The Exit Is That Way: Soos expects this when Stan storms out of the room. However, he opens the door Stan left through and sees that Stan did not walk into a closet.Soos: Nope. Real door.
- Foreshadowing:
- During Gideon's song, he grabs his bolo tie and tells everyone to rise up. Everyone does just that, to Dipper's surprise. This foreshadows his bolo tie is really an amulet that grants the wearer telekinesis, which prompts everyone to be forced to their feet.
- Gideon tells Dipper that Gravity Falls has "secrets you can't even begin to comprehend" immediately before unleashing his psychic powers on him. This is significant, as it's the first time anyone other than Dipper has acknowledged those secrets, and at the end of the episode, Gideon is revealed to own a journal just like Dipper's.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Gideon's father delivers one, ordering Gideon to tidy his room after he trashes it using his psychic powers. Gideon is not cowed by it.Gideon: I CAN BUY AND SELL YOU, OLD MAN!Gideon's Dad: Fair enough. [cheerfully walks away without pressing the issue]
- Ghost Butler: When Gideon lures Dipper to the old cliff-side factory, the first thing he does is slam the door shut.
- Grand Romantic Gesture: Gideon pressures Mabel into continuing to date him with these, like training a parrot to squawk out an invitation to a dance, or setting off fireworks that spell out her name.
- He's Not My Boyfriend: Mabel keeps saying this even though she reluctantly agrees to go on another date every time he asks her.
- I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: Mabel's reason why she won't date Gideon. He doesn't take it well.
- Ignored Epiphany: A minor one, Played for Laughs: Wendy, when listing off her old boyfriends, realizes that she isn't sure if she actually got around to breaking up with one of them, and "No wonder he keeps calling me!" She then gets a call, glances at her phone, rolls her eyes at whatever she sees and dismissively presses "Ignore".
- Laugh of Love: Mabel and Lil' Gideon are attracted to one another (though it's purely platonic on Mabel's side) and tend to laugh when they hang out together, at least until Gideon reveals himself to be utterly psychotic in his attraction to Mabel.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Gideon, believing that Dipper is trying to ruin his relationship with Mabel, tries to kill Dipper after trying to end the relationship for Mabel. Thankfully, Mabel is there to save her brother.
- Nice to the Waiter: Gideon’s aversion of this trope is the first hint that he is not the Nice Guy everyone in town thinks he is.
- Noodle Incident: Stan apparently wound up in a Colombian jail at some point.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Subverted. While the twins and Stan are mocking Gideon for being harmless after losing his amulet, Gideon is revealed to possess Journal #2, which is how he learned of the amulet in the first place. He looks through it as he plans his revenge.Gideon: [mocking Dipper] "What are you going to do without your precious amulet?" Oh, you'll see, boy... you'll see...
- Not Good with Rejection: Gideon when dumped by Mabel.
- Not-So-Phony Psychic: Li'l Gideon uses obvious tricks in his shows, but actually does have telekinetic powers thanks to his magic amulet, and more occult knowledge from the second journal.
- Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date: Gideon takes Mabel on one.
- One Scene, Two Monologues: The conversation between Wendy and Mabel starts with them talking to each other but then turns into Wendy recounting all the guys she's dumped while Mabel realizes she should break up with Gideon herself.
- Pet Heir: The old lady with a cat says she's leaving everything to her cats.
- Portmanteau Couple Name: In-Universe: for Mabel and Gideon, Soos hesitates between "Mabideon", "Gideabel", and "Magidbelion".
- Proxy Breakup: Dipper offers to breakup Mabel and Gideon for her, unable to do it for herself due to social pressures. Since Gideon is Ax-Crazy, he assumes Dipper is trying to come between them and tries to kill them.
- Psychic Powers: Gideon pretends to have telepathy. However, it turns out the amulet of his actually gives him telekinesis.
- Puppy Love: Li'l Gideon's crush on Mabel is a particularly twisted example.
- Right-Hand Cat: Parodied during Gideon's Chair Reveal, as he's holding a stuffed doll of himself.
- Running Gag: The episode's credits cryptogram reads "FDUOD, ZKB ZROW BRY FDOO PH?" When decoded, it reads, "CARLA, WHY WONT [sic] YOU CALL ME?", referencing the Unreadable Disclaimer earlier in the episode.
- Save the Villain: Mabel uses the magic amulet to save Gideon from falling to his death.
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: After cracking a joke about literally finding a loophole, Mabel makes a Losing Horns sound. "WOMP WOMP!"
