Growing Pains – As the first episode of Paper Girls begins, Erin is busy drinking wine straight from the bottle. She lays on the bed until she hears electrical crackling and sees a light flash outside. When she hears the door open and footsteps, she calls for help. She begins yelling and threatening to call the cops. The series jumps back in time as Erin (Riley Lai Nelet) gets up when her alarm clock goes off. Local boys harass the deliveryman as he drops off the newspapers that Erin will be delivering for the morning. Tiffany (Camryn Jones) is awoken by her mother Carol. KJ (Fina Strazza) finds a dress in her closet with a note letting her know it is for Shabbat as she prepares for work. Dylan threatens Mac (Sofia Rosinsky) to make sure she doesn’t take his Walkman again. Once he leaves, she manages to steal cigarettes for the woman sleeping on the couch before putting on the headphones to the Walkman.
When Erin’s mom gets up, Erin tells her that it is going to be fine and she wants to do this. Once she reassures her mother that everything will be okay, she leaves on her bicycle. She throws a newspaper on the walkway of a house that isn’t on her list so she has to retrieve it. However, the owner comes out and accuses her of trying to steal her paper. He says it is bad enough that the Japs are running the plant out of town. She tells him she is Chinese before Tiffany rushes over to give the man his paper. She claims Erin was confused, but she denies it. As they walk away, Tiffany urges her not to get her head split by a racist jerk. Erin catches up with her to say she would’ve been fine. After exchanging names, Tiff tells her Hell Day was a bad day to start. Halloween only ended a few hours ago so she’ll find out soon enough. Erin tells her that her route is Marion and then Caroline.
Tiff tells her she isn’t even on the right block. She gives her a radio so they can contact one another if they run into any issues. Mac joins them to warn them that she just saw Wally Becker and his buddies chasing a paper girl down Hemlock. As they ride away, they yell for Erin to come with them since they’re going to need backup. They go to the tunnel where Wally (Carter Shimp) and his friends are harassing KJ. Mac shoots fireworks at them as they begin running back to their bikes. Once they escape, Mac and the others mock Wally and his friends. KJ thanks them for the backup. Erin knows Mac was the first paperboy around here who wasn’t a boy. Mac suggests KJ is the Brandman kid such as the Brandman First National Bank and Brandman Library. KJ’s grandfather was a big deal. Mac’s father says those people own everything.
Once Mac says she better get moving, Erin suggests sticking together. Mac isn’t interested though. Tiff says they can use her radios to split into two groups and get their routes done. Mac agrees that they’ll ride up to Sunnydale together before splitting into two groups. She tells Erin that she isn’t going to bite her or anything. A car arrives with masked men who scream at them before speeding away. The girls talk about their last costumes as Mac reluctantly admits she dressed up like a Care Bear. Erin only went once because her mom thought it was too dangerous for her daughters. She really just thinks her mom was afraid of talking to the neighbors since her English isn’t good. Once she tried it, she thought she was too old for it. Erin tells them that they can call her Erin before they check the radios to make sure they’re working properly. As they continue, someone grabs Erin and pulls her off her bike.
They leave her on the ground and run away with the walkie. Mac insists it wasn’t her fault since she just got dropped on her backside. KJ thinks they should call the police, but Mac says the piggies in this town won’t do anything. When someone talks on the radio, Mac tells them they’re coming to get their stuff back. Mac bets everyone five bucks that Wally and his friends are hiding over there. They suggest murdering them if they find Tiff’s walkie broken. The girls run into the new construction house where KJ says it smells like old gym socks and barf. Mac gives Erin advice for fighting without breaking her thumbs. They believe the boys are in the basement.
When they rush the guys, they notice that they begin speaking in a foreign language. The girls begin freaking out after the guys leave since it wasn’t Wally after all. Once the electric panel begins sparking, the girls run in hopes of escaping. Erin worries about it being so bright outside and says she needs to get home. They make it outside where they notice that the sky is now pink or purple. They rush back to Mac’s home and begin questioning why the sky looks like that. Mac finds it odd that nobody is home and her father left his cigarettes at home because he never does that. Tiffany theorizes that there was a nuclear attack and everyone was evacuated. KJ reminds them they don’t know it is a nuclear attack though. The girls hear the foreign language on the radio again. KJ finds it odd that they didn’t see anyone on their ride over here.
When Erin says she needs to go, Mac tries to stop her. Erin says she can’t wait because her mom can’t even go to the bank by herself. Since her English is poor, her mom won’t understand if there is some kind of emergency. They decide it is best for everyone to stay put and not let anyone else in. As they sit in the kitchen, KJ says she won’t have to wear that dumb dress for her bar mitzvah if it is an invasion. Tiffany has only been doing this job for a year, but she has a lot of stories to tell. She tells them about the time she went to collect on Marion and the guy was completely naked when he came to the door. It turned out that the guy was sleepwalking. Mac tells them about the guys who used to throw full cans of beer at her on Amherst. Erin shares snacks with them while saying they give them out every Halloween.
They’re trying to make the neighbors like them even though they really don’t. KJ and Tiffany like her. The girls hear a strange noise before a car passes by outside. Mac grabs a gun just in case there is anyone outside, but the others want her to put it down. After the gun goes off, Erin finds blood on her shirt and collapses to the ground. They try to keep Erin calm while driving her to the hospital. Erin asks for Missy just before they see some guys with guns in front of them. As the girls are pulled out of the car, Erin sees a man who tells her that the future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted. It belongs to the brave. Someone does something to Erin’s wound. The guy in black tells them their friend is going to be okay. He asks them about traveling before telling them to get back in the capsule. He warns them that the others are coming and they’re a long way from home.
The enemies arrive and begin shooting at them so the girls have to run. Erin hides behind a tree before a bug lands on her hand and she says this can’t be real. When she pulls up her shirt, she finds many more bugs crawling on her belly. She runs over and joins the others. Tiffany and one of the guys in black run over next. When he gets shot, he hands Tiffany something and says it’ll get them to the Underground. The girls run from the bad guys until they find a place to hide. Erin shows them her stomach to explain how she isn’t dead. After they decide to go to Erin’s house, they’re confronted by one of the bad guys who wants to know if they’re Underground. They plead with him not to shoot anyone. Tiffany asks if he looking for the item she received before KJ hits him several times with the stick. They watch as a woman walks over and shoots the guy in black.
Then, the girls run to Erin’s house. Erin opens the door and lets them inside. They find out that the power is back on as Erin begins yelling for her mom and Missy. An older Erin walks down the stairs. They ask why they’re there and claim it is their house before Tiffany tells Erin she needs to see the pictures on the fridge. The older Erin asks how she knows her name. Young Erin doesn’t want to believe that she is looking at an older version of herself.
Paper Girls Review
The first episode of Paper Girls had some interesting scenes near the end, but I can’t say I am hooked right now. The overall feel of the show was a bit odd to the point that it was hard to know exactly who the targeted base was meant to be. Some aspects make it seem like the show was written for younger viewers, but the dialogue and soundtrack are not.
The girls certainly do not seem like 12-year-olds at all. The series has a low-budget feel to it that reminds me of Moonhaven. Sadly, viewers will be able to see how little was put into transforming the comic into a small-screen series. It may take a little more time to become sympathetic towards the characters, but most of them just made me cringe in the first episode.
The dialogue wasn’t great either. Still, this is only the first episode and it is going to take time for things to really develop and get going. The series is based on a successful comic book series so it has everything it needs to be a successful show. Whether it’ll achieve that will depend on how successfully the comic is adapted.
The first episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Paper Girls can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support our work at this link.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
