TV

Camille From ‘Emily in Paris’ Deserved Better Than A Shit Boyfriend And Even Shittier Friend

Oh, to have writers stop romanticising cheating in TV and movies.

by Michelle Rennex  13 October 2020
camille emily in paris

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If you’re looking for a fun, dumb distraction from the world, Emily In Paris is exactly what you need.

Created by Sexy and the City and Younger’s Darren Star, Emily In Paris follows Emily Cooper, who somehow magically lands a job transfer to Paris to impart her ~American perspective~ of marketing onto luxury brands after her boss falls pregnant and can no longer fulfil her duties.

The events that occur in Emily In Paris are so far-fetched that it barely makes much sense at all, and any French stereotype imaginable is reflected throughout the 10-episode series. Not even the main character, Emily, is likeable as she bumbles through France and perfectly plays the part of an obnoxious American in a foreign country, who thinks her life mission is to “save” anyone she encounters.

Simply put, Emily in Paris is stupid. But it’s strangely addictive.

It’s hard to explain the strange allure of Emily in Paris, especially as everyone agrees Emily is the worst character in her own story.

Emily refuses any real considered effort to learn French despite working at a Parisian marketing firm, beyond a couple of French classes that she’s happy to ditch for the fun events happening around her. Emily also loves to poke fun at strangers by taking photos of them, without their permission, for her shitty Instagram account so her followers can have a laugh. But worst of all, Emily is a terrible friend to one of the only good characters in the series: Camille.

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Camille is, of course, the girlfriend of Gabriel, the very hot chef and neighbour Emily lusts over the entire series. In Emily’s defence, when she first met Camille — at the front of a flower shop run by a rude old lady — this information wasn’t known, and the pair quickly became friends.

But after kissing Gabriel at the restaurant he worked at, Emily learned that Camille and Gabriel were in a relationship and so she decided to ~pull back~ on her feelings. After an embarrassing attempt at denying her feelings for a few episodes, Gabriel and Emily end up having sex when he broke up with Camille and announced that he was leaving town to open his own restaurant back in Normandy.

Of course, this doesn’t end up happening and we’re left with a cliffhanger as Antoine Lambert, one of Emily’s luxury clients, decides to invest in Gabriel’s restaurant dreams that allow him to stay in Paris. So while a lot is up in the air as we await a likely Season 2, we can know for certain one thing: that Camille deserved better than a shit boyfriend and even worse friend.

Gabriel Was A Terrible Boyfriend

It doesn’t take a genius to see that Gabriel is a shit man.

From the second Gabriel met Emily, he flirted with her. Sure, he may not have initiated the first kiss at his restaurant, but he definitely took part in it with the full knowledge that he had a girlfriend.

Throughout the series in fact, Gabriel emotionally manipulates both Emily and Camille. Any sane man that loved his significant other would distance himself from the other woman he was sexually attracted to. Instead, Gabriel basically begs Emily to continue their basically non-existent friendship beyond mutual horniness while at Camille’s family winery, knowing full well there were sparks between them.

And this idea of cheating is romanticised throughout Emily In Paris, with audiences being left rooting for an affair to happen instead of condemning it — which is a strange feeling to have when Camille had really done nothing wrong.

Really, Gabriel begun to distance himself from Camille early on as a means to justify the cheating that takes place at the end of the season. The only thing Camille really did “wrong” in Gabriel’s eyes was using her privilege and wealth to offer financial support so that Gabriel could follow his dreams.

But what solidified Gabriel as a terrible person above all else was that after he and Emily had sex, Gabriel literally texted Camille to let her know that he was staying in Paris.

Seriously, what kind of piece of shit would text their now ex-girlfriend to get her hopes up, mere hours after secretly fucking one of her friends while you’re in the middle of a meeting with that woman’s client?! Gabriel, that’s who.

Gabriel Was Bad, But Emily Was Even Worse

The reason Emily’s treatment of Camille sucks so bad, is that Camille did everything for her.

When the pair met, Camille helped Emily, a literal stranger, navigate an angry shopkeep to purchase the nicest nice roses possible to give to her boss. Then, knowing that Emily was new to the city, Camille invited this terribly-dressed American to an art gallery opening, where Emily was able to gain one of her biggest clients, Randy Zimmer and land the huge Zimmer-Maison Lavaux perfume deal.

Now Emily’s cluelessness about Gabriel being a taken man can be excused at the start, so let’s strike the first kiss off the record. But why did Emily then continue to hang around Camille’s boyfriend when she knew she couldn’t resist his pull? Why jump in the convertible with only two seats when you knew that meant sitting on Gabriel’s lap for a good few hours? Why join in as a third wheel on these cutesy dates around the most romantic city in the world, when you could’ve just said you felt sick and stayed home like a normal person?

After finding out that Gabriel was with Camille, Emily should’ve come clean and said she didn’t know the two were in a relationship. Camille seems like a rational enough person who would’ve understood that, but instead Emily wedged herself in the middle of the relationship and drove a wedge between them.

All the while, secret rich Camille still supported Emily by even trying to offer her the client of her very wealthy family and their champagne business, which Emily was able to pitch as her first solo client to Savoir. But instead of just being professional for once in her life, Emily decided to fuck Camille’s obviously very young and inexperienced 17-year-old brother while on what was essentially a work trip.

To prove she still understood nothing about professionalism, let’s not forget that Emily also got into the beginnings of a relationship with Mathieu Cadault — against her company’s own rules and against Sylvie’s requests — and confirmed a romantic getaway with him right after having sex with Gabriel.

Like is Emily ok? Has she ever had any real friends before? Or a job with a boss who cares? I’m sorry but being overseas living your Parisian fantasy does NOT give you permission to be a shit person, shit employee or worse, a shit friend.

Honestly, the writers of Emily in Paris could’ve avoided this all by just letting Emily and Camille get together but now that plan’s gone to shit, maybe Gabriel and Emily do deserve each other.

Let them destroy each other, while Camille thrives and finds herself a better partner and even better friends.

You can watch ‘Emily In Paris’ on Netflix now. 

Michelle Rennex is a senior writer at Junkee. She tweets at @michellerennex.