- Security Blanket: When Mabel buries her face into her sweater and escapes into "Sweatertown
." - Shear Menace: Gideon telekinetically pulls out a pair of his own brand of lamb shears, and intended to use them to murder Dipper or at least cut his tongue out.Dipper: [Mabel]'s never gonna date you, man!
Gideon: That's a lie. And I'm gonna make sure you never lie to me again, friend. - Shipper on Deck: Everybody wants Mabel and Gideon together, except for Dipper (especially when he sees how much Mabel herself doesn't want it).
- Shoot the Messenger: When Dipper tells Gideon that Mabel no longer wishes to "date" him, he assumes that Dipper is the one who is keeping them apart and attempts to kill him.
- Shout-Out:
- The inside of "The Club" looks identical to the Black Lodge on Twin Peaks, another show dealing with unusual and supernatural occurrences in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. The naming would also imply a nod to "One-Eyed Jacks", a club/casino/brothel on that show.
- The title could be a reference to The Smiths song "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle", the film, or the saying, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world."
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Apparently, Gideon is Stan's "mortal enemy".
- Stab the Picture: Gideon burns away the half of a photo that Dipper is in, in order to show his discontent towards Dipper for supposedly turning Mabel against him.
- Suicidal Sadistic Choice: Very narrowly subverted. After the reveal that Gideon's an Ax-Crazy Yandere, Dipper is faced either with letting Gideon kill him, or giving in and imploring that she date him. Of course, he's going to pursue Mabel either way, but Dipper has a good conscience and knows that the right thing to do is continue to try and rebuff Gideon on Mabel's behalf, even if it costs him his life...which he does, right up until Mabel shows up and (with Dipper's prompting, since the moral dilemma is flipped on its head in favor of actually being able to stop Gideon) successfully tricks the former by very truthfully suggesting that they can still hang out with each other.
- Tempting Fate: The Pines have a good laugh about how powerless Gideon is now that his amulet has been destroyed, and how hollow his threats of vengeance are. Cut to Gideon's bedroom, where it turns out he owns the second journal, giving him access to untold potential means of vengeance.
- Tired After the Song: After Gideon finishes his song and dance, he’s sweating and gasping for breath, and he needs to take a drink from a water bottle.
- Troubled Fetal Position: Mabel hides herself in "Sweater Town" when Gideon's advances become too much for her.
- Twitchy Eye: Gideon gets this when Dipper tells him that Mabel doesn't want to see him anymore.
- Unreadable Disclaimer: A rapidly-scrolling disclaimer appears on the screen at the end of the commercial for the Tent o' Telepathy, with parts of it read by a fast-talking narrator.''Void where prohibited, no C.O.D.'s accepted, the letter "p" in the word psychic is silent and used for entertainment purposes only. If unsatisfied, please return unused portion for a full refund. Side effects may include, but are not limited to: prosperity, wads of cash, fun at parties, tight pants, 6.2% APR, no money down! Psychic readings may cause a warming sensation in the abdomen. If pain persists, consult your physicist immediately. Carla, I've always loved you, but never had the guts to say it.
- Villain Song: Gideon has one called "Widdle Ol Me".
- Villain with Good Publicity: Gideon is a power-hungry, selfish Enfant Terrible, but everyone in Gravity Falls (except Grunkle Stan) loves him and thinks he’s a sweet, adorable, little angel.
- We Will Meet Again: Gideon after Mabel defeats him by destroying the amulet.Gideon: My powers! Oh this isn't over. This isn't the last you'll see of wittle...ol'..me...
- Wham Shot: At first this just seems like another ordinary episode, with Gideon as an unremarkable villain of the week... until the final scene, where he consults the book from which he got his Amulet, which turns out to have a six-fingered hand symbol bearing the number "2" on the cover.
- Wimp Fight: Dipper and Gideon manage to have a slap fight in mid-air after falling out the window of the cliff-side factory.
- Yandere: Gideon. He has an unrequited crush on Mabel and keeps getting her to go out with him. After a few dates, Dipper attempts to end the relationship for Mabel since she can't bring herself to do it. However, Gideon gets angry (although he doesn't show it at first) and tries to kill Dipper, believing that he's trying to interfere with their "relationship". Even after Mabel makes very clear that she does not and never will like him, he still believes that she has feelings for him and that her family is coming between them.Gideon (playing with a doll that looks like Mabel): Gideon, I still love you! If only my family weren't in the way!
- You Monster!: "Grunkle Stan was right about you, you are a monster!"
