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I know that sponsorships can be complicated and all that but I checked this site out and it seems like it’s full of stolen artwork? They promote artwork people upload that is not theirs and all? I dunno, seems sketchy. If you’re someone who cares about that kind of thing, would stay away.
You talking about Naruto reminded me of my favorite anime Sailor Moon, main character little annoying and loud but she has good qualities as well. I hope writers will check your video and actually will do what you suggested, then 4th season definitely will be worth watching. Thank you for your work:)
@heavenseal6220 Agree and I actually rooted for Usagi and felt for her. About Emily I am watching it with my husband where we just making fun of her because she just doesn’t feel like real human, but if take stuff she does seriously she deserves some slap to snap her out of “I am the best” throne, hope they will do something in next season.
Speaking of Kit Kat - Kat Graham should totally play this hypothetical new character from Emily’s past. She’d enter the room already dressed like an actual Parisian, speaking perfect French, and quickly endearing everyone to her, especially, Sylvie… This would immediately put Emily on the spot, as there is now another American on the team, but one who embraces the French language and culture. Emily would have a sudden fire under her ass to improve. If Camille is Emily’s Sasuke Kat Graham can be Emily’s Obito/Gaara
My immediate answer on how to fix Emily was "kill her and make it a whodunit where everyone she's ever come into contact with in Paris is a suspect because everybody hates her for the abundance of reasons at our fingertips" and I'm delighted that you said it at the end. Truly.
I think one more major thing that the writers could do to improve Emily is by SHOWING HER WORKING HARD. Emily in Paris loves to say how great she is at her job, how hardworking she is, but we do not really see that. We never see her struggling, but overcoming in a way that stems solely from herself. Instead, we see her get random plot handouts and she gets the credit-- but that isn't working hard, it is being lucky. If we see Emily working and putting in tons of effort, we can see why she has the position in Paris, and why she should be respected in her workplace.
I think the reason some people do like Emily is as a wish fulfillment character. Her life is like if The Secret was real and you could manifest unrealistically good luck just by having enough confidence in yourself.
The problem is that she's probably a self insert of the writers who lucked out to be chosen, nepobabied their way in etc. hence why she constantly just lucks out, a female Elon Musk if you will, those writers are probably genuinely meh people who think they are great while having all of her qualities collectively. The whole, just go to Paris, city of love blah blah blah is very 90s youth so they probably thought she would make a great self insert of all of the demographic of the show, if she was background free other then "came from the USA". If you were to give her a back story based on how I hear she acts from FSN, she falls into three groups, spoiled rich kid, Tila Tequila esc too famous for her own good + mental illness or scam artist putting on the front of being rich and stupid. It would explain why she blows money like crazy and dresses like no one in their right mind. Paris Hilton comes to mind but apparently when she acted like that Paris had just being abused to near self delete by a boarding school.
Fantastic video & I do hope the writers do something to flesh her out . Otherwise she’ll just spend the season whining about a baby. I did actually think your first suggestion was going to be to kill her off just for the catharsis. 😂
Yes, exactly!!! Because in every single American show, all the characters are shown working extremely hard, right??? Oh wait, no, they are never shown 'working hard' in almost any American show. Nobody was ever shown working for even 1 minute in friends and nobody whined about that, but if Emily in Paris is shown working at her job every episode that's still not enough...? The critics of this show, including this channel, are very hypocritical...
@@draum8103 I think the issue is that they go on about her being a hard worker but then only show her lucking out or stealing clients. In such a case it is wrong to say that about her. I never liked friends but I remember people complaining constantly about how there is no way they could afford those apartments on their salaries. Also shows like: -The Big Bang Theory showed them working constantly with Sheldon sometimes being berated for going days without sleep or mixing it into his off time. -True blood had a season 1 scene where some of the characters were doing road work, the MCs brother doing sermons later in the season? the next one? I don't remember and The MC was at least once an episode working hard in the bar. I could go one honestly, most shows show the characters working at least occasionally and when they call a character a hard worker or workaholic they show that. So saying American shows don't do that is pretty obviously wrong.
If the writers can't recognize why the audience doesn't like Emily, the writers might need to examine why _they_ like her character first before they can acknowledge the problem and fix her.
I definitely think they shot themselves in the foot when they didn’t establish anything about Emily’s previous life and background before abruptly moving her to Paris. For one, it means we don’t know Emily at all and don’t understand her motivations. And secondly, it makes it so the whole “will she stay in Paris or go back to the US” plot have zero stakes, because we don’t know anything about her life in Chicago.
I would argue that establishing stuff like that isn’t important right away (having your protagonist arrive in a new setting in medias res with no build up is a completely valid way to start a story) but you do have to give your lead character a backstory at some point, going 3 seasons without it tells me they aren’t interested.
It's not so bad that they didn't start with it - made it fun looking back to compare those fun hopeful vibes and startling lack of information when it came out later. They really dropped the ball when she was losing her job and was trying to find work to never bring up even hints of what would seriously happen to her back at Chicago (like what did she leave behind and what would she return to) as part of her motivation to stay. A whole other mystery could have been buried in there, disguised as something more normal like a strained relationship with family, no friends, or even the lack of job opportunities besides this specific company.
A storyline idea that popped into my head is that say Emily's mom is actually a famous model/celebrity/etc. Emily always felt when she was in the states that the opportunities she got only happened because of her mom. So going to Paris was her chance to split and make something of her own power. Having a celeb parent that tells you she was never good enough and compared to would definitely give backstory to her personality type. And then have it in season 4 that the mom shows up and all the "successes" that Emily was having in Paris, the ones that came out of nowhere and should never have worked, was actually her mom pulling strings. Now her whole world is crumbling and there could be some character development around still no knowing what her real value is.
Omg that's actually so smart. It gives us an explanation to why she's never working and puts so little effort into stuff. Then she would have to prove herself, her mom and everyone that she's capable as long as she tries, she would have to develop discipline and also try to be a less shitty person bc the old emily sucks and she finally sees that
Honestly I think the answer to "Why does she have no redeeming qualities??" Is that the writers and many people think her beauty is a personality trait. Its the only explanation for why the writers are still fumbling so hard after 3 seasons
I think you hit the nail on the head here (iunfortunately). Why else would the show consistently be sending out vibes like: "look how pretty Emily is." / "look how bad she treats people." / "but she's pretty, so we'll overlook how one-dimensional she is. Because she's pretty."
It's almost as if Emily's beauty being used to give her a pass is unrelatable and frustrating for the vast majority of ordinary viewers with average looks 🤷🏾♀️ like me
this. And also, I don't remember if FSN said it in the first video or if I read it in an interview with one of the creators herself but: she said that Emily in Paris stems from an experience she had as a young American intern in Paris so I guess the other characters' reactions to Emily are so spot on because the creator had lived this experience and didn't understand why they were the way they were, thinking they were simply mean and their behavior towards her unwarranted. Now that she made a whole show about that experience she still is in denial about the fact that "Emily" is not at all a likeable human being which reflects directly back to the creator. Tough stuff
@@escalisation3967 I didn't know this but it checks out perfectly. I always had a feeling they made her like this and have not changed it even after the backlash because the creators are convinced that she IS a nice and likeable person. That's why she is unintentionally horrible and also oblivious to it, and why I don't really think the writers will be able to fix her.
Ok how about this: Sylvie for whatever reason decides to hire a new American in her office. She is everything Emily isn’t: chic, sophisticated, fluent in French and generally more agreeable. It’s revealed that she was actually Emily’s roommate in college and they both interned together. When it came time to promote one of them, Emily sabotaged her roommate and gets the promotion. The roommate has moved to Paris to get revenge. She pulls an Emily and presents her idea before Emily has a chance. She makes friends with everyone in the office. Perhaps she even goes as far as trying to steal Gabriel. Except she is always seen as being outwardly nice to Emily so no one believes that she could be doing this and Emily won’t reveal in fear of revealing her past actions. At this point the audience begins to feel a little bad for Emily as she reflects on her flaws that have lead her to this point but for the most part we still feel like she’s a garbage person getting what she deserves. Until the roommate flies Emily’s family out to Paris in the guise of being a surprise in order to embarrass her. We learn that Emily actually grew up poor, her family is uneducated. We learn that Emily had to work extremely hard to get into school and get a scholarship and that her family basically thought she thought she was too good for them and eventually stopped speaking to her. Emily did sabotage her roommate but only because she was so desperate to support herself and the roommate was always putting her down for being poor making Emily feel like she had to live beyond her means to hang out with her. We see that Emily’s incessant butting in is because she was not seen in her family because of how different she was. The audience finally feels sympathy for Emily and she can begin her arc toward becoming a better friend and professional.
I want Emily's secret to be that she embezzled company money to buy all those designer clothes but was so smart about it that they could never send her to prison. Netflix please make it happen!
I was thinking about that too lol, I want so badly for the show to address her absolutely ridiculously expensive wardrobe in a way that truly explains it, it would be so satisfying because tbh there's only so much disbelief we can suspend
To add to this: maybe she steaks BC she was bullied for her outfits. Maybe she was told her bullying was out of jealousy so when she does wrong she believes it's also out of jealousy and not because she is a bad person. She can't be a bad person in her mind.
Also an important difference between Emily and Naruto worth pointing out is that Naruto was initially hated and outcasted by his village for his birth, something he had no control over which makes you feel bad for him bc it's not a fair situation to be in. Whereas with Emily, the lack of respect and pushback she gets from people is fair because it's _completely_ within her control. She's a grown adult with internet access in the 21st century coming to another country whose language and culture is very different from her own yet she comes in knowing nothing about said country or even her job outside of a romanticised pop culture image and either barely improves or gets saved from having to improve because of the plot bending over backwards to make things easy for her. And without any kind of character motivation, would you ever feel bad for someone who regularly puts themselves in bad situations that they could have avoided or prevented?
True, and even though it's unfair, Naruto works hard day and night to become the hokage. He worked hard non stop to get the Rasengan, he worked hard to master wind style, his allies are there to support him but it's still his work ethic.
So to sum it up: Make Emily a Ninja and give her a mysterious past as a backstory. Maybe add Lightsabers in later seasons to fight a giant fox in Paris.
As you were talking about Mindy's character, it occurred to me how interesting it would be to have Emily be a hard-working, middle class American girl who doesn't understand Mindy's upper class lifestyle and habits. It would give them some tension, put them at odds at times, and give them something to overcome and make their friendship stronger. Imagine Emily teaching Mindy where the best fripperies are in Paris! What if Emily's eccentric style mainly came from thrift shops? It would explain her creative fashion choices and make for some fun montages.
I think Emily is indeed a hardworking, middle class American girl because her imagination of Paris is very ‘cliché’ (like every regular tourist) meanwhile Mindy is not. And she is easily attracted by the artsy events and people because it is something Emily never experience before. Remember when Mindy invited her to the first party and she was absolutely lost? That explains the difference in lifestyle of Mindy and Emily, it is just the writers decided to write it in lighter tone. You have a valid point about thrifting creates Emily’s fashion sense too!
I'm invested in this and Amanda the Jedi's, You / Emily in Paris crossover. Where Joe stalks Emily and maybe he actually looks into her and uncovers her secret.
Abusive parents, especially if they neglected her as their only child or she is the daughter they don’t love, ignoring her, never praising her etc, instead lavishing all their attention on Emily’s older sister. This can explain why she has difficult relationships with other women like Camille, her mother can be like Slyvie quite domineering and independent etc, Emily started to dress and act quirky trying to standout etc. Such a simple explanation that could really deepen the character especially if her sister or mother or someone shows up in Paris
I think the real reason Emily is such an empty slate, is essentially because, she is supposed to be like Bella from twilight. Emily is meant to be a self insert for every teenage girl who is “quirky” and so on It makes so much sense when you think about it
I thought that too, but Bella’s biggest flaw was not realizing she was way too boy crazy over the vampire boyfriend. She was blank of defining qualities, but she also didn’t have HUUUUGE flaws like Emily. I honestly feel Bella was a better character than Emily because being “nothing” is better than being “nothing but flaws”.
