'Emily in Paris' Season 1: Why does Sylvie hate the new girl from Chicago?
Spoilers for Season 1 of 'Emily in Paris'
Ever since Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) arrives in Paris, she is on top of the world. Bagging a dream job like this one doesn't happen every day and Emily wants to make the most of it. After her colleague Madeline (Kate Walsh) gets pregnant, the company decides to send Emily to Paris - for being the fresh, new, young American perspective. But here's the catch - Emily can hardly speak a word of French. But it doesn't matter in the face of her bright and peppy personality.
Her zero expertise in French is perhaps what rubs her new boss in Paris, Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) the wrong way. When she arrives at the Savior offices, where she is to work on the social media campaigns for their luxury brands, Emily soon becomes the source of office jokes. And while many would be discouraged in the face of this, Emily in unbothered and goes on.
Her colleagues Luc (Bruno Gouery) and Julien (Samuel Arnold) are the only ones who come around to get warm to her eventually becoming friends. Who doesn't warm up though is Sylvie.
At first, the issues between them seem as creative differences when working together - Sylvie doesn't agree at all that their French luxury brands require the social media hacks from a regular American girl from Chicago. On the other hand, Emily continues to try and work with her amicably telling her repeatedly that they are both on the same time.
This is, however, not revealed early on in the show. Her issues with Emily might even seem personal - and possibly they could be - but it really boils down to the differences in their backgrounds. Sylvie doesn't believe Emily is fit for luxury or that niche even requires a bourgeois like her. But Emily proves everyone wrong every single time that she is underestimated and goes on winning this new country and its people.
Another source of Sylvie's issues with Emily could be Antoine Lambert (William Abadie). When she first arrived, Antoine, one of the company's clients, expressed interest in Emily. And of course, the French have shown to have no understanding for workplace behaviours. So he sends her lingerie. What she doesn't know is Sylvie is Antoine's mistress. And so her boss takes it personally that the young bird has snatched all attention away.
Even on the work front as more clients take to Emily's enthusiasm and fresh American ideas over Sylvie's, the boss begins to blame Emily than praising her. For a while, it might also seem that Sylvie might be envious of her junior for obvious reasons - and that's true because 'Emily in Paris' is hardly trying to be innovative.
Sylvie and Emily are just two women working together who sometimes have more to argue about than talk. Emily even admires Sylvie as she says over the course of the show several times.
However, Sylvie and Emily never really become friends with the boss even firing her and taking her back only after the success of a new project. They have a myriad of differences between them - but without Sylvie's strict demeanor Emily wouldn't be pushed on to do more things for Savoir.
All episodes of 'Emily in Paris' are currently streaming on Netflix.