Emily in Paris, but still the same old american

If you somehow missed the first season last year, Emily in Paris was released at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, with nationwide lockdowns raging the better half of the globe, producer of Younger and Sex and the City, Darren Star, released this latest rom-com show.  

With everything happening around us, the show inevitably became everyone’s temporary escape from all the unpredictable elements of our reality, which was probably a major reason why it took no time for Emily to jump up in the top 10 list on Netflix, with a similar reason attached to the success of the second season, timing being one of the better decisions for this show.

Emily in Paris, as the title suggests, follows a woman named Emily as she lands in the city of love to become an overseas representative for her Chicago based marketing firm. However, but this is not a mere story of an ambitious American, but is instead packed with intense relationship drama, a crazy wardrobe, and a whole lot of disasters.

Since the very beginning, Emily has always had a hard time settling into the French way of life, all the way from a major language barrier to their no-work weekends, with a lot of viewers suggesting that her ineptitude to fit in the French way of life was probably due to the lack of interest on Emily’s part, or her being overly comfortable with her Americanness. She believes she can survive her stay on the “fake it till you make it” motto, until the fact that she doesn’t speak French nor is she trying very hard to becomes a recurring joke in the TV series. Facing backlash on this laid back attitude in the first season, a little effort was made to send Emily to French classes so she can fit in better and become well suited to her clients at work, especially if she is to stay in Paris longer than anticipated, which is something fans will have to look forward to in the possible upcoming season.

The second season picks up exactly where the last left off, with Emily betraying her only French friend, putting herself in the middle of a weird love triangle between her friend Camille and the latter’s boyfriend, Gabriel. This recurring plot line makes the two seasons very similar, with Emily creating relationship problems for herself, making this the basic narrative that we follow throughout all the episodes released. After discovering Gabriel would be staying in Paris and not moving to Normandy as he initially planned, Emily tries to fix the problem she had created while keeping Camille in the dark, only to blow up the situation and making it worse for everyone involved. This is a route that Emily follows with a lot of the problems she comes across or creates, believing she can fix them all by herself, not wanting to take the advice of her Parisian fellows. Down the line, Emily meets a new love interest named Alfie, who initially takes no liking towards Emily, a sentiment that follows suit with a lot of viewers of the TV series.

A character that is interesting to watch and grow through season 2, both inside and outside the office, is Sylvie. Her snarky remarks and sly grin while she smokes a cigarette every time something goes wrong is not only amusing to watch, but quite relatable. Mindy also grows as a character amidst trying to live her dream in Paris of becoming a singer, even though her past always seems to haunt her.

One of the reasons this tv show became as famous as it did in the time it was released was because of its highly unrealistic setting, its representation of the inner workings of the corporate world, and the navigation of friendships and romantic relationships showcasing a stark lack of responsibility and accountability. Initially, this is what the world thought it needed to escape our the realities, but this quickly became a joke about clichéd American behaviour when the TV series had the potential of being a laid back, inconsequential and inoffensive comedy instead of being disrespectful to not only the French but many other cultures.

With all that the writers tried to improve with Emily’s character based on the backlash they received after the first season, there were things that just didn’t sit well with anyone, particularly the representation of the Ukrainian character named Petra. Petra is framed as a thief who steals from a luxury brand store, with Emily being the one telling Petra right from wrong, who still does not listen, while Emily heads back to return the items she had, doing the right thing as she always believes she does. Not only is this an overtly problematic representation of another culture but it also does not do much to help the already negative picture that is painted of Eastern Europe in the West. This caused enough outrage that the Ukrainian cultural minister called out Netflix and Emily in Paris for misrepresenting Ukrainian women, writing in a Telegram post: “We have a caricature image of a Ukrainian woman that is unacceptable. It is also insulting. Is that how Ukrainians are seen abroad?”

With everything that this TV series represents, if it were to be compared to a romantic comedy that was released a decade or two ago then maybe some of these things could have been overlooked as funny. A lot of the show and its plot twists were also things that could have been easily predicted. One thing however is the ability of the TV show to help you dream your idealised trip to Paris as that still seems like a far-fetched reality in our lives at the moment.

With that being said the show is still enjoyed by many, hence the show being nominated for various awards last season and being under the Netflix top 10 list in Pakistan and around the world. So the only question we all are really left with is; will Emily ever learn French?

Emily Cooper (Lilly Collins), Mindy Chen (Ashley Park), Camille (Camille Razart) in Emily in Paris Season 2

Alfie (Lucien Laviscount), Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) in Emily in Paris Season 2

Emily in Paris Season 2 Finale

Julian (Samuel Arnold), Luc (Bruno Gourey), Emily Cooper (Lilly Collins) in Emily in Paris Season 2

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