Emily in Paris Review

Recently, everyone has been talking about the new Netflix show “Emily in Paris”. As soon as I heard about this, I was very intrigued because it definitely sounded like my kind of show! I have such a love for Paris, and just by reading the description of the show, I felt that I was the targeted demographic. I was excited to finally watch a new show, because many of the shows I watch stopped filming due to COVID-19.

“Emily in Paris” came to Netflix on October 2, and it was created by Darren Star, who also created “Sex and the City”. While I never watched “Sex and the City”, I can definitely see that these two shows had similar elements. Today, I wanted to share a brief review of the show for you all. Warning: there will be spoilers included in this post, so I would recommend watching the show first, and coming back to read afterward!

This show is about a girl named Emily Cooper (played by Lily Collins) who is a marketing executive living in Chicago. Her job ends up taking her to Paris and she is determined to bring her American perspective and ideas to a French marketing firm. While this sounds like a dream come true, Emily finds herself struggling to keep up with the language as well as French culture. At work, she is surrounded by disapproving coworkers and in her personal life, a few potential love interests. Despite the challenges, she remains confident and I found this as well as her perseverance to be very admirable. I think that I would have struggled a bit more if I were in her shoes.

Before I get into why I did not like this show, I will first explain what I did like. This show is based in Paris, which was honestly one of the only reasons I liked it. I feel that the setting is a character in itself, and to film and center a show around this beautiful city definitely helped me enjoy it a bit more. I have actually been to Paris before, and it was really fun and cool to recognize some of the places in certain scenes! Paris truly is a romantic and gorgeous city! I also adored the fashion in this show! For the most part, I truly loved what the female characters wore, and as someone who loves fashion, this made the show a tiny bit better. I also liked the roller coaster of a relationship between Emily and Gabriel. While I didn’t like that he was cheating on his girlfriend (who was also friends with Emily) Camille, I did like the two of them together. Lastly, I liked the storyline. Although it was a bit cliché, it reminded me of my favorite early 2000’s “chick flicks” and Emily’s life is basically my dream life.

Of course, the reasons that I liked the show were minor in comparison to the reasons why I didn’t. Let’s start with the characters. I struggled to connect to the characters in this show, and I felt that they simply weren’t very relatable and they lacked depth. Part of what makes a show/movie great, is realistic and relatable characters. We really didn’t know very much about Emily or her past, and she wasn’t the most likable person. As I mentioned, her confidence and perseverance was admirable, but she seemed to be a little ignorant to the culture that she was immersed in. Of course, no one is going to know everything, but when you travel somewhere new, I think it is important to do some research and learn about the culture and its people. She was a bit too cocky, and she always wanted things to go her own way. I also don’t feel that she was a very good friend. She went behind Camille’s back multiple times to be with Gabriel who was Camille’s boyfriend, and she never told her the truth. For this reason, I was not the biggest fan of Gabriel either. It’s somewhat contradictory though, because I did want them to be together, I just didn’t like that cheating and sneaking around was involved. By the end of the season, it was obvious that there was no real character development for Emily (or any of the other characters for that matter).

The next thing that I disliked was the way that the French were portrayed. I understand that stereotypes exist and they are often seen in movies and TV shows, however, I don’t really like it because it gives people a false view of a culture and/or place. I always heard the stereotypes that French people can be rude and stuck -up. I was lucky enough to travel to Paris and Lyon earlier this year, and based on my own personal experience, I can say that every local that I came in contact with was incredibly kind and helpful. Of course, I was a tourist and simply exploring the city, whereas Emily was living and working there, so our experiences were a bit different, however I felt that the creators exaggerated and played up the stereotypes too much.

I found the amount of potential love interests to be confusing at times. There were a few different men who seemed to be interested in Emily. We met Antoine, Gabriel, Mathieu, and Timothee. I knew going into it that there was going to be romance, but I was hoping to see her with one guy steadily throughout the show. In the end, I believe Emily was technically in a relationship with Mattieu, however it was very clear that she still liked Gabriel. The ending made me believe that there will be a season 2 at some point.

