‘Paper Girls’ Recap: ‘A New Period’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Five of ‘Paper Girls’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
​
For the most part, time travel stories, like to keep their themes and concepts fairly lighthearted. For traversing the timeline comes with a bevy of implications and potential horrors, so it is best that these stories make the most of it and try to keep our spirits up. All so we don’t let our mind wander into what it would be like to say… see Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944… or relive the terror of 9/11 or perhaps see the day we die. Which is why Paper Girls on Prime Video is such a powerful and revolutionary time travel tale. Because it is fearless in what it is willing to explore and it will go to dark places if the moment calls for it, as evidenced by the next episode in this stunning series.

Because ‘A New Period’ picked up shortly after the group made a run for it in a giant Battle Bot in 2019 to return to 1988 and well… it didn’t take long for their arrival in the past to be of concern. Because Larry was acting quite strange, and trouble found them quickly. To the point where people lost their lives. For the warrior that arrived from the other side, laid Larry to waste and in a brave act of self-sacrifice, 2019 Erin died in combat with this other warrior from Old Watch to keep the girls safe and well… in the wake of this maddening and heartbreaking sequence of events, the Paper Girls came to learn they were in 1999 as Larry wanted. And with both bots destroyed and the Old Watch on the move… they were stranded here.

Which was… a dark reality for these twelve-year old girls to face. Because it meant they had no hope of ever seeing home again, and they had no money, and no place to stay. They were basically on their own and that meant they had to resort to tough decisions. Such as shoplifting to help Erin with the reality that her menstrual cycle had arrived, and they even took the time to crash a party for 1999 KJ in the hopes of just having something to eat. A move that thankfully gave them a little bit of time to catch their breath and ponder upon where they go from here, because they had to make plans for tomorrow and kudos to the show for exploring this difficult twist in an honest and earnest manner. One that reminded us that time travel would likely be dangerous and not fun, and at times emotionally rattling.

After all, being the house of Future KJ, meant another encounter with a future Paper Girl, had to take place. And it most certainly did, in a supremely surprising manner for KJ. Because she came to learn a lot about her sexuality on this voyage into her future life, and she wasn’t sure how to reconcile the reality that she was in fact, a lesbian. Not because she was appalled at her future self and how comfortable she was in her own skin and her own sexuality. But because this discovery robbed her of the journey of discovery and clarified such matters well before she had given them proper thought. Which created a bit of a struggle mentally for certain, one that will likely soon pass, since she finally has a better understanding of who she is.

But one would think that a pair of jarring encounters with future versions of themselves would be enough to teach them to perhaps stay away from who they are down the line. But desperation for food and shelter and quiet, motivated Tiffany to call up her 1999 iteration for help. Leaving us to wonder how that encounter will go and what it will teach Tiffany about herself and of course… where the girls go from here. For they have no options and path home, and that’s scary for certain and it’s also, a brilliant way to end this tale. Since it puts us in refreshing and potentially uncharted territory for a time travel story and well, the only way to figure out what comes next, is to hit play on the next episode post haste and continue this incredible journey. Until next time.   

---

Powered by JustWatch