Emily in Paris season 3 recap guide: All 10 episodes explained

Darren Star’s Netflix series Emily in Paris season 3 premiered on Netflix in December 2022, with a fourth season already confirmed. While we wait for new episodes of the Lily Collins-led series to be released, here’s what happened in every episode of Emily in Paris season 3.

In season 1, Emily pursues her dream job at Savoir. Though she struggles with work at first, Emily learns to navigate the city of love thanks to newfound friendships, including the romance she sparks with her downstairs neighbor, Gabriel (Lucas Bravo). Their will-they-won’t-they relationship continues throughout the first season — a trend that’s disrupted in season 2 of Emily in Paris when Emily falls for Alfie (Lucien Laviscount), a classmate in her French language class.

Emily puts work ahead of everything, as she’s wont to do, which pays off by the season 2 finale, but in a way that’ll upend her life in Chicago. Plus, despite Alfie’s presence in her life, Emily discovers she still has feelings for Gabriel at the end of the sophomore season.

Now that you’re caught up, here’s what went down in Emily in Paris season 3.

Emily in Paris season 3 episode 1 recap: J’ai Deux Amours (I Have Two Lovers)

Season 2 of Emily in Paris left Emily at a crossroads. In the season 3 premiere, the Netflix series picks up with Emily not only trying to balance her feelings for Alfie and Gabriel, but balancing two jobs, too.

Who she should work for weighs heavily on the people pleaser who wants to stay in Paris and see where a career with Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) will take her without disappointing Madeline (Kate Walsh). In the end, Madeline forced Emily’s hand when her water breaks during Savoir’s meeting with McDonald’s. Sylvie confronts Emily about her decision to work for both women simultaneously, calling her actions “so American.”

Emily’s personal life is also a mess in season 3 episode 1. Amid the McDonald’s meeting chaos, Emily misses Alfie’s going away party. “I know your career means a lot to you,” Alfie tells her. “I just didn’t realize it meant more than us.”

Emily in Paris season 3 episode 2 recap: What’s It All About…

Emily’s Paris bestie Mindy‘s (Ashley Park) plays a big role in episode 2 of season 3. An aspiring singer, Mindy turns down a big-time gig at a Parisian jazz club to continue busking. In doing so, Mindy backhandedly reminds Emily how difficult it can be to “work in two places at once.” As if Mindy’s comment weren’t enough, Emily also learns Alfie and her friends have been keeping her in the dark regarding his whereabouts. At the end of episode 1, he was leaving Paris to pursue a new job. But by episode 2, Alfie’s back in Paris and working for Antoine (William Abadie), who appoints him the new CFO of Maison Lavaux. Gabriel and Camille (Camille Razat) are in the know, but Emily isn’t.

Later in the episode at an amicable but awkward dinner, Alfie explains his connection to Antoine and how it started at the going away dinner Emily missed. He admittedly hid the news from Emily because he felt like they weren’t on the same page. Plus, Alfie didn’t want Emily to think he was returning to Paris for her.

This episode has plenty going on in terms of the drama in Emily’s professional life, too. Sylvie and Madeline are both battling for the biggest and best clients in season 3. Sylvie decides to leave Savoir, confident she can take plenty of big-name clients with her — something Madeline quickly realizes. When Madeline struggles to find someone to fill Sylvie’s role, she desperately offers her the job back during a Pierre Cadault (Jean-Christophe Bouvet) event. But the American-loathing Sylvie reminds Madeline how poorly she fits into the U.S.-based company.

Sylvie’s slam isn’t the only bomb dropped at the Cadault event. He announces his brand has been acquired by the family-owned conglomerate JVMA, Savoir’s prime competition. Since they handle all of their marketing in-house, Sylvie and her micro-firm are down their one and only client. So, Sylvie meets with Nicolas de Leon (Paul Forman), JVMA extraordinaire, who offers her and her team a job with the firm. Luc (Bruno Gouery) delivers Sylvie a healthy reminder of who she is — “it’s not easy starting a new business” — and she ultimately declines the JVMA offer.

Episode 3 ends with a grand romantic gesture from Emily, who sees putting work first isn’t always worth it — at least for now. In an attempt to save her romance with Alfie, Emily performs Dionne Warwick’s “What’s It All About, Alfie?” amid Mindy’s set at the Fête de la Musique.