Overall, I felt disappointed with this show. I really wanted to like it, but sadly it was not for me. I would say it is more of a fun feel-good show rather than anything serious and long-lasting. Although I didn’t enjoy this show very much and this review is mostly negative, I am interested to know your thoughts! Leave me a comment below and tell me what you thought of “Emily in Paris”!

Thank you for reading!

13 Reasons Why Season 4 Recap + Review

The final season of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why came out on June 5^th, and I just recently finished the series! I didn’t binge it like I am sure most people did, but I am now ready to talk season 4! As usual, if you have not watched season 4 of 13 Reasons Why, I recommend watching before reading this post. Spoiler warning!

At the end of season 3, I had made a few small predictions. I feel that many people probably had the same assumptions as me because they were somewhat cliffhangers. First, the bag of guns that was found in the river. I knew this would be an issue that would arise in season 4 and I was right. Tyler had said that they may be able to track the person who bought the guns and this worried Clay and Tony. Then, I mentioned that since Alex’s dad knew that his own son murdered Bryce, maybe he would get involved in some way. It seemed like Tyler and Alex’s dad were somehow working together. Something didn’t seem right, so I thought that maybe Tyler confessed everything to the police. And lastly, of course, Winston. I just knew he was going to cause trouble in season 4.

Early on this season, Winston made his first appearance at Liberty High. He transferred from Hillcrest for the spring semester of his senior year. It was clear from the beginning that Winston was trying to get close to Clay’s friend group; Tyler, Alex, and then Zach. It seemed obvious that he was only trying to get close to find out what they really knew about Monty’s death.  Winston and Alex seemed to have a romantic relationship blossoming but Alex quickly shut it down after finding out that Winston had an alibi against them. I was not exactly surprised to see that Alex was struggling a bit with his sexuality, but he was lucky to have supportive friends and family around him.

This season, Clay’s mental health was spiraling. Keeping such a big secret was really haunting him (literally). Monty and Bryce would appear throughout the season to talk to Clay. While we, as fans of the show, have not known Clay to be a very happy and optimistic guy, he is a lot angrier and a lot more frustrated this season. We can see that Clay began going to therapy and I have to be honest, any time I watch a TV show/movie with therapy scenes, I zone out a bit. These scenes are rarely entertaining to me personally. However, I was glad to see that Clay was getting help, although it didn’t really seem to be working at first.

I was surprised to find that someone had died this season. There were a few scenes that showed a funeral 6 months later, and then it would flash back to present time. I had no idea who it could be, but after watching a few episodes, my mom guessed that it may be Clay. I hoped that this wasn’t true, but episode after episode, it seemed like a real possibility. Especially since he was struggling with his mental health so much. There were times when we even questioned if some of the scenes actually happened or if he was remembering something that didn’t really happen.

We were introduced to Estella, Monty’s sister, this season. I made the assumption that because she joined HO, she may have been assaulted in some way. I also thought this because of the family that she’s from. Monty’s father was abusive, and of course, Monty was too. I had to wonder if anything happened to Estella and I questioned her relationship with her brother and how close they may have been. I guess I ended up being wrong because there really wasn’t much character development for her, though she and Tyler did get close this season.

During the camping trip, someone was messing with the scavenger hunt that they did. I thought it was the football team, but then I wasn’t so sure. I knew that they were upset because they lost their friend and teammate, but how far would they really go? Then I thought maybe it was Ani, but what would her intention be to do that? It confused me because in the next episode, it was as if all was forgotten. (This seemed to be a common theme. Each episode appeared to start from scratch.)

