‘Emily in Paris’ is doing one of its coolest characters dirty, and it’s hard to watch!
Emily in Paris is a comfort show for many, myself included. There’s something about the gay abandon with which it tackles everything—from the story to the fashion choices—that makes it the perfect escapist binge. And Lily Collins as Emily Cooper grows on you.
Interestingly, Emily Cooper is the least likable character on the show, and it often seems intentional that every other character feels aspirational or even relatable at times, except Emily. Maybe it’s a ploy that furthers the escapist agenda; if Emily Cooper can be so unlikable and still have such a picture-perfect life and be this loved, you and I are definitely going to be okay. So if Emily is your favorite character on the show, you’ll never get bored.
But my favorite character on Emily in Paris is not Emily Cooper. No, see, my girl crush has always been Camille.
She has always been THAT girl. Sexy, stylish, fiercely independent, unafraid of her sexuality and so confident in her skin and her relationships. And it has helped that on the show, Camille Razat has had the best outfits that screamed badass, a career that was extremely French, and a boyfriend with the most gorgeous blue eyes. And for a change, this character wasn’t a mean girl. Throughout the show, Emily is shown to shadow her boss Sylvie Grateau and wants to be like her, but really, the ideal here is Camille.
Early seasons Camille was a treat to watch on screen. And while the cast has, on several occasions, joked that there ought to be a ménage à trois on the show, I genuinely believed this was a possibility amongst Camille, Gabriel, and Emily. As if this were some important frontier for Emily to conquer on her way to embracing the French way of life, love, and sex, and Camille—mature, sex positive, liberal-minded, experimental Camille—looked like she’d be on board for it. Let’s admit it: The chemistry between her and Emily was, on a few occasions, more fire than either of the girls’ with Gabriel.
But then something happened that broke my heart and made it difficult to watch Camille on the show. It’s true that nobody expects some Emmy-winning storytelling from Emily in Paris, but at least it needs to try different kinds of trials for its characters instead of the same old messes. Season 4 felt like being yanked back into a familiar pattern (read our review)—Emily once again had to choose between Gabriel and Alfie. But the worst hand was dealt to the character of Camille, who was reduced to a woman who was so scared of being without a man that she resorted to faking a pregnancy to keep him in her life! Camille? Really?
What happened at the end of season 3—when Camille blamed the whole breakup with Gabriel on his feelings for Emily—felt rather out-of-character for a strong-willed girl like Camille, who was a good friend, a girl’s girl if you will. But to be fair, people do bizarre things in love, and she was under duress, at that time even assumed to be pregnant, so we’ll cut her some slack. When we see her again in season 4 part 1, at Claude Monet’s House, it seems like we’re getting our old Camille back. She quickly admits her mistake and even apologizes to Emily and Gabriel.
But sadly, it wouldn’t last.
We know that Camille has a supportive family, even if her friends haven’t always been great. And yet here she is, acting like she’s all alone and weak without Gabriel. At the end of Emily in Paris season 4 part 1, Camille finds out that she is not pregnant but doesn’t tell Gabriel because he has just found out that he won’t be getting a Michelin star, either. So you want to think she is lying to protect his feelings, but we had just seen Camille gaze longingly at Gabriel and Emily together, perhaps mourning what she ruined by having an affair with Sofia. So are here motivations still noble or is she continuing to lie as much for herself as for Gabriel’s sake?
The season 4 part 2 promo shows that the lie persists, and her constant presence in Gabriel’s life is causing friction in Emily’s. It almost makes you want to change Emily’s endgame from the dreamy Gabriel to the more stable Alfie, who only loves Emily and is utterly drama free. Because the trajectory of Camille’s character is going in a direction that is hard to redeem, and will wreck every relationship that comes in its path, particularly Emily and Gabriel’s!
It’s sad to see that such a great character who could’ve been a strong, positive female presence on the show is being reduced to this cliché. The need to create conflict in Emily’s life is understandable from a storytelling perspective, but did we have to knock Camille down so uncharacteristically for it? Could she not have been actually pregnant, a single mother to be who remains friends with Gabriel? And Emily, due to her own guilt or insecurities, has trouble adjusting to that? The mere fact that Camille and Gabriel have history should’ve been enough to stir conflict; we didn’t need a fake pregnancy!
Here’s hoping—though not very hopeful—that Camille’s arc has something better in store for her with more of the season to come. Because this is all getting too ringarde, and it’s hard to watch!
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