It’s time for the last dance chums, get your rollerskates on and your bass guitar tuned. Spoilers and that, savor what’s left.
1. Are you rushing, or are you dragging?
Finales have a strong reputation for containing all the bombastic action and drama the show has saved up, the chance to leave it all on the dancefloor. That said, in reality many spend a lot of time having all their characters in one room just talking things out. Think the end of Game of Thrones, all the cards are on the table and your flashy reveals are over, you just have to find a way to get the genie back in the bottle however it fits. While Scott Pilgrim does get to show its flashy stuff later on, the start of this finale is absolutely a chat-fest.
I found it crazy how this series has methodically dragged itself through the progression of exes episode-by-episode, checking in with them numerically and methodically. It’s the same structure as its source materials, yet is in a complete contrast to how energetically the predecessors managed it.
The opening scene of “The World Vs Scott Pilgrim” just zooms in on that entirely. It’s like three minutes of repeating whatever new gag they came up with for each character, ushering each evil ex in, having them say a catchphrase that shows how much they’ve grown as characters, then ushering them out. It even feels like a waste of the last real solo scenes they get, it’s a veritable recap.
2. O’Malleyisms
For me, the best of this series from start to finish has been in the details. Whether it was the shoegaze meanderings at the cast’s various day jobs, the transportive jam sessions, or in the case of this episode, a single shot of Scott tying his shoelaces. It feels like there is a love among the animators here for the simple joy of fluid movement and well-constructed animation. The episode wasn’t entirely hitch-free, I felt like the flat paper audience for the musical was a weird departure from style that felt less like a stylistic choice than a corner cut, especially when compared to the funeral scene from episode two. But on the whole, this show is full of little details that are the centre of its charm.
Speaking of crowds at the musical, I did like all of the exes sitting in the row behind Scott and Ramona to heckle them during the show. Plus, Older Scott’s training montage was great, it all felt very Samurai Jack.
3. Too old for this ####
There is something undeniably fun about introducing the far-future ‘old man’ character variant, Marvel has been milking it for years, Old Man Batman is basically his own distinct genre. Last episode’s future Toronto antics were almost certainly the episode’s highlight, and the reveal of Even Older Scott scratches that exact same itch. He has an awesome character design that’s halfway between a Daniel Warren Johnson character and the best of Tekken. I thought it was almost flattering to put “Mental Health and Wellbeing: Unknown” on his little title card, because I think at this stage we can take a pretty educated guess. The return of old Ramona, and eventually the reveal of Super Ramona was also just a funny bit of proof that you can always find an even higher pedestal to put somebody on.
4. Finish him
No one can deny that “The World Vs Scott Pilgrim” swings for the fences in its final punch-up, it’s sprawling, frenetic and fits the scope of stylised animation. I loved how many fun quirks it had to showcase the personality of its cast. For example, Knives runs in full of purpose, but can be slapped away into the stratosphere, while Ramona hangs back and hands out power-ups from her magic bag to all the exes. There’s definitely an argument here for a Scott Pilgrim side-scrolling beat-em-up.
You can’t really call this fight dynamic though, the setting is as plain as it gets, no one changes up their strategy after failure, I don’t think anyone but Even Older Scott really learns a lesson from it. I am pretty surprised that the gold standard for the best fight in the whole show was Matthew Patel vs Gordon Goose from episode two. It had a fun setting, heaps of personality, and genuinely kept you guessing.
Continued belowWhen the dust settles and the fight is won I feel like the episode makes a very fun shift away from Dragonball to End of Evangelion, a big glowing super-Ramona was bound to bring out the cerebral anime-ness of it all though.
5. Bye, Scott
I feel like I’ve spent this review talking about everything except what actually happened in this episode, but given its probably our last dose of Scott Pilgrim anything for quite a long while, it felt right to save that for last. There are times I’ve been pretty hard on this show for being charming, but just baffling in its choice of route. That is still absolutely present here, for example it’s weird to have all these great musical parody numbers for the opening, but then to not show choreography or crowd reactions. The show’s committed to this self-referential storyline, at least show us the meat of it. But then a lot of this does really work, I’ve always been having fun. I really liked this schlocky video game plot ending, it sort of feels more charming when the show simplifies its plot in favor of character. Why not just do this? We could have had a show half the length, or leaned into longer solo stories between a streamlined central plot.
This whole series almost feels like a ‘new game plus’ to the original series, even complete with a bunch of ‘secret endings’ in the epilogue. We get Knives’ full inclusion in Sex Bob-Omb, Ramona finally finding some job security as a stuntwoman, and the hint of Kim and Lucas as a (presumably great) couple. Even before the ‘happily ever after’ this is undeniably a finale that knows its greatest hits. There’s everything here that will make it into the TikTok fancams. Band shots, kiss shots and fight shots.
We do get a tiny tease for the future, even though the creators of the series have said it’s unlikely they would do a follow-up. It’s a pretty by-the-numbers sting, and I don’t really know what a second season would look like. It would need a lot to justify itself, especially with the amount of talent it brings together. Just going Scott vs Goose would feel like a step back. But I’m still happy we had it, just so the whole series could end on Aubrey Plaza firing off a “honk-honk fuckers”.
Thank you all for following me through this series, hopefully you understand I was hard on it because I loved it. If we ever get to come back I’ll be honored to have you back, but if this is it, then just remember. Bread makes you fat.
