PAPER GIRLS – Episodes 3, 4, & 5 – (speculative recap) ⁓

On the day the Paper Girls arrive in 2019, Larry Radowski (Nate Coddry) records a message reminding himself of who he is. He does so to safeguard himself against memory erasure (more about that later). In the recording, he mentions that the date is 23 June. Later, Larry discovers that 2019 Erin (Ali Wong) has activated that mysterious electronic device. When the Paper Girls see Larry shove elder Erin into his van, they follow him back to his farm, and he captures them as well.

Once he figures out that the Paper Girls are not a threat, Larry explains that a time war is in progress between the Old Watch, a clique of rich people who have outlawed time travel because it threatens their power, and the Standard Time Fighters (aka The Underground) who try to alter the past to create a better future. The STF knows first hand the effects of allowing those rich reactionaries to rule, bcause the Old Watch is a part of their past. Larry also informs the girls that the Old Watch sometimes feeds people to dinosaurs, and that they erase all memory of time travel from anyone they think shouldn’t know about it through a process called ablution.

Mac (Sofia Rosinsky) rejoins the other girls just in time to hear about the time war. She met her older brother Dylan Coyle (Cliff Chamberlain) in Episode Two, and had trouble convincing him of who she is, because, as Dylan explains, she died of cerebral lymphoma when she was sixteen. (Apparently it is possible to travel to a future beyond one’s own death.) It took a while, but Dylan, who is a doctor (Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine), finally believed her, and arranged for Mac to stay with him, passing her off as his distant cousin Kimberly.

KJ (Fina Strazza) swiped Larry’s motorbike and went searching for Mac. She met Mac’s sister-in-law Jennifer (Marika Englehardt) who told her that Kimberly (alias Mac) was currently eating at the local Chili’s with her cousins, and should be back soon. The conversation between Jennifer and KJ hints at things to come, especially when Jennifer tells her: “I’m glad she’s got a girlfriend like you” (which makes KJ flustered and all kinds of defensive).

The Prioress (Adina Porter) and KJ both showed up at the Coyle house about then, so Mac took off with KJ and they headed back to the farm on Larry’s motorbike, violating at least two state laws in the process. (In Ohio, passengers are not allowed on motorcycles, and helmets are required for anyone under the age of 18.)

The objective of Nardo and Heck‘s mission to 1988 (see previous post) has not been revealed. As far as we know, the only thing they accomplished was delivering the Paper Girls to 2019. The device Heck gave Tiff controls a large bipedal mechanical device stored in one of the farm’s silos, and since she was able to activate the controller, elder Erin is tasked with piloting that giant device through a time folding to 1999. Tiffany (Camryn Jones) suggests they go back to 1988 first. Larry agrees to that and they all arrive after dark, just outside of Stony Stream, where an even larger mechanical person materializes and kills Larry.

2019 Erin gets back into the machine that brought them there and engages in mechanical hand-to-hand combat with the new arrival. (We never get to see the larger machine’s operator, so it might be controlled by an AI.) When defeat seems inevitable, she detonates her power source destroying both machines and herself in the process. Shocked by the death of Erin’s 43-year-old self, the girls walk into town and discover it is July 3rd, 1999. There is some discussion about Larry and whether or not he tricked them, but all that survives of the Larry they knew is his notebook, in which he kept a coded record of naturally occurring time foldings.

The Brandmans always spend the July Fourth weekend on their boat, so KJ suggests that they use her house as a base of operations, but when they get there, the house is far from vacant. A party is going on, and they decide to crash it to get food and supplies. The 1999 version of KJ’s dog Patty recognizes her, indicating that time travel probably doesn’t affect a person’s scent. Lou Bega‘s 1999 release Mambo No. 5 plays in the background, followed by Perry Como’s “Papa Loves Mambo“.

KJ visits her bedroom and meets Lauren (Maren Lord) who explains that she and 1999 KJ are in film school together at NYU. When 1988 KJ (masquerading as her cousin Katherine) says she hasn’t seen many movies, Lauren recommends Stanley Kubrick’s films, mentioning Paths of Glory and 2001: A Space Odyssey. (Not mentioned is Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut, which will be released thirteen days later.) Visible on KJ’s bedroom wall are movie posters for La Femme Nikita (1990), Merci la vie (1991), and Ed Wood (1994). There is also the Danish poster for the 1953 film Beat the Devil. (The Danish title for that film is “Fuld af Løgn!“, and the poster features Jennifer Jones and Gina Lollobrigida, pretty much ignoring Humphrey Bogart.)

KJ discovers that her older self and Lauren are lovers. This probably does not entirely surprise her, but she immediately flees the party, and insists that the others leave as well. When Mac asks her why she’s being such an asshole, KJ punches her in the nose. Then Tiff locates a pay phone outside the train station and puts in a call to her future self, asking for help.

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All episodes of PAPER GIRLS can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.