Coo D’etat
Now that Emily and Alfie are formally back again, they kick off episode 3 of Emily In Paris season 3 by relaxing in bed. But despite Emily’s desire to ignore her job obligations for a day, Alfie unexpectedly insists that they should get up and leave, so she heads to the office. On entering the building, Madeline is yelling and poking her pinky at the lift as she arrives. She complains that the elevator is inoperable, and Henri, the building manager, isn’t very cooperative. Madeline, who does not have any time to resolve the issue while her firm crumbles around her, delegates the responsibility to Emily, who consults Luc. Luc reveals that Henri is fairly close to him, as he answers her call from Agence Grateau. Agence Grateau, on the other hand, is facing its own challenges. Sylvie has been operating her business illegally from her house, and her landlady has discovered her arrangement. However, knowing Sylvie, she seems to have a quick fix, which is to drive Emily and Madeline away and reclaim possession of the old Savoir venue. Emily has evidently decided to give up on resolving the elevator issue after contacting Luc and is now spending her time photographing random pets on the sidewalks of Paris for a potential client. Emily gets interrupted amid her photography by Mindy, who asks Emily to visit the nightclub where she will perform that evening. Fairly later during the day, Emily and Alfie show up, and she simply can’t help but ask Alfie if he believes Antoine might ever move to Savoir given that Sylvie is bound by a non-compete clause. Instead of answering, he kisses Emily to silence her queries. Fortunately for him, his tactic works as they settle in to watch the show together. At a meal alongside Luc and Henri, her previous building manager, Sylvie is busy scheming strategies. Even though it is obvious that she has never even acknowledged this man before, she ramps up her charm in an attempt to seduce him and reclaim her workplace. Henri is understandably suspicious when she explains that she was extremely intimidated by him while they shared the building and that’s why she never interacted with him. She fools Henri into agreeing to treat Emily as well as Madeline like some kind of nuisance in order to bring Sylvie back in by making them leave. The focus of the episode returns to Mindy as she hooks up with Benoit backstage to ease her pre-performance anxiety. She then delivers a Dua Lipa rendition in a bright costume, blowing everyone away as usual. Sylvie’s flirting pays off the following day. The lift is still inoperable when Emily and Madeline come to the building, and also to make things messier, the window frames are sealed tight, the heat is on during the midst of summer, while Henri won’t return Emily’s calls. However, Savoir still needs to run its company so Emily introduces Madeline to her pet food marketing campaign, which includes an adorable filter that allows users to transform into any animal they like. Madeline tries it out and is pleased when she appears as a cat on video, however, her enthusiasm rapidly fades once a pigeon enters the room. Just as Madeline prepares to begin her video conference with several Gilbert Group executives from Chicago who are dropping in on foreign corporations, the pigeon is chased away from the room. The filter Madeline checked out only minutes ago won’t disappear off her screen, which is problematic for her because she is embarrassed when she makes the call, and although she requests Emily to quickly turn “the fucking filter off”. Regrettably, Emily is unable to assist with the filter since she is trying to connect with Henri, who is virtually obsessing on the cell phone while he reports all the incidents back to Sylvie. Henri plays stupid when Emily eventually gets his attention and drags him upstairs, accusing them of luring pigeons inside by leaving croissants lying around. Alfie and Gabriel are hanging out at Gabriel’s diner that evening when Gabriel confesses to Alfie why he doesn’t spend enough time with Camille. Mindy draws Benoit away that evening as she prepares to play at the music venue and expresses her superstitious thoughts by saying, “I can’t go on until I get off”. The following evening, Benoit is not to be seen, which stresses Mindy out till she finds out that he delivered a vibrator together with his basket of lucky roses. Emily arrives at her office which is Madeline’s private room, the following day for work. The duo have officially left Savoir, yet they won’t be running their marketing business in Paris for long, as Madeline discloses that she has purchased tickets for herself as well as Emily to return to America. Emily is visibly shaken by the revelation and begins to crumble before turning to gaze out of Madeline’s balcony at the city beneath, which causes her to instantly brighten. She approaches Madeline and informs her that she will stay in Paris instead of returning to Chicago. Toward the end, Madeline smiles and gives Emily a tight hug, and reassures her that she respects her decision to stay. The old Savoir workplace is buzzing again as Emily checks out of the hotel and steps outside onto the sidewalk, owing to Sylvie as well as her team members moving in owing to Henri. Julien and Luc realize Emily’s corner is noticeably vacant as they remove boxes and get back to work at their desks.
The Episode Review
The episode contains several fairy tale elements while attempting to deal with very practical problems. For instance, even after Emily loses her job in a foreign city, she does not appear to be fazed. Additionally, on losing the Savoir job – her apartment is given to her by them as well as we see when the show begins; however this is not addressed at all, and it appears as though the apartment is hers now, which is pretty strange. The show’s cinematography is absolutely stunning and Mindy’s songs too always add an entertaining touch. This episode is no exception. Mindy’s plot elements though are poorly developed, and her character adds nothing significant to the storyline other than her enjoyable performances. The show – and particularly this episode – do not allow for tension to build, rest, and then be resolved. Every roadblock to the protagonist and the side characters appears to be resolved quickly, resulting in less tension. For instance, in this episode deciding whether to move to America or stay in Paris is a big decision, but Emily makes it with a blink of an eye, without even contemplating that she’ll be unemployed.
