Scary-oke

"Scary-oke" is the first episode in Season 2 of Gravity Falls, and is the 21st episode overall. It premiered on August 1, 2014.

Official overview
The Pines family resolves to get back to normal after the Li'l Gideon incident. They throw a “Mystery Shack is Back” party, but some unwelcome guests crash the celebration.

Synopsis
Stan works on the portal, and reveals that he has been studying the secrets of Gravity Falls for at least 30 years. He then looks solemnly at a framed photograph of Dipper and Mabel by his desk, worrying they will be endangered if anyone ever finds out about his secret project, and if he's covering it up well enough. He powers on the machine with a six-fingered glove, and it causes a power surge around town, the signal of which is picked up by a satellite dish. Unspecified government surveillance technology respond to the portal's activation, so agents immediately head to Gravity Falls, Oregon to investigate. Stan falls asleep at his desk and wakes up at 7:00 AM, so he can commence the grand "re-opening" of the Mystery Shack. Stan then mentions an after-party later that night at 8 PM and Mabel says that it will be karaoke themed and Dipper, she, and Stan are performing, but as it turns out no one but Mabel agreed to it. Soos peeks out of the window and notices that Agent Powers and Agent Trigger have make their way to the Mystery Shack, where Stan tries to get rid of the agents, but Dipper tries to tell them about the town's secrets. The agents give Dipper their business card, but Stan takes it and gets rid of the agents, and tries to cover it up. Stan hides the card in a box in his office and hides it. At the party, Dipper and Wendy are setting up posters on the wall, and the others are getting the rest of the party set up. Guests arrive, and Wendy persuades Dipper to find the card by going into Stan's room. Thompson, trying to start a rave, takes his shirt off, but gets humiliated, and Tambry sends pictures to everyone. Dipper goes into Stan's room, and Wendy keeps watch. After calling the agents, Stan bursts in, because Wendy was distracted by Thompson's shirtless photos. Stan kicks him out, and tells him to go back to the party. The agents arrive, and Dipper shows them the book. The agents think this is a joke because of some silly creatures it depicts. Dipper tries to convince them not to leave, when he shows them a random spell that raises the dead. At first only one shows, and it is immediately killed, but soon, swarms rise, and take the agents away. Dipper runs back to the shack to warn everyone, and they all run away except for Dipper, Mabel, and Soos. Soos is immediately bitten, and turns into a half-human half-zombie, who is still smarter than the others but wants brains. The kids run inside the shack and board up the windows and doors, but unfortunately, Zombie Soos teaches the zombies how to open doors. The kids continue to run, but are soon cornered, and Stan shows up with a bat to save the kids. They run to the attic, while Stan fights the zombies. When Stan takes the attic, he reveals his knowledge of the town and said he lied to protect the kids. Dipper looks for a cure for the zombieism in the journal, but finds invisible writing revealed under the party's ultra-violet lighting. The journal says that the cure is a three part harmony. Mabel is excited because she finally gets to have her family song. Mabel sets up her karaoke machine on a balcony, and Dipper and Stan are hesitant to sing the very girly song Mabel picked. Once the three get into the song with enthusiasm, the zombies' heads begin to explode. We assume Soos' head would also explode but he was distracted by a television show inside. Later, Dipper finds Soos still a zombie, and finds a zombie cure written in the invisible ink. Later, the government agents escape the defeated zombies, and plan to get the big guns to investigate the town and expose its secrets.

Credits

 * Written by:
 * Jeff Rowe
 * Matt Chapman
 * Alex Hirsch
 * Directed by:
 * Rob Renzetti
 * Storyboards by:
 * Neil Graf
 * Steve Heneveld
 * Alonso Ramirez Ramos
 * Luke Weber
 * With the Voice Talents of:
 * Jason Ritter - Dipper Pines
 * Kristen Schaal - Mabel Pines
 * Alex Hirsch - Grunkle Stan and Soos
 * Linda Cardellini - Wendy
 * Key Vigenére - Agent Powers
 * Brad Abrell - Agent Trigger


 * Additional Voices:
 * Jennifer Coolidge - Lazy Susan
 * Jessica DiCicco - Tambry
 * John DiMaggio - Manly Dan
 * Carl Faruolo - Grenda
 * Keith Ferguson - Deputy Durland
 * Will Forte - Tyler
 * Alex Hirsch - Gnome
 * Kevin Michael Richardson - Sheriff Blubs
 * Michael Rianda - Thompson
 * Gregg Turkington - Toby Determined
 * Kari Wahlgren - Shandra Jimenez
 * Niki Yang - Candy Chiu

Character revelations

 * Stan has known about the secrets of Gravity Falls for 30 years, and has been hiding his knowledge to keep the twins safe.
 * Tambry knows Tyler.