There are definitely better ways to have a blank slate protagonist, and one of them is just to have really compelling side characters and antagonists to liven up the world they (and we through their eyes) interact with. Neo in the Matrix is a very blank slate, but when people talk about that movie they talk about everyone else but him, even though everyone still generally loves Keanu Reeves. Like, it doesn't help that Emily is an irritating protagonist, but if all the people in her life were really compelling and people that we as an audience would like to be around then we can live vicariously through her, but it doesn't really appear the case.
As boy crazy as she was Bella was nowhere near as annoying as Emily is. She did sort of value her friendship with Alice and has a backstory that lets us sympathize with her. Emily is the worst for no reason. Even self insert characters need basic decency to endear audience to them. At the very least Bella had two very hot psycho - paranormal man children fighting over her which appealed to teenage sensibilities. Gabriel is even worse than Emily and that's saying something. If they manage to make me atleast tolerate Emily, I will consider that a bigger redemption arc than Zuko's. 😂😅
it reminds me of the good place and especially elenor, where we have a character who is written to be a bad person, works hard to get better which we SEE, and then after she gets better we get her backstory of why she is the way she is and feel sympathy for her. tahani works the same way. maybe the writers of emily in paris are just....bad at their jobs.
Especially Tahani. She could be easily annoying or unbearable, but you can tell early on she is someone who cares about her image and there's a reason for it. And when you see it, you can tell shes basically trying to earn love by being perfect and that itself is relatable and heartbreaking in its own way, and Tahani grows further as a person
Yes and Rebecca from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as someone mentioned in another comment (she literally has a "villain in my own story" song for her realisation moment lol)! Honestly antiheroines are some of the most interesting main characters, but some characters are just written badly and the fans end up having to claim that's the point and that they're just "complicated" and troubled to defend them (AKA the Jenny Schecter problem). Sad backstories can be effective when built into the story but they can seem cheap and shallow when they feel like they were thrown in out of nowhere by desperate writers for sympathy points.
For real though. I despise Emily but I would rather happily sit through all three seasons of Emily’s bullshit than to deal with Velma’s ever again. While Emily can sometimes not be that annoying, there is nothing redeemable about Velma. At some points, I can somewhat forgive Emily's Karenness and just watch the show. With Velma, there is nothing enjoyable, redeemable, or watchable about her. All you want to do is push her in front of a bus.
@@sophieamandaleitontoomey9343 I thought Velma was not meant to be a likable character, she's deliberately written as an obnoxious asshole. And they gonna give her an Ahsoka type redemption arc over the next seasons.
At this point I think they should Riverdale the show. One day she catches her friend practicing magic she reveals her family is actually a long line of powerful witches and she left because she wanted to find her own path. She came to Paris because they are a hub for supernatural creatures. She introduces Emily to this world even though it's forbidden. But she meets a well connected vampire who says she's had a fashion line for over a hundred years, but marketing is hard because everyone wants to hold meetings/events in the day. Emily agrees to work with her schedule and help her, She is now the go to for all these creatures with different needs other humans wouldn't understand. She meets a sexy werewolf and they start dating.
I think you forgot about Naruto being literally A KID, while Emily is a grown ass woman with shared flaws. Even when he was still young, he started becoming a better person to his friends and people around him. Emily, on the other hand, betrays her friend like it's nothing and she doesn't even realized how obnoxious and annoying she is to her community. She really doesn't deserve my respect if she is compared to Naruto tbh.
@LackingaFace Thank you! That was one of my previous comments. Naruto and Ahsota have nothing comparable to Emily. Both Naruto and Ahsota can be redeemed and have character build-up as they grow up, the Emily through her misdeeds is not redeemable or salvageable, even if they wanted to burn the script or bring in new characters or try to kill her off. The writers will ruin the next protagonist. Daniel Craig deserves to be treated better.
his point was that Emily is basically an overgrown child, wasn''t it? and yeah, she only has Naruto's flaws (which is worse on an adult) and NONE of his good traits, which is what he's trying to fix in his fanfic lol
Yeah, that behavior is a lot less excusable for a grown adult. But I feel like you don’t NEED to justify her behaviors or really make her seem like a better person at all in order to make a good story. Just making her 3 dimensional and interesting could be enough, even if she’s still a terrible person
I think it's largely irrelevant what the age of the character is. A despicable person can be an enjoyable character to watch if they're well written, and in particular, if they go through interesting arcs that allows the character to evolve, as well as reveal deeper layers that make us see them differently. Seeing a bad person become better is a pretty efficient recipe. It can even work with pretty bland, blank slate type characters.
Oh, absolutely, and here's the thing for me---Naruto (in the first few episodes, especially), was still REALLY ANNOYING, at least for me. I survived because I already had a bit of a vested interest in the character and the story---I knew what would happen, just not the details or how---and even then I seriously debated just... not watching any more. (I ended up making it through because of the fight scenes and worldbuilding. Switching to the Japanese version with English subtitles also helped. And I managed to build up enough tolerance and affection by the Waves Arc to genuinely enjoy things more and become more invested in the character development. It also helped that the large supporting cast meant that I could essentially take a break whenever his early character got to be too much for me.) Admittedly, though, I would actually pay some amount of money to see a shonen version of Emily in Paris. Like, genuinely. Maybe also a reverse-isekai? But... circumstances unchanged, maybe even personality unchanged---probably just a decrease in the romance side of things. But I want Emily doing parkour and slapstick humor in her absurd designer outfits and high heels. I want something bright neon orange in everything she wears. I want her dramatically monologuing to a probably fairly-confused Mindy or Luc. When Luc asks her why she's shouting, I want that to be in response to her striking a dramatic pose or bowing energetically and then literally SHOUTING her introduction. I want her literally kicking down or breaking through Gabriel's door or something when she thinks it's her room, maybe because she thinks the lock is stuck or something. For the steak/customer is always right scene, I want her dramatically challenging the chef to duel or something for the sake of her honor(?) or pride and then Mindy literally having to carry/drag her out while she still furiously monologues. With dramatic lighting and everything. I want everyone to still fall in love with her, kinda, but maybe platonically---or her just being very confused and any flirtation completely going over her head. They're bros, and one of the bros is a weirdly macho 5'5" American girl in absurdly bright designer clothes and high heels. (Like a reverse harem, but in the comedy genre. This would also be so funny given how standard it is for isekai.) Maybe the reason Gabriel is so helpful is because Emily just assumed they were friends after the first time they meet and now half the time he's running damage control so she doesn't break his door or start monologuing loudly or challenge someone to a fight. Again. (This would also be a great opportunity for a joke about it being a good thing France has universal health care, and him wondering how on earth this went down when she was in America.) But like maybe one of them suggests they wrestle in the sheets, and the next scene is Emily in sumo-wrestling gear trying to explain to the confused person how to put on the belt. And then maybe asking how to set up the "sheets" he mentioned. Just... shonen protagonist Emily. Shouting, slapstick comedy, a fairly dumb (quite lucky) protagonist in bright orange (or bright other colors) with messy eating habits, fight scenes, monologues.
Personally, I would just rip off the bandage, and have her be the villain of the story. This whole series could be her origin to being a cutthroat figure in the fashion scene. Sort like an answer to the question “What if the Devil in the Devil Wears Prada got a prequel series?”. But your idea isn’t too bad either!
The issue is she isn't exactly smart or capable to be a good villain, but if she is smart or capable then she would have had redeemable qualities to begin with.
This video further convinced me that Amenda the Jedi's idea of "a crossover between "YOU" and "Emily in Paris" really is a BRILLIANT IDEA. WHAT IF Emily was once a target of Joe in Chicago, and the reason she act so obnoxious and unlikeable is for people to not get interested in her past? Especially when that past is a little "bloody". Another fun video. Its kinda funny that just giving Emily some back story, even a bad one, still make her a more likeable character.
It's totally incredible what they did with Ahsoka. She's been my *absolute* favourite since like 2015, no joke. Even if Emily's character isn't completely lost, I very much doubt this show's writers will ever achieve anything that's half as good as Ahsoka's characterisation...
I liked Ashoka even in that first movie she was a child thrust into a war zone and expected to be more mature and grown up than she possibly could have been! Of course she was kind of irritating, she was a new character who was just starting her arc and development! I’ve never understood why people hated her immediately instead of deciding to see where the creators were going to take her character later on, like some criticism sure but the vitriol was just so excessive I’m glad filoni kept her moving forward she’s one of my all time favorite Star Wars characters and I can’t wait for her series so we get more of her
you're so real for adding veronica lodge and jughead jones along with the hated characters. they are definitely overhyped because people love the irl actors LMAOOO
Well, I love Veronica's fashion and the fact that she takes shit from no-one and while I understand the storylines and the lines she says are cringy at the core I think the concept of the character is pretty good
Back story: Emily is raised by workaholic parents who prioritized their careers over their only child. She grows up comfortably, but starved for attention. Nothing she does is good enough to garner the praise she craves, so Emily turns to the party scene in college, neglecting her work in order to drink and hang out with people she thinks are her friends. When she’s expelled after an incident at a party just off campus those friends desert her. Once again she’s left feeling abandoned. One night after getting the closest thing to a pep talk her mom has ever given where she’s told to do something with her life or get out she sees the movie Sabrina and decides that’s who she will be now. She uses her parents money to get herself a job, etc. with the goal of getting to Paris and staying there until her life works itself out.
What if she didn't even really have friends? She was just a party girl touring clubs, Instagram feed filled with pictures where she looks super sociable, partying with complete strangers so she doesn't feel as lonely as she struggles to connect with people on any other level than "look what I did, aren't I just funny?" because even if people laugh at her, it's still more than she's used to. She lived her life on such surface-level, short term dopamine that she didn't emotionally mature in a way that would allow her to make meaningful connections with people. We get a post-birthday episode, where a lot of people are commenting on her pictures with cake/ballons/etc. shocked to find out she's twenty-something and not like 18 or 19 living on dad's money, and comments on how _ridiculous_ it is, she's not juvenile, what are they on about? And there's just a _beat_ too long before her friend(s) start to reassure that noooo, we like you that way. Boom, inciting incident for an episode where they can fix some of the more annoying stuff, have a proper heart to heart with a friend to show that she understands what friendship is supposed to be about, and then next episode, we trigger the backstory.
Agree, I can totally see Emily as a rich girl and parents who never cared. She is a party girl and after a big accident and her Uni/ work there is a costly damage and daddy closes his bank. Her friends ditch her and her boyfriend Stopps spending time with her to be with ✨The Boys✨. We know look at three season worth Teenager rebellion that literally means ,,Look at me daddy, I am a grown up! I may fucked both my friends boyfriend and her 17 brother - but I am still grown up and life my best life. FU!!!“ 😂😂😂😂
I think the reason the writers refuse to give her a backstory is because they think the audience wants a blank slate main character whom they can project themselves on to. I saw a comment on one of your previous videos that described Emily as a Y/N character and I think that’s exactly it.
Jim Davis once said that Garfield is only likeable because he is a cat, his personality wouldn't be cute if he was a human. I think Emily was written like a funny cartoon cat and then they just made her a person
I hope this doesn’t come off the wrong way, but the problem with Emily’s character (and possibly the writers room) is that she is a quintessential white American female character and that’s why they can’t understand her being annoying to the audience. She doesn’t have to be smart, she doesn’t have to be resourceful. She just has to be attractive and “well meaning”. Everything gets to fall into place for her and she gets to have the expectation that things will go well for her because she’s a white American woman. It’s evident in how she refused to embrace the French culture in season 1 and respect that France is not America. Emily is a stereotype and the writers have pretty much pigeonholed the character while allowing most of the rest of the cast to have some substance. Although I like the mystery angle, I doubt these writers would pull it off. But I would settle for Emily finally realizing that the world doesn’t revolve around her.
