Watching episode six of the fourth season of Emily In Paris, I had to do a double take. What was I watching? Were there new writers that we hadn’t heard of? Was there a reset of Emily in Paris? I honestly wasn’t sure, but I knew that this episode felt unlike anything that I had watched when it came to this show.
I was watching something different.
And I both loved and hated it.
You see, I can handle a reset of a television show and I don’t expect to be warned of it. But what it felt like was that the writers wrote themselves into a corner for the first half of the season and they set a paper shredder to scripts to change it. They wanted to fix it and open it the opportunities.
However, what it did was leave me so confused and wondering what I was watching. Part of me loved it and part of me hated it. But what I mostly felt was confusion.
That being said though, I am holding out hope that what path it goes on and that it somehow starts to make sense. So many things are confusing me here – like a timeline.
I know it’s Christmas, but since I have no idea of when it ended on episode 5, I don’t know how much time has passed. I need explanations.
CHICAGO IS CANCELLED
It’s Christmas time. I almost fell out of my chair knowing that in France they actually take time off and respect the need to relax and recharge. It’s not to say that we don’t do that here, but we don’t. Americans have this always-on thing and it’s a hard thing to unlearn.
Even if we want to.
I love how they show that difference in little things in this show. Emily still pitching and making calls. The French told her that she could circle back after the holidays. Watching it, I was like, Emily is me and I am Emily.
Emily is heading home and she’s definitely showing her tackiness for Christmas. But I am not hating, because what is better than an ugly Christmas sweater? Not much. I had to laugh when Mindy pulled one out of the suitcase and tried to get her to downsize before heading back to Chicago.
If you are familiar with Chicago weather during the winter, it should come as no shock to you that Emily’s flight home got canceled. She’s miserable – after being so happy for so many reasons. One was that Sylvie upgraded her to first class and she got to go into the lounge and it was everything.
Sometimes, though, things don’t work out and they need to not work out so you can fall apart and put yourself back together.
Gabriel wasn’t going back to Chicago with Emily but was in the French Alps with Camille’s family. When Emily calls him, Camille’s father insists Emily come and join them. There is no way that I would have done that, but I am not Emily. Part of me is glad that she does go for the reason that the TikTok that Camille’s brother made was finally addressed.
And I think that we need to fix a lot of the things that were left unanswered from the first half. For instance – would really like to see some Eurovision practice here. Neither here nor there, though.
Emily heading to spend Christmas with Gabriel and Camille’s family is just insane. She should have gone home to spend time with Mindy. At least then, she would be with people who truly love and care about her. I may be one of the few who believes that Gabriel truly doesn’t care about Emily, but I don’t believe he does.
The writers of Emily in Paris are very good at expecting us to believe certain things and to try and convince us that certain things ring true. Yet, they have given us no reason to believe that it is reality. Gabriel thinks about himself. He thinks about his wants and needs. There isn’t anything wrong with putting yourself first, but also, owning it.
When we’re looking at a show like Emily in Paris, part of the joy of it is the sheer ridiculousness and drama of it all. However, that being said, when the show seems to try to make a pivot away from the way it’s been set up, expectations change. The way the viewer looked at it once changed.
The way I look at Emily in Paris is changing. I still love it, but it’s gone from a show that seemed to know what it is, to a show that doesn’t know itself at all.
ABOUT TIME SHE SAW THE LIGHT
The one thing that I have always loved about Emily is that she makes choices based on emotion. The only time I hated it was when she made a choice about Gabriel completely based on emotion.
I don’t think that they belong together, but I also get that sometimes you have to learn a lesson the hard way. Sometimes you want things to work so desperately that even common sense goes out the window.
Emily knew the relationship between Camille and Gabriel. She knew that the two were uber dysfunctional and that Gabriel was still going to remain devoted to Camille. He believes that she’s having his baby and well, you have to respect the fact that he wants to be a good and devoted Dad.
BUT – when Gabriel and Camille talk her into going skiing and then leave her stranded on a mountain to make her own way down – that’s a hard no. She’s a beginner and the hill is a hard one. She keeps falling and she’s alone.
I would have been terrified.
But Gabriel doesn’t give it a second thought. Emily loses her phone and she’s just lying there, hopeless. Now, I would have given up too, so I am not hating on her woah is me, because WOAH IS HER.
