Blue Tongues Don’t Lie
Episode 3 of Paper Girls starts with Larry recording a message for himself. As the sky turns that sicky shade of pink, he hurriedly dictates that he’s part of the STF Underground, the asset lives in the Grandfather’s office and he hurriedly mentions the date too – which happens to be 2019. With headphones and a blindfold on, he sits down and prepares for what’s to come. His counterpart, Jennifer, is not so lucky. Although she’s recorded the same message, she doesn’t remember who he is or recording the message about being part of the Underground. Larry’s plan is falling apart but he suddenly receives a message, telling him the system has been armed. The same system that older Erin activated on her device last episode. Unbeknownst to Erin, she’s being followed by Larry as a result. Older Erin catches up with the kids and apologizes for what’s happened. With Mac gone, the trio hitch a ride and head out to find her. Now, Mac actually happens to be at the hospital, dead-set on finding her brother. When Dylan shows up, he looks like he’s seen a ghost. It turns out his sister actually died when she was 16. Mac is shocked, especially when he thinks her being there is some kind of joke. Mac leaves her Walkman on the table though, which belongs to Dylan, and it happens to have a mixtape inside too. Dylan conducts a DNA test, which apparently can be done with immediate results, and realizes Mac actually is his sister. He wants to deal with this discretely and decides to drive her away from the hospital without getting the authorities involved. Unfortunately, leaving the parking lot coincides with Erin and the others showing up at the hospital. While the kids chill in the back, Larry attacks the older Erin in the parking lot and drives her away. The kids are shocked when they see and decide to follow, attempting (badly!) to drive and follow. Larry’s house is boobytrapped with spikes on the road, which the girls drive right over it and eventually come to a stand-still. As a result though, they’re captured by Larry who traps them in the basement and keeps them hostage alongside older Erin. In the morning, Larry orders the group out his basement to join him for something to eat. He demands to know what the device is and who they’re working for. Eventually Larry realizes that the paper girls are travellers and they’ve been brought to this time. Now, STF stand for Standard Time Fighters” and Larry explains that they’re there to combat the Old Watch. This group are bound on keeping time exactly as it is, while the STF Underground want to change things to better the future. The Old Watch have outlawed time travel as it threatens their way of life. Larry is convinced that they need to change things and disruption is good for progress and righting wrongs. Wrongs like income inequality and the growing divide between the rich and poor. The Old Watch feed people to dinosaurs and they’re closing in on them. Unfortunately, the girls traveling outside their time period is a capital offence and as a result, the kids are being targeted. Thankfully, Larry has a solution to their problems – a giant mecha robot.
The Episode Review
Pretty much everything in this episode is not in the comics and deviating wildly from the original story could go either way. For now, I’m still on the fence with this one but given how exciting and thrilling the comic actually is, this show is struggling to replicate that with these chapters. This almost feels like the American remake of Utopia in some ways. However, there’s still enough to recognize this as Paper Girls but for those unaware, the story sees the group jump to a time where mecha robots are fighting each other like kaiju. It’s unclear whether we’ll get that in this series but those expecting a faithful remake of the comics are definitely going to be disappointed by this one. The show certainly has its perks, but whether that’s enough to really allow this to stand out in a crowded small screen space remains to be seen.
