"Soos and the Real Girl"[1] is the fifth episode of the second season of Gravity Falls, and the 25th episode overall. It premiered on September 22nd, 2014 on Disney XD.[1]
While frolickingly prancing through the gift shop in the Mystery Shack, Mabel runs face-first in the screen door and accidentally gets her braces caught. As she screams in terror for her will to be dictated (specifically for Waddles to inherit all of her worldly possessions), Soos comes to the rescue and pries the braces out with a screwdriver before bidding goodbye upon finishing his shift. Shortly after he leaves, Mabel ponders over what Soos does in his spare time, which nobody else finds much interest in the way she does. That night, it is now revealed that Soos usually spends the remainder of the day playing video games at his house. While playing Leopard Punch, Abuelita informs him his cousin Reggie is having an engagement party and Soos is surprised that his cousin had become so successful, to which Abuelita replies that Soos is now a grownup and needs to start acting like one before she passes away. Abuelita then asks Soos to bring a date along to Reggie's engagement party. Soos says that he could get a girl by the end of the week, but then immediately has concerns.
The next day in the Mystery Shack, Stan confronts a young boy and asks him if he wants to see Old Goldie, an attraction of the Mystery Shack. The kid is doubtful, so Stan demonstrates the attraction by inserting his nickel into it. The worn-out Goldie barely manages to tip his hat before he begins screaming as his eyes pop out and oil begins spewing from his mouth, which causes the kid to run away in fear, sobbing. Wendy suggests that Stan should get rid of Goldie stating that its face is a total memento mori. Stan declines, but accidentally slips and gets his arms caught in Goldie's mouth, causing Stan to panic and yell "Kill it!".
Soos trying to flirt.
Meanwhile, Soos' attempts at getting a date by asking customers in the Mystery Shack fail spectacularly. Dipper and Mabel notice and they decide to repay Soos for all he does for them by getting him a date for his cousin's engagement party. Mabel then decides to take Soos to the mall along with Dipper to try and find a date as Stan follows them to find a replacement for Goldie. Mabel then advises Soos on how to get a date: eye contact, conversation, and confidence, all in which Soos fails when he tries to flirt.
Goldie creepily sheds an oily tear.
Meanwhile, Stan is seen throwing Goldie away into the dumpster and after an awkward parting, follows some children into Hoo-Ha Owl's Pizzamatronic Jamboree. Stan thinks that the pizzeria is a nightmare and wonders why the kids love it, but then the pizzeria show begins in which play Hoo-Ha the Owl and his band, Hoo-Ha's Jamboree, among the animatronics, a badger stands out and catches Stan's attention, the pizzeria manager, Gary, tells Stan that the badger is Will E. Badger, Will E. is loved by all the public and he asks them to give him their money, which they gladly do, Stan is impressed by the large amount of money Will E. makes and tells Gary that he wants to buy the badger, but Gary tells him that he is too old for that and declares that animatronics are a job for a young man, he tells Stan that he couldn't handle that life and makes a pose to scare him, then a kid throws up in the ball pit so Gary goes to take over, Stan gets upset and declares that he will get the badger.
Meanwhile, Soos, Dipper and Mabel are sitting in front of BeeblyBoop's Videogames, Soos becomes depressed about not being able to get a date and wonders if that day can get worse, which he discovers that it can, he turns his head and sees Reggie and his fiancée, Soos doesn't want Reggie to see him like that and runs inside the video game store to hide. Soos collapses into depression and resigns himself to living a life of loneliness, Soos sees two games called Fighty Hogg and Dr. Punch Head MD and thinks that only they could love him, but then, he sees a third game and mentions that he never seen that one, the game is called Romance Academy 7 and it turns out to be a Japanese dating sim, which claims to "virtually improve your dating skills" and 9 out of 10 single men recommend it. Dipper and Mabel think it might work, but then the cashier tells Soos that she doesn't think it's a good idea for him to buy the game, she mentions that it's been returned 3 times and has a note that says "Destroy at all costs!! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻)". Dipper and Mabel watch their twins trying to flirt with a cardboard cutout of a woman until the cutout falls over and the twins decide to take a chance and buy the game.
The computer simulator reassures Soos.
Back at home that night, Soos starts up the game and is introduced to .GIFfany, a pink haired girl that studies at the game's setting, a magic romance academy. .GIFfany asks Soos to carry her books and the game gives the options: "Yes of course!", "I am impatient! Date me now!" and "Hey look a squid!", Soos chooses "I am impatient! Date me now!" but the answer is wrong and Soos thinks that he ruined it, but .GIFfany tells him it's okay and to try again, Soos chooses "Yes of course!" and the answer is correct, Soos feels like he's learning and games make it fun. .GIFfany attempts to continue but Soos decides to repeatedly click on her face. .GIFfany finds him amusing and laughs, leading Soos to wonder why anyone would abandon the game, to which she eerily comments: "And I’m sure you’ll never abandon me, new boyfriend." Soos is amazed at how realistic the game is and tells .GIFfany that it's like she's alive. .GIFfany replies: "Yes... almost." and she laughs with Soos. But unbeknownst to Soos, his computer isn't plugged in, revealing that .GIFfany is more alive than he thinks.
