🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐

“Emily in Paris”

Let’s be honest: Most Americans who go to Paris imagine the trip will be an IRL rom-com. Eiffel Tower selfies, bicycles, baguettes and berets… it all seems like a montage that leads to a sexy Parisian, helplessly drawn to your wide-eyed charm, sweeping you up for a night of cheese and sex, right?

That will never happen (for most of us), but that’s what makes Emily in Paris the ultimate adult wish-fulfillment show. Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) gives you hope that if you stay true to your try-hard self, you can live that fantasy… and gain thousands of Instagram followers in the process.

Thankfully, Emily in Paris wastes no time in getting Emily to Paris already. Emily’s boss Madeline (Kate Walsh) is up for a promotion that will take her to Paris. Madeline has dreamed of living in Paris in part because “French men love older women!” — just look at the Macrons. But after sniffing a perfume that marketing whiz Emily describes as smelling “like poetry,” Madeline vomits into the trash can. Turns out, she’s pregnant and needs to stay stateside, which means Emily gets to snatch Madeline’s promotion and relocation benefits!

Before she can bid America au revoir, Emily has to break the news to her Chicago boyfriend, Doug (Roe Hartrampf). Doug is initially shocked that Emily wants to go, since she doesn’t speak French — like, didn’t even take it in high school — but since when has that ever stopped an American from going to Paris? But no matter, Emily is off on her adventure. Cue the montage of fromage!

The first Parisian to hit on Emily is the dude from the rental agency who shows her to her fifth-floor walk-up apartment. Emily doesn’t care about the dude, but the building is so charming. Did you know that in Europe you start counting stories from the floor above the lobby? So a fifth-floor apartment in Paris is a sixth-floor apartment in America. So anyway, Emily accidentally tries to break into the unit below hers, which belongs to a ridiculously handsome chef named Gabriel (Lucas Bravo). We will definitely be seeing more of him.

But first, the origin story we’ve been waiting for: Emily changes her Instagram handle to @EmilyInParis. #RoomWithAView. An American influencer in Paris is born.

Emily’s honeymoon phase ends the next morning, when she reports for work at upscale marketing firm Savoir. Everyone in the office hates her instantly: Emily communicates with them through Google Translate, announces (on her first day!) that she’s here to overhaul Savoir’s social media and has taste that’s not up to Savoir’s “luxury” standards. No one appreciates her “American point of view,” least of all her boss, Sylvie (the magnificent Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who boasts perhaps the most expressive wrists of any actor now working).

To Emily’s French co-workers, she’s la plouc, “the hick,” who takes her solitary lunch of baguette and cheese to the Palais Royale. But there, she meets a fabulous nanny named Mindy (Ashley Park, of Broadway fame), who’s also an American in Paris, by way of Shanghai. She gives Emily the real tea on French people (“they’re so mean”) and, more importantly, totally gets how alienating expat life can be.

After a bummer of an evening sitting alone at a café, Emily’s awakened in the middle of the night by a ping from Doug, who’s also feeling lonely. But they’re each missing a different kind of intimacy. Emily wants to talk about her hopes and fears, whereas Doug just wants to “take care” of himself. Their bad FaceTime sex gets interrupted by a bad connection, and the screen freezes on what I hope is Doug’s elbow. Unsatisfied in more ways than one, Emily plugs in her vibrator… and promptly blows out an entire block’s power. Never leave America without a voltage adapter!

With that, we know we’re in for a campy, sexy ride. Well, once the electricity comes back on in the City of Light. 

Carole Bethuel/Netflix

“Masculin Féminin”

When you’re an up-and-coming content creator like @EmilyInParis, every word in your captions can affect your engagement. Grammar plays a big role in this episode, sure to delight viewers who mastered irregular gender articles in AP French.

