Spoiler warning: This review contains spoilers for “Emily in Paris”

Emily Cooper, a Chicago marketing executive moves to Paris to bring an American perspective on French luxury. Over the last four seasons, she has proven to be filled with fun and fresh ideas, while simultaneously getting tangled in a web of romances. Most notably chef Gabriel, Alfie, and later Marcello. She forms friendships with Mindy Chen, a rising singer, her coworkers and her demanding boss Sylvie. The show is colorful, fashionable, cringey and entertaining just enough to keep it playing in the background.

Starting out this season, I had low expectations. Unfortunately, the show never reached beyond them. I think one of my biggest issues with this season is how obvious the foreshadowing was. Nothing in the plot feels earned anymore and no action or question left at the end of the episode was resolved later than the episode following. It felt as if I could predict the very emotional or comedic beat that was going to drop in the next scene. The prime example of this was Gabriel still being interested in Emily. Although it was left as a cliffhanger at the end of the season, I felt it was clear the show would never let the core story line go in a short 2 minute “goodbye” scene. His departure in the earlier episode felt forced, like the writers need a twist without putting any momentum toward it. 

Emily

With all the sides of the character that I love, I think it is a shame that her whole plot line continues to revolve around men. While I understand that the premise of the show is to have interesting love lives in the most romantic city in the world, it comes to the point where Emily’s character is only interesting because of the relationships she has, with little to do with her main adventures of her job or her personality. This alone is sad because it reinforces the stereotypical “I need a man” plot lines that are so overdone and overlooks the resilient aspects of the fun character. This was exactly shown in the episode where it builds a relationship with the American guy from the Paris embassy, dedicating nearly an entire episode to him, and thus heavily implying he will be her new love interest, when he is suddenly rejected and dropped from all plot lines. Either I was wrong about the badly placed foreshadowing or they are hinting at something for next season which everyone will forget about by then. Either way, it felt like a filler episode and it is never a good indication when it is so obvious to tell its purpose. Every single episode revolves around one of her exes, then her current love interest, her rebound and lastly a group of her exes running a company that her marketing company represents. The fact that every plot line includes not only her relationship, but is intertwined with her job plot line, makes each episode increasingly annoying to watch. Her relationship with Marcello is particularly frustrating because it feels unconvincing, and instead of developing Emily’s character, it just adds to a everygrowing list of love interests. She was way too quick to break up over the argument with the marketing companies, and they got back together too quickly, making it feel rushed all together. 

Mindy

If  I am being honest, Mindy’s story line this season was the weakest point. Her singing career subplot drags on, and it ends up feeling like it only exists to keep her relevant. Her terrible decision to get back with Nico after what he did in the previous season makes no sense. It’s a choice that undermines all previous character development, and Emily’s role doesn’t help. As viewers we never see Emily give real advice to Mindy or any conversation about things other than her partners, making their friendship feel oddly shallow. That’s especially noticeable when Emily almost immediately forgives Mindy after finding out about her and Alfie, with barely any tension or consequences making the conflict and the plot line with him itself pointless. 

Sylvie

Sylvie’s numerous plot lines feel unnecessary, boring and barely add to the plot until the last episode. It feels like the writers are giving her all these plotlines to build her character and make her more interesting, but I really can’t help but to see her as a background character undeserving of a look up. Between reconnecting with her best friend (and her son), the lost line with the director in Rome and her off and on relationship with her husband, the show throws everything at her without committing to any of it. 

That all being said, I could go more about all the flaws in the show, but they only made it more entertaining overall. The reason I come back every season is because of these annoying characters and cringey moments. It is visually pleasing, vibrant and full of bold and questionable fashion choices, with the yearly addition of a French song added to my playlist. I love the bold red lips, extravagant outfits and could only dream about a job that allows for the amount of freedom and creativity Emily has. I was also impressed with the designer brands the show worked with, such as FENDI and L’Oreal Paris. Instead of feeling like a distracting product placement, the promotions blended naturally into the plot since the characters worked in luxury marketing. Overall, season five of Emily in Paris is, as always, a quick watch that gives the right amount of entertainment and cringe—a more mature XO Kitty, I would say.  It is certainly not great television, not even on Netflix, but it will surely satisfy a longing for easy, escapist fun and sometimes that’s just enough. Also, Emily’s bob was bobbing.

On this blog, members of the Carmel High School chapter of the Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists (and the occasional guest writer) produce curations of all facets of popular culture, from TV shows to music to novels to technology. We hope our readers always leave with something new to muse over. Click here to read more from MUSE.