The next day, Stan describes to Wendy how effectively Will E. conned others out of money, even though she does not care. Dipper and Mabel arrive and ask where Soos is, Stan tells them that he didn't come and that it's the first time he's missed work. Dipper and Mabel head to Soos's house and find him still slouched in front of the computer, having interacted with .GIFfany for 13 hours straight without seeing sunlight. They force Soos to head back to the Mall to re-attempt getting a date, but unknown to them, .GIFfany follows them, moving through the electronic devices. Then, Abuelita sneaks into Soos's room and reads his diary.
.GIFfany shows Soos what she did to her creators. Scary.
At the mall, Mabel scares all of the women out of the women's washroom by screaming at them with a megaphone and Dipper is forced to leave to deal with the security that arrived to investigate, leaving Soos to find a date by himself. Soos cannot decide how to interact with any of the women due to them having "too many dimensions" and the lack of "explanation-y menus". Soos collides with a woman and drops her bag, he panics because he can't undo the accident like in a game and runs away, Soos stops in front of a television store and wishes he was home with .GIFfany. But suddenly, .GIFfany appears on a TV, Soos is relieved to see it, but he is also confused. .GIFfany reveals to Soos that she is not an ordinary game and that she is "special" and activates a toy dog to show him, then .GIFfany reveals that her programmers tried to delete her, so she deleted them and shows Soos an animation of the programmers in which one of them tries to delete the game but is electrocuted while trying. Soos asks her what she did to them, but .GIFfany tells him that it's not important, that the important thing is that he doesn't have to talk to real girls anymore and that they can be together, forever, Soos thinks it's awesome, he recognizes it as a red flag, but above all he thinks it's awesome. Soos asks her what she wants to do, to which .GIFfany replies whatever he wants.
Soos and Melody connect surprisingly well.
Soos decides to play on a little train for kids in the kids zone of the mall, he and .GIFfany have fun together until the train stops and the screen tells Soos to insert 50 cents to continue. Soos hears laughter and sees that it's a woman working at a Meat Cute stand, the woman tells Soos that it's amazing to see a grown man on a little train for kids, to which Soos says "I'm like, if it's fun, uh, do it.", the woman agrees with Soos, complains that adults have to do too many things and says that she wishes she could be on little trains all day, Soos tells her that at least she works at Meat Cute and declares "Extreme lunch meats are the food of the future.", the woman says that she thinks the same way and introduces herself as Melody. Soos introduces himself as well and tells Melody that if she likes robots for kids she should go to Hoo-Ha Owl's Pizzamatronic Jamboree, a pizzeria which it turns out that they both loved when they were kids. They agree to have their first date there later that evening at 8 o'clock. After giving Soos 50 cents, Melody leaves, but before Soos can continue to ride the train, he is tackled by Mabel and Dipper. Dipper reveals that they had seen the whole thing and that he had performed perfectly. They say that the game really worked and that he can toss it out now. Soos is reluctant to throw it out as he insists he likes .GIFfany and that she's predictable, but when Dipper asks if he can take .GIFfany to his cousin's party though, Soos realizes that he has to "break-up" with .GIFfany.
.GIFfany gets jealous.
That night, Soos tells .GIFfany that they have to talk, to which he explains that he met Melody and he is going on a date with her. Upon hearing that, .GIFfany gets jealous and furious and tells Soos that he doesn't know what he's saying, that no one loves him more than her and that the girls would only make fun of him, Soos asks her if she thinks that, to which .GIFfany tells him that she knows and declares that they had a deal; since Soos bought her game and held her books, he is her boyfriend and demands that he sit down, Soos tells her that he doesn't like the way she's acting and then .GIFfany goes completely crazy with jealousy and bursts into an immense tantrum; she starts punching the screen and yells at Soos that she won't let another girl take him away from her and he's hers. Soos gets scared, tells .GIFfany to calm down and pauses her. Soos feels sorry for the situation, he takes out the disc while apologizing to .GIFfany, mentioning that maybe their relationship wasn't a good idea and that he'll return her to the video game store after his date with Melody. Soos leaves his room and goes on his date, but unbeknownst to Soos, .GIFfany managed to stay on his computer due to her jealousy and she decides to go after Soos.