This season was kind of strange in my opinion. I felt that it was, in some ways, unnecessary and the creators seemed to include one TV high school cliché after another (a camping trip, a house party, prom, and a school “shooting”). I found myself wondering if certain scenes were all in Clay’s head or if they were real. For example, in the episode where Clay is driving Zach’s car after the party, they get in an accident. In the next episode, it seemed like the accident was forgotten about until we find out that Zach got hurt and Clay fled the scene.

I felt that the whole “school shooting” was a bit uncalled for. I don’t understand the intention behind the school. Why on earth would they do a drill and have actual gunshots go off? I don’t really see the point other than to scare everyone. I felt bad for Tyler in this episode because as soon as they heard “code red” Tony automatically assumed it was Tyler. While he was wondering where Tyler went, Tyler was sitting in the bathroom stall talking to Estella. The assault that Tyler went through is something he will never forget, but I am really glad that he is getting better. After worrying and worrying, Tony decided to show the Dean of Discipline Tyler’s photos of guns.

While I didn’t think that Tyler would do anything bad, I was curious as to why he seemed to be hiding something from everyone. It turned out that he was working with the cops. After the bag of guns was traced back to Tyler, the cops wanted him to help them catch the guy selling said guns. After being followed by Tony and Clay, Tyler was understandably frustrated as to why they didn’t trust him. I was upset for Tyler because at the end of season 3, it seemed that he got really close to Clay, Alex, Tony, and even Jessica.

This season, everyone really seemed to distance themselves from each other. I guess it was because they didn’t want anyone to find out what they were all hiding. Parents, teachers, and even the police officers felt that students were on edge and being secretive. This led to what a lot of students felt was an invasion of privacy. Cameras were put into the school and some parents were tracking their children’s cell phones. The students fought back by walking out of school and protesting to get their privacy back.

Since it was the end of their senior year, of course, college was an important topic to discuss. Pretty much everyone bombed their college interviews (or at least it appeared that way). One after the other, they just seemed to be giving up on their futures. I understand why Justin was struggling especially. He had just gotten news that his mother died (most likely from a drug overdose), so he was in a bad headspace. In the next episode we found out that Justin got accepted to a college, though this still didn’t help him with his sobriety.

As I watched each episode, I found that I had quite a few questions: who spray painted “Monty was framed” at the school? Who was messing with everyone on the camping trip? Who set the principals car on fire? All of these questions were answered in episode 7. It was Clay. I know this may have seemed obvious to some people but I wasn’t really expecting that! Apparently he didn’t remember doing any of it; proving how bad his mental health really was. Somehow in episode 9, Clay’s mental health problems seemed to disappear. He seemed to be doing much better all of a sudden. I don’t believe this was very realistic because in reality, it would take a while for him to be even close to ok.

The last episode was absolutely heartbreaking. While dancing at prom, Justin collapsed on the floor. To me, this was unexpected, but at this point I was pretty sure it was Justin who was going to die. We soon find out that Justin was diagnosed with HIV-1 and it quickly turned into AIDS. Justin got sick because of his past using drugs, sharing needles, and being involved in (unprotected) sex work. While he could have prevented his own death, he didn’t see the signs, and he didn’t get tested. Seeing him in the hospital broke my heart, and when Jessica and Clay spoke to him before his death, I just couldn’t stop from crying. I felt bad for Clay the most. He grew so close to Justin, and they truly became brothers rather than just friends. When they told each other “I love you” I just about lost it.

After Justin’s funeral, Winston spoke to Alex. He wanted to know why he killed Bryce. Alex explained everything, and Winston decided to let it go. I really did feel bad for Winston because I believe he really did love Alex, at least a little bit. Not only that, but he lost Monty too. I was happy to see Alex and Charlie happy together though. (I thought it was sweet that they were both prom kings and that others were so supportive of their relationship.) Also, Ryan and Courtney made an appearance in the final episode. Ryan and Winston seemed to hit it off immediately, so I hope that means that Winston got a happy ending too.

