Scott Pilgrim Takes Off – Season 1 Episode 5 Recap & Review

Lights. Camera. Sparks?!

Episode 5 of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off begins with a behind-the-scenes promotional featurette starring Envy, Todd, Neil, and other cast members. During Ramona’s interview, she reveals she only took the stunt double gig to get close to Todd. She wants to interrogate him since she believes he’s responsible for the real Scott’s disappearance. Ramona tries speaking with Todd about Scott, but Envy tells her to leave the set and ask him her questions later.

After the cameraman speaks with Neil and Wallace, we cut to Envy and Todd failing to shoot a specific scene multiple times. Seeing that the director is unhinged by Envy and Todd’s romantic intrusions, Wallace gives him an idea. They shoot the scene again, this time, the director wants Wallace and Todd to smooch each other. They proceed with the act, making everyone but the director feel uncomfortable. Knives and Stephen ask Ramona to give Envy a song they wrote for her to sing in the movie.

Wallace and Todd rehearse a sexual scene together multiple times. We cut to another interview with Ramona, this time, she shares her dating history with Todd. At the same time, Envy highlights her history with Todd. Both share different views on Todd’s decision to punch a hole in the moon for them. After the interviews, Ramona meets with Todd and asks him about Scott. Todd ignores Ramona and flees somewhere with Wallace via a vegan portal. 

On day two, Ramona tells the interviewer that she plans to pull Todd away from Wallace. In a new interview with Todd, he explains how he’s become fond of Wallace’s company. This entices Todd to break up with Envy for Wallace. The two visit Wallace during Wallace’s interview session and Envy forces Todd to tell Wallace that he loves him. Wallace reveals he doesn’t reciprocate the same feelings Todd has for him, shattering Todd’s heart. 

Todd leaves and Envy attacks Wallace for hurting his feelings. Wallace tells Envy to back off and fight his stunt doubles instead. This encourages Envy to pull Ramona aside so she can fight Wallace’s doubles for her. After Ramona defeats Wallace’s doubles (with Wallace’s help), Wallace reveals why Envy wants to hurt him. Ramona and Envy visit Todd’s trailer and he welcomes them inside. Todd reveals what he had with Wallace was special and Envy is upset that Todd insinuates their relationship wasn’t to him. 

Ramona switches the topic to Scott and shows Envy and Todd the security footage tape. Envy says the portal’s impressive but argues Todd wasn’t the one who crafted it. Envy says Ramona should give up on finding Scott since he’s a loser like Todd. Ramona quits her stunt double position and leaves the studio. Matthew arrives on set and starts firing everyone. Knives and Stephen approach Matthew with a business opportunity and he gives them a calling card. 

Ramona confronts Matthew about his new look. Matthew reveals he’s here to shut the movie down since it’s making him look like a loser. Ramona reveals Scott’s alive, shocking Matthew. Matthew confirms he’s the new leader of the League of Evil Exes and about Gideon meeting Julie. Ramona plans to confront Gideon and Julie. At the same time, Robot-01 continues monitoring Ramona from afar.

The episode closes with a sinister shot of Julie and Gideon watching television. 

The Episode Review

The plot thickens as they say and it appears Todd and Matthew had no idea Scott was alive. Many viewers may have expected them to be responsible for his disappearance. There was strong evidence going for this theory from the vegan portal in the footage to Matthew having a lot to gain from fabricating his victory over Scott. Fortunately, we still have the twins, Julie, and Gideon as potential suspects. 

However, likely, these four won’t provide Ramona with the details she needs to solve this case. This mystery has been fun to follow, so I’m excited to see how Ramona unravels it all. As for the episode itself, it was wonderfully crafted and unique compared to the previous chapters. Its found-footage and featurette storytelling style made it captivating to watch. 

The interviews between Wallace, Envy, and the others will provide fans with great humor and insight about the cast. As with prior episodes, it’s a bummer the series isn’t using this opportunity to delve further into Ramona’s relationships with the other exes. So far, only Roxie provided fans with a genuine, unforgettable tale. Hopefully, we get something special with Gideon (Gordon) in episode 6.