Love it or call it ringarde, but Lily Collins starrer Emily In Paris is always going to be THAT girl of fun, easy-going escapist fantasies. While it has been a parade of eccentric outfits, delicious men, and professional drama for Emily, the Netflix series has given us some truly memorable episodes.
Four seasons with 10 episodes each, so that’s 40 episodes in total. And we’ve decided to do a definitive ranking of the 10 best episodes of the lot, which definitely wasn’t easy! So without further ado, allons-y!
10. Season 2 Episode 4: “Jules and Em”
The episodes where Emily’s utter disregard for learning French becomes a barrier to her progress are the ones that feel most authentic. In Season 2 episode 4, Emily is dealing with the fallout from Camille (Camille Razat) finding out about her and Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), and Luc (Bruno Gouery) takes her to watch François Truffaut’s French new wave classic Jules et Jim. It inspires her to write a hilarious apology letter in style of the movie to Camille, riddled with bad French, further highlighting the “failure to communicate” trope that is a recurring yet underdeveloped theme in the series. At the end of this, episode Emily meets Alfie (Lucien Laviscount).
9. Season 2 Episode 3: “Bon Anniversaire”
It’s Emily’s birthday and she and Mindy (Ashley Park) are throwing their first Parisian dinner, the yearning between Emily and Gabriel is at an all-time high because she is trying to be a good friend to Camille, and then Camille finds out about them? The drama! The episode alludes to just how much Emily has made the people she met only a few months ago her own—Mindy is in a group chat with Emily’s parents; Luc takes her for a birthday lunch to a cemetery (Balzac’s grave), and Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) actually shows up to Emily’s party with a gift. The fact that earlier in the episode, Camille invites Emily to a hammam with her girl friends where they all are semi-naked while Emily has much to hide makes the episode’s ending feel even more brutal!
8. Season 1 Episode 8: “Family Affair”
The first time we visit Camille’s family chateau in Champagne will always be memorable. We meet the outrageously funny Gerard AKA Champère (Christophe Guybet), there’s a nice forced proximity scene where Emily has to sit on Gabriel’s lap as they drive to Camille’s chateau, and Emily makes a boo-boo by sleeping with Camille’s 17-year-old brother in a hilarious turn of events! This is the goofy Emily In Paris that we love. It’s also the episode where Mindy’s friends from China surprise her to get her groove back and she sings “Chandelier.” Note: Ashley Park singing is always a great episode!
7. Season 2 Episode 7: “The Cook, The Thief, Her Ghost and his Lover”
If you’re an Alfie stan (which I will always be), then you know why this episode is here. Alfie and Emily spend the night together, and have easy chemistry that she never quite had with Gabriel. It’s a great episode for the Gabriel-Emily-Alfie love triangle, to see the usually passive Gabriel longingly look at Emily and tell her he wishes her to be happy but he’d rather not be around to see her be happy with someone else? Hot! This episode makes you wonder if maybe Alfie is a better endgame for Emily… Special mention for the clash between Madeline (an excellent Kate Walsh) and Sylvie and the totally wicked move the latter pulls with the Pelotech bikes client!
6. Season 1 episode 6: “Ringarde”
The first appearance of an eventual iconic character on the show, Jean-Christophe Bouvet’s Pierre Cadault dismisses Emily as basic. And when she dates the snobbish French philosopher professor Thomas (Julien Floreancig), he does the same, even as he makes Gabriel’s jealousy pop! This episode offers vindication for the show itself when Emily owns up to being ringarde, both to Pierre and to Thomas at the ballet, and speaks for all the basic girlies out there who, with their dreams, keep these aspirational designer brands and the luxury lifestyle thriving. The episode plants the seed that brings Pierre’s ‘Ringarde’ fashion line forth in future episodes. Plus, that Gossip Girl reference in the end? A universal icebreaker that one. XOXO!
