Society of the Blind Eye

"Society of the Blind Eye" is the seventh episode in the second season of Gravity Falls, and the 27th episode overall. It premiered on October 27, 2014.

Official overview
The kids, along with Old Man McGucket's help, discover there is a secret society in Gravity Falls.

Synopsis
Lazy Susan finishes up for the night at her workplace, Greasy's Diner. While walking home, she comes across Jeff and the other Gnomes as they steal a pie off a windowsill, and is understandably shocked. Before she can use a payphone to report the strange phenomenon she's just witnessed, robed men appear from nowhere and drag her away screaming into the night.

Back at the Mystery Shack, Dipper is once again trying to discern the identity of the author of Journal 3. But Mabel is more focused on a message she just received from her former crush and pen pal, Mermando. However, she is devastated to learn that he is to be wed in an arranged marriage to the Queen of the Manatees. Disheartened, she reflects on how all of her summer crushes (Norman, Gideon Gleeful, Mermando, Sev'ral Timez, Gabe Bensen) have ended in failure. Dipper empathizes with her in the fact that he's failed to find any solid clues, but the two then notice that the smashed laptop bears the insignia "McGucket Labs." It seems unlikely, but after connecting several clues gathered over the summer, the duo conclude Old Man McGucket is the most likely writer of the journals.

Meanwhile, Wendy finds herself plagued by the latest summer chart-topper, "Straight Blanchin'" despite Soos' insistance that it's a good song. Dipper and Mabel collect the two and they rush over to McGucket's junkyard to confront him with the evidence. He is confused by their assertions and argues that he's never done anything worthwhile in his life. He claims amnesia to everything before the year 1982, but as Dipper flips through pages in the journal he is triggered by the page on The Society of the Blind Eye. They conclude that McGucket learned something important and his mind was altered somehow by the cult.

Based on a newspaper clipping, the five of them head to Gravity Falls Museum of History, the earliest thing McGucket can remember, for some answers. They uncover a secret entrance in the eye exhibit through a fireplace to the Blind Eye Society's hideaway. And arrive just in time to see Lazy Susan having her mind erased of her memories of the gnomes by the Society. The ray gun used for the process stores the removed memory in a glass tube which is then sent to "The Hall of the Forgotten" via a pneumatic tube. Once the meeting adjourns, Dipper, Soos, and McGucket go in search of the memory cache in the Hall, while Wendy and Mabel stay to make sure the society members don't return. When Dipper's group finds it they realize that the society has been removing the whole town's memories every time something supernatural occurs. Back in the meeting hall, Mabel and Wendy discuss Mabel's romantic troubles. Wendy tells her to put her worries out of her head and forget about guys which inspires Mabel to remove the memories using the ray gun so she won't feel sad anymore.

McGucket finds his memory tube in a place of honor in the Hall, but when he removes it, an alarm is triggered. McGucket manages to hide from the society members who give chase, but the rest are caught. The members reveal their identities and the reason for their organization: Because of Gravity Falls' higher-than-normal supernatural occurrences, the populace was tormented by existential questions and disturbing possibilities. The Society took it upon themselves to help the citizens forget the otherworldly phenomena using the memory-erasing device. Thus the townspeople live in a state of blissful ignorance, albeit with some minor side effects... As an added benefit as a member of the society, they also use the gun to erase other unpleasant memories and troubles on themselves. The leader of the cult, Blind Ivan, then intends to use the gun on the children, but McGucket appears and rescues them. After a minor struggle between the groups, Ivan is in range to wipe everyone's memories. McGucket jumps in front of Dipper and takes a full blast, but it has no effect on him as his mind was damaged long ago. He headbutts Ivan, the gang gets McGucket's memory canister and the ray gun, and tie up the members.

Dipper wipes the society members' minds of their organization and everyone leaves believing that they spent the evening at the museum's "Gold Miner Appreciation Night." Mabel gives Ivan a new identity as a happy banjo troubadour. The five watch McGucket's memories and learn that he was a genius scientist. After collaborating for a year with a visiting researcher on building a machine which was supposed to help all mankind, he quit. Something went wrong and he became haunted with the memory of what he'd done. So, McGucket invented the ray gun and wiped his own memories of the project. Further memories show that he created the Blind Eye Society and subsequently became addicted to the effects of the memory ray, continuing to wipe his memories for every disturbing incident, problem, and mistake he came across rather than face his experiences, warping his mind a bit more each time. His overuse of the ray gun caused his mind to deteriorate until he had become insane, unable to remember anything from the last thirty years.

