Emily In Paris – Season 3 Episode 2 “What’s It All About…” Recap & Review

What’s It All About…

Emily has bigger troubles now that Madeline hasn’t fired her at the start of Emily in Paris episode 2. Alfie, to be specific. While out picking flowers for Madeline, Emily informs Mindy that her partner hasn’t responded to her messages since he blew her off during his going-away dinner, and Mindy admits she turned down a club performance since she refuses to break up her band.

Emily goes to Savoir after picking up a bouquet to apologize for the Mc Disaster, after which she and Madeline bury the hatchet and start taking care of the business, as Sylvie has to be replaced.

On the other hand, Sylvie is prospering, calculating the triumph of her new firm, Agence Grateau, one that has landed all the best-known names in the luxury sector, notably the famous couture designer named Pierre Cadault, who is giving a career tribute that night and has sent over an outfit for Sylvie.

Emily is messaging Alfie concerning their relationship status at Savoir, however before she can ask him if they are over, Madeline interrupts her and says, “Let’s go, girlie”, dragging Emily off to a business meeting with Tiffany & Co. Madeline and Emily find Sylvie, Luc, and Julien at Tiffany while they are there for their appointments.

After some heated arguments, Madeline and Sylvie both lose their deals with the corporate representative. Following this, Madeline attempts to sue Sylvie for violating her non-compete contract by attempting to bring Tiffany into her new agency.

After messing up two appointments, Madeline and Emily move on to the next while attempting to resolve their client’s conflict with Antoine. Antoine, however, scrapes off Madeline’s threats of legal action and states that he needs to talk to his new CFO. Immediately after, it is made clear that Alfie is the CFO and he is in Paris, not London.

After the discussion, Emily, who is reasonably restless after hearing the shocking news about Alife, stops over at Gabriel’s diner, where she finds Camille and Gabriel. These people, who are supposedly Emily’s friends, admit that they were aware that Alfie never returned to London. Gabriel is asked to return to the kitchen, leaving Camille and Emily by themselves at the bar. Emily explains to Camille that if they’re going to be friends, she must be transparent with her, but Camille makes a comment about Emily hooking up with Gabriel secretly.

Alfie shows up and joins Emily for a friendly meal. He justifies his deception to her by admitting that he knew they weren’t on the same page. Furthermore, he claims that she left him waiting once he put himself out there.

After dinner, Emily returns home alone and talks to Mindy, blaming herself for everything and asserting that she deserves what she endured. Mindy advises her that she must put herself out there if she intends to win Alfie over.

With her romantic life in tatters, Emily immerses herself even more in her work. When Emily asks Luc for assistance in choosing Sylvie’s replacement, Luc suggests Sylvie. Naturally, Madeline despises this, but Luc convinces her to attempt to win Sylvie over that evening at the Cadault retrospective.

When Emily, who received an invitation as well, shows up for the gathering, Nicolas de Leon shows interest in her. He presents himself as JVMA’s successor. Emily proposes to talk to him about marketing while having a drink since she sees a great business prospect, but he declines and says they handle all of their operations in-house.

Sylvie swiftly draws Emily’s attention after she arrives at the gathering just when Madeline is entering. They wear identical Cadault outfits, which Julien fittingly refers to as “a couture car crash”. Cadault notices Madeline wearing the outfit and tells her it’s “disgusting” as she rented the outfit. Despite being attacked, Madeline suppresses her pride and asks Sylvie to return to Savoir. Sylvie snidely comments that she doesn’t fit in with an American corporation, just like the outfit is ill-suited for Madeline.

While Sylvie displays plenty of cockiness during her confrontation with Madeline, she is thrown off the edge when Cadault informs the audience at the retrospective that JVMA is buying his brand, which means Sylvie is no longer required there. Following the announcement, she is forced to put on a mask for the cameras alongside Cadault.

Nicolas contacts her the following morning to arrange a meeting and he offers her a chance to join JVMA to operate on the Cadault brand exclusively. After a discussion with Julien and Luc for advice, Sylvie decides to keep her firm independent and rejects the JVMA offer.

Emily, Gabriel, and Camille are present when Mindy and her band play that evening. Gabriel decided to invite Alfie secretly so Alfie arrives shortly. Alfie ignores Emily’s attempts to reconcile with him, but Emily continues to try her best.

On stage, Mindy’s friends confess that they accepted the invitation to play at the nightclub in her place. Emily seizes the opportunity and takes the microphone. She starts singing a song for Alfie. Alfie appreciates the gesture and walks up to the stage to resolve their differences.

The Episode Review

In this episode, both Emily and Alfie, as well as Emily and Madeline, have made amends very quickly and easily. Apparently, in the world of Emily in Paris, minor infractions like taking your boyfriend for granted as well as two-timing your employers are dealt with faster, and without any consequences whatsoever.

This episode is not an exception to the show’s heavy usage of stereotypes. Madeline is spotted wearing a shiny dress and a bright yellow overcoat while using her enormous plastic bottle. In addition, she can be seen openly using a breast pump at work while she strolls around in a casual manner. As a contrast to Sylvie’s chilly French elegance, she certainly seems to be receiving the extreme “obnoxious American” touch this season.

In this episode, Emily performs for Alfie which leads to their reconciliation. Emily has a history of lying to and deceiving men while harboring feelings for Gabriel, as we’ve seen in the previous seasons as well. This season is no exception. This wouldn’t be an issue if Emily was portrayed as a grey figure. On the contrary, she is portrayed as a virtuous character while doing it, which sends the wrong message and ends up normalizing it.

Camille is a strange character with little to no depth. For instance, when Emily urges her to be honest with her, she responds with a remark about Emily getting intimate with Gabriel covertly. If Camille hadn’t reconciled with him after promising Emily she wouldn’t, that would have been a reasonable reaction, but with what she did, saying that is rather odd.