"The Stanchurian Candidate"[1] is the 14th episode of the second season of Gravity Falls and the 34th episode overall. It premiered on August 24, 2015 on Disney XD.[1]
When Grunkle Stan decides to run for mayor, Dipper and Mabel have their work cut out for them trying to turn their gaffe-prone uncle into the perfect candidate.[1]
Synopsis[]
The episode begins with Stan painfully waking up. He puts on his slippers only to find, to his disgust, that they are soggy with milk. He finds a note written by Mabel saying that she had nothing else to carry her milk with, so she used his slippers. He then goes to the kitchen and switches on the light, but the bulb suddenly explodes. When he opens a box trying to replace the light bulb, he finds a note from Dipper, saying that he used all the lights to make a planetarium suit for Soos.
Stan thinks about running for mayor.
Stan immediately goes to Tons grocery store to buy a new light bulb pack. Robbie, Lee, Nate and Tambry show up behind him in the checkout aisle, but decide to move to another aisle after making fun of Stan. Furious, Stan retaliates by declaring he was going to shoplift most of the light bulbs. A nearby cashier overhears Stan and calls out the security. Stan attempts to use a smoke bomb to escape but fails since the smoke bomb had been long expired. Stan ultimately goes home safely, with some bruises and the light bulb pack. Unfortunately, his efforts were for naught, as Ford has already replaced the bulb with one of his own inventions that will last for one thousand years and make their skin softer. Infuriated, Stan sits down to watch some television, tuning in to the local news. Stan is shocked when it reports that Mayor Befufftlefumpter has died and there will be a meeting to decide potential candidates for the new mayor of Gravity Falls in the afternoon.
Bud marks Stan as an enemy.
Later that day, all the people of Gravity Falls have gathered inside town hall. Sheriff Blubs reveals the requirements to run for mayor: you must be able to cast a shadow, count to ten, and throw your hat into a provided hoop. Bud Gleeful throws his hat into the ring, to the shock of the townspeople. He begins to speak, believing his victory is assured, until Stan throws his own hat in after hearing Dipper and Mabel discussing how great it would be if Ford became elected for mayor, challenging Bud for mayorship. Stan asks the townspeople if they're just going to let Bud Gleeful win, and they say they won't. Several of the townspeople throw their hats in the ring as a result. Bud tells Stan that he just made a powerful enemy and that he was going to let bygones be bygones, but his hand has been forced.
Ford gives Dipper a pair of mind control ties to help Stan win the election.
Dipper and Mabel are worried about Stan running for mayor, and they don't think he'll be a particularly good candidate. Regardless, the Mystery Shack tries to build up hype for Stan's campaign. He goes on a disastrous radio interview which Dipper and Mabel stop by force. Eventually, Dipper is fed up with Stan and goes to ask Ford for help in the basement. Ford gives Dipper a device he believes could help - a pair of mind-controlling ties. If Dipper wears the controlling tie and Stan wears the other tie, Dipper will be able to influence Stan's actions. Dipper then tells Mabel about the mind-controlling tie, and the two agree that it's for the best that they use it on Stan. They test it on Soos first and find that it works with flying colors. Dipper and Mabel proceed to use the tie on Stan in order to steer his campaign the right way, making him immensely popular in the town. Stan makes a speech about America, Freedom, and "Amerifreedom." Stan is unaware of everything he says while controlled, however, Dipper and Mabel are only able to have Stan keep wearing the tie by telling him it's his "lucky tie."
Bud gets possessed by Gideon.
Meanwhile, Bud is unable to figure out what he's doing wrong and how Stan is doing so well in his campaign. He excuses himself from the rest of his supporters and goes to speak with his "campaign manager" in another room. The campaign manager turns out to be Gideon, whom Bud has kept in contact with from within prison, and is running for mayor for the purpose of busting him out of jail. After Gideon hears how bad Bud is doing in the elections, he decides to use a last resort - a one-use possession spell detailed in Journal 2 that he kept hidden in his hairdo. Gideon uses it to possess Bud without anyone knowing.
The day of the final election.
On the day of the final debate, Stan decides not to wear his lucky tie. Mabel and Dipper try to convince him otherwise, but when Stan gets into an argument with the kids, Dipper angrily reveals the power of the ties. Angered, Stan leaves for the debate. Dipper and Mabel realize that they need an independent candidate. Soos stumbles out of the bathroom with his head stuck in his shirt sleeve, and the twins realize they have their man. Bud, Stan, and Tyler Cutebiker arrive at the debate. Bud is speaking like Gideon, which weirds Stan out. They take their positions as Soos appears, wearing the tie. Stan is surprised when he sees Soos. Stan spots Dipper and Mabel behind the curtain wearing the controlling tie and angrily attempts to debate with the crowd. His approval ratings plummet and Stan becomes angrier and angrier.
Stan having rescued Dipper and Mabel.
Bud uses Gideon's charisma to convince the crowd to vote for him as an intermission is soon called. Dipper and Mabel wonder why Bud is acting so much like Gideon. Bud (being controlled by Gideon) walks out and grabs them. The television Bud is wearing around his waist shows Gideon, who taunts the Pines kids, calling them "eviler". He forces Bud to tie the kids up in the nose of the statue built for Mayor Befufftlefumpter, which has been filled with dynamite. The debate resumes as Stan continues to sink in popularity, until he hears the screams of Dipper and Mabel, who have moved the chair over to the nostrils and fell out. Their rope frays rapidly as Bud prepares to blow them up. Stan quickly forgets about the debate and rushes to save the twins, punching eagles as he climbs up the scaffolding. Impressed, the townspeople begin throwing birdseed at him, since the candidate with the most birdseed will be chosen by the freedom eagle as mayor. Stan grabs the kids just as the rope breaks and pulls them back into the statue. Infuriated, Gideon forces Bud to push the detonator. Stan grabs the kids and they leap out just in time as the statue explodes. They land safely in the pile of birdseed as the crowd flees. The freedom eagle leaves its cage and gives Stan a kiss, declaring him the new mayor of Gravity Falls. The townspeople cheer as Gideon throws a tantrum over his failure.
