Paper Girls (Full Season Review)

Based on the Image comic book series, Paper Girls has been conceived as as Amazon's answer to Netflix's hit series Stranger Things but the show is anything but. To be fair, Stranger Things, in any season, involves an ensemble of characters, a maniacal doctor's attempt at superhumans, and/or another dimension with monsters. Paper Girls, on the other hand, deals with sci-fi and time travel. Or is it? So put your comparisons to rest.

Audiences who had not heard of this show before today should know that the show revolves around 4 12-year-old girls in 1988 from a small town called Stony Stream who accidentally stumble upon the future, more accurately, 2019. To find their way back, the girls go through an eye-opening journey that leads them to several different timelines, meeting their future selves in the process while The Old Watch, a time organization keeping the timelines intact, are hunting them down to set the timeline back to its original form. 

Yes, the premises sounds familiar, there is no denying that but there is something charming about this show that keeps you glued to the screen. A big part of that is the main cast. With enough character development and exposition within their respective arcs. These girls will be the sole reason this show will even make headlines. There's one thing audiences should notice with ensemble shows is that audiences are stuck in an illusion thinking that the show revolves around everyone when in actuality, it only matters if this one person makes it to the end or not. This cannot be said the same for Paper Girls when you are left thinking it focuses on one person when it allows enough screen time for these 4 girls to shine and for us to want them to reach home. 

Sofia Rosinsky's portrayal of Mac is the best amongst the four as her arc mostly relies on her struggle within the group as well as herself, thinking she should deal with things alone no matter what the world... or the future throws at her. Unlike the other characters, Mac is the only one that doesn't have an adult counterpart to play with. Fina Straza's KJ has an encounter that didn't count but her visit to her future self was effective enough to give her the gut punch she never thought she needed, allowing the audience to indeed experience the kind of confusion she goes through alongside her. With Riley Lai Nelet's Erin and Camryn Jones' Tiffany, their best scenes were when they were talking to their older selves which is a bit of a letdown but their portrayal especially when it came to voicing out their disappointment with how their future selves turned out, you almost wonder who is the most mature of the two counterparts. 

This show succeeds in being a character study as audiences explore each girl's backstories as well as their probable futures but lacks the sci-fi adventure most would expect when you read the premise blurb before you click play. The more time spent reminiscing, wishing they could change things, or getting agitated with being stuck in the future, the eight episodes basically slog through what could have made the show more exciting to possibly make up for not having a proper budget to make a proper a sci-fi show. Borrowing elements from many a number of movies and TV shows, it almost seems like Paper Girls doesn't want you to think it should be considered a part of the targeted genre. As a scene occurs to remind you this is indeed a sci-fi show, audiences would wonder if this should be a sci-fi show in the place. 

All in all, this first season spends enough time introducing the characters as opposed to the world and rules they were thrust into. Hopefully, if the audience and Amazon manage to catch the potential this show holds, a second season would be a great opportunity to expand the larger sci-fi elements that divert this narrative away from it being yet another coming-of-age drama, with more action, more time traveling and bigger stakes.