Love her or love to hate her, Lily Collins' character in Emily In Paris has always been a divisive little lady.
From the beginning, fans took a dislike to Emily Cooper's culturally unaware approach to living in a foreign country, her chaotic dating life, and her often lax work performance. These flaws were always delicately balanced by her bubbly personality, kind nature, trademark style and hilariously basic opinions.
But in the latest season, it seems like it's not just fans who have glaring issues with Emily; the call is now coming from inside the house.
In season four, Netflix writers are truly leaning into Emily's tendencies to be…rather terrible.
There was a vibe shift as early as episode two when Emily randomly left in the middle of lunch with two Parisian women, as they moaned "I guess we'll pay for her ice tea."
It was subtle but a clear acknowledgment that despite all her best efforts, Emily can often be, well… the worst.
Then there was the way she misled Alfie at the masked ball. It was painful to watch, especially after she made him think they still had a chance only for her to leave with Gabriel.
Considering just how thoughtless she was with Alfie's feelings, many fans on X applauded when Emily was left in tears after finding out he met someone else in part two. Sorry girlie, but you fumbled a real one.
Even with her friendships, this season Emily wasn't the kind person we know and love. For instance, her telling her landlord that Camille was living at Gabriel's with her girlfriend Sofia, which could have led to her 'pregnant' friend's eviction, felt uncharacteristically mean-spirited.
But there was one moment in part two that solidified what we've all known to be true about Emily Cooper: despite her pure intentions, there's no denying she's sometimes the worst.
After she broke up with Gabriel because he abandoned her on top of a mountain at Christmas, (yes, there was a lot leading to this moment, I'm on #TeamEmily in their split), they tried to talk out their differences, leading to a rare outburst of emotion from the perpetually burstless Gabriel.
After Emily tells Gabriel he doesn't communicate with her, he says something unexpected.
"We only communicate in your language, not mine. Do you want to know how I feel?" he asks.
He then delivers a thoughtful response in French aka his first language.
"Please, I don't understand," she desperately replies.
"Exactly," he concludes.
It was a powerful moment that drew a big reaction online from people who shared their frustration with English-speaking people thinking their language should be the default way of communication.
It drove home the one fact about Emily that we overlook: underneath the glamourous outfits, the baffling hats and the zany marketing ideas, lies an ignorant American.
Sure, this is evident when she mentions Starbucks in every second conversation. But her refusal to learn the native tongue of not just her co-workers, clients, but her loved ones, is a lot harder to forgive than her complaining about the lack of snow on Christmas in Paris compared to Chicago.
Back in season two, she did commit to a French class but it's clear that was more of a box-ticking exercise than any real attempt to be able to communicate in any language other than English.
Season four arguably featured more French-speaking between the Parisian characters than ever before which was a stark reminder to viewers that Emily has been in Paris for a seemingly long time so how come she still speaks only in English and expects everyone else to do that too?
This point was further illustrated when she realised that her co-workers were fluent in Italian as well. As Emily asked "does everyone speak more than one language", Luc passive-aggressively retorted "Everyone but you."
Don't get me wrong, I do love Emily Cooper and I will happily watch another four seasons of this show, as she moves on to Emily In Rome, Emily In London, or maybe even, Emily In Sydney one day.
The character is making baby steps with season four culminating in her leaving a voicemail for Gabriel speaking in perfect French. Perhaps, the writers needed her to be awful for a bit so she could have that redemption moment.
But still, in between seasons four and five, I wouldn't be mad if Netflix launched an exclusively French-speaking Sylvie spin-off.
Give the people what they want!
Part one and two of season four of Emily In Paris can be streamed on Netflix.
Feature image: Netflix.