White plays e5 bypass after 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.e5 (or 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.e5)

Hi everybody! In the above mentioned anti-Sicilian lines, at least at my level, a frequent instinct by White is the bypass e5. My sources claim this is bad for White and that after ...Bf5 and ...e6, Black has transposed to "a favorable version of the French Advance."  My question is - WHY is this a "favorable version of the French Advance" for Black and what is Black's game from there? For example, when I have tried the French Advance as White, Black usually tries to press on d4 with ...Qb6, ...Nc6, ...Ne7-f5, or pile on the open c-file, etc....

It is favorable because Black's Bishop is outside the pawn chain. Actually, it should not really be compared to the French, but rather, the Caro-Kann.

What you have is a Caro-Kann up a tempo.

The French sees the Bishop buried behind the pawn chain.

In the Advance Caro-Kann, usually you see 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 and Black eventually needs to play ...c5 to break the center. It took you 2 moves of the c-pawn to play the c-pawn to c5.

The French usually does this in one move, but at the cost of playing ...e6 before getting the Bishop out.

Here, the Bishop is out AND you got c7-c5 in 1 move. The best of both worlds!

3.e5 is NOT a good move, just like how 2.e5 is bad in the Scandinavian for the same reasons!

I appreciate your reply and I confess to you that I was locked in on the "French" idea but now can see the "Caro-Kann" idea - the facts we have gotten out the Bc8 as well as already being on c5. In fact I like to play the CK Advance as White now and then and I always feel like I have an extra move in my favor when I see Black needing two turns to get to c5!

Having said that - I have never played the CK as Black so will need to think about the themes. For example, a book I have for White does not like the exchange on d4 that leaves a naked pawn at the root of the chain on d4, because it is a long-term liability - and especially bad if White's black-squared bishop is bad...

It allows black to get all the advantages of both the French and Caro-Kann without the drawbacks. Black is able to play both c5 in 1 move and Bf5 with no dramas.

There's nothing dramatic going on here but black's setup is perfection. e5 there is essentially a positional mistake because of this setup.

see above, but i will also come in with this in the other line you mentioned

take this with a grain of salt