Welcome back to my blind coverage of the new Netflix anime Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, a series based off of some of the most influential comic books and movies of my life. What I’m doing here is giving my thoughts, analysis, and predictions after each episode before moving onto the next, so what follows is based solely on the first seven episodes (and will contain spoilers for all seven, but for nothing that comes after).
You can find coverage of all previous episodes below:
Episode 1: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life
Episode 2: A League of Their Own
Episode 3: Ramona Rents a Video
Episode 4: Whatever
Episode 5: Lights. Camera. Sparks?!
Episode 6: WHODUNIT
With that out of the way, let’s jump into episode seven. I just need to get my rollerblades up to 88MPH first…
EPISODE 7: 2 SCOTT 2 PILGRIM
This penultimate installment of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off finally gives concrete answers to many of the series’ mysteries, which means it’s time to look back and see how my various observations and theories throughout this blind reaction series have panned out! I hope I don’t have too much egg on my face…
First, there’s the answer to what “defeat” actually means in the world of Scott Pilgrim. The franchise had always been kind of cagey about what actually happened to the opponents Scott defeated — for all intents and purposes they were dead, but neither the comics nor the movie ever confirmed this, and creator Bryan Lee O’Malley apparently said in an interview that the defeated opponents would eventually respawn — so Scott’s defeat and subsequent funeral in Takes Off seemed as clear of an answer as we’d ever get in the text itself, at least until Scott was revealed to not actually be dead after all and that theory fell apart. Episode 7 finally, casually, give us an answer; in the original timeline, after Scott defeated the Evil Exes, they eventually respawned and continued to live on! I’m excited about this confirmation, but also confused; if people who are defeated in battle in the world of Scott Pilgrim respawn, why were Scott’s friends so confident that he was dead for good? I’m also perhaps feeling a little silly for looking so hard for an answer that ultimately didn’t seem to matter that much to the creative team, and am perhaps even a bit disappointed at how Takes Off handled it. At worst, O’Malley and the rest of the writing staff are less interested in consistency than they are in pursuing the concept that works best for any given scene or storyline. But I’ll give them some grace; at best, this reads like yet another instance of video game logic. In a video game, death works very differently for the player controlled character/protagonist than it does for villains/NPCs, right? Why would it be any different in Scott Pilgrim’s video game world?
Next, there’s the idea of redemption for the Evil Exes. In my Reaction for Episode 6 I had just finished laying out how Scott’s disappearance meant that the Evil Exes were no longer defeated at his hands and now had a chance to redeem themselves — even if Takes Off seemed doubtful that they actually could — when Episode 7 suddenly threw out this curveball: in the original timeline, not only did the Evil Exes respawn after being defeated by Scott, but some of them even ended up redeeming themselves and becoming “great guys.” Now I have to totally scrap and rethink my take on this. I thought that perhaps Ramona’s more empathetic approach to dealing with them could help the Evil Exes achieve redemption, but maybe they needed to be defeated by Scott in order to drop their grudges and become better people?
Finally, there’s the mystery behind who kidnapped Scott and why. I was just about spot on in my prediction that Scott had been kidnapped by his future counterpart to stop him from getting together with Ramona, but what threw me off completely was my assumption that there was only one time traveler. No, it was Ramona who traveled back in time to write Young Neil’s screenplay! I love this development simply because Ramona’s plan was so poorly thought out; it just shows that Scott and Ramona are actually a lot more alike than most people think. I am left wondering, however, why Future Ramona was so adamant about preserving Scott and Ramona’s relationship even though she’s the one who broke things off with him in this future timeline. Is it because of the idea that heartbreak is worth it for the good times you had and everything you learned along the way? If so, then Future Ramona’s choice ties well into Knives Chau’s arc in this episode, where she confesses that she’s glad she and Scott dated and broke up because it allowed her to discover her musical talent/passion. That’s such a cool little thematic parallel!
So, despite all the answers Episode 7 answers, it raises just as many questions in return. That’s a really exciting position for a series finale to be in, I just hope it can pull off the landing and bring this story to a satisfying close.
Stray Observations:
— In just about 4 months I will be the same age as “Future” Scott Pilgrim. This is really depressing. When the comics were coming out I was the same age as “Regular” Scott! It’s not fair!
— Future Scott is kind of a chump, right? Like, even moreso than any incarnation of Regular Scott has ever been, right? I understand he’s in a really rough place, but it doesn’t leave me very optimistic for where Regular Scott’s arc may go from here.
— Hey, that’s Will Forte voicing Future Scott! Oof, that should have been sign number one that he’s not in a good place.
— The mask Future Scott is wearing when he travels through the time stream and kidnaps Regular Scott looks a lot like the way Dragonball cartoonist Akira Toriyama draws himself in author’s comments. It also reminds me at least somewhat of O’Malley himself (I think it’s the glasses), but that may just be me, so I’ll leave the theory of Future Scott acting as a sort of author avatar/corrective force for O’Malley alone for now.
— Future Scott’s password to his VR Machine is the “Hadouken” (or Fireball) input from the Street Fighter video games.
— When Future Scott and Future Ramona are on their honeymoon at Universal Studios, in the background the chiptune rendition of the Universal fanfare plays. This same rendition was played at the beginning of the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World film.
— Aww, poor Wallace is going gray awfully early. I’m glad his friends all seem to think that it works well for him.
— So the Twins’ Robot is essentially Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen?
— Young Neil actually does write a book! Just badly!
— This episode contains the second Avril Lavigne reference in the series (“Why does everything have to be so complicated?!”).
— None of the characters are all that excited or concerned about time travel — aside from the two Ramonas taking some photos together, the cast largely takes it in stride (and even the Ramonas are over it after one photo). This is such a Scott Pilgrimy touch. Nothing fazes these Torontians, huh?
Can you believe there’s only one episode left?! See you tomorrow for the finale, where we’ll hopefully discover just what’s up Gordon’s sleeve, and if Scott and Ramona will ever kiss again! I can’t wait!
ABOUT
“Do You Know What I Love the Most?” is a newsletter from Spencer Irwin about his relationship with the stories he loves. Spencer is an enthusiast and writer from Newark, Delaware, who likes punk rock, comic books, working out, breakfast, and most of all, stories. His previous work appeared on Retcon Punch, One Week One Band, and Crisis on Infinite Chords, and he can be found on Twitter at @ThatSpenceGuy. If you like this newsletter, please subscribe and share with your friends!