‘Paper Girls’ is a Deep Character Dive Across Time
Amazon’s new series Paper Girls is a slow-burning time travel story that dives deeper into the lives of the comics’ lead characters.
Paper Girls is Amazon’s newest teen team-up is based on a popular comic book by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang. If you were looking for another nostalgia-soaked adventure like Stranger Things, you won’t find it here, though. This show is a very slow burn, and it builds the universe by focusing on its four engaging lead characters.
The Paper Girls Are the Show
Amazon Prime’s Paper Girls show is based on the Image comic of the same name by Brian K. Vaughn and Cliff Chiang. It’s a story about the young girls who took over paper routes as newspapers were dying out in the late 80s. It’s the kids-on-bikes coming-of-age formula we know and love. But one thing makes it a little different (I mean besides the fact that it’s about girls.) These girls discover a time machine. And in so doing, they stumble into a space-time war – and also their future selves.
Mac, KJ, Tiff, and Erin are the reason to watch this show. The show delves deeper into the lives and personalities of wild child Mac, wealthy KJ, ambitious Tiff, and a young Erin searching for her identity. The actresses who play each character are incredibly well cast and do a great job of just being regular late-80s kids. Riley Lai Nelet as Erin explores the family dynamics of her future and plays her identity crisis very effectively. Camryn Jones’ Tiff is fierce and has exceptional chemistry with Sakai Abeni who steps in as her brilliant if not directionless future self. Mac, played by Sofia Rosinsky, exhibits so casually well the traumas of neglect and abuse. Meanwhile Fina Strazza handles KJ’s storyline in a way that will touch the hearts of queer viewers in a delicate and beautiful way.
While the story is set into motion by a story of time travel, the majority of the narrative is devoted to the girls past and future selves working through some things. The character work here is excellent on the parts of both writers and actresses, even if it comes at the expense of the timey-whimey parts of the plot. As soon as the girls arrive in 2019, the girls come face-to-face with Erin as an adult.
Ali Wong & the Girls Grow Closer
Ali Wong is brilliant as an older Erin, and contrasts nicely with her younger, more idealistic self. Through conversations with her past self, she’s able to work through old conflicts and face realities about herself. For those of us who’ve imagined what it would be like to meet our younger selves, it’s a dream of both acceptance and understanding. Watching these two versions of the same character verbally spar with one another about what kind of person they’d like to be is a great kind of mind-f*ck.
The Time Travel Gets Lost in the Pacing
Unfortunately, Paper Girls may have trouble holding on to a devoted audience. The showrunners really took their time with the narrative – in some places, too much time. It’s really slow. The time travel aspect of the story is less of a plot and more a function to move the story along. There are very few action sequences or exploding stuff. The CGI is minimum and so are the fight scenes. This is a story almost primarily focused on character development. The weird sci-fi vibe that radiates from the comic gets whittled down to a bright pink sky. I’d love to see a second season, but I might suggest that they pick up the pace a little bit.
