Despite how my last review of Emily In Paris season 5 concluded, the season was actually pretty good. Sure, if we are ranking the seasons by how much they entertained me, season 2 would probably be the best. It had the most amount of drama and wacky shenanigans.

But season 5 was surprisingly refreshing.

After four seasons of Emily sabotaging her own life by making wrong choice after wrong choice, it was nice to finally see her prioritising herself and her life. And yes, I understand that previous seasons of Emily could never truly clock off. She was constantly working and constantly thinking of marketing strategies.

But contrary to popular belief, not being able to stop working isn’t prioritising work. If anything, your work is more likely to suffer when you are incapable of taking breaks and refreshing your mind.

While Emily may have been thinking of work at every moment of every day, whenever a boy appeared, she inevitably chased that boy until it derailed her life. In not being able to separate work from her personal life, her personal life frequently came into conflict with her work.

Season 5 Emily knows what it is to be all in when it comes to her career. But she also understands the importance of taking mental breaks. And while she may love Marcello, she won’t derail her own life to chase him. She understands the value of the connections she’s made in Paris and the career she has built.

And in turning Marcello down and choosing to stay in Paris, at the expense of their relationship ending, Emily has finally chosen herself.

Emily’s Choices In Previous Seasons Were Selfish And Yet, They Also Conflicted With Her Needs

I stand by the opinion that Emily should’ve ended up with Alfie. They were the best couple. And I don’t understand why she would willingly give up a man who is in love with her, and only her, for a man that has been stringing her along the entire time she’s been in Paris.

Why give up a commitment in favour of being treated like the other woman? Even when Emily and Gabriel ended up together, Camille’s presence in Gabriel’s life was so big that it would forever outshine whatever relationship Emily built with him. And for good reason. Whatever point they may end up in, nothing will change the fact that Emily was the other woman to begin with.

In choosing to go after Gabriel, Emily shot herself in the foot. It may have been a selfish choice but it wasn’t one that served her. She could’ve very easily put boundaries between them and chosen to step out of the situation. She didn’t need to be his friend, she could’ve kept him as her neighbour and client.

And let’s not forget just how selfish Emily was in the workplace. She consistently undermined other peoples’ ideas in favour of her own. She interjected where she had no place to. And in doing so, she created a complicated web of personal and professional. And she also alienated her own coworkers by being so self-absorbed, she couldn’t see when she was sabotaging someone else’s career progression.

This also didn’t help her get ahead. It may have given her temporary attention from the client but it marked her as an attention hog. And it also made it that much harder for her to clock out at the end of the day. How could she possibly ever turn off if she took it on herself to come up with every idea for every client?

Emily has finally stopped doing this. She’s a team player. She’s no longer interrupting her colleages when they’re making a point. And what do you know? She’s creating a better working environment and also furthering her career prospects at the same time.

Alfie And Mindy Are The New Emily And Gabriel

As much as I love Emily’s character development, I hate how it’s also inexplicably led to the character assassination of Alfie. I expected Mindy to cheat since her morals were always a little questionable. The way she never held Emily accountable for being the other woman and even seemed to encourage her at times.

But Alfie?

Alfie was always the easy choice. He was the one who didn’t play games. He was the one who, once he said he was all in, he was all in. He was the one to break up with Emily because he didn’t want to be caught in a messy love triangle.

So why is that guy now knowingly trying to get in the middle of Mindy and Nicholas’ relationship? Even after she gets engaged, he seems to want to break them up. Not to mention, dating your ex’s best friend is already questionable on so many levels.

I know the whole point of the show is the drama but this was not needed at all. Mindy and Nicholas have plenty of problems without introducing an infidelity plotline. Alfie should’ve just stayed with his girlfriend instead of pining over Emily and then settling for her best friend.

Final Thoughts

So the show is still very messy. But I like where it’s heading (at least for Emily’s character). There is actual growth and development. And we finally have a woman, in TV shows of this nature, who actually will prioritise her career instead of just claiming that’s what she’s doing, only to drop everything for a man.

I’m so tired of women leaving their careers to assist a man with his. I need a woman who is capable of loving a man without being willing to give everything up for him. Because she absolutely shouldn’t have to. Why should Emily leave the life she’s built just because Marcello has finally reconciled with his family?

It’s sad they have to break up over this. But that’s just life.