Basically: Four girls from the 1980s who run paper routes are transported forward in time and must find their way back home.
When “New Girl,” Erin (Riley Lai Nelet) starts her paper route on the day after Halloween she meets three other paper girls. Together they try to confront the local bullies…but end up getting teleported forward in time instead and right into the middle of a battle over time itself. They’ve got to work with future versions of people they know—and some they don’t—to try and get home again. If they end up making things right, well, all the better.
When the girls land in the future they meet future Erin—aka “Old Erin,” played wonderfully by Ali Wong. She’s such a great addition to this cast, playing an isolated lonely woman who never crawled out of her shell. She’s so wonderful in her frumpy frustrated ways that I find myself always looking to her in scenes.
She’s matched by each of the young girls she’s playing against. I don’t know which magician Prime Video went to but they got girls who look just like the girls in the comic. And each one of them plays their part with a dedication that makes it hard to fault the performances at all.
The locations and costumes—as a girl from the 80’s—were just as perfect as the soundtrack. I felt transported to a time when cell phones and Alexa did not exist, when things seemed more immediate and perhaps a little safer.
My only hesitation with this series is that episode 1 is so fast and frenetic I could barely keep up, while episode 2 is so slow I found myself looking at my phone. Episodes 3 and 4, though, are so good. There is a sibling relationship we get to witness, which is so good and true I had to stop the episode and talk about it. It’s that powerful.
In the End: Paper Girls is just awesome. The actresses are wonderful, the story is well done, the costumes and settings are perfect. This is the kind of series I want to see more of in the world: female-led, full of adventure, and fantastically written.