Our pluckiest la plouc (or, as Emily wonders, “Is it le plouc?”) talks her way into a launch party for De l’Heure, Savoir’s most important perfume client, where she commits such faux pas as actually eating the hors d’oeuvres and — quelle horreur! — talking about work at a work party. One person who isn’t horrified by Emily’s Americanness is Antoine Lambert (William Abadie), the “nose” behind the fragrance. So intrigued is Antoine, in fact, that he literally sniffs Emily, telling her she smells like “expensive sex”… while his wife is in the room. Emily, however, keeps it professional, impressing him with the marketing tagline she’s been keeping in her back pocket since Chicago: “It’s like wearing poetry.”

The next morning, colleague Julien (Samuel Arnold) lets Emily in on some très juicée gossip: Sylvie is Antoine’s mistress, which, more than the business with the canapes, explains why Sylvie was shooting death stares at Emily all night. Sure enough, Sylvie punishes Emily by taking her off the De l’Heure account and reassigning her to Vaga-Jeune, a suppository to “promote vaginal wetness in older women.” No matter, though — Emily’s specialty in Chicago was pharmaceuticals and geriatric products. While doing market research, Emily is shook to learn from her translation app that the French word for vagina is le vagin instead of a la vagin. 

Emily is not having this. She takes to Instagram Stories to voice her gripes with this particular quirk of the French language: “The vagina is not male!” The post makes it all the way to Palais de l’Elysées, where Brigitte Macron reposts it (she used to be a French teacher, after all), sending Emily’s stock at Savoir skyrocketing.

While Emily is on fire at work, her personal life goes up in flames. Chicago Boyfriend Doug makes like a croissant and flakes on his plans to visit Emily, claiming that he doesn’t “know how to do long distance.” Where was this before she left? Perhaps inspired by Mindy’s story of trading her father’s billions in China for her own freedom in Paris, Emily refuses to let Doug pressure her to come home. Not only is she making progress at work and racking up new Instagram followers, but hot downstairs neighbor Gabriel turns out to be a chef who knows how to make a perfect rare steak.

“Sexy or Sexist?”

As if her French co-workers don’t already hate her enough, Emily gets a very American request from Madeline in Chicago: distribute the “Corporate Commandments” to everyone in the Paris office. The commandments include “Thou shalt avoid workplace romances” and “Thou shalt always maintain a positive attitude.” This doesn’t go over well with the French, especially since Emily’s next project would get shut down by an American HR department faster than you can say “le vagin.”

Emily goes behind the scenes on a De l’Heure commercial shoot to capture some content for social. The concept: A blond model walks across a bridge wearing nothing but perfume as two rows of fully clothed men gawk. (At the end of the ad, she turns into a dove and flies away, but who ever said fragrance ads had to make sense?) A debate ensues over whether the concept is “sexist” (per Emily) or “sexy” (per... pretty much everyone else). Eventually, Antoine agrees with Emily’s idea to let the public decide in a Twitter poll.

The poll is a controversial success — it generates a ton of engagement, but also some negative feedback, challenging Emily’s need to be universally liked. Antoine loves a little controversy, though, and gifts Emily some sexy lingerie from La Perla, which Sylvie sees on Emily’s desk. Where are those Corporate Commandments when you need them?

Meanwhile, Emily’s shower stops working, because the more charming the French building, the less reliable the plumbing. In the weeks it’ll take to get a part the plumber needs, Emily will either have to wash her hair in the bidet or use Gabriel’s shower. Of course, the second option presents more opportunities for Emily to make la douche (“shower” in French) jokes… and to be naked near Gabriel.

Emily has to keep her options open, though. To expand her social circle, Mindy offers to throw a party in her employers’ penthouse apartment. The party is poppin’ with intimidatingly cool Parisians, but it soon becomes an alone-in-a-crowd-full-of-people experience for Emily… until a random handsome dude joins her out on the balcony. They have some forced repartee, taking turns saying what they like (j’aime) about each other: his tattoo; her lips; his eyes. The rando ruins it, though, by saying that he likes “American pussy.” Way to kill the mood… 

With that, Emily heads home alone, stopping by Gabriel’s restaurant to vent. “I like Paris, but I’m not sure Paris likes me,” she tells him. “I’ve spent my entire life trying to be liked. I’m going to give up trying.” And thus, Emily reveals her fatal flaw. But then Gabriel drops a cheesy line that only he can pull off: “There’s only one problem… I like you.”