I was wondering what would happen with Bryce’s case. Sheriff Diaz really seemed to be working against Clay and his friends, and I thought that he would want them to come clean. Somehow, Sheriff Diaz knew that it was Alex who killed Bryce. In the scene when he was speaking to Officer Standall (Alex’s dad), it was clear that they both knew the truth, and they ultimately decided to permanently close the case. I had a feeling they would get away with it all, and this turned out to be what happened.

In the end, Hannah’s tapes were on Clay’s doorstep once again. I knew that Hannah had to be a part of this last episode somehow, and while I wish Katherine Langford came back for this final episode, they did show her ghost (a scene from a past season). Everyone came together to burry Hannah’s tapes in the spot where Clay first heard them. Everyone was going off to college and they were going to have a fresh start, which is what I think they all needed.

As for their futures, I really hope that Clay can help young people the way that his own therapist helped him. While he is most likely going to need to continue going to therapy sessions for a while, I hope that he can work on his mental health and strive for a better future. For Jessica, I hope that she will continue to speak up for and help those who have been sexually abused. This issue became very important to her, and it was obvious that she had leadership qualities.

I think bittersweet is the best word to describe an ending to any series. While I did feel that this season was not the best, I was sad to see the end of the series as a whole. I think the main point of this season was really to end the school year and say goodbye. Everyone pretty much got a happy ending, though some main characters lost their lives along the way.

I hope that you enjoyed reading this recap/review! I would love to know your thoughts on this season (and the show in general), so leave me a comment below and tell me what you thought!

You: Season 2 Recap + Review

Alright, I am going to be honest; this show is not my favorite, but it is definitely entertaining. In December of 2019, season 2 of “You” came out and everyone started talking about it. I had never heard of this show until this year, so once I saw it all over the internet, I was interested to see what all the hype was about. Basically, what I gathered from all of the memes was that Joe is a creepy stalker who is willing to harm anyone who hurts the people he loves. I know I’m a little late to the game, since this show actually came out in 2018, but I decided to start watching it anyway! This show is based on a book with the same title, written by Caroline Kepnes. I had not heard of this book previously, but it came out in 2014.

If you have not watched seasons 1 and 2 of “You”, I would recommend watching it before reading this post.  There are spoilers ahead!

This season takes place in sunny LA. Joe felt that he needed a “fresh start” after everything that happened in New York. Although he is running, he can’t seem to get away from his past. It continues to haunt him throughout the season. We come to find that he stole the identity of a man named Will, who he kept locked in “the cage” for part of the season. (I am going to continue to refer to him as Joe. Also I am going to refer to that thing as “the cage” because I am not really sure what it is).

At the end of season 1, Joe sees a woman walking through the bookstore only to find Candace standing right in front of him. I had assumed that he killed Candace, but then she started to pop up and I believe Joe was only imagining it. Then, we get to season 2 and find out that she is in fact alive, and she’s back to warn the Quinns. We were able to see that Joe did try to hurt Candace and when he thought that she had died, he buried her. Seeing Joe’s face when he saw that Candace was actually alive was priceless.

Joe gets a job at a store called Anavrin. He quickly spots a woman and one thing that ALWAYS gets me laughing is when we hear Joe say, “Hello, you”. While his narration is necessary, I also find it a bit annoying at times as well. He and Love immediately hit it off with their clear understanding of one another’s use of sarcasm.

I felt that this season, at least at first, just seemed like a complete repeat of season 1. It also seemed like each character from season 1 was simply replaced but the plot stayed the same. Beck replaced with Love, Paco with Ellie, Karen with Delilah, and so on. In my opinion, this season was not as entertaining until I got to episode 7. Once the characters started to figure Joe out, that is when it got interesting to me.

This season, Joe really seemed to want to do better and be a better person than he had been in the past. This was almost impossible, however, he did let Will go after locking him up, and he also planned on letting Delilah go. He did not harm as many people as last season either, which if I am honest, I think is what made this season a bit boring to me.

