Paper Girls Season 1 Ending Explained: Where Are Tiffany and Erin? What Happens to Mac and KJ?
Paper Girls Season 1 is available on Amazon Prime Video. Paper Girls was around before ‘Stranger Things’ was even a thing, but the Amazon Prime series will strike a chord with any fan of the Duffer Brothers’ sci-fi horror saga. An 80s decor? Check? A gripping story about the horrors of adolescence, with otherworldly concepts? Tick. A sociopolitical commentary on the anxieties of yesteryear? Tick. That said, Paper Girls is a series, and Season 1 only scratches the surface of the universe’s grand mythology.
Based on the Eisner Award-winning series of the same name from Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, Paper Girls follows the titular quartet of 12-year-old girls, Mac, Erin, KJ and Tiff as they travel through time. Along the way, they encounter warring factions, their future selves, and dinosaurs with an appetite for human flesh. But that’s nothing compared to the existential dilemmas that each of the girls must grapple with as the dramatic events unfold. If you have any questions about the end of Paper Girls Season 1, we tell you everything!
Paper Girls Season 1 The Story Recap
Before dawn on November 1, 1988, 4 12-year-old girls get up while it’s all dark around and the people of the night still come back masked for the Halloween party, to deliver the newspapers. As they find themselves dealing with a group of little bullies, the girls end up in the middle of a conflict between time travelers and suddenly end up in the future. Looking for a way back to the past, they will encounter the adult version of themselves. 12-year-old dreams and expectations crash into the reality of their lives. All while being hunted by a military faction, the Old Watch, who have banned time travel. Their only help could come from the rival faction, but above all to survive they will have to learn to trust each other.
The story, adapted from the comic of the same name by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, immediately makes it clear that upside-down Netflix will never be remembered. Paper Girls is a sci-fi story, and not a horror-fantasy one, which uses all the narrative styles of time travel and makes them their own. It is the science fiction matrix that makes the show distinguishable: space-time travel, technologically advanced weapons and time wars are the focal points of Paper Girls.
Paper Girls Season 1 Ending Explained: Where Are Tiffany and Erin?
When Prioress meets young Tiffany Quilkin, she realizes she can change things without causing violence. He intends to send young Tiffany into the future so she can convince older Tiffany to stop Dr. Joan Braunstein from creating the war that will last from the beginning to the end of time. However, his plan goes awry when the soldiers try to stop him. She sends Mac and KJ to the future, but Tiffany and Erin end up in a different place.
At the end of Paper Girls Season 1, Tiffany and Erin reunite at a drive-in. The period looks and the movie on the screen suggest they are somewhere in the late 50s or early 60s. This means that the Prior’s wish to change things is not going to come true. It seems she inadvertently put Tiffany on the path she didn’t want her to take. With the Old Guard soldiers attacking them, the girls are separated when Mac and KJ enter the ship but Tiffany and Erin are left behind. So where do Mac and KJ meet? Somewhere in the future. It is not yet known how far in the future.
In the comics, as they are scattered across time, the twenty-second century serves as host to some of their storylines. Chances are the prioress sent Mac and KJ in 2019, or sooner. However, finishing in the 2020s or so seems less likely for Mac and KJ as Prioress has also promised to help Mac get a cure for cancer. This means that Mac will have to go a little further, say to the 2100s. This era seems to be a better fit too because the older Tiffany will have a better grasp of time travel. But don’t expect a full comic book recreation.
Christopher R. Rogers has already assured fans that the series has room to experiment and grow beyond the events depicted in the source material. “I think Paper Girls has a very thoughtful arc in the source material that we would love to emulate,” he said. “But at the same time, we want to surprise viewers and expand on what’s there.
