"Ringarde" is the sixth episode of Season 1, and the sixth episode overall.
Synopsis[]
" When a meeting with an iconic couture house unravels over a basic mistake, Emily finds comfort in the company of a seemingly charming professor."
— Official Netflix Synopsis
Plot[]
Emily's blissful attempt at sleep is disturbed by the sound of Camille and Gabriel having sex. She complains to Mindy about it during breakfast, but Mindy is distracted by her overbearing and wealthy father. Mindy explains that she left Shanghai to get out from under her father's influence in her life and make her own choices. But now, her father wants her to come home and is attempting to bribe her with expensive gifts such as a house and car. Mindy isn't interested in marrying whoever they choose and working at her father's company. Emily assures Mindy that she has to follow her dreams.
At Savoir, Emily is greeted by Julien who is wearing a sharp and bright suit. This confuses her as he told her to wear all-black, which he informs her was to ensure she blended in with Pierre Cadault's couture house. Sylvie is anxious for the meeting as it's her dream to sign Pierre to Savoir and his manager finally agreed to the meeting. She tells Emily to stay quiet and not ruin the meeting.
The group tours Pierre's mansion and awaits his arrival. When he bursts into the room he complains to his assistant about showing the ballet costumes before they're finished, then proceeds to examine the people from Savoir. Sylvie states that it's the honor of her career to be here, Julien the honor of his life, but Emily struggles to find the right words. Pierre notices her Eiffel Tower bag charm and coils in repulsion, shouting "ringarde" at her before fleeing the room. The group hurries out of the house with Emily confused as to what she did wrong, and Julien informs her that ringarde means basic. Pierre just called her a basic-bitch.
Emily goes to a cafe that night where a stranger asks her if she thinks the customers a few tables away are dating or mother and son. Emily is confused at first but then determines that they are mother and son, though he thinks they might be dating. Over the night, Emily drifts closer to the man and they bet that the winner has to buy the next bottle of wine. He introduces himself as Thomas, a semiotics professor. They talk for a long time before deciding that they won't know the outcome of their wager and decide to go back to her apartment.
In the morning, Thomas is rifling through Emily's book collection and they flirt before she walks him out so they can go their separate ways, though they agree to go out again that night.
Emily goes to work and insists on Julien that she isn't basic and references her tryst with Thomas. Julien isn't convinced and thinks that is why she's late. Emily is confused since the Fourtier meeting is supposed to start in a few minutes, but they quickly realize that Sylvie lied about the start time of the meeting.
She meets Mindy in the park and tells her about her night with Thomas which Mindy is impressed by. Mindy then admits that she's been looking up places to sing again, which Emily thinks is amazing. She then encourages Mindy to sing for her in the park since no one is paying attention. As Mindy sings a crowd gathers to enjoy the beautiful voice and when she's done, Sybil and Laurent hug her proudly.
That night, Emily and Thomas meet at her apartment for their date when they run into Camille and Gabriel. Camille suggests a double date which everyone seems okay with so they visit a restaurant. Gabriel and Thomas's personalities clash which creates a sense of awkwardness for the evening. They return to the apartment where Emily and Thomas have sex once again.
Downstairs, Gabriel and Camille listen to the sounds of Emily and Thomas having sex. While Camille finds this amusing Gabriel is annoyed and covers his ears with the pillow.
In the morning, Emily gets tickets for the production of Swan Lake that Pierre Cadault is designing the costumes for. Sylvie promptly tears up the box tickets and rejects the idea, warning her to never mention Pierre's name again. Julien demands to know what Emily thinks she's doing, but Emily didn't come to France to be demoted. Julien warns that she might be deported after tonight. Emily decides to invite Thomas to the play instead.
As she is leaving for the evening she meets Gabriel on the staircase and tells him her plans to attend the ballet. He doesn't like that she's dating Thomas as he feels she can do better than "an asshole masquerading as an intellectual". They bicker for a moment before he goes upstairs.