Emily in Paris season 3 episode 3 recap: Coo D’êtat

“Coo D’êtat” translates to “strike against the state,” which is exactly what Sylvie does in episode 3. In search of a new location to run her new brand, Sylvie gets the bright idea to con Savoir out of their own rental space. Relying on the feelings the building manager has for her, Sylvie enlists him to treat the American tenants “like pests.” This involves neglecting the elevator repairs, cranking up the heat, and infesting the office space with a flock of pigeons. All of this torture leads Madeline to tank a meeting with Gilbert Group Corporate and she ultimately decides she wants to break the lease. Sylvie gets what she wants and moves Agence Grateau into the former Savoir offices.

Meanwhile, Alfie takes it upon himself to help Gabriel fix his romance with Camille (Camille Razat). Since the restaurant has never been busier, Gabriel’s finding it difficult to make time for Camille. So, Alfie suggests Gabriel bring the romance to a locale that’s convenient for him — Les Deux Compères.

By the end of episode 3, Madeline is at her wit’s end trying to make things work for Savoir’s French chapter. But after she fails to find a French replacement for Sylvie and the office move, the Gilbert Group suspends operations. Madeline makes plans to head back to Chicago and buys Emily a ticket, too, with the plan of filling corporate in on Savoir’s “insubordination and sweetheart deals.” But Emily doesn’t want that for her Parisian colleagues. Instead, she takes a stand against Madeline and decides to stay in Paris.

In a shocking twist, Madeline is accepting of Emily’s choice. But despite Madeline’s kindness, Emily now has to grovel to earn herself a role at Sylvie’s Agence Grateau.

Emily in Paris season 3 episode 4 recap: Live From Paris, It’s Emily Cooper

The officially unemployed Emily decides to take Paris by storm in “Live From Paris, It’s Emily Cooper.” From visiting the catacombs to diving into a giant bowl of chocolate mousse, Emily’s “fun-employment” takes her back to her social media marketing roots. She live-streams her adventures on a daily basis, which gains the attention of Americans and Parisians alike.

Later in episode 4, Camille starts to feel guilty about betraying Emily. The friends made a pact not to get romantically involved with Gabriel, but in Emily in Paris season 3, Camille and Gabriel are together. Regardless of Emily’s relationship with Alfie, Camille feels guilty about being the one who breaks their pact. However, her guilt only goes so far. When Camille exhibits new artist Sofia Sideris (Melia Kreiling) at her gallery, the Greek woman openly flirts with her, creating the most sexual tension we’ve seen in Emily in Paris since season 1.

Camille doesn’t act on her feelings in episode 4, but she doesn’t try to quiet them, either. After finding out Emily is working at Gabriel’s restaurant, she almost seems jealous. Knowing the former lovers are together in close proximity could be the push Camille needs to pursue things with Sofia.

Meanwhile, in the world of French public relations, Sylvie discovers Luc and Julian (Samuel Arnold) have been consulting with Emily on the side and using those ideas to pitch to clients. Using Emily’s ideas and seeing success for her clients doesn’t sit right with Sylvie, who ultimately offers Emily a job at the agency at the end of episode 4.

Emily in Paris Season 3, Episode 5 recap: Ooo La La Liste

Emily may be gainfully employed by Savoir, but she’s feeling majorly excluded in episode 5. Understanding what it will take to get back in Sylvie’s good graces, Emily puts her best foot forward and attempts to get her boss on La Liste, a very exclusive press honor featuring the best and brightest in Paris. Thanks to her Instagram connections, Emily sets up a lunch with La Liste writer Janine DuBois at Gabriel’s restaurant.

After a successful lunch, Emily heads to work on seizing the opportunity to work with JVMA instead of against them. After realizing Nicolas “Nacho” De Leon’s connection to Mindy from boarding school, Emily proposes they work together on a Cadault campaign. She invites him to a party at Alfie’s where Nicolas isn’t interested in talking business. Instead, he has his eyes on the unavailable Mindy, who is still dating her busking partner Benoît (Kevin Dias).

Sofia, the Greek artist, is also at the party. Later, the two sneak off to the roof of Alfie’s apartment. When Sofia leans in for a kiss, Camille reciprocates and Emily sees it all. When she shares this news with Mindy, Emily’s Paris bestie suggests she stay out of other people’s business and get out more because two women kissing on a rooftop is apparently typical for Paris.