And this is when we see a hot Italian guy, Marcello, stop to help her. He guides her down the mountain and makes sure that she’s safe before leaving her. She sees Camille and Gabriel there and goes off. Not on Camille, but on Gabriel. I thought she could have been meaner, but she was good.
What made the whole scene of her breaking up with Gabriel worse was that Camille just stood there and didn’t tell the truth. She could have come clean and said that she was not having a baby. She could have set Gabriel free. But she just stood there and she acted like she was so shocked and that she wanted them together.
We all know that she never did.
She says nothing and lets Emily leave — to head back to Paris and to leave them alone. At this point, I don’t know if Camille or Gabriel will ever be redeemable. To me, they are just giving ick.
SYLVIE AND THE COUCH
I believe that we’ll always just start to find out more about Sylvie and there will always be one more thing around the corner. What I wasn’t prepared for was for her husband to have a full-grown American daughter. What was I missing? Did I fall asleep? I am so confused.
Agence Grateau is Sylvie’s life. I get that. The only person we’ve ever really seen her soften to is her husband. Looking back, there would have never been a time to mention the daughter. But it feels odd how she’s just there.
Genevieve is very New York and very not used to the Parisian lifestyle. Her father and Sylvie are the opposite of her life back home. But, she is in Paris to interview for a job and when in trying to help, Sylvie messes that up, Sylvie offers her a job so that she can stay.
Of course, she doesn’t say that.
Sylvie is harsh and rough around the edges, but there isn’t a part of me that doesn’t get that about her. She is distant because that’s how she was raised. She loves her husband though and would do anything for him. It’s part of the beauty of who she is. She’s soft at heart.
I have always said that people who seem the harshest are sometimes the ones who love the most and want to be loved the most. The way that Emily in Paris has managed to show this and to make sure that there are people with all different sorts of personalities present.
I do appreciate that very much.
MINDY’S PARTY
If I was Emily, the one person that I would have invited home with me is Mindy. We all know that Mindy is fiercely independent, but I also believe she misses her family. Her own parents have disappointed her, but it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want the joy of Christmas.
Or maybe it does.
I love the party that she throws and gives everyone a place to go. She seems content amongst her friends, but also, at peace. When Benoit shows up, you can tell that there is something still there and I love that so much for her. She deserves to be happy and well, Nico isn’t a good boyfriend.
But what I loved the most about the party is we got to see Julian with a boyfriend. He may not have wanted him to be called a boyfriend, but I loved seeing him with someone.
We’ve seen everyone else in this show with someone, but him. He’s always there for everyone, but Julian deserves to have love. We all do. So why haven’t we been shown the more personal side of him? More of this side of him, please.
ALFIE IS BACK
“Cooper,” a strong English accent calls.
The voice sent chills down my spine and little did I know that the next five minutes would both break my heart and give me a sense of hope. As Alfie emerged, my heart felt a smile. A big smile.
Alfie is someone on this show that just makes the world a better place. It’s Christmas and here he is, a gift to us all. Seeing him and Emily talk – I saw the hope in both their eyes. His is the hope that she’s okay. Hers being the same.
But when he said that he had a girlfriend, I broke. I cried. I don’t even know how Emily stood there and didn’t burst into tears. Suddenly hope turned into pain and she realized even more mistakes that she had made.
There are so many times watching this show, that I can’t figure out what Emily is thinking or how she is feeling. I have always hated it. The thing is I can now see that she’s got this unbelievable talent to show emotion at the exact right moment. Emily is all of us – she’s guarded and she’s indecisive. She’s afraid but she’s also assured. There is just something about the moment that Emily starts crying and breaks – I broke.
As a viewer – this episode felt all over the place and up until the last five minutes. It doesn’t feel like the same show that the first five episodes of the season were and I am not sure exactly what that means.
And I am not sure if I like it. But we shall see. I guess the only good thing is that it started snowing in Paris and according to Gabriel, that is a sign of good luck.
Maybe the best is yet to come.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Camille at the end comes to Gabriel and says we need to talk – if she doesn’t tell him the truth… grrrr
- Emily’s outfits are on fire
- Emily standing up and telling Gabriel all the things she’s feeling – I APPLAUD YOU
- Marcello, you are hot. But stay away from my end-game
- I wanna meet Alfie’s GF
- Luc figure skating… impressive.
Emily in Paris, season four, is streaming now on Netflix.