Emily arrives at the ballet and is marveled by the beauty of the interior. She meets Thomas at the foot of the entrance steps, where they exchange pleasantries. Things quickly turn sour when Thomas puts down Swan Lake and would rather spend the time doing anything else. His blunt comments about being forced to endure a lousy ballet and an awkward encounter with Pierre Cadault, makes her realize he is a snob. When he calls her "simpleminded" she ends things with him - but not before giving him the middle finger and walking away. She spots Pierre on the balcony above and rushes up to see him.
While Pierre doesn't recognize Emily, the woman he is with points out that she's the ringarde from the marketing firm. She assures them she only came to apologize for the other day as she didn't mean to offend him. She admits to being a basic bitch with a bag charm but explains that she only had the charm because she looked up to the women on Gossip Girl and wanted to be like them. But she and her friends could only afford the bag charm. Emily presses that ringardes do respect designers, in fact, they worship them and the couture designers need ringardes to stay fashionable. Pierre ponders this for a moment before admitting that he couldn't believe that it was Dan - that they watched all of Gossip Girl to find out it was Dan. The usher arrives and escorts Emily out of the box.
The next morning at Savoir, Sylvie confronts Emily about going to the ballet last night against her wishes. She knows this as she just received a phone call from Pierre Cadault's office saying he wants to meet, but only if "Gossip Girl" is there. Sylvie presumes that could only mean Emily. She doesn't want to know how Emily got the deal, but she does want her to be less. Emily happily agrees to try.
Cast[]
Starring[] |
Co-Starring[]
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Quotes[]
- Mindy: Aww, you learned a gross new phrase.
- Mindy: The beautiful thing about Paris is that nobody judges you for doing nothing. It's like an art form here.
- Julien: What are you doing?
- Emily: I don’t know, but I didn’t come to Paris to be demoted.
- Julien: After tonight, you might be deported.
- Gabriel: Fine. I just think you’re wasting your time on a guy who doesn’t deserve you.
- Emily: I… I just came here to apologize for the other day, for offending you and… to let you know that… you’re right. I am a basic bitch with a bag charm. In fact, do you wanna know why I got that bag charm? Because my friends and I were obsessed with Gossip Girl. We all wanted to be Serena van der Woodsen in her gorgeous, crazy-expensive couture. But the only thing we could afford from any of those designers was a clip-on bag charm from an outlet in Winnetka. So… yeah. I guess that makes us pretty ringarde.
- Emily: You think ringardes don’t respect designers. We worship designers so much that we spend all we’ve saved on a dumb accessory just to feel like we’re somehow on your runway. You may mock us… but the truth is… you need us. Without basic bitches like me, you wouldn’t be fashionable.
- Pierre: I can’t believe it was Dan. Gossip Girl. We watched the entire series to find out… it's Dan.
Soundtrack[]
| Song | Artist | Scene Description | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chandelier | Sia | The song Mindy sings in her Chinese Popstar audition | |
| Bien Que Paris Sois Gris | Selectracks | Emily sits in a café | |
| Girls Pop | Tele Music | Emily brings Thomas back to her flat | |
| La vie en rose | Édith Piaf | The song Mindy sings in the park | |
| Poly | Neutron | Emily arrives at the ballet | |
| Pas de Six (6), Act III, No. 19 from Swan Lake | Westar Classical Music WCM 09: Passion & Romance | Emily runs up the stairs | |
| Dance of the Cygnets | Swan Lake | Emily speaks with Pierre Cadault | |
| Espiègle | Tchaikovsky | Emily and Sylvie chat |
Trivia[]
- As punishment for ruining the Pierre Cadault meeting, Sylvie places Emily on "couture quarantine" and ices her out of the Fournier account.
- Mindy Chen (Ashley Park) sings for the first time in the series.
- The scenes where Emily goes to the Opera to talk to Pierre Cadault were filmed at Opéra Garnier, also known as Palais Garnier. As a result, the opera house was shut down for a night.[1]
- The cast and crew got a tour of its basement, which included glass-covered floors revealing a reservoir of swimming fish.[2]
- Emily's outfit at the opera house was inspired by Audrey Hepburn's look in the movie Funny Face, which is also set in Paris.[3]
- Patricia Field, the Emily in Paris costume designer, also did the wardrobe for the original Sex and the City. The dress Emily wears was inspired by Carrie's look in the finale of Sex and the City set in Paris.[4]