Stan, who originally won the election, is disqualified because of his criminal record.
Stan's success is short-lived, however, as his criminal record has been discovered, disqualifying him from being mayor. Tyler is elected mayor instead, for being the only candidate eligible because he remembered to fill out his paperwork. The news station begins to air Stan's criminal record in its entirety. Dipper is disappointed that Stan didn't win, but Stan is alright with it. Mabel gives him a sash she made that says "Our Hero", causing Stan to tear up a little. They all head off to vandalize Mayor Tyler's new mansion.
In prison, Gideon is doing arts and crafts with Ghost-Eyes, who offers to let him join a riot that night. Gideon declines and returns to his cell. In his cell is a cat poster, which he removes to display a Bill Cipher summoning circle. He completes the circle by drawing an eye in the triangle and says he is ready to make a deal as the circle glows.
He is also the one responsible for Gideon being sent to an adult prison.
Gideon ripped out a page from Journal 2 before Grunkle Stan took it and saved it for the right moment.
Tyler's last name is revealed to be Cutebiker.
Some of the crimes Stan Pines has committed include snacks evasion, pickpocketing, woodpecker baiting, impersonating a dentist, general indecency, golf cart theft, bingo fraud, telling overly long jokes and pug trafficking, among others.
Stan's criminal record of pug trafficking occurred in the next episode, when he gave Santiago a number of barrels full of pugs to ship across the U.S. border in 24 hours.
In the radio interview, when asked how he would help educate children, Stan said that he would put them all on an island and make them fight for dominance, most likely referencing Lord of the Flies. He's also indifferent on the American flag, saying it has too many stripes.
According to the Stan for Mayor Twitter accounts created by Alex and the crew for the episode, Gravity Falls was removed from the map years ago when Stan got in a fistfight with the state mapmaker.[3]
In anticipation for the episode, a Twitter account (@StanPines4Mayor) was created by Alex Hirsch for Stan's platform.[4] In addition, a website was created called mabelsaidshedmakemeawebsite.com and Neil Cicierega created a campaign song for Stan called Pines 2016, which he uploaded as an unlisted video on his channel.
The Twitter account hosted a series of events on it leading up to the episode. One of which was getting fans to write #YesWeStan on their faces. [5]
SlickNickP's winning banner
Another event it hosted was asking people to put #YesWeStan in the weirdest places possible with the winner getting a voice message from him.[6]Some of the places people put the hashtag on included cat food, car windows, lockers, images from North Korea, garbage, food, outside Trump Tower and even a baby to name a few.
The winner ended up being a user named SlickNickP who put a #YesWeStan banner on his roof.[7][8] He got his audio message from Stan soon after.[9][10]
While the Twitter account went inactive after the episode came out, mabelsaidshedmakemeawebsite.com still remains up as it was reportedly purchased by a fan.
Prior this his account's termination, the only person @StanPines4Mayor followed was Donald Trump. The account even made tweets directly at him on occasions too. [11][12]
The reasoning was that at the time, Trump had announced his run for president and it was seen more so as a joke rather than a chance that he'd win, similarly with Stan.
After an update to YouTube in 2021, the video/song Neil made was privated and thought lost. However, it was retrieved and reuploaded. [13]
Trivia[]
The plot for this episode was accidentally leaked by both the iTunes and YouTube releases of "A Tale of Two Stans." This error was later fixed.
The Watch Disney XD release had a similar error. It said "Grunkle Stan decides to run for mayor," which would be the Watch Disney XD description for this episode, but it appeared on the Watch Disney XD stream for "A Tale of Two Stans." It was later changed to match the plot of "A Tale of Two Stans."
When Gideon is reciting an incantation to possess his father, the spell is heard as something unintelligible. When played backwards he is actually saying, "Spooky evil spells! Spooky evil spells! Spooky evil spells! Spooky spells! Spooky spells!."[14]
Judging by the way Bud reacts, it is possible that Gideon used magic on him before.
In real life there are such things as a ventriloquist tie which have affected the mind control tie that is shown in the episode.
Cryptograms[]
Key: WORKINIT
The cryptogram in the end credits is CWZSQVQBEWZSQVQBEWZSQVQMPHKD'MZ!, which, when decoded with the Vigenère key WORKINIT, translates to GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTT'EM!
The key is found in the upper left corner of a Gravity Falls Gossiper newspaper article.
End page.
In the middle of the episode, Gideon Gleeful says "!slleps ykoopS !slleps live ykoopS !slleps live ykoopS !slleps live ykoopS" which, backwards, it's spooky spells and spooky evil spells.
The cryptogram in the episode's end page is: 22-19 / 1-23-6-25 / 9-18 / 1-16-9-11 / 25-9-3 / 22-19-12-15-4-4-12-19 / 22-15-17 / 8-6-9-22-12-19-11-5 / 21-23-10 / 5-4-23-6-4 / 9-3-4 / 1-15-20-20-12-19 which, when decoded using the Combined Cipher, reads: BE WARY OF WHOM YOU BELITTLE, BIG PROBLEMS CAN START OUT WIDDLE.
