I watched the first season of Emily in Paris months and months after everyone complained about it. I thought it was dumb and somewhat cute – just escapism and a little romance. I binge-watched the second season and I was surprised by the subtle improvements they made, directly because of the cultural backlash for the first season. Lily Collins isn’t just the star, she’s a producer on the show and she got TONS of (well-deserved) grief. She listened to the complaints, brought in more writers, fought for better storylines for the supporting characters, and fought to have Emily get some comeuppance. It worked. Lily also publicly campaigned for EIP to get a third season on Netflix. Well, she got it. And then some.
Critics may not think highly of Emily in Paris but Netflix certainly does. The streaming giant has renewed the Darren Star comedy for two additional seasons, taking the Lily Collins starrer through its fourth season.
The supersized renewal arrives two and a half weeks after the sophomore season returned. Netflix, which does not release traditional viewership data, says the new season topped its global top 10 list in 94 countries with 107.6 million hours viewed in its first five days. Season one, which ranked as its most-viewed comedy of 2020, topped the same list across 53 countries.
While season one of Emily in Paris was critically panned and blasted by local critics in France for perpetuating stereotypes, the series scored a surprising Emmy nomination for best comedy series. “I was surprised that people would ever be offended by anything in the show,” Star told THR in August. “It’s a lighthearted romantic comedy. I kept thinking, ‘Nobody can really be that thin-skinned’ — we’re poking fun at a cliché, but they’re clichés that everyone has experienced at one time or another, both from the American point of view and the French point of view. That’s what it’s about.”
Honestly, I’ll watch Season 3 and Season 4. I loved the improvements in the second season, and I adored the “cliffhanger” of the finale of Season 2. I like that the show has shifted it so that Emily’s main reason for staying in Paris is WORK. Not love, not fun, not “being an influencer.” The character still has a journey and interesting places to go. And I’m kind of obsessed with A) finding out if Mindy is going to reconcile with her father, B) finding out what Camille’s mother told her to do, C) if Alfie will be written off and D) whether Emily will ever be fluent enough in French to sound like anything other than an “illiterate sociopath.”
Photos courtesy of Carole Bethuel/Netflix.
In what way is this surprising? It is a huge hit for netflix. The ‘backlash’ is very much exaggerated on this site. There is a real world out there, with real people, who don’t spend all day on twitter finding things to be offended by.
I didn’t have to go on Twitter at all to be offended by the Ukrainian shoplifter story.
This isn’t Twitter? CB didn’t make up the offended. They were all over the place.
And many of their objections were noted and addressed.
WHAT?! lol
I don’t know anyone offline who doesn’t love Emily in Paris. I’m not saying it’s The Wire, but it’s harmless fun and it’s a huge hit for Netflix. I’m not surprised it was renewed.
I don’t know anyone offline who does love Emily in Paris. It’s kind of rich white woman fantasy series so probably not my demographic.
More Sylvie in Paris.
Yes! I love Sylvie.
Sylvie and Camille deserve their own show and we can just do away with Emily.
OMG agree. LOVE Sylvie.
I think it’s a fun, ridiculous, pink champagne kind of show.
Also Cami’s mom obviously told her to “make up” with Emily and keep her close so that she would feel bad about Gabrielle. Then while Emily was distracted doing that Cami would have space to rekindle things with Gabrielle.
Exactly, I feel like this has been revealed by the move-in.
Never watched this show but I’m not surprised. It seems some people genuinely like this show because it’s dumb and fun and they can switch their minds off while watching (like how reality tv is for a lot of people including myself). Even if everyone is hate watching, that’s still watching at the end of the day. The whole “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”.
I’m an American living in Paris and I have to say I agree wholeheartedly. Her change midway through the second season was pleasant to see. In fact, the first three episodes made me wonder if I could finish the second season. But I kept on, and ended up really enjoying the second season (minus that fugly as hell birthday dress).
But then she started to adapt, and her character arc became more interesting.
I also loved the cliffhanger ending, I love the supporting cast, and I will also watch seasons three and four.
PS i think Camille’s mother was like “basic American bitch….here’s how you’ll do this.”
I enjoyed season 1 and the escapism it provided and look forward to catching up on season 2. I truly enjoy the fashion too!
Love this show. My ultimate fantasy is to move to Paris. I could watch this show all day everyday for that reason.
The writing improved, really? So, now they pick on “lesser” cultures that won’t get as much of a support, is that the improvement?
And what comeuppance did Emily get? She still consistently failed up at work and even when everything went to hell, she got a job offer AND a promotion offer to choose from. Some comeuppance. Must be a nepotist child’s idea of one.
This!
It’s a highly rated show so I’m baffled why it’s surprising that it’s renewed. Ratings is more important than criticism and bad reviews.
Yea, this is no surprise. Addison Rae got a whole new contact and her movie was god awful because she turned out to be a terrible actress. But must have done ok numbers nonetheless.
It’s a cute, escapist pleasure with amazing clothes and scenery. I see it’s flaws and am glad that the show was renewed because I still enjoy it and am glad that the producers listened to the criticism including giving better story lines to the secondarycharacters. Honestly the thing that bugged me the most about the first season is how Emily would f*^% up and then go and explain herself to whoever she offended and then magically would both be forgiven AND get the client with her innocent ingenue American sincerity.
I feel like we need to coin a term for This type of stereotypical character— our own version of Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Maybe Sincere Outsider Ingenue.