Back inside, Emily switches over to business mode and pitches Benoît’s love song for Mindy to Nicolas for use in the campaign for Soleil De Paris sunscreen. Mindy is delighted to learn Nicolas loves the song, but Benoît feels otherwise. He doesn’t want his special song for Mindy exploited for a “ridiculous sunblock commercial.” Later in the episode, Mindy gets flowers and an invitation to dinner from Nicolas, which inspires a tension-filled performance of “Shallow” between her and Benoît.

Things aren’t going Emily’s way by the end of episode 5, either. Nicolas agrees to work with her, but only because she landed on La Liste — not Sylvie. Infuriated she didn’t even make the cut, Sylvie rips into Emily during a meeting at the office, reminding her how she was supposed to be promoting the agency, not herself or Gabriel’s restaurant. Of course, Emily tries to smooth things over with JVMA’s offer to work on Soleil De Paris, which Sylvie begrudgingly allows.

Emily in Paris season 3 episode 6 recap: Ex-en-Provence

Alfie’s role in Antoine’s company becomes clear in episode 6 when he realizes how bad the business owner is with money. He’s consistently spending more than he has and never worrying about it, but that’s Alfie’s job now. Stressed about Antoine’s spending and the launch of his new fragrance, Alfie confides in Emily, who does her best to offer financial advice. But her mind is low-key focused on work because she’s Emily Cooper and she can’t totally unplug. Out a location for the McLaren event in which they’re set to introduce a limited-edition sports car, Emily is frantic trying to find a new venue. Leave it to Antonie, Sylvie’s former lover and owner of a lavish lavender field, to save the day.

Meanwhile, the other romances in Emily in Paris season 3 continue to develop. In Mindy’s world, Benoit has completely cut her off, leaving room for Nicolas to swoop in. Then there’s Camille, who pretends to be jealous about everyone but her going, but she’s busy pursuing a tryst with Sofia behind Gabriel’s back. “Are we really here to love only one person?” Sofia asks Camille later amid a conversation with her about Gabriel, who is busy playing pretend with Emily at a Michelin star restaurant near Antoine’s chateau. Pretending they’re on a date, Gabriel and Emily share a once-in-a-lifetime experience, reminding us all the romance between them never really went away.

Speaking of romances that never really went away, Sylvie’s legal husband Laurent plays a big role in episode 6, too. He shows up to the McLaren event sending Sylvie’s boyfriend into a tizzy, another love triangle situation among many in season 3 of Emily in Paris. Frustrated at her still very legal marriage, Erik leaves the event, which allows Sylvie and Laurent time to wander in the lavender fields later in the episode only to get attacked by bees and forced to strip naked.

Elsewhere amid the McLaren event, Emily discovers a convenient solution for Alfie and Antoine’s perfume problem. Despite the original batch getting botched, there’s still a way for Antoine to come out on top. After all, “scarcity creates demand.”

Riding the high of solving his perfume problem, Antoine makes another questionable money decision. He buys the McLaren sports car, which upsets Alfie until Antoine says he can drive it back to Paris for him. He does — with Emily and the receipt addressed to “such a beautiful couple” from her lunch with Gabriel in tow.

Emily in Paris season 3 episode 7 recap: How To Lose a Designer in 10 Days

Emily’s working relationship with the high fashion designer changes drastically in season 3 when Pierre pulls his company out of Sylvie’s agency to work with JVMA. He quickly learns bigger doesn’t always mean better when he finds out the mega-marketing firm wants to replace him with the edgier Grégory Duprée (Jeremy O. Harris). Unsurprisingly, Pierre crawls back to Sylvie and Emily to make things right.

Emily and Sylvie visit Gregory for his pitch regarding the Air France line. The elaborate pitch involves condoms, lubricants, and poppers amid a setting where flight attendants are doms and passengers are subs — we said he was edgy! Air France won’t want this for their campaign, but Sylvie has bigger fish to fry. After presenting models in latex and chokers, everyone attempts to lessen the shock of Air France clearly not wanting this style for their staff, but Sylvie needs to leave to take a call. Gregory claims he doesn’t care about their opinion now that she left and is displaying his outfits. Later that night, Mindy puts on a Gregory-sent outfit to go to the movie with Nicolas. Mindy adores the small red beret and corset from his Air France collection, which the company rejected.