Stéphanie Branchu/Netflix

“A Kiss Is Just a Kiss”

Emily Cooper says she’d buy the flowers herself, but instead a mysterious blond Parisienne swoops in and saves her from buying wilting yellow flowers that didn’t match her bright pink Outfit of the Day. Emily’s savior, Camille (Camille Razat), turns out to be one of those glamorous, effortlessly sexy, perfect French women that everyone reminds Emily she’s not and never will be… except Camille is also incredibly friendly. She invites Emily to a gallery opening, which big-time Chicago hotelier Randy Zimmer (Eion Bailey) will be attending, and the two women “accidentally” kiss. Emily immediately says she’s sorry, but Camille just beams and says, “I’m not.” Who can resist a Camille?

At the office, Antoine and Sylvie are having a (lovers’?) quarrel, and Antoine threatens to leave the agency. Emily entices Antoine to stay by improvising an idea to pair Randy Zimmer’s new hotel with a signature fragrance by Antoine’s company. Antoine loves the concept, and Emily has again saved the day… but hasn’t gotten any further in getting Sylvie to like her. Sylvie brings up the La Perla lingerie again, and Emily tells a little fib, saying that it came from Gabriel.

Luc (Bruno Gouery) and Julien invite Emily to lunch for the first time, but only because they want to gossip about Sylvie and Antoine. They warn Emily to stay away from Sylvie, telling Emily that she’s stepped in shit, figuratively (and also literally, earlier, on the sidewalk). Later, Mindy gives Emily the opposite kind of advice, telling her to go ahead and dive into mess, get in trouble and fall into a “wildly inappropriate” affair. That’s why we love Mindy!

At the gallery opening, Emily tries to impress Randy by showing off how thoroughly she’s Google-stalked him. It works — eventually — and Randy gives Emily until the next day to sell him on the idea. Just to make Emily’s life that much harder, Sylvie tasks her with making a reservation for all of them at Le Grand Véfour, which has a Michelin star and is impossible to get into. But something tells us Emily will manage it using her persistence and charm!

Not quite, though. She thinks she’s nabbed the impossible reservation, but it turns out Emily got the date wrong by mixing up the month and the day — did you know that, in Europe, it goes day/month/year instead of month/day/year? So anyway, Emily calls Gabriel to arrange a last-minute dinner at his restaurant.

Gabriel comes through for Emily again, and everyone is impressed by this “up-and-coming” chef. Even Sylvie, which marks the first time she’s approved of anything Emily has done. She also approves of Gabriel’s taste in lingerie, as she tells him, much to his surprise and Emily’s chagrin. Emily kisses Gabriel hard — a French kiss! In France and everything! — while Antoine and Sylvie make out like teenagers right by the door. The theme of this episode is that in life, you can’t avoid mess, which is proven to be the case when Emily runs into Camille again — “Paris really is like a small town!” — but, it turns out, not by a coincidence. The chef is her boyfriend.

Stéphanie Branchu/Netflix

“Faux Amis”

@EmilyInParis has racked up 20,000 followers — what does a girl have to do to get a blue checkmark around here? — and Emily gets to flex the power of her influence at an influencer luncheon for Durée Cosmetics, the company that made her first junior-high lip gloss. (Everyone has a first lip gloss story.) Emily assumes Sylvie will be excited about her extracurricular networking event, but Julien lets her know that there’s some long-standing boeuf here: “We do not speak of Durée.” Emily decides to go anyway, in case she can make inroads with Durée CEO Olivia Thompson (Xanthe Elbrick)… and snag some swag.

Amid a sea of selfie sticks, Emily finds a strawberry-covered selfie wall ideal for making a “berry” pun, which is more authentic than most of the other content created at the influencer luncheon. (Although I’d totally follow Celia Splits, whose shtick is dropping into splits in odd places.) But little do the influencers suspect! Olivia Thompson herself is in a back room, quietly judging their content. Olivia is impressed with Emily’s content and brand knowledge, but less impressed to hear that she works at Savoir, “an expensive dinosaur.” She encourages Emily to quit and become a full-time influencer — get with the times.

