3 reasons to spend time with Emily In Paris for its third season
Emily In Paris 3
Premiering today on Netflix
3 stars
Setting aside its titular heroine’s implausible marketing savvy and her roommate’s dreadful singing, the third season of Netflix’s hit romantic comedy series is as fun, frothy and frisky as ever.
Here are some reasons to tune in:
1. Embracing the cliches
Who does not love a good fish-out-of-water tale – especially if the fish in question is a pretty American expatriate Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), who is still finding her feet in her new city and remains adorably ignorant of much of its culture.
Earlier seasons were scolded for milking the usual cliches about the French capital. Critics thought there were one too many baguettes, berets and rude Parisians.
But like many stereotypes, some contain a grain of truth, and it is hard not to warm to some of the more glossy ones – including the unrealistically chic and sanitary depiction of Paris.
And this season brings even more delectable food, fashion and other French-culture porn.
2. Hot Guy 1 versus Hot Guy 2
Emily found herself at the nexus of two love triangles last season: one with her handsome French neighbour Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) and his girlfriend, her bestie Camille (Camille Razat); and the other with Gabriel and Emily’s new love interest Alfie (Lucien Laviscount).
Alfie is a good-looking cipher – there is little to no character development for him and many others in the ensemble the audience will struggle to care about.
But the romantic musical chairs, which extends to even more players this season, is good, soapy fun.
3. Levels of comedy
The humour on the show runs the gamut from the very broad to the occasionally brilliant cultural observation.
Bright spots in the cast include Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu as Emily’s French boss Sylvie, and Bruno Gouery as her hilariously offbeat co-worker.
The show also deserves credit for leaning into how terrible Emily’s French is – and getting some cheap laughs from it – rather than doing that Hollywood thing where everyone pretends a character is fluent when he or she clearly is not.
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