Since its premiere, Darren Star’s picturesque Netflix show, Emily in Paris, has proven divisive: Is it a frothy, escapist fantasy—or a nightmare show about an incurable narcissist?
But regardless of what you think of Emily and the show’s abundant forgiveness for her refusal to actually learn French, there is one thing we can all agree upon: Poor Camille deserved better!
(Spoilers ahead!)
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It’s not just that Emily went behind her supposed friend’s back and slept with her boyfriend, Gabriel. Or that Gabriel constantly treats Camille like a nuisance when, frankly, she’s more delightful company than everyone else on the show combined. It’s that over and over, Emily in Paris imbues Camille with charm, personality, and ambition only to turn around and treat her like a mere roadblock to Emily and Gabriel’s romance—despite the fact that a perfectly good third option was lying there on the table the whole time.
Emily, Camille, and Gabriel should have had a threesome.
From the moment Camille meets Emily and plants a big ol’ kiss on her, the potential for a three-way romance is clear. Actress Camille Razat, who shares a first name with her character, recognized the women’s chemistry with both each other and Gabriel (played by French Armie Hammer-Henry Cavill face morph Lucas Bravo) from the beginning.
“It was a question throughout the entire show,” Bravo told Collider. “Camille is convinced—she’s convinced that there’s sexual tension between her and Emily and the three of us, and Darren was also questioning the fact.”
But Darren Star said ultimately, he and the show’s writers decided that a threesome or throuple situation was not on the table for Season 1. “I kind of liked to believe Emily’s character wasn’t necessarily ready for that, and I also feel like her relationship with Gabriel, it’s more than just a sexual relationship,” he said.
I get that a girl who, at one point, literally raises a toast “to rules!” might not be the type to readily dive into a threesome. And yet, I still wish that the show had gone there instead of slinking away from the idea like Carrie Bradshaw leaving that young-people party after she was asked to—gasp!—kiss Alanis Morrisette during a game of spin the bottle. Sure, Emily’s way too boring to jump at the idea of a threesome—but the right narrative choices could have gotten her there believably. If nothing else, allowing Emily to explore the possibility of a non-conventional relationship would have been a form of character growth!
But there’s a reason I say “should have had” a threesome, and not “should have” a threesome. As much as I believe that Gabriel, Emily, and Camille should have said “oui” to becoming a “we” in Season 1, it’s going to take a lot of work to make me buy into the idea in Season 2. After all, think for a moment about how this little affair really went down.
Sure, the first kiss between Gabriel and Emily was innocent as can be—and the quick-turn twist that revealed he and Emily’s gorgeous new friend were actually an item was perfectly executed. I could maybe even forgive the two’s drunken make-out at a nightclub. And as for their night of passion at the end of the season, it’s not hard to envision Gabriel making a Ross Geller-like case for sleeping with Emily right after kind-of-maybe-sort-of breaking up with Camille. (What’s the French translation for “We were on a break!!!!”?)
But as careless as all of the transgressions and petit morts that occurred behind Camille’s back undoubtedly were, it’s how Gabriel treated his girlfriend to her face that makes the idea of a threesome completely unpalatable.
From the moment Camille transforms from a character into an obstacle who needs to be moved out of Emily’s way, her relationship with Gabriel suddenly turns into a cage for our brooding chef. Camille has the audacity to try and help him achieve his dreams, and for this she is punished with snide remarks about her family’s wealth. And when she tries to set Emily up with various bachelors—including her brother and the charming if slightly unctuous tabloid fixture Mathieu—Gabriel insults her further.
At every turn, Gabriel takes his jealousy over Emily—a girl who genuinely thinks her marketing job is interesting—out on Camille, the very cool and interesting girl he is dating who is simply doing her best to make everyone around her happy. And all the while Emily just keeps peering into her phone, snapping Instagrams and worrying that this cryptic text from Camille clearly means she’s figured out that everyone around her is a fraud.
The season ends with Gabriel leaving for Normandy to open his own restaurant. The eatery where he works as a chef in Paris is for sale and Camille’s mother offered him the money to buy it, but he abhors the idea of being “owned” by anyone. And so, he breaks things off with Camille, finds a cheaper joint in his hometown, and packs his bags—oh, and finally sleeps with Emily.
But then, in a final twist, Gabriel finds an investor who can help him buy his restaurant in Paris. Yay! And tells Emily. Yay!!! And then Camille texts Emily: “I just heard from Gabriel. He’s staying in Paris. Can we talk???” Merde.
Speaking with Collider, Razat seems to think her character won’t be too incensed with Emily once she finds out what’s been going on—to say nothing of how she might feel about Gabriel.
“I think Camille will be mad for a little amount of time, but she really loves Emily,” Razat said. “So she’s just going to, as an adult, just discuss that with her, and try to understand why they did this. And how are they going to manage this? Because obviously, I think Camille, anyways, wants to stay friends with Emily. It’s going to be more complicated for Gabriel... Maybe they’re going to be a throuple.”
To that I say: Screw being “an adult”—and screw putting our adorable Camille into a relationship with these two goobers.
As Emily herself shouts into her phone at one point, “THIS IS PARIS!” Give me a long, passionate, French-language rant delivered too quickly for me to even read in subtitles. Give me glasses of water—or perhaps Camille’s family label of Champagne?—splashed in the face of everyone who did our sweet girl wrong. Give me at least one person thrown into the Seine in a fit of rage! And then give Camille a delicious pain au chocolat to nosh on as she walks away, leaving everyone to think about what they’ve done.
At least for a little while; to be clear, she better be back for all of Season 2.