It’s fluff and I rather enjoy it. Plus, after sh!tty assed two years we just went through, fluff is welcomed.
@Cat C, I agree with you. I watched it after I put my boys to bed while my partner was working at a Covid facility for the homeless. I just needed to escape and not think/ worry for 42 minutes.
The “illiterate sociopath” scene was the best!
Camille can do much better than Gabriel … I think it was a disservice to her character to scheme to get him back. In season 1 she came across as so confident.
Yes, very interested in what’s going to happen with Mindy. I was continuously blown away by her voice.
I was a tad distracted by Lily Collins weight loss, however, and how many of the outfits emphasized it.
Well, it must be making them money. I am not a dedicated follower and dropped out part way through season 1. What I really wanted was a season 2 of Giri/Haji. I love that series so much and have watched it more than once. I was sad to read it wasn’t renewed. I’m glad for Lily Collins and her career, clearly I’m in the minority not watching, so congrats to her.
A friend worked on part of the promotion for EinP, so I had to watch season 2. Lol. I didn’t, but it made me want to. I love having escapism wrapped in Paris, my favorite city ever.
I watch for the other characters, especially her boss. Emily herself is vapid and embarrassing as an American, plus the gross influencer vibe bored me to tears. Hopefully she will continue to learn how to appreciate another culture instead of thinking American ways Re work are always best. They are not.
Je taime. I love it even if it is bad.
Great news! The show is wonderful escapism and snarky digs at various cultural stereotypes which I as a European love. It’s like Sex and the City but in Paris and for Europeans. People complaining should see it for what it is, mindless fun.
And unpopular opinion: I found it much more entertaining than Bridgerton. Couldn’t get through 2 episodes of that show without falling asleep.
Yay! Good news for a change. @A. Key – You are not alone. I like Emily in Paris because it is escapism and I need that after the past few years we have had. It’s silly, fun and I can completely forget everything that’s going on in my life and just get lost in Emily’s quirkiness and in Paris, one of my favorite cities. Emily’s doing what I only wish I had been able to do. I would have loved to have lived and worked in Paris. As for Bridgerton – same. I couldn’t make it through the 2nd episode. Call me crazy, but I want to watch silly, fun stories right now. Emily in Paris is that kind of show to me.
So with you. Only I didn’t get past 10 minutes! 🙂
I watched the first season when I was doing my masters exam last spring and was continuously stressed out and needed something to fall asleep too. Tried watching the second season recently and found it boring and so vacuous it was irritating, not sure if it’s my state of mind or the show got worse.
I just finished both seasons and was disappointed when it ended. I was annoyed by Emily in the first few episodes, took some getting used to, but by the end I really liked her. I like her co-workers, too. I hope they have bigger roles in the coming seasons.
This show is eye-candy with the scenes and clothes. While I don’t particularly like the way Emily dresses I find myself looking at each piece and thinking how I’d wear it. Her outfits are more costume – over the top, but the pieces individually are great.
And I love all of Sylvie’s clothes.
I was a latecomer with this show and I really enjoyed it!
I hope they don’t write off Alfie, I really like his character. I’m definitely excited for 2 more seasons!
Sylvie IS fascinating.
Modern, sexy, very stubborn but vulnerable at the same time.
Love her!
They extend this crap and cancel Lost in Space. Got it.
I couldn’t even finish the first episode because I thought her acting was so poor.
I enjoyed both seasons as escapist TV with beautiful people, fashion, and locations. Emily has gotten some comeuppance mainly in the form of snafus arising but nothing career limiting. It would be nice to see someone get taken down a few pegs but I kind of don’t want to see a show featuring a character failing a lot. It’s all fluff so might as well make her career fluff, too. The eye rolls and burns from Sylvie are enough for me! I’m glad Mindy is getting more of a storyline. She can sing!
Is it just me or did Lily Collins get breast implants?? Her chest looked noticeably bigger this season and the implants looked like they were still settling around episode 2 in season 2. I’m kind of bummed bc she’s a beautiful woman and I liked that she was small-chested. She and Kiera Knightly were the only small chested actresses that came to mind. Kate Hudson was on that list, too before she got small implants…
Based on her IG it doesn’t look like it. Sometimes they look larger – probably padded bras
I wondered the same thing about breast implants. It looks like Lily has lost a lot of weight so maybe the implants are more noticeable now or she got them to fill out her frame, or they were using push-ups to fill out the clothes/hide her thinness.
It’s not just that her chest looked bigger which could be bc of padded bras. In the scene where she’s on the train heading to Saint-Tropez, she’s wearing a stripped dress. Her boobs were in noticeably different positions and the top looked like the shape of implants. I actually first noticed it at the very beginning of Season 2 Episode 1 when she was running in the white sports bra. I’m like, noooooo! Why did you do it??
Not surprised because the bad press has only helped Netflix grab views and attention. But it’s a moronic parade of stereotypes and hideous clothes, so I’m done.
I think the show is a fun escapist pleasure. My biggest regret is that I didn’t live or study abroad, so I watch this show vicariously.
I enjoy the friendship between Emily and Mindy. Those two women really root for and support each other. Lily Collins is stunning, expressive, and manages to make her character Emily charming when otherwise the character could have been grating.
And the actor who plays Gabrielle is major eye candy, and does well with the scenes where more is required of him than just looking hot.