Emily in Paris Season 1 Episode 3 Recap – Sexy or Sexist

While on her routine morning jog, Emily receives a call from Madeline, who checks up on her and tells her she’s sending the corporate commandments of the Gilbert Group over. Emily informs her she and Doug are no longer together, and the Paris office is treating her well.

Back at her apartment, Emily is taking a shower when the water cuts off. Gabriel helps her talk to the landlady, who is not happy because Emily seems to be breaking lots of things — first the fuse, now the shower. Gabriel tells Emily water is really unreliable in the building, and Emily ends up washing her hair using the bidet as per the landlady’s suggestion.

She also attends her French class, where they learn how to tell people what they like in French. She reaches out to Jacqueline, her teacher, and asks her to lunch, but Jacqueline tells her she does not do lunch for free.

On her way to the office, Emily walks with Sylvie and tries to have a conversation with her. Upon arriving, Luc confronts Emily about the corporate commandments and accuses her of destroying their French soul because of the strict orders. Julien is also disappointed by the commandments.

Upon their arrival at the venue for D L’Heure’s shoot, Antoine greets them and explains to Emily how the shoot will feature a woman who becomes every man’s desire while she walks across the bridge. But Emily is taken aback when she learns the woman will be naked. When asked if she found the ad sexy, she says she thinks it is sexist. Antoine is intrigued by what she means and asks her to explain. She tells him the men objectify the woman, and she’s worried Americans won’t be so happy about it. Antoine isn’t convinced and decides to go on with the ad.

Meanwhile, a plumber tries to fix Emily’s shower but fails. When it looks like he’s about to leave without fixing the shower, Emily rushes to Gabriel’s apartment to ask for help in talking to the plumber. Gabriel tells Emily the plumber wants some coffee and a croissant. The plumber and Gabriel have coffee while exchanging some stories. Gabriel tells Emily her shower can’t be repaired just yet, so she’s welcome to use his shower while waiting.

Back at the office, Emily still tries to convince Sylvie the ad might be offensive. She doesn’t listen and asks her to back off. Emily finds a printed copy of the Gilbert Group’s commandments vandalized with a huge penis caricature on her desk. She asks Julien about it, and he tells her it was Luc’s doing. Mad about this, Emily goes out to lunch with Mindy, who tries to cheer her up by saying she’s throwing a party in her honor later that night.

After watching the finished ad, Antoine asks Emily if she thinks the ad is sexy or sexist. Emily then tells him it doesn’t matter what she thinks – she believes what the customers think is more important. She suggests they create a poll and ask the audience instead. Antoine is delighted by her suggestion and agrees.

After the presentation, Emily invites Sylvie to her party, to which she declines, blatantly saying she is not interested in knowing Emily at all and they won’t be friends. Emily ignores what she said and invites her anyway.

Later that night, Emily arrives at the party and is surprised to see many people. Mindy introduces her to the crowd and then leaves to tend to the other guests. Emily finds her way to the balcony, where she meets Fabien. They hit it off and decide to leave the party together.

While talking about things they like in French, the two kiss. They seem to be having a good time until Fabien explicitly tells Emily he likes American pussy. Emily leaves and ends up at the restaurant where Gabriel works. He asks her how she likes Paris so far; she tells him she doesn’t think Paris likes her, but she’s done trying to make people like her. Gabriel then tells her there’s a problem — he likes her.

The next morning, Emily receives a call from Madeline saying her social impressions are up. Upon arriving at the office, she humors Luc and Julien by giving them a penis-shaped cake in response to the penis drawn on the corporate commandments. Waiting for her on her desk is a box from La Perla. She discovers that it is from Antoine and it contains lingerie. Sylvie questions her about it. She tells her it’s just from a friend.

Our Thoughts

We’re pretty annoyed there is too much hate for Emily not speaking French, but since this is a comedy, we know that an exaggeration like this is expected. We are happy to see Emily making an effort to learn the language by taking French lessons. Seeing her open up more to Mindy and get closer to Gabriel is also a delight. But seeing that her coworkers seem to hate her solely due to her American guts makes us sad. Will they treat Emily better in the future? We hope they do because we see Emily really working hard for their approval.