For fans of the world of Scott Pilgrim often see Ramona Flowers through the eyes of Scott Pilgrim. That’s at least how the 2010 movie worked. Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) was the girl of Scott’s dreams, literally, and she was often put on a pedestal because of that.
Spoilers for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off follow!
What Netflix’s Scott Pilgrim Takes Off does is give Ramona her chance to come into her own as a character outside of how Scott views her. The anime hit Netflix and fans were treated with a much different kind of Scott Pilgrim story, mainly because Scott isn’t there. The mystery of the series is that Scott is missing, and Ramona has taken it upon herself to figure out what happened to her potential boyfriend.
Most everyone else in Scott’s life assumes that Ramona’s first evil ex, Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), has defeated him. It is decidedly not what happens in the original timeline of events and sets Ramona’s world in a tailspin. Determined to find Scott and see what actually happened to him, Ramona Flowers becomes the main character of the story in a way that’s not centered on Scott’s feelings for her.
That, to me, is what makes Scott Pilgrim Takes Off so special. It’s not that I hate how Ramona is depicted in the original graphic novel’s story or the movie. It’s just very much from Scott’s perspective of how he views Ramona, and her story isn’t really hers to tell. This story basically flips the script for the two characters, forcing Scott into the role he always put Ramona in and getting to spend that time with Ramona instead really was nice for me as a fan of the series, but also as a fan of Ramona as a character.
Ramona’s time away from Scott Pilgrim
She’s never been a “manic pixie dream girl” or someone who we viewed in the way that Scott did, but she was still a character who was idolized more than allowed to thrive in her own skin. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off gives Ramona the means to be her own person and take the reins of Scott’s world for once.
While Scott’s journey through the Seven Evil Exes was all about the video game mentality, Ramona’s quest to find Scott is very much a detective story. To be honest, part of me thought that Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was going to be more of the same kind of Scott arc. I figured we’d be focused a lot on Michael Cera’s Scott and get more of the music from Sex Bob-Omb that we’ve come to know and love, but that we wouldn’t be focusing the story on a new character.
This change with Ramona taking over? It’s what the show needed, and it feels good to have her in charge of figuring out what happened, even if it just leads to even more chaos from Scott Pilgrim in the long run.
(featured image: Netflix)
