IIt’s inevitable that even the most innocuous TV series won’t be to everyone’s taste. I’m sure some viewers would even have the audacity to dislike Gilmore Girls, but there’s one deliciously sweet Netflix series that the haters really target: Emily in Paris.
It’s been called a “whirlwind of nonsense” and criticised for its acting, bad French accents (even among French actors) and the fact that hardly anything happens despite 40 episodes. However, there are a few who don’t appreciate what the show is supposed to be: blissful escapism.
In case you’re not familiar with the four-season romantic comedy, Emily, an American woman in her twenties, moves to Paris to work in marketing and live your life and mine to the fullest, with cute outfits, daily pastries, and an endless marketing budget – and no worries about how she’ll afford this lavish lifestyle.
It’s buttery light, like the first taste of a perfect croissant, and too much of it might dull its charm (though I doubt it), but it’s also too much fun not to enjoy to the fullest.
At the start of season four, Emily is newly single before her extremely attractive British boyfriend Alfie re-enters the scene, while her equally attractive French chef friend admits he’s been in love with her for years (we all knew it). In the dramatic season three finale, he’s even been jilted at the altar by his fiancée Camille when she admits she can’t marry him because he’s in love with Emily. She also forgets to reveal that she’s sleeping with her best friend, artist Sofia. The tangled love lives of this Parisian ensemble make up the bulk of the season’s plot.
Although this is an uncomfortable situation for Emily, it is undoubtedly a wonderful one as she considers her options and thinks about the crowd of sweaty, handsome men she passes while jogging.
Emily’s life is proven to be more of a dream from the female heterosexual perspective, with a few minor imperfections – like a full-blown tantrum in which she stomps her shoes on her landlady – to remind us that she is only human.
Soap-style storylines are enhanced with the glamour of Sex and the City (thanks to the same creator, Darren Star), as Emily struts through the streets, phone in hand, to meet her equally chic friend Mindy to discuss her latest faux pas, which just happens to be going semi-viral on TikTok.
It’s a romanticized reality that presents the endless American dream of Paris (and a little bit of Rome) as the city of love, where the streets are lined with singles, delicious cakes, and the best-dressed people in all of Europe. It’s the Paris that Rachel Green and Carrie Bradshaw long for and that Emily Blunt swoons for in The Devil Wears Prada.
But this show doesn’t demand to be taken seriously because it doesn’t take itself seriously. When an embarrassed Emily suggests that a kiss cam for a basketball game would be the perfect marketing strategy for a luxury perfume, she ends up (unknowingly) advertising a woman’s new moisturizer that’s actually a rebranded lubricant. Meanwhile, runaway bride Camille is tracked to Monet’s Japanese gardens in Giverny, where she now makes a living cleaning lily pads (as one does).
It is wonderful Subscribe Feel-good TV that triggers a dopamine rush similar to the first bite of Emily’s croissant, or the likes that pour in after a snap of her with said croissant. From time to time, there are some more serious subplots, to make a feminist statement about the fashion industry, for example, but only if the outcome is good. Nothing bad happens in this Friends-style sitcom reality; if it does, justice will prevail, as it should in the real world, but so often doesn’t.
Emily in Paris is a rare find – pop culture merging with digital trends and produced in Technicolor. The world is grim enough for lost twenty- and thirty-somethings, especially those who identify as women, who are confronted with almost daily news of violent hate crimes that prevent them from simply living peacefully. This is a warm embrace compared to the nonstop news cycle.
After four seasons, Emily 2: Paris probably doesn’t need to be discussed about its quality anymore, because the numbers speak for themselves. But you shouldn’t avoid a series that offers people a bit of escapism. Bébé, that never goes out of style.
