2x05 Soos and the Real Girl

[8.3/10] This was hilarious. If I ever need a pick-me-up, I’m just going to watch Soos’ uproariously inept attempts to flirt with women. His simple, stilted utterance of “Your face is good; I’m a Soos!” just had me dying. And the thing is, we know that Soos is a sweetheart, however socially awkward he may be, so him being coached up by Dipper and Mabel to get a date just comes off as funny and sympathetic, rather than creepy. The show really owns the laughs of his well-intentioned but utterly misguided efforts to go a courtin’.

The supernatural conceit here works really well too. I don’t know that I ever anticipated that Gravity Falls would do a Japanese dating sim spoof (though it fits with the Street Fighter spoof from season 1, which gets briefly referenced), but it turns out glorious. Of course, invested gamer Soos would find treating dating as a video game easier than trying it in real life, and Dipper and Mabel are willing to go along with it because they realize Soos needs all the help he can get.

Taking that into left field with a cursed video game girlfriend who has somehow become sentient and stalks Soos through any available television screen is incredible. Jessica DiCicco does fantastic work as GIFfany, deploying the sort of cutesy vibe typical of the genre, but also delivering legitimate fearsomeness when she becomes a woman scorned.

It’s also nice that Soos finds a date to his cousin’s wedding not by elaborate coaching or gamifying courtship, but by just being himself. His childlike glee at youthful things attracts Melody, the employee at the “Meatcute” snack stand who appreciates his zest for life. Soos inadvertently finding an actual date after so many failed attempts, thanks to someone appreciating what’s essentially him, is a sweet way to go.

Of course, it sets things up for disaster when GIFfany finds out about it and forbids her “boyfriend” Soos from seeing other girls. The design and animation team really goes all out here. Beyond GIFfany’s great design (with colorful computer cords for hair), the images of her stalking Soos through various screens shows really inventiveness and turns her into a haunting, demonic presence.

The twist that she inhabits Chuck-E-Cheese animatronics to punish Soos and his allies for his betrayal dovetails nicely with Stan’s story. Him giving up a jankly old coin-operated prospector in favor of a sleek new animatronic puts Stan at his scheming best. The failed attempt to swipe one from a local proprietor (a mostly wasted Paul Scheer) is amusing, and the resolution, with his discarded former prospector contraption saving the day, is entertaining and wholesome. There’s some light theming about whether old things are okay or need to be constantly upgraded, which reflects Stan himself, and buoys the ending.

But the animatronics coming to life also give Soos a choice. He can go with Melody, and face the uncertainties and unpredictabilities that come with romantic partners in the real world, or he can retreat into a world of video game paramours who reflexively adore him in an empty, hollow fashion. It’s not a surprise what he’ll pick, but the move to GIFfany’s game disk into a pizza oven to defeat her has some clever synergy to it, and I like the general idea that trading the comforts of easy fiction and games for the benefits of more challenging and uncertain but ultimately more rewarding real life experiences.

Plus, the twist at the end -- that Melody is moving away soon and they’ll have to continue their relationship via video chat, on a screen -- finds a nice middle ground for Soos to continue things at his pace.

Overall, the comedy on this one is on point; the terror and supernatural threat is outstanding, and the personal and thematic arc for Soos makes good on the foibles and underlying sweetness of one of the show’s most lovable characters.