I pointed out all the things I hated about Emily on a comment poll and why I found her annoying and the people replied saying clearly I hated my life and happiness because I despise Emily. It was a real Sure Jan moment.
No, no, I think youre right. Emily needs a nine-tailed fox demon. That is 100% certain to not only make her more interesting and likeable, but also will absolutely make more people watch the show.
The writers thought they ate by sending Emily to Paris when in fact, I’d like to see Kate Walsh’s character as a Single Pregnant/Single Mom in Paris who meets Sylvie and then everyone lives happily ever after. Maybe there’s a Multiverse Theory in there somewhere.
Yes!! That would be so awesome, I thought that the first episode too! Just because a woman is pregnant it doesn't mean she just quits the dream she has always had and that she has studied and worked so hard for. It was so sexist and stupid!!
@@silviaov633 it was also so strange because, at the start of the show she had only JUST gotten pregnant. i understand every pregnancy is different and some people are more cautious than others, but it wouldn't stretch the "imagination" that much for Kate Walsh's character to still go anyway because she's not at the point of pregnancy where taking it easy is paramount, aside from possibly morning sickness and general queasiness, which might even raise the nuanced question of how much are women expected to power through while still getting to do the work they want. it's fiction, after all, the writers could easily go "oh the Paris thing will only take a couple of months! no problem for me i'd be back just in time to deal with the rest of the pregnancy!" but then the trip ends up being extended for Insert Business And Plot Reason Here.
You know what’s funny? Scarlett O’Hara in gone with the wind is on the exactly opposite extreme from Emily of a failed character agenda pursued by the writers - Mitchell intended for Scarlett to be a hated antagonist and she ended up being adored by many despite her many flaws and few if any redeeming qualities. Would be curious to run parallels between these two little failures of the writers objectives!
Would love to see a story arc of it being revealed that Emily behavior in the past lead her to being isolated and unlike by her co-workers and friends. Maybe she was a mean girl or did bad things so she could get ahead at work and be the favorite of her boss. So she goes to Paris for a fresh start and "old habits die hard", except now she is desperately trying to hold onto people so she is not isolated and alone again.
This new character that kicks off the story line could even be someone she bullied in the past, someone better at the job then emily, and so Emily took her down in Chicago so she could rise up. At thr end of the season, it could show them becoming genuine friends and Emily apologizing for past shitty behaviour
There was an intresting theory that Emily in Paris could be Emily exaggerating her life on instagram she’s really a girl living a very drab life and it’s the life she wishes. This twist is a little to much for me but it’s a theory some fans have
I love how you've cemented yourself as youtube's Emily expert. I referenced you previous video a few times when I went on a rant.... and now you've blown my mind with these comparisons. At first I thought your solution was going to involve recasting her, but this was so much better. I don't think this is weird at all and I appreciate how you broke it down the way you did. It makes so much sense. I hope the writers watch this video because I was ready to walk away from the show and now that we know it's not too late to save it, I'd give it another chance if they tried your approach.
I mean. We've seen how she can be backstabbing. Her secret could be that back in Chicago, the backstabbing had unintended consequences. The new character could be the victim of said terrible backstabbing.
Your critique of Emily just makes me appreciate the excellent work the writer’s of crazy ex girlfriend did with the protagonist of that show; Rebecca Bunch could be one of the most dislikable characters ever, but the writers let you she why she is the way she is and you sympathise with her the whole way through her journey of self-discovery and self-improvement
I genuinely feel bad for Lily Collins. Not even her charm and sheer likability can save Emily from being an absolutely horrible protagonist who never learns from her mistakes, and for how she awfully she treats the people around her.
Emily reminds me of Rebbecca from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I almost stopped watching that show because I was so angry with how Rebecca never changed, was selfish, and seemed not to care she was hurting others while begging for attention from everyone around her. Then they revealed she had BPD. This made so much sense, and then she WORKED to get better. Went to therapy and it took a long time but she was able to keep herself from ruining her life. Maybe something bad happened in Chicago and maybe it was because of her BPD. Maybe there's trauma we can learn and understand from in the backstory. It'd be cool if she then got therapy. It sounds like Emily needs therapy
IMO CXG is an example of how to do an "antiheroine" character right. I'm the opposite of you though - Emily doesn't remind me of Rebecca really. I always liked Rebecca and enjoyed the series but I think a part of that is, unlike Emily, it was clear from the start that her flaws were intentional and the show was self-aware enough ahout how messed up the characters' actions are. You could see that the story was going there and exploring it so you could trust the show to reveal and develop things in its own time. Sometimes you have to wait for the payoff (and it's more realistic as many people take a while to change or even admit their problems and mistakes). When it's not intentional it's pretty obvious and gets more criticism because the creators want you to like the character and root for them despite everything. Sometimes it can be intended but still not work or get across though (e.g. the unpopularity of the MC in Never Have I Ever) so it's not straightforward. Also having a sympathetic backstory doesn't completely excuse the character or make them interesting, so it's better when the story acknowledges that too like CXG or The Good Place (another great example) did.
I remember Chloe from "Dont trust the bitch in apartmente 23" she was a great character but she was horrible on purpos and even the title show telled everything about her character. And she learned something in the way. I miss that show.
I know mentioning Knives Out was a joke, but imagine if Benoit Blanc _was_ the person from Emily's past that would be introduced?! Wouldn't even be mad at that.
He and Hugh Grant are Emily’s adoptive parents and she really hates that she can’t hide anything from Dad Lablanc. Also, her not knowing French is something Lablanc constantly teases her about (lovingly, though she doesn’t see it that way)
The Emily in Paris writers teams really should recruit you to make this show way better because if they tries doing it in next season we will know which video they are plagiarizing 😂
FSN hooked us in with Emily in Paris only to lure us to appreciate good character writing/development in Ashoka and Naruto. Can't say I'm mad about that, good on you dude
I think one of the most obvious things they could do would be to show a family visit where she is constantly dragged by her family and they mock her because idk she was weird as a kid and she was bullied a lot, then she would feel the need to lie to make herself look more successful and it would explain why she wants people to like her so bad and why she doesn't want to go back to her old live, she just simply doesn't want to fail and is afraid to become the person that she was before, it's a basic storyline but it works.
The only reason I think the mystery running away from something angle wouldn't work is because she is a popular influencer, everyone knows where she is, and she's definitely not hiding. We can definitely still focus on the "knowing nothing about her" aspect tho
Haven't finished the video but maybe she got a full face of surgery, an entirely different face! 👀 I'll edit this in case the video proves this doesn't work. Edit: Also she just got a new identity somehow too lol 😆
i think it doesn't have to be running away in the sense that she is literally hiding but more in the sense that she's hiding from herself or running from something she doesn't want to confront
I do think it's poignant that we know nothing about Emily before she arrives in Paris except for the fact that she's apparently a marketing savant. I don't know how her relationship is with her parents, family, and friends back home. And I feel you get a better understanding for literally every other character in the show. Mindy? Yup, she's got some issues with her uber rich family. Camille? Her parents are supportive but also expect so much. But Emily? Literally nothing
Emily has a sister that outshines her in every way and her parents love her sister like a heck of a lot more (like in the Good Place) and so Emily becomes annoying and everything instead because she can't hope to gain her parents attention since shes not talented or whatever when compared to her sister. Her sister has a boyfriend and Emily steals him from her and she gets so much backlash she runs and her parents come to Paris and demands she apologize or something.
You managed to put Naruto in there, that genuinely made me laugh out loud and somehow made sense. This video is, as always, a real pleasure to watch and listen to. I particularly enjoy confronting my impressions and thoughts with yours whenever I watch a show. Thank you for providing us with great content, it does brighten up a dull Sunday ! P.S. Merci de rendre justice aux Parisiens ! P.P.S. Je te verrai bien faire une chronique dans une émission comme celle de Clique, je me demande si un tel crossover peut arriver …
I think Emily’s secret could be she was unpopular as a teen and was bothered by that, so she developed “people pleaser habits. Her being in Paris is a way of proving she’s a cool kid. This side of her is a persona (hence the quirky clothes, even thought she’s not really quirky), her obnoxious manner is a “cooler than thou” attitude, yet, her indecisiveness, a way of trying to please everyone. “I live in Paris, wear fancy clothes, fancy job, have cool friends and all the boys want me”. Or even add into that. Her family didn’t have a lot of money, but she was able to get a scholarship to a prep school, but was bullied for being poor (which would make sense, as she wanted the Pierre Cadeau keychain. I know not many people can buy designer, but maybe the bullies could. Emily would be trying to fit in). Btw, she could be mimicking the bullies’ behavior. To explain how she’s good at her job, you can say she had to work really hard to get into a good college with a scholarship, and now plays it cool to seem effortless. For that to work, they would have to really show Emily working hard. The revelation could be because the company (daddy’s company) of her biggest bully was expanding to France and they wanted a French marketing firm to advertise it, and she would have to face it. She would first loose her balance, be anxious by her presence. The bully could use that to her advantage. But Emily would then rise above that because she would realize she earned everything because she worked hard, and that she shouldn’t care about what someone who has caused her pain thinks of her.
I'm almost convinced Netflix keep making more seasons and characters that are disliked to bait people into watching. I mean, it works if that's the case. I'm glad we get to see your opinions on it, and it's especially interesting how you incorporate The Clone Wars to compare with the show although they are so different. Even then you keep us engaged and get your points across. Well done!
4:52 I think we also should probably not discount the fact that there’s probably a lot of misogyny behind it too. Though it also feels kind of strange that people expect every character to be like perfect. She’s like 14 at the start of clone wars lol
Hear me out. Nine tails fox in Paris would be an absolute banger. Jokes apart, every writer trying to write an obnoxious character should watch your Emily series religiously.
Seeing how EIP's writers deal with Emily's hardships I imagine that if Kyuubi attacked Paris, Emily would discover her cousin has the fourth Hokage's phone number. Kishimoto also kind of has this kind of problem- for example: coming up with more and more ass-pull powers for Uchihas- but at least he lets his characters struggle and change.
If you think about it, you could give her Cloés Parents (a character from Miraculous) and maybe add a "perfect" sibling or better a sibling who is a great manipulater, so the people around them loves them, but with Emily they show their true colors to drive her mad. Also she admires her mother and just wants her love, so every time she's insecure, which is most of the time, she thinks 'what would my mother do' or 'how would my mother react'.
That would make her arcs with Sylvie and her boss SO MUCH better. It's obvious Emily seeks both of these women's opproval. Her boss even mentions at one point how much "easier fresh young people are to mould" to which Emily asks her, if she did the same to her. We could GREATLY expand on that arc by officially introducing Emily's mother complex into the mix.
I love the mystery option you mentioned at the end. They could do so much with that leading up to the new season. “WHY is Emily in Paris?” Challenging everyone to uncover the mystery, that’d be awesome. *Sigh* that’s so not going to happen..
honestly, this is an AMAZING idea. now that you point this out, emily's character flaws make me think of someone with an overly controlling parent. admittedly i'm not a psychologist, but i could see how that kind of thing would lead to being unable to make your own decisions (that parent might have instilled the idea that only they know what's best for you, so you can't trust yourself to make choices) and being totally unable to handle disapproval (if your own parents are very easy to disapprove of you and your actions, you might feel incredibly insecure with EVERY social interaction). she doesn't have much of a personality because she's never thought about who she is outside of her family !! do i think they'll do this? absolutely not. it would, however, make emily WAY more sympathetic, bc who doesn't sympathize with someone who was abused as a child? who grew up without learning who they were or how to think for themselves? god, it would even explain why all of the solutions to her problems just fall into her lap - she's NEVER gonna think things up on her own! she doesn't trust herself !!! dammit i'm so mad, this could work so well but i know it's not happening LOL
As an immigrant to the US from a very small and still developing nation, the frustration with Emily is how unbelievable it is. I don’t want to see a white woman just have everyone fall to their knees to try and help this woman succeed because that’s not the usual narrative. I’m usually watching for people with their foot out, waiting to trip me.
