3 life lessons from Ep. 1 of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off that hit surprisingly hard 

“Scott Pilgrim. Twenty-three years old. Lives in Toronto, Canada. Jobless. Hopeless. He’s in an indie band of subjective quality.”

That’s how this show’s funky protagonist was described by the first Evil Ex (out of 7 total) of the girl he met—literally—in his dreams.

Needless to say, Scott Pilgrim Takes off is a unique show. It probably already sounds unserious. But somehow, after one episode, it hit me with some hard life lessons.

Some important context is that I’ve been in a state of struggle and stress 24/7. I’m a fourth-year university student, majoring in creative writing, stressed that I’m majoring in creative writing because what kind of job does that lead to, half-pivoting into marketing because that’s a career path that actually pays, and constantly feeling imposter syndrome from the countless excelling students around me who know what they want to do, worked multiple internships at flashy companies, and even secured job offers for post-grad. I never feel like I know what I’m doing and I’m constantly panicking trying to figure something out—but half the time I don’t even know what to figure out. I don’t know where I’m going in the future and it freaks me out.

Long story short: I’m in a quarter-life crisis.

Amid this unstable period in my life, Scott Pilgrim’s refreshingly easygoing character at first gave me a sense of dissonance, because I don’t think I could ever live the way Scott Pilgrim lives—but then it was comforting.

Here are 3 life lessons from Scott Pilgrim Takes Off that hit surprisingly hard.

1. Life doesn’t make sense. Just accept it.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is set in a magical realism-esque world inspired by video games. Things that happen in video games—like “fighting” opponents and characters having superpowers—are viewed as normal. Right away, the show presents situations that don’t “make sense” in reality. Ramona Flowers, a real-life girl, can appear in Scott Pilgrim’s dreams via some strange “subspace highway.” Ramona has a league of evil exes, some of whom have magical powers, that have the ability to spy on Ramona and her new love interests. Ramona pulls Scott through a portal in mid-air to take him to her apartment.

These things aren’t really explained. They just happen, none of the characters question it, and the show moves on. Like when Scott Pilgrim turned into a pile of coins at the end after fighting Matthew Patel, no one thought it was weird he turned into coins or that his body disappeared. I actually think the show could have included a little more explanation to make it clear that these fantastical elements were just normal and not some trick on the audience.

As someone who needs every little detail in life to make sense, it was a bit baffling to be faced with the juxtaposition of a completely normal world and random fantastical elements. “But how?” kept nagging in the back of my mind and distracted me from immersing myself in the show.

But once I suspended that disbelief and just started accepting the random things that happened in the show, the show became so much more fun. It’s a super cool concept. It’s amusing to watch a league of exes go after the new boy, visually entertaining to watch the characters turn briefly into video game characters to fight, and it’s kind of thrilling that Scott Pilgrim succeeded in actually meeting the girl of his dreams.

I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it really reminded me to let go of the questions I had about my future that were gnawing me away from the inside. If I let go of the fear of doing the wrong thing, I can actually enjoy the things I’m doing.

2. You can’t take life so seriously

Part of being an overthinker means I put too much pressure on every decision, big or small. Will buying this $7 matcha latte right now snowball into unnecessary spending habits in the future? Am I sure this assignment is good enough to submit, even though the professor said she believed I’d do a good job, because what if it’s actually awful and she’ll realize she misjudged me? Am I setting myself up for career failure by majoring in creative writing and if so, how late into my university degree is it feasible to switch into my backup majors, and what even are my backup majors?

Scott Pilgrim is the complete opposite. He goes with the flow and is completely unconcerned about big career questions that plague my own life, like whether I’ll get a good job, a good salary, own a home, and ever achieve good work-life balance.

As Matthew Patel said, Scott is jobless, hopeless, and in a band of questionable quality. He’s not bothered by his weird relationship with a high schooler (not that I endorse that) and blindly asks out Ramona Flowers without knowing anything about her. He’s completely chill living out of his friend’s house with no real place of his own and doesn’t seem pressured to find work.

Scott Pilgrim doesn’t take life seriously, but he seems a lot happier than I am. And him blindly reaching for Ramona Flowers is the inciting incident that kicked off this entire series.

When I watched Scott Pilgrim on screen, I was seeing a character who believed he would be okay. That’s what I feel like I inherently lack right now—a belief that life will turn out okay one way or another even if it feels like an absolute mess right now. Maybe Scott Pilgrim is the extreme, but it’s what I needed to be reminded that I shouldn’t be so convinced I’m somehow doomed for the future.

3. Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood in hindsight

Episode 1 ends on a cliffhanger—Scott Pilgrim dies! He turns into a pile of coins, defeated by Ramona’s Evil Ex Matthew Patel. But I did read one spoiler online—Scott didn’t “die,” but he was yanked out by his future self to prevent a relationship with Ramona Flowers from ever happening.

Once I learned that, I spotted all sorts of clues that (potentially) foreshadowed this twist. At one point, Ramona says to Scott, “You’re quite the trickster, Scott Pilgrim,” which I felt could have foreshadowed the fact that Scott himself kidnapped his past self, sending Ramona on this wild goose chase to find him. Or when Ramona and Scott first meet (in person), Scott yaps about Sonic the Hedgehog:

You know Sonic the Hedgehog*? You probably know this, but in the early 90s, there were two different* Sonic cartoons airing at the same time. One was dark and dramatic, the other was a hilarious comedy about chili dogs. And the same guy played Sonic in both shows! Isn't that wild? The same guys playing two different versions of the same guy?

Was this foreshadowing how Scott Pilgrim was behind his own kidnapping—that like Sonic, would live two versions of the same life, one where he dated Ramona Flowers, and one where he didn’t?

I haven’t finished the season yet, so I’m not 100% sure. But this is the point of life lesson #3—I’m not going to fully understand all the elements of Episode 1 until I reach the end of the season. Only then will all my question be answered and all the Easter eggs will be visible. But I have to be patient and continue watching until the end, instead of trying to understand everything right away without enough context.

I approach life like this too often—I’m trying to reverse engineer choosing a good career. I feel like I need to know exactly where I’ll end up (what job I’ll have in the future) so that I know exactly what to do right now and I can ensure that everything I do right now has a purpose.

But I have to accept that not everything will make sense. I have to trust that the experiences I gather in my life right now are all leading to some big climax—and one day I’ll look back and clearly see my path. One day, I’ll look back and all of my experiences right now will make sense and seem crucial to where I ended up. But right now, I’m only in Episode 1 and I haven’t finished the season yet.