Emily’s newest Instagram follower, Camille, invites her to third-wheel on a date with Gabriel, which turns out to be totally fun and [through tightly gritted teeth] not awkward at all. Alone with Gabriel, Emily says that she never would’ve kissed him if she knew he had a girlfriend. They agree that the kiss was unmemorable and they should go back to being neighbors… yeah. They’re not any more convinced than you are. 

Meanwhile, Hästens Beds wants some fresh content to promote their mattresses. Sylvie shuts down Luc and Julien’s “Eiffel Tower” idea — the sex position, not the landmark — and pitches her own: an art installation where you can watch two models sleep. Klara from Hästens (Aleksandra Yermak) is more impressed with Emily’s comparatively accessible concept of having followers (models or not) take photos of themselves lying on mattresses in public places.

In spite (or because) of the fact that Klara preferred Emily’s simpler campaign, Sylvie rages to Emily about her Durée photos, which don’t rise to the level of Savoir’s sophistication. “You’re the enemy of luxury,” she fumes, before intoning the three little words you can never take back: “DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT!”

After Sylvie pronounces this death sentence, Emily and Mindy go out on the town for one last selfie fest and end up on Place Dalida, often called the prettiest street in Paris (especially now). It’s the perfect spot to bid au revoir to @EmilyInParis.

But the next day, Sylvie does a complete 180, demanding Emily reactivate her account. Turns out Klara from Hästens was inspired by Emily’s Place Dalida selfie and wants it to be the site of the mattress event. Luckily, Emily knows the old rule — deactivate, don’t delete — and just like that, @EmilyInParis rises again! 

Carole Bethuel/Netflix

“Ringarde”

Emily tags along on a meeting with Pierre Cadault (Jean-Christophe Bouvet), a couturier so haute that he reduces even Sylvie to a nervous ass-kisser. Surely Emily, the “enemy of luxury,” has no shot at impressing him — and indeed he takes one look at Emily’s Eiffel Tower charm and spits out the word, “Ringarde!” What could the word mean, to send Sylvie and Julien running away in horror? Well, the closest English approximation is “basic bitch.”

Emily goes to lick her basic wounds over a basic glass of wine at a basic outdoor café, where she meets Thomas (Julien Floreancig), a handsome professor of semiotics who looks like a professor of semiotics. Though he mansplains like it’s his job (it is), he wins Emily over by explaining that it’s pretty ringarde to call someone ringarde. She takes him back to her apartment and discovers that his tongue is good for more than just linguistics, giving her two “little deaths” loud enough for Gabriel to hear downstairs.

Camille insists that the four of them go on a double date, which turns painfully awkward when Thomas — a snob, confirmed — puts down Normandy, Gabriel’s hometown. Emily still wants Thomas to accompany her to the ballet, where Emily plans to ambush Pierre — until Thomas says Swan Lake is only for tourists and labels Emily “simpleminded but beautiful.” Adieu!

At the ballet with all the tourists, simpleminded Emily figures she has nothing to lose and busts into Pierre’s private box to deliver a big speech. She owns up to being basic and says she bought that charm because she wanted to be as chic as Serena van der Woodsen but couldn’t afford it. Then she massages Pierre’s ego, telling him that “basic” girls worship designers like him and keep him relevant. Eloquent, yes, but she had Pierre at Gossip Girl. “I can’t believe it was Dan!”

The next day, Sylvie gets a call from Pierre’s office about scheduling a meeting — at which the presence of “Gossip Girl” is requested.

Mindy’s career gets back on track, too. Did you know she left her native country after flaming out on Chinese Pop Star? She hasn’t sung since, but Emily gets her to belt out a few bars, and she’s still got it. Emily and Mindy are both back in “La Vie en Rose.”

“French Ending”

Antoine is whisking Sylvie away to St. Barts, and she’s in a good mood — such a good move that she entrusts Emily with the responsibility of wrangling an A-lister at a party for a watch brand. Only Emily would feel lucky to land this assignment.