In reall life in France a woman like Emily would fail and probably get kicked out in less than 3 months. She is horrible and annoying, she speaks NO french, a lof of french people don't like "gringos" nor "brits" and have a particular dislike for english language. And is super hard to climb the ladder in France. You don't arrive and become a C.E.O.
The handwaving of her visa situation really highlighted this. Any other immigrant would be incredibly stressed by losing their job and potentially being kicked out of the country at any moment. Her arrogance instead treats it like a fun little thing and she immediately gets a job.
I LOVE the comparison between Emily in Paris to Naruto xD Thank you for that! I'd like to add that while Naruto suffers immediate consequences for his bad decisions, Emily does not. She seems to get everything handed to her on a silver platter and does not really go through any actual hardships. Even when she gets fired, it's more like a vacation for her.
So: Emily had the giant, ninetailed fox sealed within her in Chicago, and everyone shunned her, so she moved to Paris and refused to leave because her friends here don't know about her dark past, and she doesn't want to be shunned again.
I think my favorite suggestion to make Emily in Paris more enjoyable to watch was to merge it with netflix's YOU, Amanda the Jedi suggested it and I think this would be the best trashiest cross over that ABSOLUTELY needs to happen.
It's basically writing 101: Create a character, then give that character a Secret™. The viewer/reader should always get the sense that something is being hidden from them, that they don't yet know the full story 👍
The flaw they intended Emily to have was her being too focused on work. The whole reason she went to Paris was to fill in for the pregnant lady and get rewarded with a promotion when she goes home. Instead that all gets shadowed by love life melodrama. They could have done more with her wanting to be in a position of power in her field to make her more 3D.
It also would be interesting if they used her past to explain her arrogance and sometimes straight up xenophobia. If she'd been raised in a family that believed white Americans are superior to other, she kinda picked that up, but with time she became to realise how wrong she was. That would be not just ignoring stuff from previous seasons, but actually explaining them. Also, she's a main character, and everything we see in the show we see from her perspective. In season 1 they only show us, how rude French people are to Emily, and overall depict them as an awful people, but they could hint that Emily only saw what she wanted to see, what she was expecting to see.
I don’t think we need a backstory for her. Just like a lot of people, she could just be that way. She also doesn’t need to be more likeable. They just are too afraid to have actual kind of growth. We have no sense that she’s trying to be a better person because the show itself doesn’t give her a reason to. Maybe it’s because Emily is a reflection of the writers (which I believe to be so) or maybe the paramount is afraid it will make the core audience uncomfortable (I know people that genuinely like Emily aren’t likeable themselves) which explains why they seem afraid to actually change Emily.
When I compare Emily with Carrie Bradshaw, I choose Carrie despite her many flaws. She also lacks a backstory but she does have redeeming qualities and suffer the consequences of her actions. Despite being selfish and a bad friend sometimes, she cares deeply about her friends. She is often sorry for how she's treated people around her. She works hard and doesn't always get what she wants. Flawed but a much more interesting character from the same creators.
I think meeting Emily’s parents and perhaps getting an insight into how she was raised and her life before Paris would maybe help make her character a *tiny* bit more relatable. Like, maybe she grew up with really distant parents and that’s why she’s obsessed with social media because she craves attention from others.
I would suggest this new character by going for the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend route, this time its a foil like Trent. This character would do all the same shit Emily does onto everyone else, and Emily shows visible frustration. It can emphasize just how horrible of a person she is when you take away her protagonist role. In CXG, Trent acted as a foil to emphasize that Rebecca's (The MC) actions in the show would be (a) a LOT CREEPIER if a guy did it, and (b) that Rebecca possibly knows deep down just how messed up her actions are
It might be riding off the back of The Devil Wears Prada, but I’d love to see a storyline where a person from her past that comes back is someone she stole a work opportunity…possibly the one to go to Paris in the first place. This can further highlight her negative qualities, but this time on purpose, making her confront them. Maybe even make that person more qualified than Emily prompting her to actually work towards some goals and we’d get to see her grow in the process.
Plsss more like this!! If we dont get the great shows they could be, then at least we can dream about how good they could be. Love that creative aspect and also how you connected everything with a well example. It really gave an nice insight in how tv shows work.
I'm sure the writers would never do this with the show because their heads are so stuck up their own butts, but you just gave them the best free advice I've ever seen to turn a show around. You should be screen writer for real 👏
Considering you said that we don't know anything about her friends or family in Chicago, I think the easiest would be to just reveal that she got neither. I don't think making her a friendless orphan would redeem her without also working on giving her good qualities, but I thing it would at least help explain her behavior a little bit and maybe make people sympathise more with her
My backstory now for Emily is that all her old friends and family ghosted her cause they got too tired of dealing with her shit. And then the show will end with all her new friends also getting tired of her shit and ghosting her because she never learns.
I was actually really intrigued when the show mentioned for like 2 seconds the issue of Emily's work visa and being able to stay in France. That feels like such a great and natural way of forcing Emily to go back home for the audience to be able to experience some of what her life was like in Chicago. Of course, since the show is the way it is, her visa issue would get resolved by the end of the episode probably, but at least it would be something! If they wanted to go the extra mile, I think it would be fun to have her actually not be able to return to Paris right away, and instead we have a time jump, and when Emily finally returns to Paris expecting everyone to have missed her presence, everyone is absolutely thriving and excelling, and she has to figure out how to fit into everyone else's world now. Time jump could be nine months long to get to the end of Camille's pregnancy! IDK i feel you FSN, I want this show to work so badly, it is my guilty pleasure lol They definitely need to start by fixing Emily.
Sorry but I think hatred for Ahsoka was mainly because star wars dudebros couldn't handle having a teenage girl as a main character. It also wasn't made for THEM but for kids and as a person who was a 12 years old girl when the movie came out she was everything I wanted. The hate she got was from grown ass men who couldn't understand that everything star wars isn't always made for them. They way her character was treated was disgusting, they either wanted her dead or made explicit fanart of her (a 14 year old!) that kids like me did see just looking for drawings of their favourite character. I get that she was annoying at first but jeez it never stops to astound me how much hate stuff aimed at teenage girls gets from grown men.
I dont think Ahsoka was ever act. hated, not even disliked - at least not as much as some ppl these days come to say that, while using her as character growth example. There might been MINOR grp of very LOUD and toxic ppl that shown their color at time and often their problem didnt even came from act. character of Ahsoka, but more about idea of Anakin having padawan and "how it destroys continuity" and such. I was young man when that movie came and i did liked Ahsoka even then. Yes she could be lit. overconfident and annoying, but that worked well as foil for Anakin-s personality and even was adressed in same movie as lesson for young padawan. Plus i cant imagine some timid shy kid opposite of Anakin to work very well.
Turning Emily into Kate from Lost would be the best thing that could happen to this series. Make her do something horrible out of love for somebody so we simultaneously love and hate her. Or just make her an iconic menace like Loki. We Stan Loki
Hmmm, person with a vague backstory, unqualified for her job, who's unusually good at persuading and charming people but also unusually callous about people, orients her response to major decisions around keeping people happy with her, has signs of wealth far beyond her job position and expressions of financial need...? Have it turn out she's a scam artist.
As a weeb I appreciate the very detailed naruto character break down. Ur explanation of the show just made me nostalgic and I'm reminded why I love Naruto so much! Emily though... I don't have any hope. I hope the writers see this video and atleast TRY to redeem her even a bit.
Now I’m just imagining the Emily in Paris writers watching parts of your video and making Emily a ninja savior of Paris in season 4 and completely missing the point 😅
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Oh! Might be cool to do a video on characters that were awful at first but that writers managed to turn around.
I know that sponsorships can be complicated and all that but I checked this site out and it seems like it’s full of stolen artwork? They promote artwork people upload that is not theirs and all? I dunno, seems sketchy. If you’re someone who cares about that kind of thing, would stay away.
If there was a Naruto image on the thumbnail I would've watched this video when it dropped. I must assume more people would do too
You talking about Naruto reminded me of my favorite anime Sailor Moon, main character little annoying and loud but she has good qualities as well. I hope writers will check your video and actually will do what you suggested, then 4th season definitely will be worth watching. Thank you for your work:)
@heavenseal6220 Agree and I actually rooted for Usagi and felt for her. About Emily I am watching it with my husband where we just making fun of her because she just doesn’t feel like real human, but if take stuff she does seriously she deserves some slap to snap her out of “I am the best” throne, hope they will do something in next season.
FSN really said "I can fix her"
Dylan, you're in an abusive relationship, please get a kit-kat 😥
Preach, Dylan still tries to see something redeemable in Emily, and tries to put effort in fixing her, unlike the actual show writers.
It hurts seeing him like this 😭😭
@lydsmartin23 I wouldn’t wish than on my worse enemy
You a victim....
Speaking of Kit Kat - Kat Graham should totally play this hypothetical new character from Emily’s past. She’d enter the room already dressed like an actual Parisian, speaking perfect French, and quickly endearing everyone to her, especially, Sylvie…
This would immediately put Emily on the spot, as there is now another American on the team, but one who embraces the French language and culture. Emily would have a sudden fire under her ass to improve.
If Camille is Emily’s Sasuke
Kat Graham can be Emily’s Obito/Gaara
My immediate answer on how to fix Emily was "kill her and make it a whodunit where everyone she's ever come into contact with in Paris is a suspect because everybody hates her for the abundance of reasons at our fingertips" and I'm delighted that you said it at the end. Truly.
That should be it
Lol like the last season of the L word when they killed Jenny 😂
Reminds me of Amanda the Jedi's idea of a crossover with You where Emily becomes Joe's next obsession
@@RenaRainI'd watch that! :D
They did that in the L word for a character called Jenny who got so annoying she was hated. People still wear ‘I killed Jenny’ T-shirts 😂
I think one more major thing that the writers could do to improve Emily is by SHOWING HER WORKING HARD. Emily in Paris loves to say how great she is at her job, how hardworking she is, but we do not really see that. We never see her struggling, but overcoming in a way that stems solely from herself. Instead, we see her get random plot handouts and she gets the credit-- but that isn't working hard, it is being lucky. If we see Emily working and putting in tons of effort, we can see why she has the position in Paris, and why she should be respected in her workplace.
I think the reason some people do like Emily is as a wish fulfillment character. Her life is like if The Secret was real and you could manifest unrealistically good luck just by having enough confidence in yourself.
The problem is that she's probably a self insert of the writers who lucked out to be chosen, nepobabied their way in etc. hence why she constantly just lucks out, a female Elon Musk if you will, those writers are probably genuinely meh people who think they are great while having all of her qualities collectively.
The whole, just go to Paris, city of love blah blah blah is very 90s youth so they probably thought she would make a great self insert of all of the demographic of the show, if she was background free other then "came from the USA".
If you were to give her a back story based on how I hear she acts from FSN, she falls into three groups, spoiled rich kid, Tila Tequila esc too famous for her own good + mental illness or scam artist putting on the front of being rich and stupid. It would explain why she blows money like crazy and dresses like no one in their right mind. Paris Hilton comes to mind but apparently when she acted like that Paris had just being abused to near self delete by a boarding school.
Fantastic video & I do hope the writers do something to flesh her out . Otherwise she’ll just spend the season whining about a baby.
I did actually think your first suggestion was going to be to kill her off just for the catharsis. 😂
Yes, exactly!!! Because in every single American show, all the characters are shown working extremely hard, right??? Oh wait, no, they are never shown 'working hard' in almost any American show. Nobody was ever shown working for even 1 minute in friends and nobody whined about that, but if Emily in Paris is shown working at her job every episode that's still not enough...? The critics of this show, including this channel, are very hypocritical...
@@draum8103 I think the issue is that they go on about her being a hard worker but then only show her lucking out or stealing clients.
