Boyz Crazy

"Boyz Crazy" is the 17th episode in Season 1 of Gravity Falls. It debuted on April 19, 2013.

Overview
When Mabel discovers that her favorite boy band is actually a bunch of imprisoned clones, she sets them free, only to decide on keeping them for herself. Meanwhile, Dipper is convinced that Robbie plans to brainwash Wendy with a secret message hidden inside one of his songs.

Synopsis
As Dipper and Wendy improvise funny dialogue over a security tape of Stan and customers, Mabel suddenly appears, ecstatically delivering news to them about how her favorite band, Sev'ral Timez, will be having a concert in Gravity Falls at the Gravity Falls Civic Center and Buffet. Dipper and Wendy then started to tease Mabel about her extreme love for the musicians, saying that they are "fake" and nothing more than a "product of the bloated corporate music industry," briefly upsetting Mabel until Candy and Grenda arrive to prepare for the concert.

Up in Dipper's and Mabel's bedroom, Mabel and her friends gossip and fawn over their favorite band, while Dipper and Wendy continue to enjoy their security footage improv. Robbie soon enters to invite Wendy to Lookout Point with him, which disgusts Wendy and causes her to express concerns that she does not think their relationship is going smoothly. Dipper leaves the room, yet he is still watching though the door crack, and when Wendy says that she might want to see other people, he initially rejoices over this, but becomes suspicious when Wendy changes her mind immediately after hearing a song Robbie made for her as a gift. When Dipper inquires Robbie as to what happened, he simply teases to Dipper saying he doesn't understand romance and walks off with Wendy. Dipper talks to Mabel and her friends about his concerns, but they dismiss it, saying girls just like musicians, and that girls mature faster.

Meanwhile, Mabel and her friends find that the Sev'ral Timez concert is sold out and become highly saddened, though Mabel takes charge, saying that they will meet the band, even if it means breaking in. And back at the Mystery Shack, Dipper talks to Stan about his suspicions. His uncle replies that he has witnessed a similar situation in the past when a hippie musician stole his girlfriend many years ago, and he agrees to help, right after he finished eating his canned meat.

Over at the concert, Mabel and company make their way toward Sev'ral Timez's dressing room, thinking that they will be in for a great treat, but are shocked to find that the band is merely a bunch of caged clones. Just before the boys' horrible producer, Ergman Bratzman, walks in, the girls hide and witness the man threaten the group to shape up or else they will be replaced by other clones. After they reveal their situation and aspirations for freedom to the girls, Mabel unlocks the cage and takes them back to the Shack.

As Dipper and Stan unsuccessfully try to decode the alleged secret messages within Robbie's CD, Mabel, Candy, and Grenda come back--hiding the boy band--and take them up to the attic. After a brief conversation, the members of Sev'ral Timez are forced to hide when Ergman arrives in search of them, interrogating Soos along the way. This causes Mabel to tell the boys that they aren't safe and that they have to stay with her, and Candy and Grenda warn Mabel not to get to attached to the boys. Ergman departs angrily, without noticing that Gompers the Goat has taken his license plate, leading to his arrest later, and the girls deduce that Sev'ral Timez must stay with where they are for the time being. While Candy and Grenda decide that they should not get too attached, Mabel goes crazy for them, and the three proceed to play with the boys and teach them how to function like normal humans. And, Mabel begins to become possessive of the group.

In the meantime, Dipper and Stan continue their search for hidden messages in Robbie's music by turning it in to a record, and are confronted and teased by Robbie himself. Though initially discouraged by their fruitless attempts, they uncover the hypnotic message after playing the song in reverse and set out to save Wendy. Over in the kitchen, Mabel expresses her relief that she finally got the boys to sleep, and they learn of Ergman's arrest and opt to tell their refugees that they are free to go. However, Mabel tries to stop them, having gone completely insane due to her crush on the band, and convinces the boys not to trust Candy and Grenda, and remove them from the premis. She progressively gets bossier and bossier.