The way the audience feels about Joe is contradicting in that we are both rooting against and rooting for him at the same time. I found myself going back and forth a couple times during the season. Going back to season 1, Joe killed 4 people. In this season, he actually only killed 1 and it was (kind of) by mistake. Although I obviously know that he is crazy and unstable, there were moments where we would see a kind and caring man, rather than a psychotic serial killer. For example, the way that Joe cared about both Paco and Ellie was sweet, but this barely mattered when the crimes he was committing were atrocious. I also had to wonder if Paco reminded Joe of his younger self. I think that maybe he wanted to look after kids who seemed to be on a difficult path like himself at their age.

Throughout this season, we were able to see many flashbacks from Joe’s childhood whereas in season 1, I believe there were only a couple. This gave the audience some more insight to allow us to understand why Joe turned out the way he did. While it wasn’t a surprise, it was still upsetting to see his home life as a child. His mother was constantly in abusive relationships and she would always put Joe second. She would leave Joe without much care in the world, and this was heart breaking to see. Joe did not have someone to look up to, and he wasn’t loved the way a child should be loved. Joe was introduced to violence at an early age by watching his mother in these awful relationships, so it isn’t exactly surprising that Joe uses violence to solve his problems later in life. We ended up seeing that Joe, at 9 years old, shot his mother’s boyfriend. This led to Joe being sent to a group home for boys.

When Love explained her past marriage to Joe, and she mentioned that her husband got sick, my family and I actually thought that Love may have killed him. Something about her seemed off to us, and we ended up (almost) being right. While Love did not murder her husband, she did actually murder the family Au Pair for sexually abusing her brother, Forty. Love made it seem as if it was Forty who killed her (this flashback looked like a low budget horror film). Due to the family’s wealth they were able to get away with it, making it look like a suicide.

Love and her brother Forty had a unique relationship. They were very close, however the relationship was strained due to Forty’s drug addiction. Love was always the one looking out for him and taking care of him when he was struggling. The Quinn family was strange, to say the least. The parents were wealthy and they did not exactly have the best relationship with their kids, particularly with Love.

Candace (or Amy Adam) started dating Forty, who was unaware of Candace and Joe’s past relationship. It was clear she wanted him to get caught and pay for what he had done. Candace was able to warn Love about Joe and she told her everything from the fact that he tried to murder her, up to him killing Beck. This caused Love and Joe to break up, and they both “moved on”; Love with Milo and Joe with Delilah. The break up did not last long, and Love eventually forgave Joe for lying about his identity. I think that she didn’t want to believe that he murdered anyone. It was around this time that I realized that Love was not exactly sane either.

One night, Joe follows Ellie to Henderson’s house. While, again, his protecting of her is sweet in some ways, it is also creepy. He is concerned for her though, because he knows that Henderson was a child predator. Joe snuck into the house and watched as Henderson put something in Ellie’s drink. Joe threw something across the room to distract Henderson, and he was able to put a stronger dose of the same drug in Henderson’s drink. When Henderson wakes, Joe is somewhat interrogating him and trying to get him to admit that he has sexually assaulted young girls. Henderson eventually admits to this crime, but he tries to excuse the behavior by explaining that he was sexually abused by his stepfather when he was a kid. Henderson is able to escape and as he is running up the stairs, Joe tackles him. As Henderson falls down the stairs, he hits his head and dies.

Fincher, the police officer, calls Delilah when he realizes that Joe had murdered Henderson. He tries to warn her to stay away, but she doesn’t quite believe him. She ends up sneaking around Joe’s apartment to see if she can find anything suspicious, and she finds the keys to Joe’s storage unit. When Delilah goes to the storage unit where the cage is, I knew Joe was going to find her. After calling Fincher, Joe walks in to find Delilah in a panic. We then see Delilah wake up locked in the cage with a bandage on her forehead.

