By Dominique Tassell
Released recently on Amazon Prime Video, Paper Girls is the new show you have to watch. If you love Stranger Things and have ever wondered what it would be like to meet yourself at another point in time, this is the show for you.
Starting in the early hours of the day after Halloween in 1988, the series follows four paper girls just trying to finish their delivery route when they become caught in the crossfire between warring time-travellers, changing the course of their lives forever. The series is based on the comic books series of the same name written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang.
Riley Lai Nelet, Sofia Rosinsky, Camryn Jones, and Fina Strazza stun in their roles as the new girl shouldered with a lot of responsibility Erin Tieng, scruffy tomboy Mac Coyle, tech-nerd Tiffany Quilkin, and sporty rich girl KJ Brandman respectively. The writing and acting combined create well-rounded and realistic female heroines who are given the space to make mistakes and frankly be a little annoying.
These newcomers are also joined by seasoned actors such as Ali Wong and Adina Porter.
The show provides good nostalgic sci-fi fun but approaches its blast from the past with more awareness than other media does. Touching on racism, sexism, homophobia, and more, the show doesn’t look at the past through rose-coloured glasses but shows it as it was.
The strength of the show really lies in the friendship between its female leads. Amazon Prime Video has produced some great female-centric shows in recent years but seems to struggle to hold onto them. They found success with The Wilds, but after introducing a slew of male characters in season two failed to meet their viewership targets and the show was cancelled. Whether this was also in part due to the success of The Summer I Turned Pretty, released at the same time, is unconfirmed but suspicious. Amazon previously cancelled its series Panic, citing the success of The Wilds as a reason.
The streaming service has produced great YA offerings but seems to suffer the same issues as Netflix, pumping out new shows they go on to cancel after two to three seasons.
With 30 issues of content to work with, I for one will be hoping Paper Girls goes the distance.
