If there’s one thing Americans love, it’s Paris. And if there’s one thing that Parisians hate, it’s American Francophiles. But you wouldn’t know that by watching Love Trip: Paris, the new Freeform dating show premiering Feb. 14 (which streams on Hulu the next day).
The series puts a refreshingly absurdist spin on tired format tropes. No no, the Parisians that cycle in and out of the giant pied-à-terre in Love Trip: Paris are so smitten with the prospect of dating an American that they will happily debase themselves in some of the silliest ways for even a chance at a date.
With Emily being trapped in Paris for the better part of the last three years, it’s a bit shocking that no one has thought to ship off a handful of American girls to the most romantic city in the world for a dating show. Bravo’s Real Girlfriends in Paris tried its hand at something similar last fall, but couldn’t nail the right combination of flirty fun and date-heavy drama. Love Trip: Paris wisely decides that going big is far better than going home, deboarding the plane back on American soil in disgrace. Like Valentine’s Day, its very existence is filled with romantic chaos.
Love Trip: Paris takes a pretty basic dating show conceit—stick a bunch of strangers in a house together and see what happens—and hits fast-forward. Single Americans Caroline, Rose, Lacy, and Josielyn are all looking for love after exhausting their offerings back home. In the Love Trip house, they gather under one roof and are each given access to a magical app (which is surely not real, but I adore the show for running with it anyway) that displays some strangers and apartment numbers. The show gives an entirely new meaning to “Meet Sexy Singles in Your Area Today.” Surprise surprise, these potential dates are all living on the floor below them.
You may ask yourself, “How is that a new concept?” Well, slow down. I’m getting there! Love Trip: Paris takes a hint of The Bachelor and spices it up with a little Parisian flair. The show capitalizes on the warring stereotypes that French people are either too possessive or too liberated. The collection of French singles is comprised of suitors who get jealous far too easily and others who like to play the field. This presents an inherent conflict for all four girls, who each want something different. For instance, Rose is there specifically to find a husband. Whereas Caroline would just like a girl who can be honest with her.
Yes, you read that right. Love Trip: Paris is fluid, baby! Its cast isn’t just seeking Parisian men, but Parisian people! One of the most invigorating things about the show is that it doesn’t make a big deal out of its queer cast members. Caroline, a lesbian, is welcomed into the house without judgment, along with Lacy, who is sexually fluid, and Josielyn, who is trans and bisexual.
It’s beyond thrilling to see these women treated with love and respect, and not have to make their queerness a traumatic focal point of all of their experiences on the show. Love Trip: Paris transcends token casting and exploitation and instead sets up a safe and amiable environment for its cast. In a television landscape where reality dating competitions tip almost entirely cisgender and heterosexual, it’s exhilarating to watch these women navigate Paris and all of its sexy sweethearts while out and proud.
While the series certainly has a producer’s magic touch, its drama feels real instead of overly manufactured. The cast’s main mission is to date as many of the Parisians as they can to see who they click with. This, of course, results in a wave of extreme jealousy among the French cast—it’s just a matter of whether they’ll exorcize that on the American girls or each other.
In only the first three episodes, the Parisians are battling it out for time with the Americans, resulting in some heated French in-fighting. Other times, the Parisians will express their disbelief that one of the American women (who, again, are trying to get a sense of their options) would dare to go on another date with anyone else.
This latter form of jealousy leads to some fantastic laugh-out-loud moments, like when a French suitor named Roman gives Caroline a creepy charcoal drawing that Roman did of her… before they even have a chance to go on a date. Or, when Gessica (that’s “Jessica” with a “G,” or “Guess-ica,” if you want to have more fun with it), another French housemate, finds out that Josielyn was hot-tubbing with a guy after their date.
Gessica dramatically pulls up selfies that she and Josielyn took together and deletes them, saying, “This is the day we had yesterday that you just threw away, so I’m going to delete [these photos] because I don’t want to keep the memories anymore.”
But the show isn’t all laughs, there are stakes here too. The Parisian housemates only have a small chunk of time to make an impression on the four American women. If they don’t, they’ll be sent packing, making room for two more French singles every week.
With plenty of hot new blood coming in every episode, each French contestant has to ensure that they’re connecting with someone, or they could be forgotten entirely. But if one of the Americans isn’t a match, they’re free to pursue another. They just have to be careful: these girls talk, and if the Parisians are behaving badly, it won’t end well.
Love Trip: Paris is a bit like an overly convoluted dream. No one is really going to want to hear you talk it. it’s just something that you have to experience for yourself. And there are plenty of reasons to give it a shot. Whether it’s a French contestant named Camille—who looks like she strolled off the set of Ab Fab, carrying her own wine (and looking like she already dipped into it)—or a hot hunk named Mirko, who plays the show like a devious game (and whose Instagram account I need for science), everyone seems to have been plucked from obscurity to bring the perfect amount of seductive Parisian drama.
The best part of Love Trip: Paris, however, is its main quartet of hopeless American romantics. Each one of them is bubbly and filled with personality. But together, they form a friendship that grounds the show in a welcome dose of real reality. They stick up for each other, fight for each other, and genuinely want to see their new friends fall in love. Love Trip: Paris might be premiering on the most romantic holiday of the year, but the show is a fabulously fun reminder that our friends come first, and relationships are just a nice bonus along the way.
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