Into the Bunker

"Into the Bunker" is the second episode in Season 2 of Gravity Falls, and is the 22nd episode overall. It premiered on August 4, 2014.

Official overview
Dipper's secret journal pages lead him and the gang to the author's hidden bunker where they find themselves face-to-face with a mysterious figure from Gravity Falls' lore.

Synopsis
The episode begins with Dipper over at Wendy's house watching a horror movie, "Nearly Almost Dead But Not Quite!." Dipper remarks that the film is a lot less scary after actually having fought zombies. He and Wendy proceed to mock the film as predictable and lacking common sense. Wendy receives a text from Robbie, and Dipper learns that Robbie is still unable to get over his and Wendy's break-up, despite his ex-girlfriend already having done so. Dipper then asks if Wendy is dating again, and Wendy jokingly states that she is seeing a stuffed walrus. He then attempts to admit his true feelings, but ultimately fails, instead inviting her to explore with him and Mabel. Wendy agrees to accompany them, and Dipper, upset, accidentally lies down on Wendy's bra (much to his horror).

Meanwhile, Stan supervises a construction crew repairing the Mystery Shack. When a worker inquires as to what caused the damage, Stan, not wishing to reveal the zombie incident, lies and says it was a "large woodpecker." He then bribes the man, who accepts. He ponders where the others are, and the scene cuts to Soos and the twins gathered around the spot where Dipper first found Journal 3. Dipper informs the others that he has uncovered a new lead on the author's whereabouts--his hiding spot under a tree. Wendy then arrives and talks about how she has been wanting to come with the gang for some time, but has been stuck cleaning up after her father. Mabel pulls her brother aside to tease him about his crush, but he dishonestly informs her that he is over it, though she does not believe him.

Wendy points out a branch that resembles a lever, and Dipper questions how to reach it. He suggests they make prototype "ladder shoes," but Wendy easily climbs up to it via her belt. She hits the switch with an ax and opens the entrance to a hidden bunker, and Dipper has the group promise not to tell anyone about what they may see. They descend the staircase and find an old fallout shelter, complete with rations to last at least to the year 2070. Dipper finds a recently opened can which prompts Soos' suspicion that the author may still be alive, and Wendy finds a hidden passageway behind a map of Gravity Falls.

The four arrive in a small room with various symbols in it, and Soos and Wendy comment on the "creepy" feel of it. Mabel jokes that Dipper's internet history tops the room's eeriness and accidentally pushes him onto a button, inadvertently setting off the security system. As the walls start pushing in, the gang turns to the journal for a solution, and they find they can open an escape hatch by pressing four symbols. They barely make it out, and Dipper's vest gets caught between the stones. As they inspect a surveillance room, Mabel goes to retrieve her brother's vest and finds a love letter he wrote to Wendy, and she encourages him to show his true feelings. Dipper declines her request, and she pushes him into a closet with Wendy.

Wendy tries to turn on the lights, but accidentally finds the path to a secret laboratory. The two question what the author did down there and spot various holes, which they soon learn were dug by an unseen creature. They try to inform Mabel of the danger, but she refuses to let them go until Dipper tells Wendy how he feels. Dipper dodge this and drags Wendy to find another exit. They hit a dead end, but are fortunately saved by a man claiming to be the author. Back in the surveillance room, Mabel and Soos play around with various equipment they find, and they uncover a note about a dangerous experiment (Experiment #210) called "the Shape Shifter." Mabel is horrified that she thought Dipper was lying, and she and Soos rush to save their friends.

Dipper's and Wendy's mysterious savior leads them deeper into the bunker, he informs them that he lost his research, and Dipper replies that he rediscovered it. Meanwhile, Mabel and Soos continue their advance, and Dipper and Wendy grow suspicious when they find the man is identical to the mascot on a can of beans. Their fears are confirmed when the man reveals he is a Shape Shifter, and that he wanted the journal to study creatures into which to transform. Wendy attacks the monster and causes him to drop the journal, which Dipper retrieves. The Shape Shifter follows the duo as they retreat, but is misled via a trick by Dipper.

Dipper and Wendy run into Mabel and Soos, though they are suspicious that they may be their pursuer in disguise. However, after observing their goofy behavior, they are reassured their friends are who they appear to be. Dipper worries that if the creature escapes, he could assume the form of anyone, and Wendy prepares to launch an attack on him. While the Shape Shifter looks for Dipper, his target and Mabel enter the room. The monster then transforms into a horrifying amalgamation of the twins, who lead him toward Soos and Wendy, who have prepared a water pipe to blast him. The pipe briefly stalls, and Wendy goes after the monster with her ax before getting hit with a huge burst of water.

When the flooding subsides, Dipper encounters Wendy's unconscious body and begins to cry over her, just as a second Wendy appears behind him. The form on the ground turns out to be the Shape Shifter, who engages in combat with the real Wendy. Dipper picks up Wendy's ax and comes to help her, but he is unable to distinguish between the true and the copy. He asked for a sign, and responds to the real Wendy's throw-away-the-key gesture by her foe in the chest. Dipper and Wendy then force the monster into the cryogenic chamber in which he had previously been held, and he uses his last words to tell Dipper he will never find the author and Dipper's fate will be worst than he can imagine, before morphing into a screaming Dipper as his final form.