In such a case it is wrong to say that about her.
I never liked friends but I remember people complaining constantly about how there is no way they could afford those apartments on their salaries.
Also shows like:
-The Big Bang Theory showed them working constantly with Sheldon sometimes being berated for going days without sleep or mixing it into his off time.
-True blood had a season 1 scene where some of the characters were doing road work, the MCs brother doing sermons later in the season? the next one? I don't remember and The MC was at least once an episode working hard in the bar.
I could go one honestly, most shows show the characters working at least occasionally and when they call a character a hard worker or workaholic they show that.
So saying American shows don't do that is pretty obviously wrong.
If the writers can't recognize why the audience doesn't like Emily, the writers might need to examine why _they_ like her character first before they can acknowledge the problem and fix her.
Yeah... I was thinking that... if they can't see why nobody likes her, they might actually be her in real life 😬
Everyone likes her
I definitely think they shot themselves in the foot when they didn’t establish anything about Emily’s previous life and background before abruptly moving her to Paris. For one, it means we don’t know Emily at all and don’t understand her motivations. And secondly, it makes it so the whole “will she stay in Paris or go back to the US” plot have zero stakes, because we don’t know anything about her life in Chicago.
OR that gonna save show if they watching this)
The only bit of info we have of her Chicago life is her dumping her perfectly normal boyfriend because "ITS PARIS!!!"
I would argue that establishing stuff like that isn’t important right away (having your protagonist arrive in a new setting in medias res with no build up is a completely valid way to start a story) but you do have to give your lead character a backstory at some point, going 3 seasons without it tells me they aren’t interested.
It's not so bad that they didn't start with it - made it fun looking back to compare those fun hopeful vibes and startling lack of information when it came out later. They really dropped the ball when she was losing her job and was trying to find work to never bring up even hints of what would seriously happen to her back at Chicago (like what did she leave behind and what would she return to) as part of her motivation to stay. A whole other mystery could have been buried in there, disguised as something more normal like a strained relationship with family, no friends, or even the lack of job opportunities besides this specific company.
A storyline idea that popped into my head is that say Emily's mom is actually a famous model/celebrity/etc. Emily always felt when she was in the states that the opportunities she got only happened because of her mom. So going to Paris was her chance to split and make something of her own power. Having a celeb parent that tells you she was never good enough and compared to would definitely give backstory to her personality type. And then have it in season 4 that the mom shows up and all the "successes" that Emily was having in Paris, the ones that came out of nowhere and should never have worked, was actually her mom pulling strings. Now her whole world is crumbling and there could be some character development around still no knowing what her real value is.
Best plot convenience fix I've seen so far
Omg that's actually so smart. It gives us an explanation to why she's never working and puts so little effort into stuff. Then she would have to prove herself, her mom and everyone that she's capable as long as she tries, she would have to develop discipline and also try to be a less shitty person bc the old emily sucks and she finally sees that
Oh that sounds pretty juicy, I like it.
I don't know that Phil Collins's daughter can be convincing in portraying this situation
That, my friend, would explain why she's got so many designer clothes even though she can't afford it
Honestly I think the answer to "Why does she have no redeeming qualities??" Is that the writers and many people think her beauty is a personality trait. Its the only explanation for why the writers are still fumbling so hard after 3 seasons
Yes, it really does feel like they think "girls are just like that" and that it should feel relatable and light-hearted
I think you hit the nail on the head here (iunfortunately). Why else would the show consistently be sending out vibes like: "look how pretty Emily is." / "look how bad she treats people." / "but she's pretty, so we'll overlook how one-dimensional she is. Because she's pretty."
It's almost as if Emily's beauty being used to give her a pass is unrelatable and frustrating for the vast majority of ordinary viewers with average looks 🤷🏾♀️ like me
this. And also, I don't remember if FSN said it in the first video or if I read it in an interview with one of the creators herself but: she said that Emily in Paris stems from an experience she had as a young American intern in Paris so I guess the other characters' reactions to Emily are so spot on because the creator had lived this experience and didn't understand why they were the way they were, thinking they were simply mean and their behavior towards her unwarranted. Now that she made a whole show about that experience she still is in denial about the fact that "Emily" is not at all a likeable human being which reflects directly back to the creator. Tough stuff
@@escalisation3967 I didn't know this but it checks out perfectly. I always had a feeling they made her like this and have not changed it even after the backlash because the creators are convinced that she IS a nice and likeable person. That's why she is unintentionally horrible and also oblivious to it, and why I don't really think the writers will be able to fix her.
Ok how about this: Sylvie for whatever reason decides to hire a new American in her office. She is everything Emily isn’t: chic, sophisticated, fluent in French and generally more agreeable. It’s revealed that she was actually Emily’s roommate in college and they both interned together. When it came time to promote one of them, Emily sabotaged her roommate and gets the promotion. The roommate has moved to Paris to get revenge. She pulls an Emily and presents her idea before Emily has a chance. She makes friends with everyone in the office. Perhaps she even goes as far as trying to steal Gabriel. Except she is always seen as being outwardly nice to Emily so no one believes that she could be doing this and Emily won’t reveal in fear of revealing her past actions. At this point the audience begins to feel a little bad for Emily as she reflects on her flaws that have lead her to this point but for the most part we still feel like she’s a garbage person getting what she deserves. Until the roommate flies Emily’s family out to Paris in the guise of being a surprise in order to embarrass her. We learn that Emily actually grew up poor, her family is uneducated. We learn that Emily had to work extremely hard to get into school and get a scholarship and that her family basically thought she thought she was too good for them and eventually stopped speaking to her. Emily did sabotage her roommate but only because she was so desperate to support herself and the roommate was always putting her down for being poor making Emily feel like she had to live beyond her means to hang out with her. We see that Emily’s incessant butting in is because she was not seen in her family because of how different she was. The audience finally feels sympathy for Emily and she can begin her arc toward becoming a better friend and professional.
Now THAT’s interesting and far more engaging than “Gabriel or not Gabriel” 🙄
the story might start with julien quitting work so sylvie has to hire someone new !
This sounds like an amazing storyline!
Now that's something I'd watch
This is amazing!!!! Netflix needs to see this!
I want Emily's secret to be that she embezzled company money to buy all those designer clothes but was so smart about it that they could never send her to prison. Netflix please make it happen!
No but to actually include the fact that she could never actually afford these clothes in her secret would be so smart.
I was thinking about that too lol, I want so badly for the show to address her absolutely ridiculously expensive wardrobe in a way that truly explains it, it would be so satisfying because tbh there's only so much disbelief we can suspend
The next Sorokin story!!!
Emily….wtf, I just realized I do not even know her surname😂
it’s obviously “Inparis”
To add to this: maybe she steaks BC she was bullied for her outfits. Maybe she was told her bullying was out of jealousy so when she does wrong she believes it's also out of jealousy and not because she is a bad person. She can't be a bad person in her mind.
Also an important difference between Emily and Naruto worth pointing out is that Naruto was initially hated and outcasted by his village for his birth, something he had no control over which makes you feel bad for him bc it's not a fair situation to be in.
Whereas with Emily, the lack of respect and pushback she gets from people is fair because it's _completely_ within her control. She's a grown adult with internet access in the 21st century coming to another country whose language and culture is very different from her own yet she comes in knowing nothing about said country or even her job outside of a romanticised pop culture image and either barely improves or gets saved from having to improve because of the plot bending over backwards to make things easy for her. And without any kind of character motivation, would you ever feel bad for someone who regularly puts themselves in bad situations that they could have avoided or prevented?
True, and even though it's unfair, Naruto works hard day and night to become the hokage. He worked hard non stop to get the Rasengan, he worked hard to master wind style, his allies are there to support him but it's still his work ethic.
So to sum it up:
Make Emily a Ninja and give her a mysterious past as a backstory.
Maybe add Lightsabers in later seasons to fight a giant fox in Paris.
🤣
Or the Beast of Gevaudan, this being France. Giant wolf or actual werewolf of the French countryside.
@Arielle Celestin Emily the Werewolf Slayer-- 100% would watch
Truth is Emily needs Sasuke
Looking back, is anyone really surprised that a guy called Friendly Space *Ninja* would use a ninja show to demonstrate how to fix EIP?
As you were talking about Mindy's character, it occurred to me how interesting it would be to have Emily be a hard-working, middle class American girl who doesn't understand Mindy's upper class lifestyle and habits. It would give them some tension, put them at odds at times, and give them something to overcome and make their friendship stronger. Imagine Emily teaching Mindy where the best fripperies are in Paris! What if Emily's eccentric style mainly came from thrift shops? It would explain her creative fashion choices and make for some fun montages.
I think Emily is indeed a hardworking, middle class American girl because her imagination of Paris is very ‘cliché’ (like every regular tourist) meanwhile Mindy is not. And she is easily attracted by the artsy events and people because it is something Emily never experience before. Remember when Mindy invited her to the first party and she was absolutely lost? That explains the difference in lifestyle of Mindy and Emily, it is just the writers decided to write it in lighter tone. You have a valid point about thrifting creates Emily’s fashion sense too!
I have never watched a single episode of this show, but I am now very invested in Emily's secret which doesn't exist. Thanks.
Same. I never watched a single episode but I have happily watched every episode of FSN dissecting it.
Well Victoria might know the secret-
time to get people into writing engaging emily in paris fan fiction
@@Vickyeverythingelsewastaken I think FSN would be happy for us that we haven't suffered through the actual show
I'm invested in this and Amanda the Jedi's, You / Emily in Paris crossover. Where Joe stalks Emily and maybe he actually looks into her and uncovers her secret.
Abusive parents, especially if they neglected her as their only child or she is the daughter they don’t love, ignoring her, never praising her etc, instead lavishing all their attention on Emily’s older sister. This can explain why she has difficult relationships with other women like Camille, her mother can be like Slyvie quite domineering and independent etc, Emily started to dress and act quirky trying to standout etc. Such a simple explanation that could really deepen the character especially if her sister or mother or someone shows up in Paris
It reminds me so much about Tahani from the good place, I absolutely adore her!!
Maybe her mom be like Miranda Priestly.
Also the weak sense of self and workaholism
Just when you thought the Emily saga was over
Indeed, though I'm delighted that Dylan puts more thought into Emily's character than the actual writers on this show.
the emily saga will never be over
It's never ogre
When he made a season 3 review after saying he'd never watch the show again is when I realized the Emily saga would never be over
@@trinaq If only half that effort could be reciprocated the Emily in Paris writers
I think the real reason Emily is such an empty slate, is essentially because, she is supposed to be like Bella from twilight. Emily is meant to be a self insert for every teenage girl who is “quirky” and so on
It makes so much sense when you think about it
"quirky" which means being the most basic spoiled rich american girl
I thought that too, but Bella’s biggest flaw was not realizing she was way too boy crazy over the vampire boyfriend. She was blank of defining qualities, but she also didn’t have HUUUUGE flaws like Emily. I honestly feel Bella was a better character than Emily because being “nothing” is better than being “nothing but flaws”.
There are definitely better ways to have a blank slate protagonist, and one of them is just to have really compelling side characters and antagonists to liven up the world they (and we through their eyes) interact with.
Neo in the Matrix is a very blank slate, but when people talk about that movie they talk about everyone else but him, even though everyone still generally loves Keanu Reeves.
Like, it doesn't help that Emily is an irritating protagonist, but if all the people in her life were really compelling and people that we as an audience would like to be around then we can live vicariously through her, but it doesn't really appear the case.