Joe asks Delilah to trust him, and he tells her that he is going to let her out. We see Joe buying a plane ticket so that he can escape before he lets Delilah out. Once the timer is up, the handcuffs will release Delilah and she can leave. Joe’s escape plan is almost ruined when Forty brings him to a hotel and keeps him there so they can work on the script for the movie that Forty wants to produce. The movie is based on the book that Beck wrote in season 1.

Forty and Joe end up at a bar, where Forty secretly put LSD in Joe’s drink. With both of them now on drugs, the rest of the night turns into a total blur. After Joe stops by Anavrin that night, he gets back to the hotel and heads to the bathroom. As he’s washing his hands, he looks down and sees blood all over them. He panics and wonders where else he went that night. He then speaks to Forty who also seems to be having an emotional breakdown. He walks over to him with a piece of glass in his hand, obviously intending on hurting him. Then, Forty talks about his guilt over killing the family Au Pair.

When Joe wakes up in the morning, he realizes that the timer on Delilah’s handcuffs is running out. He rushes back to the cage only to find Delilah lying in a pool of her own blood. When this happened, my family and I all tried to make a guess as to who killed Delilah. I guessed that it was Joe, which I know seems like it was the obvious first choice, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Other guesses included Milo and Forty. Joe goes around asking everyone where he went last night. He was worried about the fact that he had blood on his hands, and that he was out for around 3 hours before heading back to the hotel. Later, Ellie begins panicking when she realizes that Delilah may be missing.

Candace comes back and sneaks up on Joe to lock him in the cage. Candace texts Love to come to the storage unit and as they wait, Joe begins to think that this is what he deserves (which, he definitely does). Love shows up and is visibly upset, but she doesn’t believe that Joe killed Delilah. Although Joe doesn’t remember doing it, he admits that he murdered her. Love walks out only for Candace to follow her. Joe takes the spare key that he keeps hidden in the cage and he throws it so that he can’t get out. We then see that Love kills Candace, which actually surprised me.

When Joe finds that Love killed Candace and Delilah, Joe seemed shocked. It was clear that he didn’t really want to be with her anymore. Love tells Joe her plan to get Ellie in for questioning about Henderson’s murder. She would have the family lawyer to back Ellie up, and they would try to make it look as if Delilah’s murder was actually a suicide. Love lets Joe out only for him to begin to strangle her. Love quickly admits that she’s pregnant and Joe lets go. This really did surprise me, and at first I thought maybe she was only saying that so he wouldn’t hurt her. There are also some theories that the baby is not Joe’s which could possibly be true.

As the end of the last episode approaches, Love and Joe attend a friend’s wedding, where Joe starts to believe that he and Love are actually soul mates. He convinces himself that he loves her and that they should be together. He later meets up with Ellie and tells her that she should move away and he will send money for her.

After Forty comes back from speaking to Doctor Nicky, he is convinced that Joe is a murderer. He finds Love and tells her that she needs to stay away from him, but of course, she already knows the truth. As Forty holds a gun up to Joe’s head, Fincher rushes in and shoots Forty.

Some time has passed and now we see Joe and Love appear to be living a normal life. They bought a house in the LA suburbs, and Joe seems to be looking forward to meeting his daughter. All of a sudden, while he is sitting in his backyard, he hears a woman laughing. He takes a peek through the fence and sees a woman sitting in the sun with a stack of books next to her. Without even seeing her face, he is already trying to find a way to get close to her.

The end of this season was very different from the end of season 1. It almost looks like a happy ending. Although I knew a season 3 had been confirmed, I was still not expecting Joe to find a new “you”.  So, I guess in season 3, Joe and Love are going to have a daughter and Joe is going to be sneaking around with his neighbor. I have no idea what the rest of the plot will be like, but I am going to be watching season 3 when it comes out!

Thank you for reading! Let me know if you enjoyed this season, and if you have any Netflix recommendations since we’re all stuck at home! leave me a comment below!