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When it comes to modern comics writers, Brian K. Vaughn has one of the best-known bibliographies of anyone who is working in the industry. A large amount of his work while working at independent publishers and imprints including,j Y: The Last Man, Saga, and Ex Machina, have gone on to become modern classics. This weekend marked the live action arrival of one of his most recent works on Amazon Prime, the Eisner Award and Harvey Award winning and Hugo Award nominated series Paper Girls. While the effects may not be the best, the story that runs through the eight episodes is more than enough to leave a satisfying experience.
The story follows Erin (Riley Lai Nelet) who is just starting out at a new job in 1988 as a paper girl who meets three other girls who also run paper routes named Tiffany (Camryn Jones), Mac (Sofia Rosinsky), and KJ (Fina Strazza) when all four are transported forward in time to 2019. The four girls have to come together and figure out how to get back home to 1988 with the help of some of the older versions of themselves. The show also boasts an impressive supporting cast, including Adina Porter, Ali Wong, and Jason Mantzoukas.
The show works because, despite the low budget for some of the effects shots (which, in fairness are mostly in the first episode and the last two), the show focuses on the girls seeing their future selves and dealing with what their futures hold. Without getting too deeply into it, two characters has to grapple with her life not turning out the way she expected, one character learns that her death is impending, and one character watches herself come out from her parents’ expectations in a way that she was not prepared for. Coupled with the fact that these characters are learning all this while also just starting to learn who they are as people to begin with, it creates some incredibly deep and emotional moments.
On the other side of this, because so much time is devoted to these character arcs, the science fiction framework that surrounds the show and supports the plot is lacking. When it comes to time travel, there does not need to be a ton of explanation into how it works or the semantics of what happens when time travel occurs because it is all theoretical anyway and the deeper you go in an explanation, the less likely it is that the internal logic around it will continue to work. For example, look over at Marvel Studios’ attempts to explain and set up a multiverse with time travel as a component where the internal logic is, at best, inconsistent. That said, the show does not really explain a whole lot about what is going on in the time travel wars and all the information is exposited by two characters, one on either side of the conflict, and neither of which has a reason to tell the complete truth about the situation. The show does not rectify this with the audience either, leaving a bit of obscurity about what’s going on in the show, and not in a good way. Season two is shooting currently so maybe that will be expanded on further in that season.
The show is eight episodes long and was made available in its entirety on Amazon Prime. That may seem like a lot but each episode is just over a half hour long so it is not as long as some other shows released using the binge model (like next week’s The Sandman on Netflix which will be 10 hour-long episodes). That said, viewers will want to sit down and watch this show all the way through because every episode is gripping and the character studies that the show takes the viewer through is unlike anything else on television.
Final Rating: 9/10
