5 life lessons from Emily in Paris season 3

Warning! Major spoilers ahead 

The previous two seasons of Emily in Paris, follows Emily Cooper (played by actress Lily Collins), as she navigates her love and work life in a completely new country (France, Paris).  

Towards the end of season two, Emily was put in a tough spot where she had to decide on whether to continue staying in Paris or go back to America. To no one’s surprise, Emily stayed – the show is named Emily in Paris, afterall – but was faced with more challenges in her life. 

Season three, which was released on Netflix on Dec 21, 2022, portrays her relationship with boyfriend Alfie, and how she navigates her new job at Agence Grateau after leaving Savoir. 

While the series is meant to be lighthearted, there are still some valuable life lessons to be learnt. Here are five lessons I gained from the third season of Emily in Paris:

Connections, Connections, Connections. This season specifically highlights how important it is to form meaningful connections whether for career progression or just expanding your circle of friends. 

In season three, Emily gets to know Nicolas de Leon, an executive from his family’s luxury brand conglomerate, JVMA at an event and impresses him with her knowledge of JVMA (sidenote: Doing your research is important too!) 

While Emily initially irks Nicolas with her incessant requests to talk shop, she keeps the relationship warm enough for Nicolas to eventually relent and hire Emily’s company for marketing. 

The connection she formed with Nicolas pays off eventually. It helped that Emily’s best friend in Paris, Mindy, was Nicolas’ girlfriend, which again emphasises the need to build one’s network, whether it has to do with work or not. 

The lesson here I’ve learned is to communicate more with people outside my circle and even be open to rejections as sometimes it can take a while to form a true connection. 

Emily’s hardworking nature and proactive tendencies is a stark contrast when compared to Parisians, who are more relaxed when it comes to work. 

She appears stressed and worried all the time, and comes across as a workaholic – which she eventually admits – who doesn’t take breaks at all. Gabriel even calls her out for making her life into work, as she appeared to be unable to separate personal life and work. 

There were several instances where Emily’s workaholic tendencies affected her personal life. One such occasion was when Emily missed Alfie’s going away party early in season three because she wanted to go the extra mile in her work. 

While doing so isn’t exactly wrong, it did come across that Emily has issues prioritising what’s important in her life. Striking a balance between work and life is definitely needed. 

If there’s a common theme in the first three seasons of Emily in Paris, it’s how Emily still does not fully understand the Parisian way of life which causes her troubles. 

But for all of her mistakes, Emily tries hard to assimilate herself into Paris, so much so that she leaves a deep impression among her co-workers. 

In episode seven, Sylvie even appreciates Emily’s efforts and says “merveilleux Emily (meaning exceptional)” when she managed to do something that seemed impossible. 

This taught me the importance of respecting and following the culture of locals in a country. Learning from Emily’s mistakes, doing research on the city or country’s culture before you start your life there would probably speed up the process of assimilating into it. 

In the previous two seasons, Emily was shown to be taking the safest and most comfortable choices all the time. But in season three, that changes when she makes the decision to stay in Paris instead of returning to Chicago, which was her original plan. 

While that decision may have to do with her changed aspirations, it was also about her finally stepping out of her comfort zone and to chase her (new) dreams. 

Where she did not show the courage to challenge her boss’ decision previously when she was sent to Paris, in hopes of boosting her chances of securing a promotion, Emily finally makes a decision based on what she wants. 

Planning to stay in a foreign land is no easy feat at all, though. Emily clearly struggles with it at the start of the season, but manages to work through all the challenges and by the end of the season, is reaping the rewards of making her “first carefree decision”. 

Watching this made me understand that it is okay for your dreams to change from time to time, as Emily still is able to make lemonade from the lemons that life throws at her in Paris. 

Emily was unemployed for a short period of time in this season. However, prior to her unemployment, she worked on a pitch deck for a client at her previous marketing firm. 

What really stood out to me was the fact that Emily let her friends from another marketing agency use her pitch deck and ideas without wanting any credit, after quitting her job at her previous agency.

Emily’s ex-boss Sylvie, hired Emily, upon learning that the idea was hers and that she was unemployed. 

From this incident, I learnt that sometimes when you extend your help without expecting anything in return, you may be unexpectedly rewarded for it. 

Although the above-mentioned life lessons may seem like a no-brainer, this show helped put them in perspective for me. 

I may even add some of them into my new year resolutions list, and you should consider too!