Ringarde
Episode 6 of Emily In Paris begins with Emily awakening to hear Gabriel and Camille loudly making love. Heading out with Mindy, her eccentric friend reveals that she’s giving up a big house next to her parents because she loves Paris so much. She also used to be on Chinese Idol but messed up her audition. Her dream is to be a singer but she’s instead relegated herself to nanny duties. At the office, Emily has moved on to a new gig. This time it comes in the form of a man despising social media called Pierre Cadault. The guys from Savoir show up at his house but things go disastrously wrong when he calls Emily “ringarde”. Or as Julien so eloquently puts it “a basic bitch.” That evening, Emily heads out for a drink and gets talking to a random guy there. They hit it off immediately and she takes him back home where they make love. Saying goodbye, he decides against having a shower and heads home. Emily goes to work but struggles to shake off her Ringarde name. Mindy sings again in the middle of the square, attracting a big crowd who start clapping her. Afterwards, Gabriel and Camille head out for dinner but invite Emily and the Professor Thomas out on a double date. Things are awkward between them all but they remain civilized for now. Desperate for another shot at Pierre, Emily shows up at work with a plan to win him over. Only, Sylvie wants none of it which leads her back to Thomas instead. Together, they show up at the ballet but Thomas’ faults start to shine through . Thanks in part to Gabriel opening her eyes to this, she ditches him on the back of a pretentious comment about Swan Lake. Emily manages to corner Pierre and talks to him about her “basic” fashion sense and how it was inspired by Gossip Girl. In true Emily In Paris fashion, Emily overcomes yet another obstacle by managing to bag a meeting with Pierre the next day. Given how swimmingly this went, he wants Emily to be there too.
The Episode Review
How are there so many English people in Paris?! We’ve completely ignored all the French early on in the first couple of episodes and just gone full on with the American now which is a little inconsistent. It also undermines the whole premise of the show and especially Emily’s desire to learn French. Emily’s “struggles” aren’t really struggles given everyone can now speak fluent English and her social media seems to save the day. Her issues at work serve as roadblocks too and thus far, Emily has perfectly navigated everything that’s come her way with the exception of Sylvie. Even that is slowly starting to change though. The problem with protagonists like this is a sheer lack of depth. Everything is surface level and there could have been a fascinating empowering story about a girl letting go of her past, embracing her true self and loving what’s really underneath her façade of expensive fashionable clothes (foreshadowed by the perfume advert no less). Instead, Emily In Paris feels more like a wasted opportunity. Still, it’s certainly pretty to look at and the story is compelling enough to find out what happens next.
