He uses this to call Soos, the handyman of the Mystery Shack, instructing him to guard the vending machine. Stan escapes from the room after another anomaly and misdirects the agents to chase after a taxi, running the other direction to the shack. Meanwhile, Dipper and Mabel go to the vending machine, which Soos guards. They fight, but Dipper inputs the password, revealing the entrance to Stan's lab. Inside, Dipper is in disbelief that Stan had been hiding the first two journals from him. He puts the three journals together, forming the blueprints to Stan's machine. Under a black light, a secret message reads that, once the machine activates, the entire universe could be torn apart. Dipper decides to override the machine, but not before Stan comes in to stop him. Another anomaly occurs, causing everyone to levitate. Mabel makes it to the abort lever as yet another anomaly occurs. Forced to decide between trusting Stan and stopping the machine, Mabel tearfully sides with Stan, enabling the activation of the machine and engulfing everything in a flash of light. When the anomaly ends, Dipper, Mabel, Stan, and Soos are unharmed. A man comes through the machine's portal, putting a six-fingered hand on the first journal and revealing himself to be the author. Stan introduces the man as his brother. Dipper and Mabel are petrified by shock, and Mabel asks if someone should faint, which Soos dutifully does. During the closing credits, a flashback shows Stan and his brother as children from the back, swinging silently on a swing set as they look out to the ocean. "Not What He Seems" is the eleventh episode of the second season of "Gravity Falls", created by Alex Hirsch. He wrote it with Matthew Chapman, Jeff Rowe, Shion Takeuchi, and Josh Weinstein. It is the second episode to be directed by Stephen Sandoval. Storyboards were provided by Alonso Rameriez Ramos, Dana Terrace, Luke Weber, and Sabrina Cotugno. The episode, which halves the second season, ends with a cliffhanger to the second half of the season. The writers did this so a hiatus would fit and they could write the episode sooner. According to Hirsch, half the fandom of "Gravity Falls" had guessed Stan had a brother—revealed in the episode as the author of the three journals Dipper, Stan, and Gideon own—before the episode aired.