Paper Girls
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Time loops are a bitch, arent they?

Erin could change things and never die in that robot fight.
The futures so bright, right?
I care about them, okay?
As soon as Juniper starts reciting their coordinates, the four paper girls know all hope is lost.
Theyve heard those coordinates before.
In fact, theyve heard those coordinates in Junipers voice before.
That should sound familiar to you, too its exactly what happened back on November 1, 1988.
Its a time loop.
That would be the cruelest time loop.
At first, their offer to Mac and KJ, who they find first, doesnt seem so bad.
Just a little ablution, and then theyll plop them right back in time where they belong.
Theyll never remember a thing.
It actually sounds lovely to Mac.
But KJ has a different idea: Why cant they help save Mac?
Send her to the future where cancer can be cured before putting her back in 88.
Not surprisingly, thats going to be a no.
Your time is your time, he says, repeating the Old Watch motto.
But KJ calls bullshit.
Its a great question, and for KJ, everything happens for a reason is an unconvincing answer.
We always have a choice.
We can always at leasttryto change the outcome.
KJs passion inspires Mac, and she switches over to Team You Better Not Ablute Us, Dude.
Lets be honest: They were never really going to have a choice regarding ablution.
1999 Larry and his shotgun tell them to let the girls go.
He doesnt care that hes outnumbered here, he is doing something good.
He is trying to do something good.
Hes really making up for 2019 Larry!
Larrys sacrifice gives the four girls enough time to hide in the farmhouses basement and regroup.
Dont they seem so much older than they were last here?
And that was like, what, three days ago?
Mac, most of all, displays a level of vulnerability that was unfathomable when she first showed up.
She finally tells the other girls that she dies when shes 16.
I already have an expiration date, she tells them.
But they wont hear it.
Tiff reminds them that theyve lasted this long because theyve always stuck together.
Were not gonna change that now, adds KJ.
They walk outside to face Prioress and a goddamn dinosaur and they hold hands.
They are a unit, a team, friends, always.
Oh wait, no, thats something else.
It doesnt take long for her to reveal why.
Coming through with the win!
All Prioress wants is to end the madness and Grand Father never will.
The bonus, of course, is that in the future, theyll be able to save Mac.
Of course they agree to it.
Well, no one else in the Cathedral is into it.
The betrayal!).
Before Prioress can send it, however, Grand Father has ordered other soldiers to try and stop it.
They cant stop it from leaving, but they definitely mess with the controls before it goes.
Tiff and Erin walk out of the capsule into a cornfield.
Theyre back on Larrys family farm, but Mac and KJs capsule is nowhere to be seen.
Tiff and Erin have landed in the past, and they are very much all on their own.
At one point, Mac holds KJs hand and thanks her for being her and being there for her.
The moment is definitely charged, and KJ pulls back her hand and invents a reason to leave.
Mac stomps off, hurt.
These two have somefeelingsabout each other.
Mac asking Grand Father if he has a boss is still making me laugh.
The Old Watch soldier KJ killed with that hockey stick?
It was Prioresss brother.
When Prioress makes the Quilkin Institute reveal, we know Tiffs plan worked.
The dinosaurs name is Tessa, in case you were wondering.