Near the end of Northwest Mansion Mystery, the ghost turns Dipper to wood. When this happens, Pacifica gasps, and then we see a grandfather clock strike midnight. This aside is quickly abandoned for the sake of the core plot, but as we well know, that means there may be more here than meets the eye.
You see, a few minutes after this happens, McGucket shows us the countdown on his laptop. It reads 21 hours and 30 minutes. That should place his event at a little after 9:30 pm.
Here's where it gets interesting. Near the end of Not What He Seems, Stan is nervously waiting for gravity to fall so that he can escape police custody. He nervously looks at the clock. It reads 7:43. Then we are given a glimpse of his watch, which says 12 minutes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that means his event would happen at 7:55. There is a big difference between 7:55 and 9:30.
If the continuity holds up, that means... McGucket's countdown is NOT THE SAME as Grunkle Stan's countdown. This could clear up several continuity errors. For example, it could explain why McGucket, the government agents, and even the author thought that the portal machine could cause the apocalypse. It could mean the cliffhanger from the previous episode is still not resolved. It could mean Bill Cipher will return in the next episode. It could mean that up to four more episodes will take place in real time before McGucket's countdown expires, as it still had about an hour and a half left and the episodes are 22 minutes long. The possibilities are endless!