The group leaves and seals the bunker, and they reflect on the adventure. Soos comments that his face is tired from screaming all day, and Mabel hails the four as heroes. Soos opts to take her back to the Shack for a "hero's breakfast," and praises her idea to put syrup on their cereal. Dipper and Wendy stay behind to discuss Dipper's crush on her, and while the former prepares for the worst, the latter assures him that she always suspected it, and that the situation between them is and will be fine. Mabel then comes back to reveal that she heard the entire conversation and apologizes for her pushiness. Soos meets them and states that he is disappointed that they did not find the author, but upon learning that he has recovered the mysterious figure's laptop, he says he could fix it in a few days' time. Back at the Shack, Dipper and Wendy watch a terrible movie marathon, and Dipper comments that he never wants to watch the channel again.

Credits

 * Written by:
 * Matt Chapman
 * Alex Hirsch


 * Directed by:
 * Joe Pitt


 * Storyboards by:
 * Erik Fountain
 * Neil Graf
 * Joe Pitt


 * With the Voice Talents of:
 * Jason Ritter - Dipper Pines
 * Kristen Schaal - Mabel Pines
 * Alex Hirsch - Grunkle Stan, Soos
 * Linda Cardellini - Wendy
 * Mark Hamill - Mysterious Old Man


 * Additional Voices:
 * Jackie Buscarino - Trixandra
 * Matt Chapman - Construction Worker, Bargain Movie Showcase Announcer
 * John DiMaggio - Manly Dan
 * Alex Hirsch - Chadley, Shape Shifter (Gnome)
 * Fred Tatasciore - Shape Shifter (vocal effects)

Character revelations

 * When Wendy was younger, her dad made her compete in lumberjack games, which she did very well at.
 * Wendy always suspected Dipper's crush on her.
 * The computer's owner's first initial is 'F'.
 * The author has six fingers, same as the cover of the journals.
 * The author engaged in experiments during their research.
 * Robbie is not over Wendy and their break up and continues to text her.

Series continuity

 * In the opening scene there is a tree with a heart carved into it with "R+W" in the middle, referencing Robbie and Wendy's relationship from season one.
 * While watching  ‎Nearly Almost Dead But Not Quite!, a zombie movie, Dipper mentions that it's a lot less scary once you've fought zombies yourself, referencing the previous episode "Scary-oke."
 * Robbie is shown to be still sending persistent text messages to Wendy, first revealed in "Gideon Rises" following their breakup in "Boyz Crazy."
 * Dipper, Mabel, Soos and Wendy return to the original hiding spot of Journal 3 as seen in "Tourist Trapped."
 * Wendy meets up with them on the same bicycle and helmet she had in "Gideon Rises."
 * Stan has hired a construction crew to fix the damages caused by the zombies in the previous episode.
 * Wendy uses the zipped lips gesture first used in "The Inconveniencing", and later uses it to prove she is the real Wendy while fighting the Shape Shifter.
 * The Shape Shifter takes the form of several creatures documented in Journal #3:
 * The Gremloblin from "Boss Mabel."
 * A gnome from "Tourist Trapped."
 * The Hide Behind from the short "The Hide Behind."
 * Wendy mentions she can hear the things Dipper whispers under his breath, which he does so in "The Time Traveler's Pig," "The Deep End," and "Boyz Crazy".
 * When telling Dipper how much their friendship means to her, Wendy claims she'd possibly throw herself down the bottomless pit if it ended, referencing the location featured in the episode by the same name.

Trivia

 * Viewership: This episode was watched by 0.9 million viewers on its premiere night.
 * "Into the Bunker" is the first new Gravity Falls episode to premiere on Disney XD.
 * A small clip of this episode was shown at the 2014 LA Film Fest.
 * One can assume the writer of the books had planned for over 90 years inside the bunker, and this is because Grunkle Stan stated he had been searching for 30 years, and each box of food lasts for 5 years and stops at 2070 (the show taking place in 2012,) so a box had to be opened for 2 years giving an estimated amount of time in the bunker for +90 - 100 before all the food would run out.

Cryptograms

 * During the ending credits of this episode, there is a cryptogram that reads "OOIY DMEV VN IBWRKAMW BRUWLL." Once decoded using vigenère cipher, it reads "WHAT KIND OF DISASTER INDEED."
 * Found on a barrel in the bunker, the keyword is: "SHIFTER"
 * Next to the author's Hiding Spot page there is a binary code that says "01010000010101010101010000100000010000010100110001001100001000000101001101001001010110000010000001010000010010010100010101000011010001010101001100100000010101000100111101000111010001010101010001001000010001010101001000100001" Which translates to "PUT ALL SIX PIECES TOGETHER!"
 * In the Cryogenic Tube section of Journal #3 there is a cipher that says "??," which translates to "AM I ME? IS HE ME?"
 * On the following pages it says "" which decodes to "ICE ICE BABY."
 * The page section revealed at the end of the episode says, "15-11-8-6-9-8-19-6 3-5-19 9-18 11-23-21-16-15-10-19-6-25 21-9-3-12-20" on the left and on the right says, "12-19-23-20 4-9 3-4-4-19-6 21-23-4-23-5-4-6-9-8-16-19" After being put through all of the ciphers, it translates to "IMPROPER USE OF MACHINERY COULD" and "LEAD TO UTTER CATASTROPHE."

Into the Bunker