Meanwhile, Stan begins to prepare to break into the pizzeria, putting on gloves which he calls his old friends but not without declaring to be careful this time to avoid any more "Colombian nights". Wendy attempts to persuade him to change his mind, to no avail. Stan says, as he is leaving through a window, that "Sometimes, a man has to steal an animatronic badger, to stay in this crazy game called life." and then proceeds to fall out of the window.
Terrifying stalker.
Back at the mall, Mabel and Dipper help Soos prepare for his date, with Mabel shouting questions at him on what his "love crew" has taught him. Shortly afterward, Soos meets up with Melody and they enter the pizzeria just as Stan prepares to steal the animatronic badger. While conversing with Melody, Soos is frightened when .GIFfany appears on the screen of an arcade machine behind Melody, with the caption "You paused me?" .GIFfany, through the monitors in the arcade, expresses her distaste for Melody and that she wants to get rid of her. After making an awkward excuse, Soos flees to Dipper and Mabel, who had been watching them from the next table and tells them that .GIFfany is stalking him, Dipper tells Soos to control himself and declares that .GIFfany can't stalk him because she's not real, but then .GIFfany appears on the TV screens in front of them, Dipper and Mabel realize that .GIFfany does have life and Dipper mentions that he gave life to a video game and it didn't end well, Soos thinks that she can't leave TV screens, but then .GIFfany moves through video games (among which is Fight Fighters and electrocutes Rumble McSkirmish) and reaches the pizzeria stage.
Childhood nightmares come true.
Soos tries to get Melody away from .GIFfany and suggests moving the date to the forest, where they are away from all electronics, but then the show starts and Melody wants to see it. .GIFfany possesses the band's beaver cheerleader and tells the audience that the song is for Soos (whom she calls her boyfriend), Melody confusedly asks Soos what is happening to which Soos tells her that there is no time to explain and that they should get out of there, Soos runs with Melody to the exit and Dipper and Mabel go with them, .GIFfany tells Soos that the only way out is in her arms, she possesses the other animatronics and orders them to catch them, animatronics scare people and they run away in panic. Meanwhile, Stan ties up Will E. and feels invincible with his robbery, but then, Will E. is also possessed by .GIFfany and attacks Stan, which scares him. Tiffany closes the door and locks Dipper, Mabel, Soos and Melody in and she uses the skeeball machines to fire the balls at them like cannons, causing them to take cover behind an arcade machine. Soos tells Melody to stay with Dipper and Mabel and attempts to lure .GIFfany away from the group as the rest of the group tries to escape from the remaining animatronics.
.GIFfany tries to manipulate Soos into making up with her.
Meanwhile, Stan attempts to fight back against Will E., but is unable to. He dodges one of the blows, causing Goldie, who was sitting in a pile of trash, to start biting the animatronic's arm, with Stan cheering him on. In the pizzeria, Dipper, Mabel and Melody try to escape the animatronics but are captured. With Soos surrounded, .GIFfany attempts to persuade Soos that real girls like Melody would only end up hurting him. She asks Soos to allow her to download his brain into the game so that they could be together forever, Soos tells her to back off and throws a candy bar and a screwdriver at her, .GIFfany tells him not to make her delete him, then Soos takes the Romance Academy 7 disc out of his pocket and an idea occurs to him, .GIFfany asks him what he thinks of her idea and Soos tells her that the game is over, Soos throws the disc into the pizza oven and the disc is destroyed, .GIFfany disappears and the animatronic that she possessed suffers a malfunction which causes it to melt down to its endoskeleton, fall to the ground and deactivate, the other animatronics also deactivate and free Dipper, Mabel and Melody. Will E. also deactivates and Stan thinks that Goldie beat him, he states that he and Goldie are going to Las Vegas.
Standing in the ruins of the pizzeria, Soos invites Melody to the engagement party. She accepts the offer but reveals that she won't be in town much longer after the party as she has to return to Portland in a few weeks. She proposes that they video chat when she leaves and although this arrangement was not much different from .GIFfany's, he agrees, happy to finally converse with a real girl. Dipper and Mabel are glad that Soos managed to get a date in the end. Abuelita, who surfaces from the ball pit, is too, Dipper asks her if she was following them all day and she responds "Soos' life is my soap opera.".
Stan and Goldie's Las Vegas Adventure.
As the credits roll, images of Stan and Goldie are shown having a ball in Las Vegas. First in a limousine with beautiful show girls, then staying at a hotel and enjoying "rich people water" in a hot tub. They enjoy raking in the chips gambling, but are so successful, they're kicked out by security. They escape on a helicopter at some point (Goldie at the wheel), and then get married at a Las Vegas chapel by an Elvis Presley impersonator. Eventually, they look to hitch a ride out of Vegas.