Elsewhere, Mindy is pursuing a romance with Nicolas, who invites her to see a movie in the park. But the invitation also includes a request to bring Emily, as he wants to discuss business. There, Mindy tries to capture Nicolas’ attention with a skin-tight outfit from Duprée, but he’s distracted by Emily’s talks of Cadault’s store, calling the designer “infuriating” and “never satisfied.” Frustrated with Emily’s requests for patience, Nicolas leaves Emily, Mindy, and Gabriel at the notorious hookup site. Knowing when to break away for a romantic moment to blossom, Mindy leaves Emily and Gabriel together.

After their precursor film How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Emily and Gabriel hold hands and leap into a brightly illuminated ball pit exhibit and pose for Instagram-worthy shots, but the night doesn’t go beyond hand-holding. Mindy ends her night with Nicolas, who she — gasp! — kisses. Bye-bye, Benoît.

The next day, Nicolas agrees to help Syvlie’s agency with Cadault but plans to push him out of the brand. Preparing for the worst, Emily invites Pierre to lunch only to watch him get hit by a car crossing the street.

Emily in Paris season 3 episode 8 recap: Fashion Victim

Pierre’s death seems certain, but this is a 30-minute Netflix rom-com, after all. As a black-clad Sylvie and her employees stroll through a garden, they discuss Pierre Cadault in a way that makes us think he’s dead, but he’s not. They’re visiting him in the hospital where he seems to be thriving in recovery. Amid their conversation, Sylvie avoids work because, at this point, Pierre still doesn’t know he has been replaced by Gregory, who later expresses his disappointment about Pierre still being alive.

But there’s a good reason for that. As Sylvie learns, Gregory was once caught on camera “enjoying fellatio al fresco.” When Cadault got wind of the situation, he started calling the rival designer “Gag-ory” in discussions with the media, which caught on like wildfire.

Meanwhile, Emily tries to protect Pierre while he’s in the hospital and pleads with Nicolas to hold on announcing Gregory as the new leader of the Cadault line. Ever the businessman, Nicolas isn’t on board. So, Sylvie steps in and speaks with Louis de Leon, Nicolas’s dad and the head of the JVMA. Still, the elder de Leon refuses and leaves Nicolas in charge to make the final call about the announcement. But thanks to Louis’ somewhat creepy actions toward Sylvie when she worked as his assistant, the Grateau agency head leverages de Leon’s actions and subtly blackmails him. He’ll hold off on the announcement — for now. But later at Mindy’s performance, a frustrated Nicolas tells Emily the decision about Pierre is ultimately his — Sylvie shouldn’t have blackmailed his father like that.

After Mindy’s performance, Gabriel texts Emily asking her to get a drink. She finds him drinking Japanese whiskey on the bank of a Paris river, where he admits he thinks Camille is having an affair with another man. A drunken mind speaks a sober heart as they say, and Gabriel continues confiding in Emily by sharing how Camille never forgave him and how he fell in love with Emily the moment he saw her. During their cab ride home, Gabriel admits he loves both women, but doesn’t recall any of his conversation the next day.

In the end, Nicolas makes plans to announce Gregory as the new head of Pierre’s brand that night. Sylvie and Emily go to see Pierre, who is upset, but the wheels of their collective brains are already turning.

Emily in Paris season 3 episode 9 recap: Love Is in the Air

Gabriel’s drunken confessions are on Emily’s mind, but she’s taking the reins and moving on in the second to last episode of season 3. She surprises Alfie at the train station when he comes back from his trip to London to see family, but the romance quickly dies when Emily learns Alfie has yet to tell his family about their relationship. Still, the ever-happy Emily brushes the notion off. But it’ll come up again later when Emily confides in Mindy, who encourages her to be patient.

Meanwhile, Gabriel has his sights set on a Michelin star. But when he lets investor Antoine know, he couldn’t care less, letting the chef know he’ll consider it.

