If there’s one thing Emily in Paris fans may never agree on, it’s how long the titular character has been in Paris. Even the show’s stars aren’t sure. In December, Lily Collins’ answer to Entertainment Tonight was simply, “I think time is, it’s just a construct. Who cares?”
That’s the approach the series’ writers seem to have taken. Throughout Emily in Paris’ run, they’ve seemingly operated within alternative rules of time. However, that (mostly) changed in Season 5, which, believe it or not, stuck to a more logical timeline compared to previous chapters.
The Timeline Breakdown
In Emily in Paris Season 5, the story picks up in late spring or early summer, right after Emily’s move to Rome. Her adventures later bring her back to Paris in late June or early July, and then Venice, where she ends the season with Fashion Week in October. Along the way, we get more contextual clues about time that has passed off-screen compared to other seasons.
Content creator Sam Geiger, whose detailed video breakdowns have made him a timeline expert within the Emily in Paris fandom, observed this change in his Season 5 examination. “It almost never happened in Season 1 through 4,” he said, “and it’s happening all the time in Season 5.”
These jumps seemed to help keep the show on track. Season 5 covered about five months, whereas the previous four seasons may have together spanned under a year. (A reminder that Emily arrived in Paris around August or September in Season 1 and just celebrated her first Christmas there in Season 4 before reaching summer again.)
A New Leaf?
Geiger dubbed Season 5 “one of the most consistent timeline seasons we’ve seen so far,” but that doesn’t mean it was without problems. Fans previously noted a chronology error involving Episodes 6 and 7. The Fourth of July episode came before the Paris Pride episode, even though those two events take place in the opposite order in real life.
Other details seemed off as well, like Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) seemingly going without his knives for long months or Emily suddenly having boots while truffle hunting in her heels. Still, there were no unexplained jumps back to spring as in previous seasons, so perhaps that’s progress. Fans will see if this change continues in Emily in Paris Season 6.
Netflix announced the renewal on Jan. 5, and fans are already speculating about a trip to Greece. Not only did Gabriel and Mindy (Ashley Park) float the idea of Emily going there in Season 5, show creator Darren Star recently teased the possibility to Bustle. “I hope she wants to go,” he said.