5. Season 1 episode 10: “Cancel Couture”
Emily In Paris season 1 was almost perfect and the season finale, with Pierre Cadault getting his revenge on Grey Space and Emily and Gabriel finally having hot, going-away sex while she’s about to go on a weekend getaway with Mathieu Cadault (Charles Martins). Mindy moves in with Emily after losing her job as a nanny and we are going to love these two as roommates. The connection between Antoine’s (William Abadie) marriage and his desire to help Gabriel finance his restaurant nicely ties in Gabriel to Emily’s work, while setting up a good season finale cliffhanger. Emily is stuck between her need to be liked and breaking the girl code by continuing her affair with her new bestie Camille’s boyfriend.
4. Season 4 Episode 10: “All Roads Lead To Rome”
After the utter slogfest that Emily and Gabriel’s relationship had become in season 4, this was a return to form. Emily is her old self again, flirting with Italian hottie Marcello in a Roman Holiday-inspired day out, wearing cute clothes, and having the most unreal only-in-movies moments happen to her. The episode felt very EIP yet more mature. It had everything—Emily starting a new life in Rome (callback to the pilot!) and a new romance, Mindy performing “Beautiful Ruins” al fresco in a stunning red gown, Sylvie being a total badass, a cameo by Rupert Everett as Girgio Barbieri, Alfie being happy, and the promise of something new in season 5.
This episode also brought a yearning Gabriel back in the game after Emily left him a voicemail entirely in French, addressing the communication problem he had brought up from earlier in the season. This episode, in a lot of ways, is a full circle moment for Emily as she is about to leave someone she loves and a city she loves, to follow her heart and maybe learn a new language?
3. Season 3 Episode 10: “Charade”
It’s as if every character’s life is at a sweet spot and “Charade” arrives ready to shake things up! With Louis de Leon (Pierre Denny) sponsoring Laurent G’s (Arnaud Binard) new Paris club and his son Nicolas (Paul Forman) dating Mindy, the episode ties in Sylvie, Mindy, and Emily’s storylines together for the next season. But two things were pleasantly surprising. Julien (Samuel Arnold) finally addressing the fact that Emily had no boundaries and swoops in to hijack client meetings. And the revelation that Camille is pregnant. The pregnancy steers this Camille-Gabriel-Emily-Alfie love quadrilateral into new waters with the hope that the series would explore interesting modern relationship dynamics. It doesn’t quite deliver on that promise in season 4 part 1; nevertheless, “Charade” is one of the best episodes of the series!
2. Season 1 Episode 4: “A Kiss Is Just A Kiss”
“A Kiss Is Just A Kiss” is a greatly efficient episode. Emily’s faux pas of misreading the date format on her hotel reservation is a genuine teething problem for an American in Europe. But she uses her skills and charm to get Antoine’s Maison Lavaux in business with Chicago hotelier Randy Zimmer (Eoin Bailey), while also promoting Gabriel’s cooking. Genius! It’s a pivotal moment for Emily’s and Gabriel’s careers because Antoine eventually invests in his restaurant. It’s also a defining moment for their love story because at the end of the episode, Emily kisses Gabriel. But the pièce de résistance is Em’s new girl friend Camille revealed right after to be Gabriel’s girlfriend!
This episode establishes Camille as this sexy, confident French woman who had better chemistry with Emily than the latter has with Gabriel! The series has dropped a few ménage à trois jokes that got our hopes up for a threesome between these three, but alas, this isn’t Sex And The City!
1. Season 2 Episode 10: “French Revolution”
“French Revolution” is quite the heady mix of drama laced with fashion and surreal romance, a classic Emily In Paris episode, and easily the best of the lot, “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité,” was the rallying cry of the French Revolution. In the aptly named Emily In Paris season 2 episode 10, Madeline’s very practical, profit-driven, American work ethics clash with Sylvie’s French ideals, resulting in the latter leaving Savoir and starting her own firm, and inviting Emily to join her.
It is the perfect high note to end the second season, while also showing how far Emily has come. Even as Alfie tells Emily that he is moving back to London but wants to try long distance, Emily decides to go for Gabriel, only to find out he has gotten back with Camille. But hey, at least Mindy and Benoit (Kevin Dias) have a happy season ending to the tunes of “Mon Soleil!”
Published: Oct 10, 2024 08:43 am