A letter to all the girls who didn't go to Paris.

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There's a niche TV trope that we desperately need to discuss and that is the girls who didn't go to Paris.

Confused? Okay, so Paris. Heard of it? The French capital city epitomises culture, croissants and the concept of 'finding yourself'.

In the 1995 remake of Sabrina, the titular character declares that "Paris is always a good idea." And she's right. But time and time again, women on TV are turning down the chance to go there. And, in 2025, it's happened again.

In the series The Summer I Turned Pretty, Belly got an offer to study abroad in Paris for a college semester. At first, she was thrilled to live out her dream of visiting Paris.

@marievictoria

huge warning sign #tsitp #thesummeriturnedpretty #jeremiahfisher

♬ original sound - the summer i turned pretty

But then, her boyfriend, the bad Fisher brother Jeremiah, decided to propose to Belly. The timing was especially odd because it came precisely five minutes after she forgave him for cheating on her… twice. Oh, and her brother had just almost died.

Anyways, after their engagement, Belly told Jeremiah she would sacrifice her dream of going to Paris as she didn't want to be away from her husband straight after their wedding.

His reply? "Good, because I don't want you to go, either."

I'm sorry??? If you ever want to identify a secret hater, tell them you're not going to Paris and see if this is their response.

Thankfully, Belly might have come to her senses, because on the latest TSITP episode she arrived at the airport to flee to Paris after her wedding to Jeremiah was cancelled. But will Belly actually get to Paris? I don't have high hopes tbh.

Sadly, this is far from the first time we've seen this story play out on our screens. Time and time again, wonderful women are given the option to stay put in their hometown with their loser boyfriend or go to Paris to find themselves — and they pick their loser boyfriend every time.

Almost 20 years earlier, on the MTV reality series The Hills, Lauren Conrad was infamously offered a coveted summer internship with Teen Vogue in Paris.

She turned down the life-changing career opportunity that literally any aspiring fashion writer would kill for. Instead, she rented a beach shack with her boyfriend, Jason Wahler, who had previously cheated on her.

Sound familiar?

The decision prompted her boss, Teen Vogue editor Lisa Love, to deliver the iconic line: "Lauren didn't go to Paris," she stated.

"She'll always be known as the girl who didn't go to Paris."

@plutotvuk

icymi: lauren didn’t go to paris 😂 #TheHills #LaurenConrad #Paris #ParisFashion #MTV #MTVReality #Reality #WorkDrama #PlutoTV #PlutoTVUK

♬ original sound - Pluto TV UK - Pluto TV UK

A true moment in time!

Two years earlier, bam! Same thing.

In the series finale of Friends, Rachel Green prepares to move to Paris for a dream job at Louis Vuitton. This prompts her on-off boyfriend of 10 seasons, Ross Gellar, to confess his love for her as she boards the plane.

In a last-minute reversal, she realises she loves him, too. Rachel famously appears at Ross' apartment door, delivering the iconic line, "I got off the plane."

It was sweet, sure. But this grand romantic moment quickly eclipsed the fact that Rachel was really excited about the prospect of a fashion career in Paris. Why is it always the women who have to sacrifice something?

Watch the iconic Friends moment. The post continues after the video.

I get that Rachel's child was literally living in the US, and her ex and father of her child, Ross, had taken steps to better himself since they split (because he cheated, ding ding ding!), but why couldn't Ross move? Do they not need palaeontologists in Paris?

A few years earlier, Joey Potter became the original girl who just WOULD NOT go to Paris, despite her lifelong dream to visit the French capital on Dawson's Creek.

In Season 1, Joey is offered a scholarship to study for a semester in Paris, and sidenote: why are there so many of these Paris study programs?? I fear Paris is overcrowded with Americans!

But back to the issue at hand, Joey doesn't go to Paris — she starts dating Dawson instead. Boooo!

GET THIS GIRL TO PARIS. Image: The WB.

It took six seasons for Joey to finally get to Paris. SIX SEASONS. For the love of God, that girl should have gone to Paris when she had the chance.

A long line of women who would follow in Joey Potter's shoes — especially Belly, who probably should broaden her romantic horizons beyond dating two brothers she's known since she was in nappies. Bit weird, Belly!

But this isn't to say that all the girls who went to Paris made the right choices. There are, of course, some exceptions, such as the girls who followed someone else to Paris.

In the Sex and the City finale, Carrie Bradshaw moves to Paris to live with her artist boyfriend, Aleksandr Petrovsky.

She leaves her New York life and career behind (including her laptop??) for what she hopes is a chance at true love, but instead finds herself feeling lonely and getting slapped. Carrie's fantasy crumbles, culminating in Big's arrival to rescue her.

Probs should have just stayed in NYC… Image: HBO.

In Gilmore Girls, after a major fight with Lorelai Gilmore over sleeping with her married ex, Dean, a scrambling Rory impulsively joins her grandmother, Emily, on a summer trip to Europe.

This escape from her problems takes them through various cities, including Paris, where she stays in luxurious hotels — a far cry from her last trip with her mum, staying in hostels.

In both these cases, the decision to go to Paris was not their own dream — they were bending themselves to fit into someone else's.

Thankfully, in this Venn diagram of the girls who didn't go to Paris, who should have, and the girls who did go to Paris, but shouldn't have, we have Emily In Paris in the middle.

After all, the show is about a girl (aka Emily Cooper) who went to Paris. And this is where her life truly began — straight after kicking her deadbeat Chicago boyfriend to the curb.

And if Paris is always a good idea, dumping your loser boyfriend is an even better one.

Feel free to take notes, Belly.

Feature image: Prime Video/NBC/The WB.