Paper Girls Review
Potential spoilers for Paper Girls!
“Paper Girls” is an Amazon Original series created by Stephany Folsom and is an adaptation of the graphic novel series of the same name. The graphic novels were written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang, who are executive producers on the show. Paper Girls premiered on July 29, 2022.
The story follows four paper girls: Erin Tieng, KJ Brandman, Tiffany Quilkin, and Mac Coyle.
They are delivering newspapers on Hell Day, the morning after Halloween, in 1988 when they are interrupted on their route by two individuals who steal the walkie-talkie belonging to Tiffany. In an attempt to retrieve the item, they follow the two and accidentally time travel to 2019. Now the paper girls have to find a way back home amid a war between the Standard Time Fighters (STF) and the Old Watch for control of the timeline.
The first episode opens with a flash-forward to an adult Erin in 2019 who hears people coming into her house after the power suddenly goes out and she assumes there are intruders. The scene cuts off when she goes into the living room as she is confronting the intruders. This parallels the end of the episode from the perspective of the girls when they accidentally time travel and decide to head to Erin’s house, which is nearby, after being attacked. Both Erins believe there is an intruder in their house and react in disbelief.
It’s refreshing how the show doesn’t have the characters automatically accept that they have time traveled and it takes them a minute to process everything that has happened. This adds a lot of complexities to their respective characters as we see the way they cope with their situation. Another example of this is how KJ reacts to hurting a man with her hockey stick in self-defense and how she is trying to reassure herself by saying he has to be alright and that he’ll probably get up soon.
It is also interesting to see how the girls react to future technology like Bluetooth and the internet. When they hear the Bluetooth speaker, they are frightened. When adult Erin shows the girls the internet, they are in awe of it having every map and being able to look up the older versions of themselves.
The show does a great job at exploring the four paper girls, who are 12 years old when they time travel, in relationship to their older selves and how they seemingly fail to meet the high expectations they had set for themselves. Erin envisioned herself becoming a U.S. Senator with a mansion for her mom to live in and is disappointed to find out that adult Erin is a Paralegal who still lives in the same house decades later.
One of the most emotional scenes is when the two Erins are having an argument about what to do next and the younger one wants to get home as quickly as possible, while adult Erin suggests they take a minute. Erins argues that adult Erin isn’t being responsible and that she is the worst version of herself. Tiffany is another paper girl who speaks directly with an older version of herself. She is thrilled that she got into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) but is disappointed in her old self’s life choices such as dropping out of MIT her sophomore year and dating a guy she doesn’t see a future with.
KJ and Mac have more of an indirect relationship with the older versions of themselves. Mac hears about the fate of her older self through her brother and is left with this heavy burden of knowing what happens to herself and being essentially unable to do anything about it. Meanwhile, KJ doesn’t want to speak with her older self out of fear but she meets future KJ’s girlfriend who gives her advice that guides her down her path of self-discovery.
There is a lot of nuance in the world building with the attention to detail that adds social commentary. Erin’s mom passes out big Hershey bar candies when kids trick or treat so that their neighbors will like them since their neighbors are implied to be racist towards them as seen when Erin accidentally delivers the newspaper to the wrong house and the man accuses her of being a thief. The Hershey bar is seen again in the later half of the season when their personal belongings from 1988 start coming through a rip in the future. Every moment and detail eventually has a payoff in the show. The show managed to answer most of its mysteries while setting up new ones.
Overall, Paper Girls is an interesting sci-fi series that does a great job at world building and developing complex characters. If you’re looking for a sci-fi series with time travel check it out.
