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“Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” is one of the most popular shows on Netflix as of its release on Nov. 17, 2023. This newly animated show is based on the heavily appreciated and admired graphic novel series created in 2004 by Bryan Lee O’Malley, following the love life of an early 23-year-old man who goes by the name of none other than Scott Pilgrim. This new series shares many elements with its live-action and graphic novel predecessors, as well as many differences. “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” had an early and abrupt announcement via Netflix in August, having an apparent release date of Nov. 17, 2023, roughly ten years after the latest rendition of Scott Pilgrim’s Life and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, invigorating many prior fans of the series.
“Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” shares many similar introductory elements with those of its prior renditions, having the same base characters and concepts in the introductory part of the first episode. Some examples of these aforementioned similarities include those of Scott Pilgrim as the main character and a 23-year-old man living with his gay roommate Wallace Wells, playing vocals and electric guitar in his band, “Sex Bob-Omb.” Other key members of this band include 22-year-old Stephen Stills, who plays guitar and vocals; 23-year-old Kim Pine, who plays drums and also used to date Scott Pilgrim; 17-year-old Knives Chau, who is currently dating Scott; and 20-year-old Young Neil, who plays video games and plays a large role in the animated series in the later plot of the show. Scott wakes up platonically next to Wallace, having dreamt of a woman skating around him in a desert—the girl of his dreams. Scott plays in his band in front of Knives and Neil, gathering feedback from their respective opinions. After an intense day of practice, he joins his friend at a party, which everyone was invited to except for him. Walking through the dense crowd of strangers, he was sliding past, accidentally bumping into the girl who was in his dreams, making small talk, then questioning the reality of his situation and getting some air. Unfortunately, to Scott’s dismay, he runs into the owner of the house and the starter of the party, 23-year-old Julie Powers, who hates Scott. Scott is informed that the girl of his dreams is a woman named Ramona Flowers, and he learns that she works for Netflix, renting out DVDs. Naturally, Scott decides to rent a cool movie and wait for Ramona to arrive, and then they eventually formally meet and hit it off. They hang out at Ramona’s apartment while she informs him that for them to date, Scott must defeat Ramona’s seven evil exes. They both sleep and when they wake up, Scott informs Ramona about his band’s performance that played that very night, inviting her to watch. Scott’s performance starts without a hitch when he is confronted by one of Ramona’s evil exes, Matthew Patel.
The key difference starts here, where in the live-action continuity, Scott Pilgrim fights and defeats Matthew Patel; in the newer series, Scott gets seemingly brutally murdered in one punch by Matthew Patel. Ramona attends Scott’s funeral, where she is confronted by Knives, who blames Ramona for the death of Scott. While this is happening, Ramona’s evil exes congregate to discuss their next evil mode of action, ending up fighting and finalizing with the defeat of Gideon Graves, leaving his immense fortune to Matthew Patel. Ramona realizes that Scott’s death is fishy, reviewing the tape and realizing that Scott was not killed but rather teleported. Not knowing where Scott teleported to, she decides to investigate the highest suspects in Scott’s kidnapping. Ramona investigates Julie and other leading suspects, accidentally encountering one of her evil exes, Roxie Richter, who attempts to battle her for her love. Fortunately for Ramona, she can peacefully diffuse the situation and establish a friendship with Roxie. Young Neil wakes up to a fully written story about the life of Scott Pilgrim, following the original continuity and name of the first graphic novel, “Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life.” Ramona confronts and befriends more failed suspects and exes, narrowing the list of kidnappers. Further hijinx ensues, concluding with the elimination of more suspects and views of Neil’s play. Matthew Patel buys and defuncts the production of “Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life,” having a rather nonchalant reaction from Neil. Knives joins “Sex Bob-Omb,” playing piano and prompting the idea of a Scott-based musical where Matthew funds and plays the main character, of which he abides. After this compilation of quirky elements, the doorbell rings, revealing Scott Pilgrim. This is where the perspective shifts to that of Scott after he was kidnapped.
In a big reveal, Scott was kidnapped by himself 10 years in the future in an attempt to inform and persuade his past self to not date Ramona. Old Scott seemingly follows the successful contradictory continuity where Scott beats all of Ramona’s seven evil exes; they fall in love, get married and get divorced. Old Scott does this by befriending intelligent exes of Ramona, who created a time machine for this purpose. Scott does not wish to comply and decides to visit Old Ramona to travel back to the past. Ramona reveals that she made the play entitled “Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life” to inform everyone about the real life of Scott Pilgrim. They both use advanced time-traveling skates to go 10 years in the past, with the final and next episode concluding with this premise. It is revealed that there is a forcefield preventing Scott and Ramona from kissing, believing that this is because of qualms with Ramona’s exes and deciding to confront every one of them at the Scott Pilgrim musical the following night. Each one of Scott’s friends and each one of Ramona’s exes are seated in the same general area, leading to the ultimate realization that nobody is angry or wants to battle Scott. Abruptly, everyone is teleported to a desolate island with a muscular and angry silhouette standing before them—even Older Scott from 20 years in the future—and he isn’t here to talk. Even Older Scott had spent the past 10 years training to defeat Scott in retaliation, brutally beating him blow after blow. No amount of power can defeat Even Older Scott; the only one who can talk to him is Even Older Ramona from 20 years in the future. She explains that Even Older Scott misinterpreted her meaning of distaste for Scott and merely wanted some space from Scott, and he was foolish about fighting his past instead of fighting for their relationship. This is when both Ramonas fuse upon the realization that Ramona refuses to walk out on another one of the things she loves: Scott. This sends Even Older Scott to the past, which breaks the kiss barrier for Ramona and Scott, allowing them to kiss and have a very happy ending.
I truly enjoyed this new, fresh take on the life of the intriguing and all-encompassing character, Scott Pilgrim. I heavily recommend this show to prior fans or people interested in Scott Pilgrim. It has details and easter eggs from the past, but enough information for new fans to thoroughly enjoy this delightfully intricate and beautifully animated show.