Brooklyn Clark (Carlson Young), America’s sweetheart, turns out to be a nightmare, but Emily manages to talk her into the Fourtier watch and a Pierre Cadault dress — two sponsorships for the price of one — and to finagle a deal with Mathieu (Charles Martins), Pierre’s handsome nephew and business manager, to create a social media campaign for the brand.

Emily’s date to the party is Gabriel, who’s been fighting with Camille — his boss is willing to sell him the restaurant, but Gabriel can’t afford it and refuses to take money from Camille’s family. Mindy wisely says that family and business never mix.

At the Fourtier party, the paparazzi is out, and Sylvie’s intrigued that Emily got Brooklyn to wear a Pierre Cadault dress… but she’s still not impressed. She’s too distracted by Antoine, who shows up with his wife, Catherine (Charley Fouquet), who thinks Antoine booked the St. Barts trip for her. Sylvie tries to play it off, but she’s plainly devastated.

Emily, who can’t read French, nevertheless signs the insurance waiver for the $2 million Fourtier watch — what’s the worst that could happen? Well, Brooklyn could drive off drunk while still wearing it. Emily and Gabriel can’t get into Brooklyn’s hotel room, but Sylvie shows up with a head full of steam to boss the concierge into letting them in. Not only does Emily get the watch back, but she also gets a photo of the Pierre Cadault dress strewn on the floor that ends up going viral.

After witnessing Antoine and Sylvie’s drama, Emily tells Gabriel that she can’t keep up their entanglement — she can’t share a crepe, because she wants the whole crepe. There’s nothing like a food metaphor to soften a breakup.

Carole Bethuel/Netflix

“Family Affair”

Camille wants to have a one-on-one with Emily to talk about something important. Emily assumes Camille found out about her and Gabriel, but Camille actually wants to ask if Savoir could represent her family’s Champagne company. Emily is so relieved it isn’t the “other thing” that she immediately says yes, not only to the campaign, but also to a trip up to Camille’s family vineyard. And Gabriel’s coming. And they’re all gonna squeeze into a tiny convertible together.

Mindy can’t join Emily on the trip because she’s hosting her friend from Shanghai’s bachelorette party. Emily tags along via FaceTime; the bridesmaids are wild and rich, spraying their uber-expensive bottle-service Champagne everywhere, which inspires a brilliant marketing idea for Emily…

At the Champagne château, there’s a ton of friction around Gabriel’s refusal to accept help from Camille’s elegant family, plus the awkwardness of Camille’s brother Timothée (Victor Meutelet) playing footsie with Emily under the table. Once they’re alone, Timothée hits Emily with a line about how Champagne isn’t best served in a flute but in a coupe, which is said to be made in the shape of Marie Antoinette’s breasts. The line works, or the Champagne does: The next morning, Emily wakes up with a hickey and a hangover, made worse when she finds out that Timothée is only 17. It’s like Madeline said, “French men love older women!”

Camille’s terrifying mother, Louise (Camille Japy), wants to talk to Emily alone, but it’s not because she’s upset about Timothée — in fact, she wants to know if her son is a good lover. (Emily gives the kid a good grade.) A mortified Emily still seizes the chance to pitch Louise on a campaign for the family’s new, cheaper line of Champagne: Market it as a Champagne specifically for celebratory spraying. The idea makes Louise want to die inside, but she has to admit, it’s ridiculous enough to work.

“An American Auction in Paris”

Overachiever Emily is pulling all sorts of shenanigans to bring her clients together to create “synergies” (typical American concept). She persuades Pierre Cadault to donate a dress to an auction for the American Friends of the Louvre, a new account. This unlikely collab is partly thanks to Mathieu’s interest in Emily, and they finally go out for crepes.

The next day, Sylvie calls Emily out on her relationship with Mathieu — isn’t that against the Corporate Commandment against mixing business and pleasure? Touché. But her argument is immediately invalidated when Antoine sends her a pair of nipple clamps. (Or nipple rings? Anyway, they’re for nipples.)

