This Paper Girls review contains no spoilers.
The main thing that works against Paper Girls — Amazon’s mostly excellent TV adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang’s multiple Eisner-winning Image Comics series — is Stranger Things. When we see how both describe the adventures of pre-80s teens who are unwittingly thrown into supernatural conflicts where the fate of humanity is at stake, comparisons are sure to arise. This, combined with Stranger Things being the biggest thing in genre television in recent memory, means that the negative/most vocal aspects of fandom are now sharpening their Demogorgon-esque claws to dismiss Paper Girls as a derivative rip-off of the blockbuster series.
This would not only be wrong, but also completely inaccurate, given that Paper Girls (whose comic is a year older than the Netflix juggernaut) is its own original entity sharing only the most superficial and fleeting similarities with that other Reagan series. era .
Simply put, Paper Girls is smarter, weirder and more fun than Stranger Things.
A brief rundown of the show’s labyrinthine plot: On November 1, 1988, newbie paper girl Erin (Riley Lai Nelet) finds her first day at work complicated by everything from racist locals to sinister teens in the Stony Stream suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. She quickly befriends the tech-savvy Tiffany (Camryn Jones), who in turn introduces her to the other newspaper girls in the area: rich girl KJ (Fina Strazza) and aggressive rebel Mac (Sofia Rozinsky).
Together, the four young women find themselves in a time-hopping adventure that sends them into 2019, where they encounter adult versions of Erin and Tiffany (played by the ever-excellent Ali Wong and Sekai Abenì), as well as separate factions in a war spanning all the eras it represents. resulted from the discovery of time travel in which those who dare to leave their own timeline are immediately executed by the Prioress (an outstanding Adina Porter, best known for her role in True Blood) and her superior, the enigmatic grandfather (Jason Mantzoukas, who gives a sinister edge to his typically humorous landscape chews). Together, the girls try to stay alive long enough to return to their home days.
Given the comic’s dense narrative, you’d be forgiven for thinking the showrunners — including Christopher C. Rogers and creator Stephany Folsom (who left the series during production of the first season) — wouldn’t dare add more material. Bravely, they do just that by introducing the characters of Larry (Nate Corddry), a time agent with his own agenda, and Dylan (Cliff Chamberlin), Mac’s once-gangster brother turned doctor and surprised to see his little sister. for reasons obvious to anyone familiar with the show’s source material. None of this material feels alien, though, and the additions seamlessly lead to great comedic moments.
Humanity has been the focus of Brian K. Vaughan’s writing in the comics, and if anything, it only improves here. To paraphrase one of the book’s most touching moments: these aren’t just paper girls, they’re friends. Over the course of these first eight episodes, we can see their relationships evolve in a fair way. Whether it’s bonding over the shared trauma the characters experience, or coping with the tumult of puberty (the subject of one’s first period has never been treated with such candid grace on TV) or discovering of same-sex attraction, Paper Girls always feels genuine. This is no small feat in a story that threatens to overwhelm viewers with chronocentric info dumps of, er, from time to time.
The theme of what time does to us and our dreams returns in these eight episodes, as the girls must come face to face with the consequences of decisions they have yet to make that have shaped their future selves. It’s a fascinating aspect of the series that begs the viewer to analyze how their 12-year-old selves would feel about where they ended up. The ability to think deeply about one’s life is a staple of great science fiction, and it’s something Paper Girls excels at.
Each of the protagonists gets a chance to take center stage here, and it’s easy to imagine how much inspiration these characters will become for young viewers who will find a way to sneak a peek at the series despite its realistic use of profanity and sometimes surprising. violence. The performances are excellent across the board, marking Amazon’s latest unknown casting coup. (Expect Paper Girls to be the group costume this Halloween when the show kicks off).
Also noteworthy is how the series replicates the neon-soaked aesthetic of colorist Matt Wilson from the strip, rich with the pink of a sky at dusk. This series often looks beautiful, especially in the second half of the season, which more than makes up for the bottle show feeling of the first outings. (There is a surprisingly low price in the first two episodes that is quickly forgotten once the story begins to bring some of the comic’s literally great moments to life as the story progresses).
Less successful is the stern direction of the pilot, an hour of television that has the burden of introducing our characters and throwing them into conflict. Unfortunately, the debut episode is the weakest of the bunch, somehow entrenched by both too much exposition and a lack of explanation of what the hell is going on. You may wonder how those unfamiliar with the Paper Girls saga will react to this first outing and its shortcomings.
To be clear, stay tuned, by the time episode three rolls forward, the show has completely found itself. Amazon would be wise to roll out all episodes at once, as this is a series that offers a lot of benefits due to the dense nature of the material and the quick plot twist as it approaches a stunning cliffhanger.
Those who tune in expecting pop culture references a la the aforementioned Stranger Things may be a little disappointed, as Paper Girls is much more interested in setting up its own detailed mythology. That said, there are some “Running Up That Hill”-esque needle drops and subtle homages to everything from Flight of the Navigator to Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Despite some minor flaws, Paper Girls is a series that manages to be a satisfying adaptation of its printed self, while also taking the story to bold new places. You can expect a lot of people to say that Paper Girls delivers in the coming days, and you know what? As cliché as it may be, that statement is true. This is a series that deserves to be as loved as Stranger Things. It sure is that great.
All eight episodes of Paper Girls are now available to stream on Prime Video.
