This is, very simply, a great episode of television. It offers some vital exposition alongside great jokes and characters.
4 Reviews
One of the best
doomedmac28 December 2020
Funny as well as character- and plot-driven
jbencker23 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The episode starts with Bill haunting Ford's dreams, giving us a short glimpse into their antagonistic relationship which has been implied but never shown before. Alarmed Ford recruits Dipper and Mabel in order to protect themselves and the Mystery Shack. At this point the plot splits into the A-plot in which Mabel tries to get unicorn hair for a protective spell and the B-plot in which Dipper and Ford try to encrypt their thoughts.
In the A-plot an overly enthusiastic and unicorn-crazy Mabel goes on a quest to find an unicorn. At first it seems the stereotypical unicorn is made fun of as the unicorn Mabel meets has the ridiculous name Celestabellabethabelle and is hilariously voiced by a man putting on a falsetto voice. But "The Last Mabelcorn" does more than this: it subverts the whole unicorn narrative. As it turns out unicorns aren't able to sense pure hearts and their line of action of telling people they're not good enough is just their idea of fun. Mabel, Grenda, Candy and Wendy are naturally not putting up with this and decide the only way to get the hair is violence and fighting ensues. All in all the A-plot is rather character-driven as it centers around Mabel despairing over apparently not being good enough.
The B-plot on the other hand drives the plot forward as it reveals Ford and Bill's backstory: Ford has invented a machine that reads and then encrypts thoughts and Dipper secretly uses it on Ford as he is tired of Ford's deflections and secrecy. When Ford's shady past with Bill is revealed Dipper's mistrust and paranoia - which have ironically been greatly reinforced by Ford's own journals - take over and he attempts to shoot Ford with the memory gun. Gravity Falls shows in these scenes how great it is with perspective. Ford shifting from dangerous stranger to familiar uncle is directed perfectly. This episode also illustrates how character development is one of the shows strengths as Ford and Dipper end up learning to trust each other and bonding over their experiences with Bill.
Ford is eventually able to set up the protection spell with the help of the unicorn hair Mabel provided but this seemingly happy ending is quickly undercut when Bill appears during the credits contemplating whom outside the shack he should possess, leaving the viewer behind with a sense of menace.
In the A-plot an overly enthusiastic and unicorn-crazy Mabel goes on a quest to find an unicorn. At first it seems the stereotypical unicorn is made fun of as the unicorn Mabel meets has the ridiculous name Celestabellabethabelle and is hilariously voiced by a man putting on a falsetto voice. But "The Last Mabelcorn" does more than this: it subverts the whole unicorn narrative. As it turns out unicorns aren't able to sense pure hearts and their line of action of telling people they're not good enough is just their idea of fun. Mabel, Grenda, Candy and Wendy are naturally not putting up with this and decide the only way to get the hair is violence and fighting ensues. All in all the A-plot is rather character-driven as it centers around Mabel despairing over apparently not being good enough.
The B-plot on the other hand drives the plot forward as it reveals Ford and Bill's backstory: Ford has invented a machine that reads and then encrypts thoughts and Dipper secretly uses it on Ford as he is tired of Ford's deflections and secrecy. When Ford's shady past with Bill is revealed Dipper's mistrust and paranoia - which have ironically been greatly reinforced by Ford's own journals - take over and he attempts to shoot Ford with the memory gun. Gravity Falls shows in these scenes how great it is with perspective. Ford shifting from dangerous stranger to familiar uncle is directed perfectly. This episode also illustrates how character development is one of the shows strengths as Ford and Dipper end up learning to trust each other and bonding over their experiences with Bill.
Ford is eventually able to set up the protection spell with the help of the unicorn hair Mabel provided but this seemingly happy ending is quickly undercut when Bill appears during the credits contemplating whom outside the shack he should possess, leaving the viewer behind with a sense of menace.
A Great Episode of "Gravity Falls".
GravityLoudHouseLover117 September 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Hey Guys RegularShow1 here and today I'm Going to talk about the latest episode of "Gravity Falls" called "The Last Mabelcorn". The episode starts with Dipper, Mabel and Great Uncle Ford are all sleeping when it cuts to Great Uncle Ford dreaming when Bill cipher appears and it wakes him up. The Next Morning Dipper and Mabel are looking for a game to play when Great Uncle Ford says family meeting. Great Uncle Ford then tells Dipper if they Bill Cipher and Dipper tells him that he and Mabel have encounter him before and he tells them they need to protect the Mystery Shack from Bill Cipher. Great Uncle Ford Says he needs hair of a Unicorn and Mabel says she'll go. So She Grenda, Candy and Wendy go to find the unicorn hair while Dipper and Great Uncle Ford try to stop Bill Cipher. I really liked the part with Mabel trying to do good deeds. The unicorn was voiced by Sam Marin who voices "Benson" from Regular Show. Anyway in the end Mabel gets the unicorn hair and then the episode with Dipper and Great Uncle Ford make a Bill-Poof barrier and Bill Chiper then sees them and is coming to find the target of Gravity Falls. Anyway this was a great episode of "Gravity Falls" and I'm giving it 10 out 10 stars. Anyway Guys See You Later. PS. Don't for get to check the next on episode called "Roadside Attraction" Monday at 8:00PMET/7:00PMCT on Disney XD fallow by the Season Finale of "Star VS Forces of Evil" at 8:30PMET/7:30PMET. Updated on Saturday, September 19,2015
It wasn't really that amazing, and an insult to Land Before Swine.
adampkalb9 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Do you remember when I said Alex Hirsch was better off writing with Tim McKeon in Land Before Swine than he was writing with himself here? Here's what I am talking about. The female unicorn Celestabellabethabelle is male voice actor Sam Marin in a painfully high falsetto voice, and this episode is also trying to tell us that Mabel doesn't need to change because morality is relative. The episode's subplot also wastes time in a meaningless conflict with Ford not telling Dipper about his past with Bill, but that's nothing compared to the fact that Celestabellabethabelle making Mabel feel bad about not being pure of heart made Wendy, Candy and Grenda believe it was right for them to wrong Celestabellabethabelle in return because it's okay if they're just stealing her hair to help them protect the Mystery Shack from Bill.
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