At the American Friends of the Louvre gala, the disruptor-designers from avant-garde brand Grey Space arrive wearing outfits that make them look like Ghostbusters. Emily pitches them on Savoir, but they’re way too cool for a mainstream agency. When the socialite who was supposed to show off the Pierre Cadault dress can’t make it, Emily steps up to model. She’s a vision in white, and sets off a bidding war that climbs all the way up to a winning bid of 38,000 euro, from Grey Space. But instead of claiming the dress, they shoot it (and Emily) with gray paint. I wish Emily would put up an IG poll: avant-garde or asshole?

The photos are all over the papers. Pierre is devastated. Emily barges into the Grey Space studio to confront them, and they claim the stunt was an homage. Emily makes them prove it and brings a prototype Grey Space/Pierre Cadault collab to Pierre’s penthouse, where he’s self-soothing by cracking the tops of crème brûlée with a spoon (the French equivalent of popping bubble wrap). Emily tries to convince him that people aren’t mocking him but celebrating him… but nothing seems to work.

A dejected Emily meets Mathieu in the hallway. But instead of offering a way out of his uncle’s “darkest hour,” he wants to do “what the French do when they’re at their darkest… make love.” So much for those Corporate Commandments!

Carole Bethuel/Netflix

“Cancel Couture”

It’s Paris Fashion Week! Pierre is still spiraling from the Grey Space disaster, and Mindy gets fired from her nannying job because her employers freak out over her new drag bar gig. But amidst all the career chaos, Emily makes time to go on a cinematic date with Mathieu. Her rom-com montage — every American’s dream of Paris! — includes a private boat ride down the Seine, which ends on his balcony, with the view of the city spread out before them. But the spell is broken by the news that Pierre wants to cancel his Fashion Week show. “Matt” (Really, Emily? Calling him Matt?) has to go talk him out of it.

The next morning, Sylvie, still blissfully unaware of Pierre’s plans, is excited to see Emily for the first time ever. Her good mood goes to hell when she gets the bad news — Sylvie blames Emily for destroying Pierre’s confidence, and fires her outright. Sacrebleu! This is even worse than when Emily had to delete @EmilyInParis!

But before Emily has a chance to change her Instagram handle again, Luc and Julien tell her that getting fired in France is totally NBD; the paperwork takes forever, so as long as she’s willing to give up her dignity, no one can stop her from showing up to the office.

Coming home from her epically terrible day, Emily finds Gabriel and Camille arguing. Gabriel has found a restaurant he can afford on his own… but it’s in Normandy, and he’s leaving next week. It’s basically his way of breaking up with Camille and ending whatever it is he has with Emily. As a parting gift, Gabriel gives Emily his beloved, never-washed omelet pan.

Even though her career in Paris is over and her social life has gone up in flames, Emily nevertheless shows up to work. Good thing, because Pierre is reinvigorated by his rage at Grey Space and wants her to arrange a last-minute venue to showcase the new line he’s determined to create.

Emily comes up with a new plan: Pierre crashes the Grey Space event. He carts in models wearing his new self-referential dresses (with words like tacky and ringarde splattered over them) on a trash truck, and the crowd eats it up. Sylvie has no choice but to rehire Emily.

At a celebration at Gabriel’s restaurant — his last dinner service in Paris, having already broken up with Camille — Mathieu invites Emily to Saint-Tropez for a weekend. Since Gabriel is leaving, she accepts. But later that night, as Gabriel is locking up, Emily runs back to the restaurant and the two kiss in romantic slo-mo. They tear each other’s clothes off at Gabriel’s place. (On the fifth floor? Oh, who’s counting anymore.) They finally give a definitive answer to a whole season of will-they-or-won’t-they? They will, but just this once. “We never had a chance,” Emily says, “but at least now we have this one perfect thing.”

But oh là là, they might have so much more: Antoine decides to back Gabriel’s takeover of the restaurant, so Gabriel is staying in Paris after all! Not so easy for the two of them to part forever. But at least Emily gets to keep the omelet pan!

To find out more about Emily in Paris, check out all of Tudum’s coverage, here.