I heard about Emily in Paris some two years ago. But there were so many other shows and movies to watch that I had to push it further down my watchlist.
Fast forward to a rather gloomy evening of June. My finals were a week away, and I had the perfect excuse to procrastinate, and there it was, Emily in Paris, calling me from the screen.
Like every person with upcoming finals, I started watching it – and regretted not watching it sooner.
I guess the introduction clearly tells you that I pretty much adored this show, so let’s jump straight into review without prolonging my rambling.
Storyline
Emily works in Marketing, and her employer sends her to Paris due to an emergency at the workplace – her boss is unable to go work at the French office due to her unplanned pregnancy, so Emily has to. She walks into the French office of Savoir – which is a marketing agency, by the way – without knowing the language, and has to work hard to make a place. She is also trying to fight attraction for her neighbor and trying to make new friends. Will this city ever accept her for who she truly is?
The storyline is not too complex and keeps the audience hooked as Emily embarks on this new journey. We hate her new office, we hate her new colleagues, we can’t help but be sorry for the struggles she goes through, but we also can’t stop watching without knowing if she will make it. Amidst all this, Emily becomes one of our favorite heroes.
I didn’t quite like where her love life was going, with the whole fiasco with Gabriel, and then Mathieu and Timothee, but the show captures human emotions and dilemmas quite nicely – so the choices the characters made were understandable.
The storyline is just enough challenging without making the main protagonist’s life completely miserable and this helps retain the overall tone of the show.
Characters
Emily is, of course, our beloved protagonist. We do have our antagonists – and they are the employer and employees of Savoir. Gabriel and Camille brought in the much-needed challenge to Emily’s personal life, while Antoine brought one to her professional life. I loved how Emily’s friendship with Mindy grew throughout the season. I can totally see this friendship becoming one of the pivotal points in the next season.
I have weird love-hate feelings for Sylvie. She looks evil, but is she really? At first glance she seems to be a person who’s trying to protect her workplace from American invasion. But whether she messes up Emily’s life or not is something we need to watch out for.
Pace
For me, the pace for this season started out a little too fast. Emily lands in Paris right in the beginning of the first episode – which of course is the whole purpose of this show. But I guess the creators should have laid the groundwork a little more.
A few episodes in, the pace becomes normal and I could follow along with the incidents properly. All the episodes were equally enjoyable, and nothing felt too dragging.
Ending (with spoiler)
The last episode was too good to be true, especially the part where Emily arranges the quick show for Cadault and crashes the Grey Space event with his ringarde collection. It’s crazy how Sylvie, despite having years of experience in Marketing, couldn’t solve the issue at hand, but Emily was quick to save the day? This part seemed hasty, and the solution to the crisis with Pierre was extremely sloppy.
My heart ached for Emily as she had to say goodbye to Gabriel. But she and Gabriel sleeping together (yes, yes, after Gabriel had broken up with Camille) made me remember the whole ‘we were on a break’ fiasco from Friends. Were Ross and Rachel truly on a break? Did Gabriel and Camille truly break up? Especially now that Gabriel is staying back, is he automatically back with Camille?
Overall Thoughts
Emily in Paris is a feel-good show and a good watch for when you’re feeling low. Emily rarely encounters problems in her work and almost breezes through all her problems. This aspect is far removed from reality. But isn’t that the whole purpose of watching light and airy chick-lit shows?
Rating: 4/5
