Curate, connect, and discover
Sure, Paul might be Pokey's trophy, as he's the titular guy who didn't like musicals, but Emma is the one Pokey hates the most.
The opening number (and Emma's presence in it) points to the entirety of TGWDLM being an in-universe musical to lure new members to the hive (in the form of us, the audience). So Emma and Paul are only being puppeted to echo their resistances, over and over and over.
Paul is distressed the whole time, but he's also a hero, he tries to save everyone (and fails, of course), while Emma is left to bleed and limp and scream. She's puppeted in a mockery of her fear and agony. Other deaths are bloodier, but hers is drawn out.
And this makes perfect sense for Pokey. What's the main thing we know about him?
He hates any voice that isn't his own.
Paul is outspoken about disliking musicals, but otherwise is a pretty passive guy. He doesn't make waves or stand out, he's too shy to even ask Emma out until the end of the world.
Emma is loud, opinionated, defiant. She has a very distinct voice.
Paul escapes Pokey for so long because he just doesn't like musicals, helping him avoid the traps that probably caught most of the townsfolk early on. If he liked musicals, or even tolerated them, he'd probably have been consumed by the goo pretty quickly.
Emma actively defies the hive. She starts the story in a job where she is literally required to sing and dance, and instead of just going with it she says fuck you and quits. She even clarifies that she could do it if she wanted, but she just doesn't want to.
Pokey has constructed the entire show to lure in new victims and also torture Emma specifically. In this essay I will