#he's just really cool and I am sad he can't menace Scott with this version

[purplerakath]

What I expect, and don't, from a Scott Pilgrim Season 2

Spoilers for all of the Scott Pilgrim works as I go through various plot points in the comics, and the ending of the first season, into hypothetical expectations if Bryan and BenDavid decide to do another.

What NOT to expect:

Memory Holes

Scott's gaps in memory are a good rug pull to the narration, it allows things we've previously seen to be recontextualized as Scott becomes aware he's not actually the hero. Thing is, Scott already knows this possibility from the end of Season 1 so we don't need it. This isn't a statement of 'no Nega-Scott' but we'll come back to that later.

Kim/Knives

Kim and Knives making out was a tool to set-up a Book 5 plot detail about Kim's relationship with Scott and Ramona. The part of that matters is we need to see Kim isn't straight, and there weren't a ton of female characters who would realistically make out with Kim and weren't busy in another plot. We've done this by having Kim try it out with Roxie, so Kim being bi is established already if they want to do the complicated 'I think I'm in love with either my best friend/ex or his current girlfriend' thing that was a bit of Kim's character. We also don't need to fish for 'reasons Knives is still around' she's in the band now, she's good.

The Glow

This is more of a 'that needed foreshadowing that isn't there' thing and we didn't foreshadow it so it probably isn't there. Ramona got her plot forward and her baggage detonation so it's not super useful anymore.

The Powers of Love, Self-Respect, and/or Understanding

So they could do these plot beats, but I don't think the swords work here. See, the swords work as a perfectly solid 'Scott leveled up' visual by making him cooler. And it plays even better in the movie because of how sword fights film vs. fistfights. Thing is, it's still saying that all 'understanding who you are' or 'respecting yourself and your needs' or 'being in love' is good for is stabbing people? It really feels hollow. Especially compared to Ramona's self-acceptance being 'turn into a God temporarily.' So if Scott gains any of those titles, it won't just be a sword.

Okay now that I've gone through a bunch of stuff I don't see coming up. I'm listing them as 'options' less because any two are mutually exclusive but all four cannot be done together.

Option One: Scott Gets a Life

So Scott didn't get to do most of his character growy things on account of him being dead for Tax Purposes. So he's still a useless mooch without a job, or anything to do other than play music. This isn't necessarily bad, but it is something they have to do something with. First is to do battle of the bands, lean all in on Sex Bob-Omb and the music going forward as the endgame to solve that Kim is also jobless. It isn't terribly grounded (but it could be very pretty visually), so I'm not super sold on it but it isn't off the table. They can also lean into 'Scott can cook' and do his cooking chef route from the books. This is more grounded and also can be visually pretty if done right. They can also do all manner of other job routes for Scott especially if the joke about job class systems because video games!

Option Two: Gideon is Still Evil™

So when Matthew was running from Gideon in G-Man Media's Headquarters he ran into a vault he couldn't blast through. That probably has even cryopods with six occupants. Because Gideon is still the worst. And 'but he's Gordon now' or 'but he has Julie now' are both not answers to the fact that Gideon is meant to be an incarnation of everything Scott could become. Notably Gideon didn't do any of his cool things™ from either book or movie in Season 1. Gideon still punishes women who betray him and Julie hates Scott. Gideon frames his revenge as making Scott suffer it is the perfect in-road to go after Ramona. Putting Julie in the Envy spot from Book 6. Which is even better because the betrayal will feel stronger since Gideon seems to like Julie sincerely.

Option Three: Scott's Ex Quest

So Scott has three significant ex girlfriends to dive in on. (I'm not counting Knives as- well, S1 actually resolved Knives pretty well?) And working through how Scott hurt them, and how they hurt him, and how it changed him would be a good avenue to do his character growth. It's honestly some of the stronger elements of the book looking right at Scott's past sincerely. This is the closest we get to retelling the books, but the twist is probably in execution, or in who else is involved. As all of Ramona's Exes being around and not-evil means we have new in-roads to character development.

Option Four: Nega-Scott/Future Scott

Scott is aware that he could be the problem, that awareness and vigilance makes the book version of Nega-Scott hard to work. The Shadow-Link attacking from nowhere just won't cut it. But we can do a similar thing with his awareness of the potential, a manifestation of his fears. Because this is a Rule of Cool series Scott's Fears becoming a monster makes as much sense as anything. So Scott just occasionally seeing/fighting an EvilRyu!Scott who shows up whenever Scott is especially anxious is entirely acceptable. This especially works if the central theme of the series is Scott trying to become more mature and responsible, having this evil manbaby hunting him represents that nicely.