Review of Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour July 21, 2010
I’m new to the Scott Pilgrim universe. I started following the series a few weeks ago when I read through volumes 1-4, all in one sitting. (Yeah, I’m like that.)
Having caught up on Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe two days ago, it made sense to pick up Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour last night.
Here are my thoughts. (Spoilers ahead, of course.)
Five Things I Liked (In No Particular Order)
Genuinely awesome fight scene between Gideon and Scott. And it gets violent. I mean, really violent. We’re talking blood here, people.
Scott’s memories falling apart around him thanks to Gideon’s tampering, specifically memories related to Kim Pine in high school.
So many Ramonas! In a crucial fight scene that takes place within Ramona’s mind, the many personalities of Ramona make an appearance en masse. It reminds me of a specific Teen Titans episode, actually.
Stephen Stills is gay. The reveal – and Scott’s reaction – is priceless. (Flip back to Volume 5 and you’ll realize how obvious this was. Note the Young Neil “Captain Homo” comment.)
Ongoing references to geek culture. A “join me or die!” faceoff a la Empire Strikes Back; Scott Pilgrim’s Sailor Moon-esque “I will punish you!” speech. I could go on.
What I Didn’t Like
I can’t point out five things specifically, so here’s a generalized statement:
The first time through Finest Hour, I was confused. There were many things that just didn’t make sense.
The story would lead you in one direction, but then jerk you back in another direction. Characters seemed apathetic. The story felt rushed.
To top it all off, there wasn’t a follow-up message from O’Malley himself. (I was hoping for a follow-up message!)
So, what does it all mean?
Here’s the story, as far as I can understand it:
Gideon is an evil scientist who has an obsession over the girls that don’t love him.
Between producing music (???), running clubs (???) and imprisoning the aforementioned women that don’t love him, he had time to come up with some Kamehameha-esque ability to invade the minds of others. Thus resulting in a bizarre glowing head, a side effect of Gideon’s tampering. (Scott calls it “the glow”. It’s like an STI/STD, apparently.)
Ramona got the Glow from Gideon at some point in the past, but unlike the other girls who submitted to Gideon’s influence, Ramona used it against Gideon. And this gives us Mind Travel, or the “Subspace Highway”, as she calls it.
When Ramona meets Scott, Gideon – who is still inhabiting Ramona’s mind – takes this opportunity to hit Pilgrim with the Glow, as well.
With Gideon now firmly rooted in the minds of both Scott and Ramona, he begins tampering with both of them simultaneously. This is particularly significant for us as readers, as Scott’s memories of past relationships – many of which were shown throughout the series – become significantly twisted and distorted. (Thanks, Gideon!)
In the final battle, Gideon tries his hardest to keep up the Evil Genius persona. But his cliché rants are repeatedly shut down by both Ramona and Scott.
Everyone reconciles. The end!
Movie Tie-Ins & Afterthoughts
The upcoming film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a feature-length summary of the entire Scott Pilgrim series. It was written and produced well before Volume 6 was released (a year or so, to be precise), so I can’t help but wonder if O’Malley took guidance from the film for the final Scott Pilgrim book.
Example: The final showdown between Gideon and Scott takes place on a pyramid platform, similar to what we see in this behind-the-scene blog from the film crew. As noted in the video, the set was originally created by the film’s production designer.
(Book influencing movie influencing book? Who knows!)
All in all, the series has come to a great close, and while the importance of Toronto (as a setting) does decline, it’s still nice to see my current city of residence take such a prominent role in a cult classic.
Regarding the artwork itself: The evolution of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s style has come to a point of perfect balance between Japanese manga and Western illustration. While writing this post, I took some time to flip through all 6 copies of Scott Pilgrim, and the gradual changes and improvements are indeed noticeable.
Here’s hoping the film delivers an equally satisfying experience!
Posted in Neat Stuff