YMMV / Gravity Falls S2 E16 "Roadside Attraction"

• Don't Shoot the Message: An aesop against pick-up artistry focused on teaching its audience not to toy with others' emotions and to respect emotional commitments is a great aesop. So to many viewers, it probably would've been nice if they'd actually showed anyone behaving like a pick-up artist, instead of shaming the most socially anxious member of the cast for trying to become more comfortable socializing with girls.
• Fridge Logic: How did the girls writing their numbers and emails on Dipper's arms not know he was in contact with other girls? There were other numbers and emails all over his arm, and he wears a short-sleeved shirt! At one point, a whole group of them are seen writing on his arm all at the same time.
• Genius Bonus: The Monster of the Week is essentially a Jorogumo.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Stan jokingly refers to himself as an amnesiac. Roll around to the finale...
• Informed Wrongness: Dipper's behavior in this episode, since despite being aware of where to draw the line in his actions and not acting inappropriately with the girls he talks to throughout the episode, the show still treats his daring to merely small-talk with them at all as a great moral violation.
• Strawman Has a Point: Stan's advice to help Dipper get over Wendy (that Dipper should practice talking to girls while on their roadtrip) is treated as being "kind of a jerk" and Dipper's actions while following said advice are treated as morally reprehensible, but Stan's right in that the more you practice, the better you get at it. In addition, Stan encouraged Dipper to show confidence, which was exactly what Dipper lacked around girls. And, well, most people would agree that is it rather healthy both socially and emotionally for a shy and self-conscious child to try to get a bit out their shell and practice at small-talking with their peers. Not only that, Stan actually guided Dipper on how to move on from Wendy. As Mabel only told him to move on, she set her own expectations on him, rather than, actually teach him how to move on in the first place.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Many fans admit that they feel the episode could have been better if, instead of Candy, Pacifica was the recurring character crushing on Dipper, as not only would give Pacifica (who got a beloved Character Development episode not too longer ago), but it would also capitalize on the Ship Tease she and Dipper had in "Northwest Mansion Mystery" and allow Pacifica and Mabel to interact now that Pacifica has had a Heel–Face Turn.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: The girls who get mad at Dipper for "flirting" with a different girl at every new tourist trap are this. We're supposed to feel bad for them and know that Dipper is in the wrong for his unfaithful flirtations, but considering each girl only had one simple, casual non-romantic conversation with him, gave Dipper their numbers to keep in touch, and really had no expectations to ever see him again, the idea that they would assume they were now anything more than friends and get mad at Dipper for hanging out with other girls is absolutely ridiculous. By domino effect, this causes Candy's would-be more justifiable hurt to also become unsympathetic, because Mabel, Candy, and Grenda's anger at Dipper is based entirely on the other girls' words rather than anything Dipper did wrong, and not listening to Dipper's side of the story. But the situation is never addressed as anything other than being Dipper's fault, with Mabel even hissing "Betrayer!" at him when he tries to apologize. Instead of seeming justified, it feels like they're kicking the most socially-awkward member of the cast while he's down solely because he tried to take their prior advice and come out of his shell.
  • Even Candy, while Dipper certainly could have been more straightforward about his feelings, was inching in on him while he was very visibly uncomfortable. Enthusiastic consent that was not.

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