Mabel apologizes to McGucket having to face what he learned, but he states that he's happy to have regained the memories of his past, even if they were painful, so that he can continue on with his future. Wendy asks whether Mabel really wants to erase her memories of her crushes. Mabel follows McGucket's example and posits that it's better to hold onto her experiences and learn from them than to deny them. Dipper questions whether McGucket can remember who the author he worked with is. McGucket postulates that the memories will return eventually, but for now, they're too blurry. Meanwhile Grunkle Stan continues to work in secret on the enigmatic machine beneath the Mystery Shack, accidentally cutting his hand on a flying pipe in the process. He bandages his hand, and states that he "doesn't care how dangerous it is."

Credits

 * Written by:
 * Matt Chapman
 * Alex Hirsch
 * Directed by:
 * Sunil Hall
 * Storyboards by:
 * Sabrina Cotugno
 * Sunil Hall
 * Chris Houghton
 * Luke Weber
 * Vaughn Tada
 * Additional Written Material by:
 * Zach Paez
 * With the Voice Talents of:
 * Kristen Schaal as Mabel Pines
 * Jason Ritter as Dipper Pines
 * Alex Hirsch as Stan Pines, Soos Ramirez and Old Man McGucket
 * Jennifer Coolidge as Lazy Susan
 * T.J. Miller as Robbie Valentino
 * Linda Cardellini as Wendy Corduroy
 * Stephen Root as Bud Gleeful
 * Peter Serafinowicz as Blind Ivan
 * Additional Voices:
 * Dee Bradley Baker
 * Matt Chapman
 * Jennifer Coolidge
 * Alex Hirsch - Jeff
 * T.J. Miller
 * Michael Rianda - Lee
 * Kevin Michael Richardson - Lil Bigg Dawgg and "Head Chin"

Character revelations

 * Lazy Susan's full name is Susan Wentworth.
 * McGucket can communicate through hamboning.
 * Mabel can burp the alphabet.
 * Soos thought Mabel's name was "Maple" for the first half of the summer.
 * Mabel only loves half of her stuffed animals, which she is ashamed of.
 * Dipper sometimes uses large words to seem smart, even though he doesn't know what they mean.
 * Wendy is incredibly stressed due to her family.
 * McGucket worked as a research assistant to the author of the journals.
 * Blind Ivan, Bud Gleeful, Toby Determined, Skull Fracture bouncer, Sprott, Woodpecker's husband and two unnamed background characters (one of them being the woman in blue) are all part of the Blind Eye Society. Old Man McGucket was also the founding member.
 * McGucket's middle name is "Hadron."

Series continuity

 * The number 618 can be seen once again. In one of Old Man McGucket's memories the bottom left corner of the TV says "DAY 618".
 * The cryptograms at the ends of "Gideon Rises" and the Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained shorts reference the society.
 * The society's symbol, a crossed-out eye, appears in graffiti in "The Golf War" and "Soos and the Real Girl."
 * It's demonstrated at the start of the episode that the Society leave the graffiti behind whenever they take someone to have their memories erased.
 * The Lefty robot appears on Dipper's bulletin board as a suspect for being the author, along with the note "EXPLODED," referencing his destruction in the short "Lefty."
 * The Summerween Superstore worker appears on Dipper's bulletin board as a suspect for being the author, along with the note "HATES US," referencing the incident in "Summerween."
 * Mermando sends Mabel another bottled message as he does in "The Deep End."
 * Mabel mentions her past romances during the summer, including:
 * Norman from "Tourist Trapped," who was revealed to be gnomes.
 * Gideon Gleeful from "The Hand That Rocks the Mabel," whom she deems to be a "child psycho."
 * Gabe Bensen from "Sock Opera," whose poster is vandalized by Mabel and company.
 * Sev'ral Timez from "Boyz Crazy," whose poster can be seen on a bulletin board hanging in the museum.
 * Dipper mentions the destruction of the laptop from "Sock Opera."
 * Ranger McGucket appears on a newspaper clipping offering no comment on his father's behavior, referencing their troubled relationship seen in "The Legend of the Gobblewonker."
 * Soos' license plate, "FIXINIT1," is a reference to his self-produced series of shorts and computer password in "Soos and the Real Girl."
 * Agent Powers and Trigger from "Scary-oke" can be seen when Wendy is throwing the disk out the window of Soos's truck.
 * The Gravity Falls Museum of History makes its second appearance since "Irrational Treasure."
 * Robbie mentions the events he witnessed in "Fight Fighters" to the Blind Eye Society.
 * Soos mentions the Woodpecker's Husband's marriage that was seen in "Irrational Treasure."
 * McGucket mentions the Universe portal from "Gideon Rises" built by the author.
 * A page of Journal 3 is seen documenting the Island Head Beast from the short "Tooth."
 * McGucket tents his fingers and peers through it with one eye the same way Mabel does in "Sock Opera" to indicate Bill Cipher.
 * There is a piece of paper by the smashed laptop (at the beginning of the episode) with a faded drawing of Bill Cipher on it. This was seen in the same spot in "Sock Opera."
 * The ending cryptogram makes several references to events in earlier episodes:
 * "Gideon's tantrums;" in "The Hand that Rocks the Mabel" and "Little Dipper," Gideon has lashed out in anger at his father.
 * "Shandra's rejections;" Shandra Jimenez has belittled Toby Determined in both "Headhunters" and "Gideon Rises."
 * "A fear of witches;" Sprott rallies a mob in "The Time Traveler's Pig" after Mabel claims she is a witch.

