“Emily in Paris” - Season 3 Review

Story posted January 24, 2023 in CommRadio, Arts & Entertainment by Kaitlyn Murphy

Ooo la la, everyone’s favorite influencer is back for season trois of Netflix’s hit series, “Emily in Paris.”

The third season snuck onto the streaming platform just before Christmas, allowing millions of people to trade in their snowy, gift wrap covered environments for the relaxing glow of Paris for a few hours.

“Emily in Paris” picked up right where it left off last season– with Emily (Lily Collins) struggling to decide if she should remain loyal to her American boss Madeline (Kate Walsh) and go back to Chicago, or stay in Paris and work for her French mentor Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu).

It was not the most enticing start to the season, since there wouldn’t be a show if Emily…wasn’t in Paris. It was clear she would choose Sylvie.

Well, until Sylvie found out she never quit working for Madeline and had been playing “double duty” the whole time, and both bosses wanted nothing to do with her.

In the midst of this très stressful work debacle, Emily struggled to give her British boyfriend, Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) the time and attention he deserved. He reached his breaking point, and left Emily and Paris for London.

Emily was left alone as a consequence of her actions, which was honestly refreshing to see after she continuously played all sides and only cared about herself.

Now during all of this chaos, where, might you ask, was the fan-favorite hot chef Gabriel? The answer: tending to his chef duties and unfortunately not doing much for the plot until the very end of the season.

It seems the writers decided to toss him to the side like the green beans he cooks, and the reasoning is unclear. His charming French comments and banter with Emily are what made season one so addictive, and without that (plus Alfie wanting nothing to do with Emily for the first couple of episodes) Emily’s love life was nonexistent.

However, everyone else’s romantic drama more than made up for it.

Two breakups, one affair, and the introduction of a new man for Emily’s best friend, Mindy (Ashley Park) kept up the show’s theme of finding love in Paris (no matter how many tries it takes.)

An undeniable strength of “Emily in Paris” is the half-hour episodes.

The combination of the quick episodes and silly plotlines that viewers could turn their brains off to understand makes the show extremely bingeworthy. Season 3 shot up to the number one spot on Netflix practically the moment it was released.

Because this season mostly revolves around Emily’s marketing job and how she somehow excels with every pitch and is easily able to reach out to new clients because of her influencer status, many of the enjoyable side characters, such as Luc (Bruno Gouery) and Julien, are lost in her shadow.

It’s disappointing to say the least, and the show might get more credit if it made room for actual French stories instead of focusing solely on Emily.

However, that doesn’t mean season 3 of “Emily in Paris” is not worth watching.

As the season progresses, drama arises when Emily and Gabriel fall into an all-too familiar rhythm of always being there for each other when they need it. Gabriel and his longtime girlfriend Cami (Camille Razat) were on and off this season, but the final episode solidifies where they stand.

Episode 10 was definitely the highlight of season three, and felt reminiscent of the drama-filled earlier days of the show.

It leaves off with a major cliffhanger that will certainly bring back fans and hate-watchers alike. “Emily in Paris” was already picked up for a fourth season, so all will be revealed soon enough.

Kaitlyn Murphy is a first-year majoring in digital and print journalism. To contact her, email kvm6255@pvsd.org.