Emily in Paris Can’t Stop Undermining Women

This all coincides with the series’ other major faux pas of Season 2. Madeline (Kate Walsh), Emily’s boss at the Gilbert Group—the company that acquired Savoir and set this entire story in motion—makes a trip to Paris in the second half of the season. She’s there to observe the inner workings of Savoir, and what she finds is that the books don’t add up. The company isn’t making the money it should be because Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) has been charging Antoine’s company the same rate for years despite his growing business and sizable bank account. This eventually leads Madeline to uncover Sylvie’s affair with Antoine. In combination with Sylvie’s reluctance to promote some of the American brands the Gilbert Group asks her to market, Madeline begins to question whether Sylvie is the best fit to run the company. However, before she can make any personnel decisions, Sylvie and the entire team resign in order to launch a new company, asking Emily to defect with them. This puts Emily in yet another impossible situation, as she must choose between two women who’ve mentored her. In doing so, she will also effectively make a decision that will likely change her career (Madeline has promised Emily a promotion once she returns to Chicago) and potentially extend her life in Paris indefinitely.

Sylvie and Madeline are powerful, intelligent women at the top of their game, but they differ in their approach to business. This underscores the divide between the French and Americans—a major theme of the series—with the former being seen as the desirable option. I cannot speak to the depiction of the French, but the writers are right to call out Americans for often prioritizing corporations and money over people and their well-being. Every time the show highlights what we’ve been taught is an asset—a dedication to hard work and an obsession-like prioritization of our careers—it’s obvious this way of thinking is detrimental to our health, be it physical, mental, or emotional. Luckily, the pandemic has started to chisel away at this mentality at the same time Emily seems to be coming to a similar conclusion. But it’s frustrating to watch this scenario play out in such a way that Madeline becomes a mouthpiece for Corporate America who is obsessed with the bottom line and has no empathy for others (or an understanding of boundaries, like when she takes over Sylvie’s office).

We’ve never had any reason to view Madeline as the enemy before. And it’s not to say women are fragile beings who can’t be portrayed in a negative light. Women contain multitudes! But it wasn’t until the show needed Emily to decide whether she wanted to stay in Paris that Madeline became an obnoxious, animal-printed tool constructed from Americans’ worst stereotypical qualities to force her hand. There has to have been a better way to approach this life-changing moment than to maneuver Emily into another situation in which she has to choose between two people who mean a lot to her.

While Sylvie seems like the obvious choice in the sense that her priorities match what Emily wants (and because taking the job would keep her in Paris and extend the show’s run), her judgment isn’t without question. She crossed an ethical line and put the company at risk when she had an affair with a client. This season, she’s been sleeping with a young photographer contracted by Savoir, which creates a conflict of interest. For all her positive qualities, she’s not perfect and she’s not always right. Meanwhile, Madeline appears to have Emily’s best interests at heart even if she’s the picture of everything wrong with corporate America (her desire to combine roles to pay fewer people and hire young and inexperienced workers so she doesn’t have to pay them as much and can shape them into what she wants is eerily familiar). This scenario could have highlighted the complexity of these women by focusing on what makes them excellent leaders and mentors, but Madeline is one-note to the point that nuance doesn’t just get lost in translation, it never existed at all. (Much like what the show wants to say with regards to Madeline’s pregnancy. It should be a rebuke of the idea that women cannot be mothers and have successful careers, but Emily has the position in Paris because Madeline became pregnant and couldn’t go, so there have been issues from the start.)

For all its intoxicating charm and romance, Emily in Paris struggles to support the many women central to its story, either through poor narrative choices or just poorly executed ones. It isn’t the first show to suffer in this regard, and it’s under no obligation to enact change through its depiction of women and their choices. But the series is both a romantic comedy and a workplace comedy, and each aspect has now relied on tropes that force women to compete against one another. Emily’s happiness also lies at the heart of both. It’s unfortunate to see an otherwise intelligent and capable heroine forgo what she wants in an attempt to appease others, just as it’s frustrating to see Camille sidelined and relegated to backstabbing Emily. But what is truly infuriating is seeing Emily forced to choose between people she cares about over and over again when each time it should be a choice about what Emily wants for herself based on what she values. Hopefully, the fated phone call that closes out the season will find Emily making better choices and putting herself first for once.