‘Paper Girls’ Recap: ‘It Was Never About the Corn’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of ‘Paper Girls’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Over the course of the past few weeks, our discussions revolving around the Prime Video series, Paper Girls, has focused heavily on concepts revolving around the future and how it weighs heavy on our minds. For the series has dug deep into such matters and it has even pondered upon what it would be like to see ourselves in the future and the dangers and disappointments that could accompany such a feat. But after spending a great deal of time exploring all of that in the first three episodes, it would seem that such concepts are going to take a backseat going forward. For the next episode of this dynamic series, more or less wrapped up such matters, in order to focus on the Time War surrounding our heroes.

Which does make sense, since there are grand events surrounding the Paper Girls and that needs resolution… as does the fact that they are still eager to get home and enjoy 1988 once again. Which is why ‘It Was Never About the Corn’ worked fast to resolve all the hanging plot threads created in 2019. Since we came to learn that Future Erin was in a family fight to get her mother’s house sold and after confronting Missy over such matters, there was little left in 2019 for Erin to be concerned with, freeing her to do more. Not to mention, things got weird for Mac. Because her brother Dylan, figured he could adopt his sister as his daughter and well… Mac struggled with the fact that her brother grew up and would treat her like a dad, and that she’d be an equal to her nieces and that made it easier for her to pull away when the time was right.

Because despite some misgivings on Larry’s part, since he wanted Future Erin and the Paper Girls to join the fight with his awesome robot that was also a time machine… he eventually acquiesced to her very specific request regarding the Go-Time-Bot. In that, these girls needed to get home. For they were young and had their whole lives ahead of them and it would be awful to try and ask them to join in mortal combat for a cause that they have no ties to. Which led to all kinds of preparations to depart to 1988 in the machine. The kind that saw everyone race against time to not only learn their roles regarding the machine, but to rescue Mac from the future. In part because the vortex to escape was about to hit at a specific time, but also because… trouble had finally found the Paper Girls in 2019.

For Prioress was closing in on all of them, to the point where she came within inches of dealing with KJ and Mac at the local Chili’s where Mac was convinced to return with the crew. Which made for quite the intense finale, where Prioress was constantly on their heels and causing all kinds of trouble. But in the end, the robot time machine managed to escape with everyone intact and should… be on its way to back to 1988. Unless time travel gets tricky in this story as it often does within this genre. But in the end, it was nice to see our heroes and our villain come closer to interacting and to see… the first on screen appearance of Grand Father. Since he did pop up in the closing moments of this tale to express his disdain for Prioress being just a few seconds behind.

Either way, it’s obvious now that the story is shifting gears and taking us into the heart of the war and the chase for the Paper Girls and that’s not a bad thing by any means. For it finally ups the stakes and gives us a look at the Time War and of course… it means we can enjoy more of the iconic Grand Father and see what the girls will become in 1988 with knowledge of what's happening behind the scenes, if that is indeed their destination and well… once again, the phenomenal writing here and strong performances just compel us to continue the journey post haste. So, we can see where this unique story is going to take us next, now that it is moving into a new phase in its structure and design. Until next time.

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