One of the animatronics strongly resembles Bear-O, Mabel's creepy puppet from the "Tooth" short.
Trivia[]
Viewership: The episode received 0.8 million viewers on its premiere.[2]
The episode title is a clear reference or a clear parody to the film Lars and the Real Girl, in which the character Lars also finds a substitute for an actual girlfriend.
The equation on the chalkboard in the classroom in the background when .GIFfany talks to Soos is a Schrödinger Hamiltonian which in quantum mechanics is the operator corresponding to the total energy of a single particle.
Alex Hirsch revealed at BigFest 2016 that .GIFfany is not dead, and still around somewhere. It was later confirmed in Gravity Falls: Journal 3 that right before her disc was destroyed .GIFfany jumped into the nearby Fight Fighters arcade cabinet and can be seen during the game's cutscenes trying to make Rumble McSkirmish her boyfriend.
Alex Hirsch appears as one of the men in one of the end credit's scenes, next to Goldie and Stan.
The short animation .GIFfany shows to Soos about her developers briefly shows that she is an "accidental artificial intelligence."
When she first appears, Melody is shown working at "meat cute" a play on the phrase "meet cute," an event when two love interests first meet in a sweet and somewhat awkward way, echoing the initial interaction she has later has with Soos.
The American horror visual novel game Doki Doki Literature Club! was released on the same Disney XD air date of this episode three years later in 2017. The game resembles a sentient student character, named Monika, eliminating anybody who gets in her way of trying to be with the player. The game starts lighthearted but gradually becomes darker and scarier. Unlike .GIFfany however, Monika has no directions in the game to be with the player.
When .GIFany is explaining her backstory through visuals, a text bubble appears above one of her creators that reads, "わかりません," (pronounced, "wakarimasen") which means, roughly, "(I) don't understand."
In a deleted/extended scene set at Hoo-Ha's, Stan sits at a table and comes up with the idea to steal the animatronic from two talking animatronic heads on the wall.
When this episode aired in the Philippines they cut the scene where .GIFfany's animatronic body melted leaving only the metal.
When Goldie scares away the kid, Wendy tells Stan that he needs to get rid of it, stating "Its face reminds everybody of the inevitability of death." This would describe Goldie as a momento mori, an art term that literally means "reminder of death."
When Soos tells Dipper and Mabel that he is getting stalked by .GIFany while on his date with Melody, he questions if you pronounce her name with a hard or soft "G", which is a reference to the famous debate about the pronunciation of the .GIF file type.
The arcade machine that Soos uses as a fort to protect himself, Melody, and the twins from .GIFfany is aptly titled "Fortress Fort".
Under the Quit text on the title screen of Romance Academy 7, there's an option that reads SHIZENHAKKA, which translates to "Spontaneous Combustion".
Cryptograms[]
The binary on the computer screen during .GIFfany's backstory (which is repeated in the "WEAKNESSES" box on her target-analysis screen) says, "0101001101010000010000010100001101000101010010100100000101001101010101000101011101001111" which means "SPACEJAMTWO".
During the credits, there is a cryptogram that reads "BRTYMEMNX QBR HRRQPEE" Using the vigenère cipher, it translates to "ANTHYDING CAN HADPLEN" - the second subtitle in the opening scene for Romance Academy 7.
Key: BEARO
Found on a pizza box in the kitchens of Hoo-Ha Owl's Pizzamatronic Jamboree: "BEARO".
End page.
The page section at the end of the episode says, "1-15-10-10-15-10-17 16-19-23-6-4-5 22-25 20-23-25-12-15-17-16-4!" on the top left, "8-9-5-5-19-5-5-15-10-17 6-9-22-9-4-5 22-25 11-9-9-10-12-15-17-16-4!" on the top right, "16-19-6 19-11-9-4-15-9-10-23-12 22-23-17-17-23-17-19 15-5 23 6-19-23-12 18-6-15-17-16-4!" on the bottom left, and "5-16-19 16-23-5 4-16-19 9-10-19 10-23-11-19 17-15-18-18-23-10-25!" on the bottom right, which translates to "WINNING HEARTS BY DAYLIGHT!", "POSSESSING ROBOTS BY MOONLIGHT!", "HER EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE IS A REAL FRIGHT!", and "SHE HAS THE ONE NAME GIFFANY!", after being put through the combined cipher. This is a reference to the old DiC/CWi dub's theme song to Sailor Moon.
↑Moran, Kate (2013). Instagram photo. “#gravityfalls had an awesome visitor today from #makeawishfoundation Here's a sampling of some of our gifts for him.”
↑Moran, Kate (2013). Instagram photo. “Alex & Nicolas give the day two thumbs up! #gravityfalls #makeawishfoundation”