As boy crazy as she was Bella was nowhere near as annoying as Emily is. She did sort of value her friendship with Alice and has a backstory that lets us sympathize with her. Emily is the worst for no reason. Even self insert characters need basic decency to endear audience to them. At the very least Bella had two very hot psycho - paranormal man children fighting over her which appealed to teenage sensibilities. Gabriel is even worse than Emily and that's saying something. If they manage to make me atleast tolerate Emily, I will consider that a bigger redemption arc than Zuko's. 😂😅
"The way of fixing Emily is by taking inspiration of Naruto" Is a wild statement, I'm in
it reminds me of the good place and especially elenor, where we have a character who is written to be a bad person, works hard to get better which we SEE, and then after she gets better we get her backstory of why she is the way she is and feel sympathy for her. tahani works the same way. maybe the writers of emily in paris are just....bad at their jobs.
Especially Tahani. She could be easily annoying or unbearable, but you can tell early on she is someone who cares about her image and there's a reason for it. And when you see it, you can tell shes basically trying to earn love by being perfect and that itself is relatable and heartbreaking in its own way, and Tahani grows further as a person
Yes and Rebecca from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as someone mentioned in another comment (she literally has a "villain in my own story" song for her realisation moment lol)! Honestly antiheroines are some of the most interesting main characters, but some characters are just written badly and the fans end up having to claim that's the point and that they're just "complicated" and troubled to defend them (AKA the Jenny Schecter problem). Sad backstories can be effective when built into the story but they can seem cheap and shallow when they feel like they were thrown in out of nowhere by desperate writers for sympathy points.
I think Velma just dethroned Emily as the worst Main Character.
For real though. I despise Emily but I would rather happily sit through all three seasons of Emily’s bullshit than to deal with Velma’s ever again.
While Emily can sometimes not be that annoying, there is nothing redeemable about Velma. At some points, I can somewhat forgive Emily's Karenness and just watch the show. With Velma, there is nothing enjoyable, redeemable, or watchable about her. All you want to do is push her in front of a bus.
What show?? What’s her deal?
@@TheJoker718 Velma in HBO PS: i will love to don't know Velma. Sorry i destroy your inocence
@@sophieamandaleitontoomey9343 if she got hit by a bus id be pissed cause Regina George earned that iconic moment
@@sophieamandaleitontoomey9343 I thought Velma was not meant to be a likable character, she's deliberately written as an obnoxious asshole.
And they gonna give her an Ahsoka type redemption arc over the next seasons.
At this point I think they should Riverdale the show. One day she catches her friend practicing magic she reveals her family is actually a long line of powerful witches and she left because she wanted to find her own path. She came to Paris because they are a hub for supernatural creatures. She introduces Emily to this world even though it's forbidden. But she meets a well connected vampire who says she's had a fashion line for over a hundred years, but marketing is hard because everyone wants to hold meetings/events in the day. Emily agrees to work with her schedule and help her, She is now the go to for all these creatures with different needs other humans wouldn't understand. She meets a sexy werewolf and they start dating.
Yessss!
Another thing would be she gets roped into spy undercover shinanigans, because no one would think she is capable of being that XD
Woah, woah, woah
Does the sexy werewolf kill Gabrielle? Or is Gabrielle the werewolf?? 😭
@@athena6832 The werewolf and Gabrielle get into a brief fight where he gets bitten. Which drags him and Camille into this world.
this made me laugh out loud hahaha!!!! superb
😂😂😂😂😂
I think you forgot about Naruto being literally A KID, while Emily is a grown ass woman with shared flaws. Even when he was still young, he started becoming a better person to his friends and people around him. Emily, on the other hand, betrays her friend like it's nothing and she doesn't even realized how obnoxious and annoying she is to her community. She really doesn't deserve my respect if she is compared to Naruto tbh.
@LackingaFace Thank you! That was one of my previous comments. Naruto and Ahsota have nothing comparable to Emily. Both Naruto and Ahsota can be redeemed and have character build-up as they grow up, the Emily through her misdeeds is not redeemable or salvageable, even if they wanted to burn the script or bring in new characters or try to kill her off. The writers will ruin the next protagonist. Daniel Craig deserves to be treated better.
his point was that Emily is basically an overgrown child, wasn''t it? and yeah, she only has Naruto's flaws (which is worse on an adult) and NONE of his good traits, which is what he's trying to fix in his fanfic lol
Yeah, that behavior is a lot less excusable for a grown adult. But I feel like you don’t NEED to justify her behaviors or really make her seem like a better person at all in order to make a good story. Just making her 3 dimensional and interesting could be enough, even if she’s still a terrible person
I think it's largely irrelevant what the age of the character is. A despicable person can be an enjoyable character to watch if they're well written, and in particular, if they go through interesting arcs that allows the character to evolve, as well as reveal deeper layers that make us see them differently.
Seeing a bad person become better is a pretty efficient recipe. It can even work with pretty bland, blank slate type characters.
Oh, absolutely, and here's the thing for me---Naruto (in the first few episodes, especially), was still REALLY ANNOYING, at least for me. I survived because I already had a bit of a vested interest in the character and the story---I knew what would happen, just not the details or how---and even then I seriously debated just... not watching any more.
(I ended up making it through because of the fight scenes and worldbuilding. Switching to the Japanese version with English subtitles also helped. And I managed to build up enough tolerance and affection by the Waves Arc to genuinely enjoy things more and become more invested in the character development. It also helped that the large supporting cast meant that I could essentially take a break whenever his early character got to be too much for me.)
Admittedly, though, I would actually pay some amount of money to see a shonen version of Emily in Paris.
Like, genuinely. Maybe also a reverse-isekai? But... circumstances unchanged, maybe even personality unchanged---probably just a decrease in the romance side of things. But I want Emily doing parkour and slapstick humor in her absurd designer outfits and high heels. I want something bright neon orange in everything she wears. I want her dramatically monologuing to a probably fairly-confused Mindy or Luc. When Luc asks her why she's shouting, I want that to be in response to her striking a dramatic pose or bowing energetically and then literally SHOUTING her introduction. I want her literally kicking down or breaking through Gabriel's door or something when she thinks it's her room, maybe because she thinks the lock is stuck or something. For the steak/customer is always right scene, I want her dramatically challenging the chef to duel or something for the sake of her honor(?) or pride and then Mindy literally having to carry/drag her out while she still furiously monologues. With dramatic lighting and everything.
I want everyone to still fall in love with her, kinda, but maybe platonically---or her just being very confused and any flirtation completely going over her head. They're bros, and one of the bros is a weirdly macho 5'5" American girl in absurdly bright designer clothes and high heels. (Like a reverse harem, but in the comedy genre. This would also be so funny given how standard it is for isekai.)
Maybe the reason Gabriel is so helpful is because Emily just assumed they were friends after the first time they meet and now half the time he's running damage control so she doesn't break his door or start monologuing loudly or challenge someone to a fight. Again. (This would also be a great opportunity for a joke about it being a good thing France has universal health care, and him wondering how on earth this went down when she was in America.)
But like maybe one of them suggests they wrestle in the sheets, and the next scene is Emily in sumo-wrestling gear trying to explain to the confused person how to put on the belt. And then maybe asking how to set up the "sheets" he mentioned.
Just... shonen protagonist Emily. Shouting, slapstick comedy, a fairly dumb (quite lucky) protagonist in bright orange (or bright other colors) with messy eating habits, fight scenes, monologues.
Personally, I would just rip off the bandage, and have her be the villain of the story. This whole series could be her origin to being a cutthroat figure in the fashion scene.
Sort like an answer to the question “What if the Devil in the Devil Wears Prada got a prequel series?”.
But your idea isn’t too bad either!
But with a comedic edge as her style is terrible
I love this
Oooooo I would love this!!!!
Emily Yeager
The issue is she isn't exactly smart or capable to be a good villain, but if she is smart or capable then she would have had redeemable qualities to begin with.
This video further convinced me that Amenda the Jedi's idea of "a crossover between "YOU" and "Emily in Paris" really is a BRILLIANT IDEA.
WHAT IF Emily was once a target of Joe in Chicago, and the reason she act so obnoxious and unlikeable is for people to not get interested in her past? Especially when that past is a little "bloody".
Another fun video. Its kinda funny that just giving Emily some back story, even a bad one, still make her a more likeable character.
so season 1 of You again?
It's totally incredible what they did with Ahsoka. She's been my *absolute* favourite since like 2015, no joke.
Even if Emily's character isn't completely lost, I very much doubt this show's writers will ever achieve anything that's half as good as Ahsoka's characterisation...
Until her Mandalorian episode, right? ... Right? 😰
I'm not into star wars but I had a massive crush on her as a kid for whatever reason. This is the first I've heard about the fandom hating her
YES!
She even gives anakins developement so much, while she is great. and lives on after order 66. And for a goo reason even in character developement.
I liked Ashoka even in that first movie she was a child thrust into a war zone and expected to be more mature and grown up than she possibly could have been! Of course she was kind of irritating, she was a new character who was just starting her arc and development! I’ve never understood why people hated her immediately instead of deciding to see where the creators were going to take her character later on, like some criticism sure but the vitriol was just so excessive I’m glad filoni kept her moving forward she’s one of my all time favorite Star Wars characters and I can’t wait for her series so we get more of her
If Emily is what "adorable" means to the writers, I fear for their friends and family.
Thats Lilly Colins.
@@jeremybeau8334They mean her behavior is supposed to be quirky and cute
@@nationalinstituteofcheese3012 Collins behave like that, give yous an idea of what "quirky and cute" means for those people.
you're so real for adding veronica lodge and jughead jones along with the hated characters. they are definitely overhyped because people love the irl actors LMAOOO
Well, I love Veronica's fashion and the fact that she takes shit from no-one and while I understand the storylines and the lines she says are cringy at the core I think the concept of the character is pretty good
We need the "Emily in Paris" and "You" Crossover like Amanda the jedi is rooting for 😂 this will give her mystery and a backstory!
Back story: Emily is raised by workaholic parents who prioritized their careers over their only child. She grows up comfortably, but starved for attention. Nothing she does is good enough to garner the praise she craves, so Emily turns to the party scene in college, neglecting her work in order to drink and hang out with people she thinks are her friends. When she’s expelled after an incident at a party just off campus those friends desert her. Once again she’s left feeling abandoned. One night after getting the closest thing to a pep talk her mom has ever given where she’s told to do something with her life or get out she sees the movie Sabrina and decides that’s who she will be now. She uses her parents money to get herself a job, etc. with the goal of getting to Paris and staying there until her life works itself out.
Then convinces Madeline's partner to get her pregnant so that she can take her place instead
What if she didn't even really have friends? She was just a party girl touring clubs, Instagram feed filled with pictures where she looks super sociable, partying with complete strangers so she doesn't feel as lonely as she struggles to connect with people on any other level than "look what I did, aren't I just funny?" because even if people laugh at her, it's still more than she's used to. She lived her life on such surface-level, short term dopamine that she didn't emotionally mature in a way that would allow her to make meaningful connections with people.
We get a post-birthday episode, where a lot of people are commenting on her pictures with cake/ballons/etc. shocked to find out she's twenty-something and not like 18 or 19 living on dad's money, and comments on how _ridiculous_ it is, she's not juvenile, what are they on about? And there's just a _beat_ too long before her friend(s) start to reassure that noooo, we like you that way. Boom, inciting incident for an episode where they can fix some of the more annoying stuff, have a proper heart to heart with a friend to show that she understands what friendship is supposed to be about, and then next episode, we trigger the backstory.
Agree, I can totally see Emily as a rich girl and parents who never cared.
She is a party girl and after a big accident and her Uni/ work there is a costly damage and daddy closes his bank.
Her friends ditch her and her boyfriend Stopps spending time with her to be with ✨The Boys✨.
We know look at three season worth Teenager rebellion that literally means ,,Look at me daddy, I am a grown up!
I may fucked both my friends boyfriend and her 17 brother - but I am still grown up and life my best life.
FU!!!“
😂😂😂😂
yesssss👏
We can also throw in a golden child/perfect sibling in the mix as well for good measure.
I think the reason the writers refuse to give her a backstory is because they think the audience wants a blank slate main character whom they can project themselves on to. I saw a comment on one of your previous videos that described Emily as a Y/N character and I think that’s exactly it.
