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
Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, and Soos 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. 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, 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 fried 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. Futher memories show that he created the Blind Eye Society and continued wiping his memories for every disturbing incident and mistake he came across rather than face his experiences. The process drove him to become the "local kook" he is today.

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.

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 Jeff, Steve, Stan Pines, Soos and Old Man McGucket
 * Jennifer Coolidge as Lazy Susan
 * T.J. Miller as Robbie
 * Linda Cardellini as Wendy
 * Stephen Root as Bud Gleeful
 * Peter Serafinowicz as Blind Ivan
 * Additional Voices:
 * Dee Bradley Baker
 * Matt Chapman
 * Jennifer Coolidge
 * T.J. Miller
 * Michael Rianda
 * Kevin Michael Richardson

Character revelations

 * Lazy Susan's full name is Susan Wentworth.
 * Soos thought Mabel's name was "Maple" for the first half of the summer.
 * Wendy is in actuality incredibly stressed due to her family.
 * Dipper sometimes uses large words to seem smart, even if he doesn't know what they mean.
 * Mabel feels extreme guilt for loving some of her stuffed animals more than others.
 * 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 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."
 * Several of Mabel's love interests are referenced in her scrapbook:
 * Norman from "Tourist Trapped" who turned out to be a bunch of gnomes.
 * Gideon Gleeful from "The Hand That Rocks the Mabel" who Mabel refers to as "child psycho."
 * Gabe Bensen from "Sock Opera." His sock show's poster is also posted on the museum's bulletin board.
 * Sev'ral Timez from "Boyz Crazy." Their concert poster is also posted on the museum's bulletin board under Gabe's poster.
 * Mabel gets a message in a bottle from Mermando pertaining to their relationship in "The Deep End."
 * Dipper mentions the destruction of the laptop in "Sock Opera."
 * 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 Agent Trigger can be seen when Wendy is throwing the disk out the window of Soos's truck.
 * Robbie's memories of the events in "Fight Fighters" are erased by the Society.
 * McGucket tents his fingers and peers through it with one eye the same way Mabel did in "Sock Opera" to indicate Bill Cipher.

Trivia

 * On Dipper's board, several characters can be seen. These include:
 * McGucket (With a note that says "Not likely")
 * Shmipper
 * Lazy Susan
 * Toby Determinded
 * The Lefty robot (With a note that says "Exploded")
 * The Summerween Superstore Worker (With a note that says "Hates us")
 * An unnamed old man (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 V
 * 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
 * The number 618 appears on the register as $6.18 and day 618 as one of several memories McGucket erased.

Cryptograms

 * The 3|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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