Later at the restaurant with Alfie, Emily learns of Gabriel’s plans to propose to Camille, who Emily knows is cheating on him with Sofia and, for what it’s worth, is still thinking about his drunken confession from the episode before. Still, Emily’s happy for her friend, though deep down she’s clearly the opposite. Alfie suggests putting Gabriel and Camille in the campaign Emily’s working on for a client, which leads Emily and Gabriel to hunt for the perfect proposal venue. Amid their search, she questions Gabriel’s decision to want to propose now, especially after feeling so insecure about his relationship with Camille. But he says they were able to open up to each other in a way they never had before, especially after meeting the chef in Provence and seeing him with his restaurant and children. Gabriel knows what he wants and right now, it’s not Emily.

Then, Gabriel meets Camille at Musée d’Orsay, the location of one of their first dates. Seemingly back in love with her boyfriend, Camille proposes to Gabriel on the spot. Instead of going through with the original plan, Gabriel says yes, screwing things up for Emily’s client campaign. This is good news for Julien, who was frustrated with Emily for taking over his client’s campaign anyway. His frustration continues when Emily says the couple has backed out, then suggests floating couples in hot air balloons instead of capturing a proposal, once again bull-dozing her colleague.

Elsewhere in Sylvie’s world, she’s supposed to go to the opera with Laurent on none other than their anniversary. However, he’s consumed with work at his club in St. Tropez — until he’s not! He surprises Sylvie at the last minute for a night on the town dressed to the nines. Episode 9 also gives us a chance to catch up with Mindy, who throws a party where Emily tries to smooth things over with Nicolas after the Cadault catastrophe. Not ready to move on, Nicolas kicks her out of the event and instead of fighting back, Emily puts Mindy’s happiness above her own and blames work for her exit. This backfires, though, because Emily’s always putting work first instead of her relationships.

Finally, Emily’s frustration with Alfie about not telling his family about their relationship comes to a head. He has a track record of things going poorly after introducing girlfriends to his family, which he was trying to avoid. “I’m not going anywhere,” Emily reminds him, which is enough for Alfie, who suddenly wants to call his mom and share his relationship status. But Emily has a better idea — for her and Alfie to become the face of the hot air balloon campaign and reveal their relationship in the most public of ways.

Emily in Paris season 3 episode 10 recap: Charade

Emily in Paris season 3 concludes with several jaw-dropping moments and is packed with drama. First and foremost, Gabriel’s grandmother comes in from Normandy to help oversee the opening night of his new restaurant, L’Espirit de Gigi. The momentous occasion inspires Emily to get Gabriel on track for the Michelin star he’s been lusting over all season and she turns to Luc for help in getting it. His ex-girlfriend Marianne (Laurence Gormezano) is a Michelin critic, so he invites her to try Gabriel’s food. Before the night ends, she informs the chef he’s on his way to a Michelin star. Grateful to Emily, Gabriel kisses her hand in Camille’s eyeline. This will become a problem later.

Unbeknownst to Gabriel, Emily encourages him to pay special attention to Marianne’s table. Meanwhile, Alfie fills Mindy in on Nicolas kicking Emily out of her party the episode prior. Surprisingly, Mindy doesn’t side with her beau. Instead, she apologizes to Emily and leaves to confront the marketing guru.

Meanwhile, more tension brews between Emily and Julien when she oversteps a work boundary once again. Despite Sylvie taking notice this time, Julien sets his sights on another job, emailing an anonymous recruiter regarding a new position.

Finally, on to the engagement party of the season. After proposing to Gabriel at an art museum in episode 9, Camille hosts an engagement party at her family’s chateau. There’s a priest present, leading Camille’s parents to suggest the couple get married at the event. This seems like the best idea until Camille suddenly starts to get cold feet about the situation, especially after being compared to her mother and Emily confronts her about her fling with Sofia. The kiss Gabriel delivers to Emily’s hand becomes to final straw for Camille, who cannot bring herself to exchange vows that night. Instead, she tells everyone about the pact she and Emily made, citing how the only reason she and Gabriel are together is because of Emily’s distraction from Alfie.

This brings Alfie to the realization that he’ll always be second to Gabriel, he breaks up with Emily. Later, Emily professes her feelings for Gabriel, who doesn’t reciprocate. Instead, he tells Emily that the real reason he and Camille were in such a rush to get married is because she’s pregnant.

Will Camille and Gabriel’s relationship last in season 4? Only time will tell. All 10 episodes of Emily in Paris season 3 are now streaming on Netflix.