Our man is trying to rescue Emily from herself, what an icon.
Agreed, he is the captain of a sinking ship.
,,It began with me and it will end with me. It was an honor to work with you all😂.“
I like the idea that Emily may have stolen someone's life, adopting their personality to fit in.
Jim Davis once said that Garfield is only likeable because he is a cat, his personality wouldn't be cute if he was a human. I think Emily was written like a funny cartoon cat and then they just made her a person
I hope this doesn’t come off the wrong way, but the problem with Emily’s character (and possibly the writers room) is that she is a quintessential white American female character and that’s why they can’t understand her being annoying to the audience. She doesn’t have to be smart, she doesn’t have to be resourceful. She just has to be attractive and “well meaning”. Everything gets to fall into place for her and she gets to have the expectation that things will go well for her because she’s a white American woman. It’s evident in how she refused to embrace the French culture in season 1 and respect that France is not America.
Emily is a stereotype and the writers have pretty much pigeonholed the character while allowing most of the rest of the cast to have some substance. Although I like the mystery angle, I doubt these writers would pull it off. But I would settle for Emily finally realizing that the world doesn’t revolve around her.
how would you make her realise that? I'd be interested in your view, because I agree with everything you wrote
I pointed out all the things I hated about Emily on a comment poll and why I found her annoying and the people replied saying clearly I hated my life and happiness because I despise Emily.
It was a real Sure Jan moment.
wtf wow
No, no, I think youre right. Emily needs a nine-tailed fox demon. That is 100% certain to not only make her more interesting and likeable, but also will absolutely make more people watch the show.
The writers thought they ate by sending Emily to Paris when in fact, I’d like to see Kate Walsh’s character as a Single Pregnant/Single Mom in Paris who meets Sylvie and then everyone lives happily ever after. Maybe there’s a Multiverse Theory in there somewhere.
i somehow misread and thought you said kate winslet, and thought yes, i would love to see kate winslet in a sapphic relationship.
Yes!! That would be so awesome, I thought that the first episode too! Just because a woman is pregnant it doesn't mean she just quits the dream she has always had and that she has studied and worked so hard for. It was so sexist and stupid!!
@@silviaov633 it was also so strange because, at the start of the show she had only JUST gotten pregnant. i understand every pregnancy is different and some people are more cautious than others, but it wouldn't stretch the "imagination" that much for Kate Walsh's character to still go anyway because she's not at the point of pregnancy where taking it easy is paramount, aside from possibly morning sickness and general queasiness, which might even raise the nuanced question of how much are women expected to power through while still getting to do the work they want. it's fiction, after all, the writers could easily go "oh the Paris thing will only take a couple of months! no problem for me i'd be back just in time to deal with the rest of the pregnancy!" but then the trip ends up being extended for Insert Business And Plot Reason Here.
@@briarchambliss Omg that’s awesome! What an interesting idea.
You know what’s funny? Scarlett O’Hara in gone with the wind is on the exactly opposite extreme from Emily of a failed character agenda pursued by the writers - Mitchell intended for Scarlett to be a hated antagonist and she ended up being adored by many despite her many flaws and few if any redeeming qualities. Would be curious to run parallels between these two little failures of the writers objectives!
Would love to see a story arc of it being revealed that Emily behavior in the past lead her to being isolated and unlike by her co-workers and friends. Maybe she was a mean girl or did bad things so she could get ahead at work and be the favorite of her boss. So she goes to Paris for a fresh start and "old habits die hard", except now she is desperately trying to hold onto people so she is not isolated and alone again.
This new character that kicks off the story line could even be someone she bullied in the past, someone better at the job then emily, and so Emily took her down in Chicago so she could rise up. At thr end of the season, it could show them becoming genuine friends and Emily apologizing for past shitty behaviour
There was an intresting theory that Emily in Paris could be Emily exaggerating her life on instagram she’s really a girl living a very drab life and it’s the life she wishes. This twist is a little to much for me but it’s a theory some fans have
I love how you've cemented yourself as youtube's Emily expert. I referenced you previous video a few times when I went on a rant.... and now you've blown my mind with these comparisons. At first I thought your solution was going to involve recasting her, but this was so much better. I don't think this is weird at all and I appreciate how you broke it down the way you did. It makes so much sense.
I hope the writers watch this video because I was ready to walk away from the show and now that we know it's not too late to save it, I'd give it another chance if they tried your approach.
I mean. We've seen how she can be backstabbing. Her secret could be that back in Chicago, the backstabbing had unintended consequences. The new character could be the victim of said terrible backstabbing.
Fleabag comes to mind 💙
Your critique of Emily just makes me appreciate the excellent work the writer’s of crazy ex girlfriend did with the protagonist of that show; Rebecca Bunch could be one of the most dislikable characters ever, but the writers let you she why she is the way she is and you sympathise with her the whole way through her journey of self-discovery and self-improvement
I genuinely feel bad for Lily Collins. Not even her charm and sheer likability can save Emily from being an absolutely horrible protagonist who never learns from her mistakes, and for how she awfully she treats the people around her.
Do you know her in real life? she's a rich privileged Woman. Maybe she is more like Emily than you would think. Dont ever assume, like i did just now.
@@MichaSennin Sucks being on the other end of it for once, huh?
she's definitely fallen from grace. five or six years ago she was an icon, now nobody mentions her if it's not to trash about this show. sad
Well, she's a producer of the show. I'm pretty sure she knows what she's doing, whether we like it or not... (and I don't like it)
i mean im sure 99% of us arent rich, so you wanted to insult me? lmao
Emily reminds me of Rebbecca from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I almost stopped watching that show because I was so angry with how Rebecca never changed, was selfish, and seemed not to care she was hurting others while begging for attention from everyone around her. Then they revealed she had BPD. This made so much sense, and then she WORKED to get better. Went to therapy and it took a long time but she was able to keep herself from ruining her life. Maybe something bad happened in Chicago and maybe it was because of her BPD. Maybe there's trauma we can learn and understand from in the backstory. It'd be cool if she then got therapy. It sounds like Emily needs therapy
IMO CXG is an example of how to do an "antiheroine" character right. I'm the opposite of you though - Emily doesn't remind me of Rebecca really. I always liked Rebecca and enjoyed the series but I think a part of that is, unlike Emily, it was clear from the start that her flaws were intentional and the show was self-aware enough ahout how messed up the characters' actions are. You could see that the story was going there and exploring it so you could trust the show to reveal and develop things in its own time. Sometimes you have to wait for the payoff (and it's more realistic as many people take a while to change or even admit their problems and mistakes).
When it's not intentional it's pretty obvious and gets more criticism because the creators want you to like the character and root for them despite everything. Sometimes it can be intended but still not work or get across though (e.g. the unpopularity of the MC in Never Have I Ever) so it's not straightforward. Also having a sympathetic backstory doesn't completely excuse the character or make them interesting, so it's better when the story acknowledges that too like CXG or The Good Place (another great example) did.
I remember Chloe from "Dont trust the bitch in apartmente 23" she was a great character but she was horrible on purpos and even the title show telled everything about her character. And she learned something in the way. I miss that show.
Crazy X Girlfriend was a masterpiece please don't compare
I know mentioning Knives Out was a joke, but imagine if Benoit Blanc _was_ the person from Emily's past that would be introduced?!
Wouldn't even be mad at that.
I like the idea of Emily running from a secret life of crime. She had to run because she was bad at it.
@@safirak7988 Explains the ridiculously expensive designer wardrobe.
He and Hugh Grant are Emily’s adoptive parents and she really hates that she can’t hide anything from Dad Lablanc. Also, her not knowing French is something Lablanc constantly teases her about (lovingly, though she doesn’t see it that way)
Moral of the story : to save herself, Emily must become the Hokage of the Hidden Metro Village of Paris and bring Sasuke back.
The Emily in Paris writers teams really should recruit you to make this show way better because if they tries doing it in next season we will know which video they are plagiarizing 😂
If you're not ending up working in the writer's room of that show...I don't know what to expect from the world. That was just perfect.
FSN hooked us in with Emily in Paris only to lure us to appreciate good character writing/development in Ashoka and Naruto. Can't say I'm mad about that, good on you dude
Killing Emily off, and then finding out that she had the 9 tailed fox in her belly would definitely make me watch the next season.
I definitely would enjoy a future playlist based entirely on fixing one-dimensional characters from popular television series.
I think one of the most obvious things they could do would be to show a family visit where she is constantly dragged by her family and they mock her because idk she was weird as a kid and she was bullied a lot, then she would feel the need to lie to make herself look more successful and it would explain why she wants people to like her so bad and why she doesn't want to go back to her old live, she just simply doesn't want to fail and is afraid to become the person that she was before, it's a basic storyline but it works.
The only reason I think the mystery running away from something angle wouldn't work is because she is a popular influencer, everyone knows where she is, and she's definitely not hiding. We can definitely still focus on the "knowing nothing about her" aspect tho
Haven't finished the video but maybe she got a full face of surgery, an entirely different face! 👀
I'll edit this in case the video proves this doesn't work.
Edit: Also she just got a new identity somehow too lol 😆
i think it doesn't have to be running away in the sense that she is literally hiding but more in the sense that she's hiding from herself or running from something she doesn't want to confront
She is hiding in plain sight?! With an elaborate cover?!
any backstory introduced now would be a sloppy attempt at retconning redeeming qualities for emily. its not gonna work
I do think it's poignant that we know nothing about Emily before she arrives in Paris except for the fact that she's apparently a marketing savant. I don't know how her relationship is with her parents, family, and friends back home. And I feel you get a better understanding for literally every other character in the show. Mindy? Yup, she's got some issues with her uber rich family. Camille? Her parents are supportive but also expect so much. But Emily? Literally nothing
Emily has a sister that outshines her in every way and her parents love her sister like a heck of a lot more (like in the Good Place) and so Emily becomes annoying and everything instead because she can't hope to gain her parents attention since shes not talented or whatever when compared to her sister. Her sister has a boyfriend and Emily steals him from her and she gets so much backlash she runs and her parents come to Paris and demands she apologize or something.
You managed to put Naruto in there, that genuinely made me laugh out loud and somehow made sense. This video is, as always, a real pleasure to watch and listen to. I particularly enjoy confronting my impressions and thoughts with yours whenever I watch a show. Thank you for providing us with great content, it does brighten up a dull Sunday !
P.S. Merci de rendre justice aux Parisiens !
P.P.S. Je te verrai bien faire une chronique dans une émission comme celle de Clique, je me demande si un tel crossover peut arriver …
I think Emily’s secret could be she was unpopular as a teen and was bothered by that, so she developed “people pleaser habits. Her being in Paris is a way of proving she’s a cool kid.
This side of her is a persona (hence the quirky clothes, even thought she’s not really quirky), her obnoxious manner is a “cooler than thou” attitude, yet, her indecisiveness, a way of trying to please everyone. “I live in Paris, wear fancy clothes, fancy job, have cool friends and all the boys want me”.
Or even add into that. Her family didn’t have a lot of money, but she was able to get a scholarship to a prep school, but was bullied for being poor (which would make sense, as she wanted the Pierre Cadeau keychain. I know not many people can buy designer, but maybe the bullies could. Emily would be trying to fit in). Btw, she could be mimicking the bullies’ behavior.
To explain how she’s good at her job, you can say she had to work really hard to get into a good college with a scholarship, and now plays it cool to seem effortless. For that to work, they would have to really show Emily working hard.
The revelation could be because the company (daddy’s company) of her biggest bully was expanding to France and they wanted a French marketing firm to advertise it, and she would have to face it. She would first loose her balance, be anxious by her presence. The bully could use that to her advantage.
But Emily would then rise above that because she would realize she earned everything because she worked hard, and that she shouldn’t care about what someone who has caused her pain thinks of her.
