What Emily in Paris's big argument for Emily and Gabriel reminds us about healthy relationships

The will-they-won’t-they couple finally rekindled their relationship at the masquerade ball, as they had their Bridgerton moment and rode off in a carriage home together. There’s just one fly in the ointment: his ex-fiancée, Camille.

After Camille briefly went MIA, she returns to Paris to find Sofia, her girlfriend and the woman she was having an affair with, and Gabriel waiting for her. Camille decides to stay in Paris with Sofia, but the couple have nowhere to stay so, for the meantime, they move in with Gabriel… into his one bed apartment.

It’s an unconventional set up which blurs important lines between Camille and her ex, Gabriel. On a taster session at his restaurant, Gabriel invites Camille and Sofia and the four of them double date, as he reminiscences with Camille (in French, so no one else at the table knows what they’re saying), it’s clear that this is awkward for their new partners, Emily and Sofia.

Emily is uncomfortable with how overly involved Camille remains in Gabriel’s life, but she holds an awkwardly significant position to him as she’s both his ex-fiancée and the mother to his unborn child. With a baby on the way, it’s inevitable that their lives will remain intertwined and Emily tries to make her peace with Camille’s presence, even though it means the new couple are having to skip dates or have one's on the roof just to get a little privacy.

Yet, as Emily internalises her feelings, it becomes harder to ignore the lack of boundaries. She holds fake smiles as the exes share a familiar hug or when Gabriel rushes to help her carry heavy moving boxes, until the point where she can’t keep it in anymore. Emily rushes to the landlord to tell her shrilly there’s three people illegally living in one apartment, forcing Camille and Sofia to move out.

She tells Gabriel about her outburst, who thankfully admits he also went to the landlord to tell her the same thing. He’d also been struggling with the lack of privacy and overcrowding in the flat, but he also hadn’t known how to vocalise it to Emily or Camille. This moment of vulnerability starts the conversation and Emily starts slowly with her boundaries, asking to have a date with Gabriel in a room (not the roof), somewhere romantic that isn’t overcrowded by ex-lovers.

They also get their intimate evening and end the night strolling home and finally sharing the long-awaited 'I love yous', but as Camille watches on, it seems that their complicated relationship won’t stay this buoyantly simple.

As the final episode draws to a close, Gabriel giddily hugs Emily in a moment of happiness, before he sees Camille and hugs her too. He says: "Honestly, I have everything I need, I have a great restaurant, smart, beautiful girlfriend and a baby on the way, I’m the luckiest man alive."

This season firmly examines how complicated modern relationships are, with many of us having connections to exes – with children, pets or for financial reasons. It also shows the importance of setting boundaries in order to have a healthy, long-lasting relationship, which Emily struggles to do, as she knows that Camille can’t be removed from their lives, so keeps her awkward feelings to herself.

Yet, without these boundaries, Gabriel continues to be overfamiliar with Camille, ending the series with his arm lovingly wrapped around both women, as Camille hugs onto his chest. This could all change in part two, with the revelation that Camille is not actually pregnant, it was a false positive, but she could also be distanced from Emily and Gabriel’s relationship if Emily opened up about what she was and wasn’t comfortable with when it comes to Gabriel’s behaviour towards his ex.

If nothing changes, it seems possible that Emily and Gabriel’s relationship won’t last. In the final shot, Emily seems deflated, as though she resents Gabriel's heavy involvement in Camille’s life, as every special moment between them is also shared with Camille.

Even though Emily hasn’t been explicit about what she is and isn’t comfortable with Gabriel, so he doesn’t know how she’s feeling. Sofia felt so uncomfortable about Gabriel’s involvement in their lives that she ended her relationship with Camille and moved back to Greece.

Here’s hoping that Emily learns from their mistakes and starts to set clear boundaries with Gabriel, so that their relationship isn’t overshadowed by the one he shares with his ex, as no healthy relationship can survive without them. Otherwise, there could be another heartbreak on the cards for our stylish heroine.

Emily in Paris seasons 1-4 are streaming now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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