Thirsty in Paris

After basically only going to my office, work and the market the last six plus months, I was ready for a new show to take me somewhere else. Sure, we’ve had Ozark and Tiger King, but I don’t really dream about going to either location on those shows. What I do dream about is eating croissants, drinking an iced coffee and smelling some fresh roses in Paris. I feel like Netflix may have figured out we were all dreaming about this when they dropped Emily in Paris over the weekend.

While I didn’t love the show per se, I did manage to binge watch the entire series in one night. Was it the croissants that kept me hooked? No. Was it the beautiful scenery that kept me hitting next episode? Not at all. Did the fashion keep me interested in what was happening? Not really. It was a one-man show for me. The beautiful neighbor Gabriel, played by Lucas Bravo. There are some spoilers ahead, in case you had more self-control than me and have not finished the series.

Throughout my one-night binge watch of Emily in Paris, I kept thinking “who is this man” and “have I seen him before?” every single time Gabriel was on screen. Not only was he the beautiful French neighbor we all dream to have, he was extremely charismatic (so much so I ignored that he was CHEATING ON HIS BEAUTIFUL, KIND GIRLFRIEND).

In case you were salivating a bit over Gabriel’s cooking skills, turns out the actor can also cook in real life! Bravo was a sous chef in a restaurant for a bit a few years ago! Turns out he actually made that omelet we see his Gabriel cook for Emily in the show! Does he offer in house services?

While I do adore this actor and demand him to replace Arm*e H*mmer in anything moving forward, I do want to focus in on Gabriel the character. (but just want to point out for you single readers, Lucas Bravo is single!) While watching, I couldn’t help but wonder (yes, a Sex & the City reference, hello, it’s Darren Star!) why we’re rooting for Gabriel and Emily to end up together. Gabriel has a wonderful girlfriend, who I would love to be friends with and steal her wardrobe.

Gabriel is written to be so charming; from the moment our Emily attempts to get into his apartment thinking it’s hers, I’m invested in them ending up together. Why did he never mention he has a girlfriend? Gabriel neglecting to ever mention his girlfriend bothers me so much, yet he’s so charming, I can slightly forgive it because it’s Gabriel.

I believe that the way Bravo played Gabriel allowed us to at least temporarily ignore the fact that Gabriel is actively pursuing another woman while in a relationship. He sees the way Emily is so curious and happy to work on changes in her life and you could say it inspires him to work on his own life. We don’t ever really get any alone time with Camille and Gabriel, but the way they converse you are led to believe they are not as happy as they appear. Camille deserves far better, but they at least give us a reasoning for Gabriel’s actions with Emily.

Hold on to your berets – the whole team is down for season two! Hopefully, Netflix does the right thing and renews the show and we see what happens next with our new favorite group in France!