I'm almost convinced Netflix keep making more seasons and characters that are disliked to bait people into watching. I mean, it works if that's the case. I'm glad we get to see your opinions on it, and it's especially interesting how you incorporate The Clone Wars to compare with the show although they are so different. Even then you keep us engaged and get your points across. Well done!
4:52 I think we also should probably not discount the fact that there’s probably a lot of misogyny behind it too. Though it also feels kind of strange that people expect every character to be like perfect. She’s like 14 at the start of clone wars lol
Hear me out. Nine tails fox in Paris would be an absolute banger. Jokes apart, every writer trying to write an obnoxious character should watch your Emily series religiously.
Seeing how EIP's writers deal with Emily's hardships I imagine that if Kyuubi attacked Paris, Emily would discover her cousin has the fourth Hokage's phone number.
Kishimoto also kind of has this kind of problem- for example: coming up with more and more ass-pull powers for Uchihas- but at least he lets his characters struggle and change.
If you think about it, you could give her Cloés Parents (a character from Miraculous) and maybe add a "perfect" sibling or better a sibling who is a great manipulater, so the people around them loves them, but with Emily they show their true colors to drive her mad. Also she admires her mother and just wants her love, so every time she's insecure, which is most of the time, she thinks 'what would my mother do' or 'how would my mother react'.
That would make her arcs with Sylvie and her boss SO MUCH better. It's obvious Emily seeks both of these women's opproval. Her boss even mentions at one point how much "easier fresh young people are to mould" to which Emily asks her, if she did the same to her. We could GREATLY expand on that arc by officially introducing Emily's mother complex into the mix.
It sounds a little too much like Tahani in The Good Place.
oohh good idea-
Emily In Paris season 4 pitch: Knives Out 3, Benoit Blanc en Paris
I love the mystery option you mentioned at the end. They could do so much with that leading up to the new season. “WHY is Emily in Paris?” Challenging everyone to uncover the mystery, that’d be awesome.
*Sigh* that’s so not going to happen..
honestly, this is an AMAZING idea. now that you point this out, emily's character flaws make me think of someone with an overly controlling parent. admittedly i'm not a psychologist, but i could see how that kind of thing would lead to being unable to make your own decisions (that parent might have instilled the idea that only they know what's best for you, so you can't trust yourself to make choices) and being totally unable to handle disapproval (if your own parents are very easy to disapprove of you and your actions, you might feel incredibly insecure with EVERY social interaction). she doesn't have much of a personality because she's never thought about who she is outside of her family !! do i think they'll do this? absolutely not. it would, however, make emily WAY more sympathetic, bc who doesn't sympathize with someone who was abused as a child? who grew up without learning who they were or how to think for themselves? god, it would even explain why all of the solutions to her problems just fall into her lap - she's NEVER gonna think things up on her own! she doesn't trust herself !!! dammit i'm so mad, this could work so well but i know it's not happening LOL
Friendly Space Ninja: Emily is know as the most unlikable protagonist on television.
Velma: Allow me to introduce myself!
Quite a feat to be hated by literally anyone no matter the community, politics, whatevr .
As an immigrant to the US from a very small and still developing nation, the frustration with Emily is how unbelievable it is. I don’t want to see a white woman just have everyone fall to their knees to try and help this woman succeed because that’s not the usual narrative. I’m usually watching for people with their foot out, waiting to trip me.
In reall life in France a woman like Emily would fail and probably get kicked out in less than 3 months.
She is horrible and annoying, she speaks NO french, a lof of french people don't like "gringos" nor "brits" and have a particular dislike for english language. And is super hard to climb the ladder in France. You don't arrive and become a C.E.O.
The handwaving of her visa situation really highlighted this. Any other immigrant would be incredibly stressed by losing their job and potentially being kicked out of the country at any moment. Her arrogance instead treats it like a fun little thing and she immediately gets a job.
So Naruto + Gossip Girl + Emily in Paris = redemption arc? I’d watch that in a heartbeat 😂
I LOVE the comparison between Emily in Paris to Naruto xD Thank you for that!
I'd like to add that while Naruto suffers immediate consequences for his bad decisions, Emily does not. She seems to get everything handed to her on a silver platter and does not really go through any actual hardships. Even when she gets fired, it's more like a vacation for her.
‘Friendly Space Ninja’ better be a consultant for a future season or for the spin-off or something.
Agreed, I would start a petition to make Dylan a writer for Season 4!
So: Emily had the giant, ninetailed fox sealed within her in Chicago, and everyone shunned her, so she moved to Paris and refused to leave because her friends here don't know about her dark past, and she doesn't want to be shunned again.
You can't fool me this was just a disguised ad for Naruto that absolutely worked now I want to go watch it
After this, I hope Lily Collins personally goes to your place to get you that selfie with her.
I think my favorite suggestion to make Emily in Paris more enjoyable to watch was to merge it with netflix's YOU, Amanda the Jedi suggested it and I think this would be the best trashiest cross over that ABSOLUTELY needs to happen.
It's basically writing 101: Create a character, then give that character a Secret™. The viewer/reader should always get the sense that something is being hidden from them, that they don't yet know the full story 👍
I think they even failed in the beginning: Create a character...
@@beyzaozdemir6388 That too 🤣
The flaw they intended Emily to have was her being too focused on work. The whole reason she went to Paris was to fill in for the pregnant lady and get rewarded with a promotion when she goes home. Instead that all gets shadowed by love life melodrama. They could have done more with her wanting to be in a position of power in her field to make her more 3D.
Title: “How to fix emily”
The video: ultimate Naruto recap
You put yourself through watching all these seasons and episodes even though you hate it so much? WOW. You are patient and deserve some recognition.
A video I was not expected and that I am incredibly grateful for
It also would be interesting if they used her past to explain her arrogance and sometimes straight up xenophobia. If she'd been raised in a family that believed white Americans are superior to other, she kinda picked that up, but with time she became to realise how wrong she was. That would be not just ignoring stuff from previous seasons, but actually explaining them. Also, she's a main character, and everything we see in the show we see from her perspective. In season 1 they only show us, how rude French people are to Emily, and overall depict them as an awful people, but they could hint that Emily only saw what she wanted to see, what she was expecting to see.
I don’t think we need a backstory for her. Just like a lot of people, she could just be that way. She also doesn’t need to be more likeable. They just are too afraid to have actual kind of growth. We have no sense that she’s trying to be a better person because the show itself doesn’t give her a reason to. Maybe it’s because Emily is a reflection of the writers (which I believe to be so) or maybe the paramount is afraid it will make the core audience uncomfortable (I know people that genuinely like Emily aren’t likeable themselves) which explains why they seem afraid to actually change Emily.
When I compare Emily with Carrie Bradshaw, I choose Carrie despite her many flaws. She also lacks a backstory but she does have redeeming qualities and suffer the consequences of her actions. Despite being selfish and a bad friend sometimes, she cares deeply about her friends. She is often sorry for how she's treated people around her. She works hard and doesn't always get what she wants. Flawed but a much more interesting character from the same creators.
I think meeting Emily’s parents and perhaps getting an insight into how she was raised and her life before Paris would maybe help make her character a *tiny* bit more relatable. Like, maybe she grew up with really distant parents and that’s why she’s obsessed with social media because she craves attention from others.
I would suggest this new character by going for the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend route, this time its a foil like Trent. This character would do all the same shit Emily does onto everyone else, and Emily shows visible frustration. It can emphasize just how horrible of a person she is when you take away her protagonist role.
In CXG, Trent acted as a foil to emphasize that Rebecca's (The MC) actions in the show would be (a) a LOT CREEPIER if a guy did it, and (b) that Rebecca possibly knows deep down just how messed up her actions are
It might be riding off the back of The Devil Wears Prada, but I’d love to see a storyline where a person from her past that comes back is someone she stole a work opportunity…possibly the one to go to Paris in the first place. This can further highlight her negative qualities, but this time on purpose, making her confront them. Maybe even make that person more qualified than Emily prompting her to actually work towards some goals and we’d get to see her grow in the process.
Plsss more like this!! If we dont get the great shows they could be, then at least we can dream about how good they could be. Love that creative aspect and also how you connected everything with a well example. It really gave an nice insight in how tv shows work.
I'm sure the writers would never do this with the show because their heads are so stuck up their own butts, but you just gave them the best free advice I've ever seen to turn a show around. You should be screen writer for real 👏
Considering you said that we don't know anything about her friends or family in Chicago, I think the easiest would be to just reveal that she got neither. I don't think making her a friendless orphan would redeem her without also working on giving her good qualities, but I thing it would at least help explain her behavior a little bit and maybe make people sympathise more with her
My backstory now for Emily is that all her old friends and family ghosted her cause they got too tired of dealing with her shit. And then the show will end with all her new friends also getting tired of her shit and ghosting her because she never learns.
Emily isn’t doomed. She just needed a blueprint.
I was actually really intrigued when the show mentioned for like 2 seconds the issue of Emily's work visa and being able to stay in France. That feels like such a great and natural way of forcing Emily to go back home for the audience to be able to experience some of what her life was like in Chicago. Of course, since the show is the way it is, her visa issue would get resolved by the end of the episode probably, but at least it would be something!
If they wanted to go the extra mile, I think it would be fun to have her actually not be able to return to Paris right away, and instead we have a time jump, and when Emily finally returns to Paris expecting everyone to have missed her presence, everyone is absolutely thriving and excelling, and she has to figure out how to fit into everyone else's world now. Time jump could be nine months long to get to the end of Camille's pregnancy!
IDK i feel you FSN, I want this show to work so badly, it is my guilty pleasure lol They definitely need to start by fixing Emily.
Emily in Paris writers watching new Friendly Space Ninja video - " Write this down, write this down !!!"
This would be a super cool series on this channel! Like fixing different failed characters. Would love to see it. Also you're great X
Sorry but I think hatred for Ahsoka was mainly because star wars dudebros couldn't handle having a teenage girl as a main character. It also wasn't made for THEM but for kids and as a person who was a 12 years old girl when the movie came out she was everything I wanted. The hate she got was from grown ass men who couldn't understand that everything star wars isn't always made for them. They way her character was treated was disgusting, they either wanted her dead or made explicit fanart of her (a 14 year old!) that kids like me did see just looking for drawings of their favourite character. I get that she was annoying at first but jeez it never stops to astound me how much hate stuff aimed at teenage girls gets from grown men.
I dont think Ahsoka was ever act. hated, not even disliked - at least not as much as some ppl these days come to say that, while using her as character growth example. There might been MINOR grp of very LOUD and toxic ppl that shown their color at time and often their problem didnt even came from act. character of Ahsoka, but more about idea of Anakin having padawan and "how it destroys continuity" and such. I was young man when that movie came and i did liked Ahsoka even then. Yes she could be lit. overconfident and annoying, but that worked well as foil for Anakin-s personality and even was adressed in same movie as lesson for young padawan. Plus i cant imagine some timid shy kid opposite of Anakin to work very well.
your breakdown of Naruto Uzamaki just makes me wanna see you do videos on anime characters you love
Turning Emily into Kate from Lost would be the best thing that could happen to this series. Make her do something horrible out of love for somebody so we simultaneously love and hate her. Or just make her an iconic menace like Loki. We Stan Loki
Hmmm, person with a vague backstory, unqualified for her job, who's unusually good at persuading and charming people but also unusually callous about people, orients her response to major decisions around keeping people happy with her, has signs of wealth far beyond her job position and expressions of financial need...?
Have it turn out she's a scam artist.
As a weeb I appreciate the very detailed naruto character break down. Ur explanation of the show just made me nostalgic and I'm reminded why I love Naruto so much!
Emily though... I don't have any hope. I hope the writers see this video and atleast TRY to redeem her even a bit.
Dude, these are all such good ideas that you can virtually guarantee the writers will strive to do the opposite of everything you just suggested.
Now I’m just imagining the Emily in Paris writers watching parts of your video and making Emily a ninja savior of Paris in season 4 and completely missing the point 😅