‘Emily in Paris’ Season 3 Episode 9 Recap: It’s All Hot Air

With her uncomfortable night with Gabriel firmly in the past, Emily is moving on. She decides to surprise Alfie at the train station when he returns to Paris from London, where he was spending time with his family, but the glow of their reunion quickly dulls when Emily learns that her boyfriend hasn’t told his family about her at all. Yikes. She’s understandably bummed, but they brush it off, although I suspect this won’t be the last we hear about it.

Later that day, Gabriel has texted Antoine for a meeting about “elevating the restaurant,” explaining that he wants a Michelin star and a raise. Antoine isn’t immediately swayed, but says he’ll consider it.

That same day, Emily is on a coffee break with Mindy, whom she confides in about Alfie. Emily feels insecure about him not sharing their relationship with his family, but Mindy says to be patient. I don’t know, between this and telling Emily not to reveal Camille’s affair to Gabriel, Mindy is offering some pretty questionable advice. Not only that, she’s also upset with Emily for what went down at the Cadault store opening, telling her, “you chose work over me.” Still, she’s willing to forgive her and invites Emily to a party to mark the end of her residency at the jazz club.

Later that night, Emily is at Gabriel’s restaurant bar with Alfie, asking him for help with work for a new client that’s looking to feature IRL couples getting engaged for a campaign. Conveniently, Gabriel walks in and drops the bomb that he’s planning to propose to Camille. Maybe not the wisest idea after confessing his love for Emily literally in the LAST EPISODE. I take back everything I said earlier about this man being smart. After hearing this news, Emily basically shrieks, “I’m so happy for you.” Very convincing!

Alfie, after hearing about Emily’s client, suggests using Camille and Gabriel in the campaign, which puts Emily in a tough spot, but she’s game anyway. Gabriel? Undecided. He’s open to it, but retreats to the kitchen before confirming.

Just hours later, he says yes in a late night text to Emily, and they agree to meet the next morning to look at venues for the proposal and campaign. While they’re looking, Emily asks Gabriel what made him want to get engaged after Camille returned from Greece. I, too, am wondering why he is getting engaged after spilling his entire heart (and some whisky) to Emily in the back of a cab.

Gabriel keeps it pretty vague, telling Emily he and Camille “opened up to each other in a way we never had before,” and saying he was inspired by meeting the chef in Provence and seeing him with his restaurant and children. He thanks Emily for “being a friend” (ouch), but this convo does actually feel like a resolution to the “will they or won’t they (again)” between these two.

At work the next day at Sylvie’s agency, Sylvie, Julien and Luc all meet for lunch and Julien is angry that Emily found a couple (i.e. Camille and Gabriel) for the campaign, which is run by his client, not hers. Luc, who invited himself to the lunch, is enjoying his food while Julien is ranting, then is appalled when he get soup all over his shirt. He’s really milking his time on screen as the goofy, funny co-worker. More of Mr. White Lotus in Season 4, please!

Over at Gabriel’s restaurant, Antoine and Alfie break the news to him that he’s not getting a raise, but Gabriel is getting a stake in the business and will have more ownership, making Antoine his “silent partner.” This is enough for Gabriel, who texts Camille to share the good news. The two meet at Musée d’Orsay, where they reminisce about one of their first dates there and stare into each other’s eyes and seem very in love.

So in love, in fact, that Camille proposes to Gabriel right there, taking the words right from him. He says yes, then calls Emily to break the news that he just got engaged, telling her, “I hope this doesn’t screw anything up for you.” Pretty sure it did screw things up personally and professionally, but Emily is unruffled, ending the call and returning to her meeting with Julien’s client behind the campaign. She tells them the couple is no longer available, then delivers a whole speech about manufacturing love and selling it, before she suggests floating couples in hot air balloons instead of capturing a proposal in real time. Everyone is in on the absurd idea except for Julien, who is annoyed he is being bulldozed by Emily once again.

After the meeting, Sylvie takes a call with her mom, who reveals it’s Sylvie’s anniversary that day and asks what she’s doing that night. Sylvie was supposed to go to the opera with Laurent after their reconciliation, but he’s working at his club in St. Tropez that night. Still, she shows up at the opera dressed in her finest black tie, and who does she stumble into but Laurent himself, who surprises her when he arrives at the last minute, explaining that he hopped on a plane right when he remembered the day. Swoon!

We jump from Sylvie’s classy opera to Mindy’s party, where Emily tries to smooth things over with Nicolas, who is absolutely not ready to forgive. When she apologizes for the Cadault catastrophe, he responds by effectively kicking her out of the event by telling Mindy that Emily was just about to leave. Emily doesn’t push back, and Nicolas really seems like a terrible guy (he’s tearing Emily away from the one person she has chemistry with on this show!), but Emily is putting her friend’s happiness ahead of her own…which backfires, because Mindy is upset after Emily is forced to make up an excuse about a work dinner so she can leave like Nicolas wants her to.

Emily — who has not only angered Nicolas, but her best friend and roommate, too — processes the whole mess outside with Alfie. She’s already upset, so she dumps even more on him, once again bringing up the fact that he didn’t tell his family about her. His excuse is that nothing has gone well in the past when he has introduced girlfriends to his family. When Emily tells Alfie, “I’m not going anywhere,” that’s enough for him, and he’s suddenly so eager to introduce her that he suggests they call his mom right then and there.

But Emily has a more romantic option in mind. She suggests they should participate in the hot air balloon campaign to publicly reveal their relationship. The next day, they���re smooching in the air and floating over France.