Dipper and Stan rush to look-out point to expose Robbie's hypnotic attempts to Wendy. After they show it to her, Robbie insists on having no knowledge of the message, instead confessing he stole it from someone else. Nonetheless, he'd lied about writing the song for her, which leaves her furious. Wendy breaks up with him on the spot, and Dipper sees this as an opportunity to ask Wendy to hang out, a request she angrily declines, accusing him (and guys in general) of selfishness, while she was in emotional pain, then storms off. Dipper is ashamed of himself and Robbie is upset, though Stan tries to cheer him up by saying that he thinks the apocalypse is on its way.

After Sev'ral Timez performs a song to express their thanks to Mabel for caring for them, she comes to regret her actions and comes to her senses. She meets Candy and Grenda outside, and make up with them. She then sends the boys off into the forest. Mabel begins to cry as they leave, with Candy expressing doubt that they are fit for life on their own. Having some soda, Dipper has a feeling that Wendy hates him for being a meddler, Stan then talks to Dipper, reassuring him that he was trying to do the right thing despite the catastrophic consequences and is sure Wendy will forgive him. Until then, he says that he is willing to spend time with Dipper in the meantime. Stan soon encounters Leggy P. rummaging through the trash and shoos him away, and the band comes to enjoy nature, despite not having a clue of how to function in it.

Credits

 * Written by:
 * Matt Chapman
 * Alex Hirsch
 * Directed by:
 * John Aoshima
 * Storyboards by:
 * Erik Fountain
 * David Gemmill
 * Vaughn Tada
 * With the Voice Talents of:
 * Kristen Schaal - Mabel Pines
 * Jason Ritter - Dipper Pines
 * Alex Hirsch - Grunkle Stan and Soos
 * Ken Campbell - Ergman Bratzman
 * Linda Cardellini - Wendy Corduroy
 * Lance Bass, Matt Chapman, Alex Hirsch - Sev'ral Timez
 * Kevin Michael Richardson - Sheriff Blubs
 * Kari Wahlgren - Shandra Jimenez
 * Carl Faruolo - Grenda
 * Will Forte - Cute Biker
 * TJ Miller - Robbie
 * Niki Yang - Candy


 * Additional Voices:
 * Alex Hirsch - Old Man McGucket
 * Ariel Hirsch - One of Pacifica's friends
 * Kari Wahlgren

Production notes

 * See also: List of allusions and List of goofs.

Songs featured

 * Cray Cray
 * Wendy's Song
 * It'll Be This Way Forever
 * Mabel Girl

Series continuity

 * Clones are featured again.
 * The phrase "Cray-Cray" from Fight Fighters is used again.
 * The boy band Sev'ral Timez's movie, Boyz World, had a cameo in the previous episode, "Carpet Diem."
 * Dipper mentions Mabel getting into the Smile Dip again.
 * When Mabel says "Every boy I loved this summer had left me!", she references "Tourist Trapped" and "The Deep End."
 * Wendy's and Robbie's relationship first began eight episodes ago in "The Time Traveler's Pig."
 * The cryptogram for the Episode "The Hand That Rocks the Mabel" is CARLA, WHY WON'T YOU CALL ME? Carla is also referenced in the ending "credits" for the Tent of Telepathy as, "Carla, I've always loved you but I never had the guts to say it." In this episode, it is revealed that Stan had a girlfriend named Carla.

Trivia

 * Viewership: This episode was watched by 3.162 million viewers on its premiere night.
 * Lance Bass guest starring was a gift from Alex Hirsch to his sister, Ariel Hirsch, who was obsessed with Lance Bass at Mabel's age. He told her, “We’ll get Lance Bass to do a voice and you can meet him,” and made that dream come true for her.
 * The working title for this episode was "Only the Clonely."
 * With Carpet Diem's title and description, this episode was accidentally released on iTunes early.
 * When Stan and Dipper were talking about how songs have hidden messages in them if you slow them down and play them backwards, it was likely a reference to how the Gravity Falls opening has hidden messages in it.
 * The episode features four songs, not including the theme song.
 * Both Dipper and Mabel's interactions with clones were completely unknown to one another. Dipper made clones of himself in "Double Dipper," and Mabel never apparently found out.

Cryptogram

 * During the end credits of this episode, there is a cryptogram that reads "8-1-16-16-25 14-15-23, 1-18-9-5-12?" Once decoded, it reads "HAPPY NOW, ARIEL?", a reference to Alex Hirsch's sister, Ariel Hirsch.