Emily In Paris – Season 3 Episode 9 “Love Is in the Air” Recap & Review

Love Is in the Air

Episode 9 of Emily In Paris season 3 sees Emily try to move on from her unsettling evening with Gabriel. She heads out to greet Alfie at the railway station once he comes back to Paris as he had been spending time with his parents in London. The joy of their meeting tends to fade away when Emily discovers that her partner hasn’t mentioned her name to his parents at all. She’s disappointed, but they put the matter aside after Alfie reassures her.

Gabriel meets with Antoine shortly afterward that day to discuss “trying to elevate the restaurant,” stating that he needs a Michelin star as well as a raise. Antoine isn’t convinced right away, but he says he’ll think about it.

Emily breaks the news to Mindy regarding Alfie while they are out for coffee the same day. She expresses that him not telling his parents about their relationship makes her feel anxious, but Mindy advises her to hang tight. Furthermore, Mindy is angry with Emily, telling her that she chose work over her, for what happened at the Cadault venue. After Emily apologizes, she forgives her and extends an invitation to a celebration at the music venue as she’s about to leave the job.

Later that evening, Emily and Alfie are at Gabriel’s bar and she’s seeking assistance from him on a project for the latest client who wants to showcase couples for a campaign. Gabriel enters and reveals that he intends to propose to Camille. Emily practically screams “I’m so happy for you” after learning about this. Furthermore, Emily is in a difficult situation when Alfie suggests using Camille and Gabriel in the initiative. Although Gabriel is interested in the idea, he first goes to the kitchen to think about it.

Only a few hours later, he responds positively to Emily’s late-night message, and they decide to meet the following morning to look at potential locations for both the proposal and the advertisement.

While they are looking at venues, Emily questions Gabriel about what prompted his eagerness to propose following Camille’s return from Greece. Gabriel is fairly secretive, telling Emily that he and Camille started opening up to one another in a manner they hadn’t before and that the chef he met in Provence, where he saw him with his diner and kids, was the inspiration behind his decision. Furthermore, he expresses gratitude to Emily for “being a friend”.

The following day at Sylvie’s firm, Julien, Luc, and Sylvie have lunch together, and Julien is upset that Emily chose a couple for the advertisement that is operated by his client and not hers. Luc, who had decided to invite himself to the lunch, was horrified once he saw soup all over his shirt because of Julien.

Meanwhile, at Gabriel’s diner, Antoine and Alfie inform him that he won’t be receiving a higher salary, instead, Gabriel will be receiving a share of the business and will have additional control, continuing to make Antoine his silent partner. This seems to be sufficient for Gabriel, who messages Camille to inform her of the great news. The two go hand in hand at the Musée d’Orsay, where they recall their older dates while they appear like they’re in love.

Immediately after stealing Gabriel’s words, Camille pops the question to him. He answers yes, contacts Emily to deliver the good news, and says, “I hope this doesn’t mess anything up for you”. Emily, who is unfazed, ends the call and heads back to the discussion taking place with Julien’s client. She informs them that the pair is no longer eligible, makes a lengthy speech about creating and marketing love, and then advises that couples should fly in hot air balloons rather than having a real-time proposal captured. With the exception of Julien, who is furious with Emily, everyone is on board with the silly idea.

Sylvie picks up her mother’s call just after the discussion, who notifies us that it is Sylvie’s anniversary and she also inquires as to what she has planned for that evening. After they made amends, Sylvie wished to go out to the opera with Laurent, but he was going to be working in his St. Tropez club.

Sylvie goes to the opera by herself and is surprised to see Laurent there as well. He explains that he decided to come as soon as he recalled that it was their anniversary, which impresses her.

The scene quickly switches to Mindy’s party, where Emily makes an attempt to reconcile with Nicolas, who is truly reluctant to forgive her. He reacts by informing Mindy that Emily was “just going to leave” when she apologizes for the Cadault disaster, effectively removing her from the gathering. Instead of resisting, Emily puts her friend’s happiness before her own, which fails to work since Mindy is upset when Emily is compelled to fabricate a reason for a business dinner so that she can leave when Nicolas tells her to.

Emily, who’s already upset not only Nicolas but also her closest friend and flat-mate, works through the situation with Alfie outdoors. She empties more of her unhappiness on him because he didn’t inform his family about her, adding to her already intense discontent. His justification is that his previous attempts to introduce girlfriends to his parents have never gone well.

Alfie is pleased when Emily states, “I’m not going anywhere”, and he’s eager to introduce her to his folks. However, Emily is considering a more dreamy option. She goes on to suggest that they should take part in the hot air balloon advertisement and make their relationship known to the public.

The Episode Review

The episode retains its element of normalizing deception. The episode begins with Emily being upset because Gabriel did not tell his parents about her, and we later see her bring up the subject again, and he agrees to tell his parents about her. This aspect of the plot feels extremely unpleasant because we know Emily still has feelings for Gabriel, and convincing Alfie to tell his parents about her is deceptive.

At this point, it feels like the storyline is being dragged a little too much, and they’re attempting to postpone bringing Emily and Gabriel together in order to keep viewers interested, but in the process, the storyline feels like it’s beating around the bush, and the drama element has been turned up a lot.