Songs featured

 * The Rapper's Rap
 * Taking Over Midnight

Series continuity

 * The episode resumes immediately following the final scene of "Gideon Rises," in which Stan activates the Universe portal using the journals.
 * There are several items in the twins' bedroom that they acquired from previous episodes.
 * Mabel's '#2 Boss' mug from "Boss Mabel."
 * The fishing hat Stan stitched Mabel's name onto from "The Legend of the Gobblewonker" hangs over one of her bedposts.
 * The photo ripped up during the song number, "Mabel Girl" in "Boyz Crazy" has been taped back together and hung on Mabel's wall.
 * The grappling hook Mabel received in "Tourist Trapped" is seen in her hand.
 * The dinosaur tooth Dipper got in "Land Before Swine" now hangs beside his binoculars.
 * The paper hat map Mabel folded up in "Irrational Treasure" sits on a table.
 * Stan uses the Cloning copy machine in his office from "Double Dipper."
 * Several references to previous episodes appear on Dipper's "Big Mysteries" board.
 * "Experiment 78," the tag found on the Electron Carpet from "Carpet Diem."
 * Gideon's Mystic Amulet from "The Hand That Rocks the Mabel."
 * A picture of Quentin Trembley from "Irrational Treasure."
 * A photo of the Summerween Trickster.
 * The newspaper article of Gideon's arrest in the Gravity Falls Gossiper.
 * Dipper mentions Bill's prophecy that everything will change from "Dreamscaperers."
 * A number of pages are reshown in Journal 3.
 * The Hide Behind appears from "The Hide Behind."
 * The Gnome page, and page on the Undead, the page on floating eyeballs, and giant vampire bats originally from "Tourist Trapped."
 * We get a quick glimpse at  the right side of the Blind-Eye page from Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained.
 * The blue U.F.O key chain Stan offers to Agent Powers and Agent Trigger is the one Mabel uses in the beginning of the short "The Hide Behind ".
 * Tyler is seen wearing a combination of the puma and panther shirts from "Dipper vs. Manliness" in which he couldn't decide between the two.
 * Stan's issue of Gold Chains For Old Men Magazine is shown from "Tourist Trapped."
 * The author's underground bunker is revealed in the journal, which Dipper and company would explore in the following episode, "Into the Bunker."

Trivia

 * There is a new backwards message at the end of the theme song. It says "keyed vigenère," which is the new credits cipher.
 * At one point, Stan puts on a six-fingered glove. This is most likely a clue to the six-fingered hand on the cover of all the journals.
 * The Latin incantation Dipper recites translates to  "Body, rise. Lord Devil (or Devil Dominion). Conquer the world."
 * The Binary Code shown coming out of the modified tape machine translates to this: STÔNEST“4

Cryptograms

 * During the ending credits of this episode, there is a cryptogram that reads "SMOFZQA JDFV." Once decoded, it reads "WELCOME BACK."
 * On the bottom of Dipper's "Big Mysteries" board, there is a cryptogram that says "TEV FP TBKAV PL MBOCBZQ" which decodes into "WHY IS WENDY SO PERFECT."
 * At the Leprecorn's section there are two cryptograms. The first is "ZDWFK RXW", which says "WATCH OUT". The second is "NLOO PH SOHDVH", which translates to "KILL ME PLEASE". Both are Caesar cipher.
 * The page section revealed at the end of the episode has other messages.
 * After being put through all of the codes, it translates to THE MAN DOWNSTAIRS IS VERY CLEVER CAN HE HIDE HIS PLANS FOREVER?

Scaryoke