Prepare for the next season of ‘Emily in Paris’ with the 10 funniest episodes so far
With Emily in Paris set to premiere five brand new episodes on August 15, now is the perfect time to brush up on your favorite episodes from the first three seasons.
Emily in Paris was created by Darren Star (of Beverly Hills 90210 fame) for Netflix. It premiered in October 2, 2020 and stars Lily Collins as Emily Cooper, a social media strategist from Chicago whose work takes her to Paris to live and work at a French fashion firm called Savoir. Emily must find her way in a city in which she has never been, knows no one, and doesn’t even speak the language, leading to more faux pas that we can count. The show is equal parts drama, fashion show, and comedy, but it’s the humor (and, OK, for many, it’s the hate-watch) that keeps us coming back for more every time.
10. Season 1, episode 1: “Emily in Paris”
For many fans (myself included), the debut episode was funny enough to make us fall in love with the city of light, and to a lesser extend, with Emily. A lot happens in this first episode, starting when Emily’s boss Madeline (Kate Walsh) discovers she is pregnant and can’t take her dream job in Paris, forcing Emily to go instead. Emily does not speak a lick of French, and her ignorance of the country’s language and culture immediately earns the ire of her new coworkers … along the unflattering nickname “la plouc,” which means “the hick.” Ouch.
Still, it’s exactly her bumbling, can-do American attitude that makes Emily likable. The character literally steps in dog poop on her way to work, which is especially funny because she’s essentially putting her foot in it wherever she goes. In this first episode, we also meet important characters like her neighbor Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) and her soon-to-be best friend, Mindy (Ashley Park). The episode ends with our gal Em shorting out the electricity in her entire apartment building while trying to use her vibrator. So yeah, we were hooked!
9. Season 1, episode 4: “A Kiss is Just a Kiss”
Things get really complicated in this fourth episode of the series! Emily meets the sophisticated, and well-connected Camille (Camille Razat) while attempting to buy flowers from a surly street vendor. They hit it off right away, and Emily spends the rest of the episode trying to navigate the turbulent waters between client Antoine (William Abadie)and her boss, Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu). Emily is still a total fish out of water in these early episodes, so when she screws up an important restaurant reservation (in Europe, they write their dates day/month/year, remember!), she turns to Gabriel for help.
Gabriel indeed rescues her by serving the whole group in his restaurant, and she’s so grateful that she gives in to her feelings and kisses him. Then, on the way out, she runs into Camille, who is there to see her boyfriend … Gabriel. Oops!
8. Season 2, episode 10: “French Revolution”
The second season finale had everything we love about this show: drama, comedy, fashion, and incredible background scenery. There’s a fashion show held at Versailles! I mean, please.
The future of the marketing firm is up in the air as a very pregnant and self-important Madeline attempts to take the reigns of Savoir from Sylvie. Any episode featuring Madeline is hilarious; she’s constantly eating, lugging a gallon jug of water wherever she goes, and is so out of touch, it’s actually impressive. Watching Sylvie and the Savoir team rise up against the American corporate overlords is quite amusing, even if it throws Emily’s future in Paris into question.
7. Season 3, episode 7: “How to Lose a Designer in 10 Days”
This episode features the most delightfully awkward double date ever! With Emily’s boyfriend Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) and Camille out of town, Mindy somehow ropes Gabriel and Emily into joining her and her new man Nicholas (Paul Forman) for an evening out. Things are especially bad because Nicholas is one of Emily’s clients, and he reveals his intention to fire the firm’s biggest name designer, Pierre Cadault, plunging the whole season’s plot into chaos.
6. Season 3, episode 6: “Ex-en-Provence”
Halfway through the third season, all of the storylines are heating up in unexpected ways. Emily has the bright idea to hold a luxury event for Antoine’s fragrance brand at his chateau, so all of the newly-formed Agence Grateau take a road trip to Provence. Alfie comes along to work for Antoine, and of course he ends up getting waylaid by the boss, forcing Emily to have a romantic luncheon with Gabriel, who’s there to cook. There’s plenty of room for comedy here as Emily continues to get caught on the wrong foot no matter where she goes!
5. Season 2, episode 3: “Bon Anniversaire!”
It’s Emily’s birthday, and she’s throwing a party for all of her friends … and frenemies! Camille is now solidly in the latter category because she now knows about Emily and Gabriel’s affair. The dinner party scene alone is worth watching, especially when Camille cuts Emily down to size as only a scorned woman can.
4. Season 1, episode 10: “Cancel Couture”
In the season 1 finale, everything is a mess, right up until it’s not. Emily starts a new relationship with Mathieu (Charles Martins), who works with Pierre. Pierre, who is consistently one of the funniest and most over-the-top characters on the show, throws a fit and decides to cancel his big Fashion Week show, causing a big to-do at Savoir. Emily must save the day (yet again!) while also coping with Gabriel’s plans to move to Normandy. This is the episode when they finally hook up, further complicating, well, everything.
3. Season 3, episode 10: “Charade”
What can I say? This show nails its finales! Season 3 wrapped up with a bang when Alfie dumps Emily, Camille leaves Gabriel at the altar, and we find out that Camille is pregnant … and is having an affair with a Greek artist named Sofia (Melia Kreiling). As if that’s not enough, Mindy, Sylvie, and everyone in their orbit is in a tailspin, perfectly setting up the action for season 4.
2. Season 2, episode 8: “Champagne Problems”
Some of my favorite episodes revolve around Emily’s ability to spin a bad product into a great marketing campaign, and “Champere” is a great example. Camille’s family’s champagne is swill, so she markets it as the bottle you pop when you just want to spray it everywhere in a celebratory manner. While visiting the family’s vineyard to make a commercial, Camille’s father Gerard (Christophe Guybet) decides to show off his favorite party trick: using a sword to remove the cork on a bottle. On the third try, he lops off a bit more than he bargained for, and hilarity ensues. Seriously!
1. Season 1, episode 8: “Family Affair”
We first visited Camille’s family vineyard back in season 1, and this episode gave me the first genuine shock of the entire series. It was an awkward trip from the start, with Emily forced to sit on Gabriel’s lap in their tiny car all the way from Paris. Then, she finds herself swept off her feet by a younger man, Camille’s brother Timothée, who woos her and gets her so tipsy on the family champers that they wind up in bed together. The next morning, Emily learns that Timothée is not in his twenties, as she’d assumed … he’s seventeen. Jaw, meet floor!
The situation is smoothed over by the fact that in France, the age of consent is just fifteen (!!), and of course the French have a much more laid-back attitude about sex than we American prudes have, so Camille and her family just laugh it off at the world’s most awkward breakfast the next day. Meanwhile, we’ll be suffering from a serious case of secondhand embarrassment for life!
We can’t wait to see what hijinks Emily gets into next! The first five episodes of season 4 premiere on August 15, 2024, and the last five episodes of the season drop on September 12, 2024, exclusively on Netflix.
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