Adam Lenhardt
Senior HTF Member
And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"
The latest attempt by a streaming service to chase the "Stranger Things" magic, this series -- an adaptation of the 30-issue comic series by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang -- owes a bigger debt to Flight of the Navigator than Dungeons & Dragons.
Early on the morning of November 1, 1988, with the chaos of Halloween night still very much in the air, four girls delivering newspapers for the Cleveland Preserver find themselves in uncertain territory when the sky turns pink and everybody else in town seems to vanish. They soon become entangled in an epic conflict between two opposing ideologies and, after a series of terrifying events, find themselves stranded in 2019, or at least a version of 2019 where their paper routes that consequential morning had finished as planned.
Every kid dreams about the person they're going to grow up to be, but these girls have the chance to find out.
I'm four episodes in, and really enjoying it. Despite being centered around four 12-year-olds, this is very much an adult series with adult themes. It doesn't present a nostalgic vision of 1988, either; while it relishes the joys of that time, it is also cognizant of how far we've come since. The adult characters are allowed to be complex and flawed and human, trying their best and sometimes falling short. Not all of these girls were headed to a bright future before fate intervened.
The four girls are sharply-defined:
- Camryn Jones plays Tiffany Quilkin, one of the few black kids in their auto factory town in the Cleveland suburbs, and an early and enthusiastic adopter of new technology.
- Riley Lai Nelet plays Erin Tieng, the American-born daughter of Chinese immigrants. With American car companies scaling back production in the face of strong competition from Japanese automakers, Erin faces widespread anti-Asian racism while translating for her widowed mother. It's her first day delivering papers.
- Sofia Rosinsky plays Mac Coyle, the bad girl from the wrong side of the tracks. She lives across from the auto plant with her alcoholic father, her father's latest girlfriend, and her bullying brother. She has a bad reputation, but the other girls are also a bit in awe of her, because she was the first girl to get her own paper route; she cracked open the door that the rest of them walked through.
- Fina Strazza as KJ Brandman, one of the few Jewish kids in their community. She is bullied because of her religious identity, and because her family is relatively wealthy and prosperous at a time when so many families in the community are struggling.