Trivia

 * On Dipper's board, several characters can be seen. These include:
 * McGucket (With a note that says "Not likely")
 * Shmipper
 * Lazy Susan
 * Toby Determined
 * The Lefty robot (with a note that says "Exploded")
 * The Summerween Superstore worker (with a note that says "Hates us")
 * An unnamed veteran (with a note that says "Weird Stache?")
 * An unnamed biker.
 * An unnamed woman with a headband (with a note that says "What?")
 * Alex Hirsch (with a note that says "Who?").
 * During the ending credits, Stan's coffee mug and notepad are sucked into the Universe portal. During an episode of Rick and Morty titled "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind," the same notepad and coffee mug appear falling out of a portal.
 * People who have had their memories erased include:
 * Mrs. Gleeful
 * Pacifica Northwest
 * Robbie Valentino
 * Lazy Susan
 * Old Man McGucket
 * Preston Northwest (on a shelf by the altar)
 * Jeffrey Cannuck (on a shelf by the altar)
 * The members of the Blind Eye Society
 * As Preston Northwest and Jeffrey Cannuck' memories are on the top shelf in The Hall of the Forgotten and near McGucket's memory, it is possible that they have memories of very important events, like McGucket did.
 * A visual representation of the Pythagorean theorem is on the pillars when Wendy and Mabel are discussing Mabel's summer romances.
 * A symbol that resembles the "Triforce" from the "Legend of Zelda" video game series can be seen on the pillar closest to Mabel.
 * In the Disney Channel Asia premiere, the part where they are vandalizing Gabe's poster was shortened to only show them drawing the eye patch and the big tooth for unknown reasons.

Cryptograms

 * The Journal 3 entry on The Blind Eye has a symbol cipher that says, ",." which translates to "IF MY SUSPICIONS ARE CORRECT, THIS IS THE WORK OF FIDDLEFORD. DOES HE REALLY HAVE TO GO TO SUCH GREAT LENGTHS TO FORGET"
 * At the end of Old Man McGucket's memories, he says "YROO XRKSVI! GIRZMTOV", and forms a triangle over his eye with his fingers. He is actually speaking in Atbash, and when translated he says "BILL CIPHER! TRIANGLE", hinting that Bill Cipher may have had something to do with McGucket's past.
 * During the ending credits, there is a cryptogram that reads "MXNGVEECW MW SLAWW. SUL FPZSK MW SOJMRX." Using the vigenère cipher, it translates to "IGNORANCE IS BLISS. BUT BLISS IS BORING."
 * Keyword: ERASE, found on the spine of the triceratops.
 * The page section revealed at the end of the episode says, "17-15-20-19-9-10'5 4-23-10-4-6-3-11-5, '11-15-5-5-8-19-12-12-19-20, 4-23-4-4-9-9-5," on the top left, "23 18-19-23-6 9-18 1-15-4-21-16-19-5, 23 12-15-18-19 9-18 6-19-17-6-19-4," on the top right, "5-16-23-10-20-6-23'5 6-19-14-19-21-4-15-9-10-5, 5-9-21-15-19-4-25'5 2-15-19-1-5," on the bottom left, and "4-16-19-5-19 23-6-19 18-9-6-17-19-4" on the bottom right. After using the combined cipher, it translates to "GIDEON'S TANTRUMS, MISSPELLED TATTOOS, SHANDRA'S REJECTIONS, SOCIETY'S VIEWS, A FEAR OF WITCHES, A LIFE OF REGRET, THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT THEY TRY TO FORGET."

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