REVIEW: 2 STARS
One of the most watched and loved Netflix series that’s been all about glam, marketing, love, and a fair share of mishaps “Emily in Paris” is back with its fourth season Part 1. This time, Emily’s world is thrown further into the spotlight when a TikTok about her tangled love life blows up online. The question that’s haunted viewers since the start is back: Will Emily (Lily Collins) and Chef Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) finally confess their feelings and become a couple? Their constant push-and-pull dynamic, along with the show’s lively charm and Emily’s stunning outfits, has kept the audience invested. But with Paris’ allure dimming just a bit, Season 4 faces the challenge of keeping things fresh.
Emily’s fashion sense remains one of the biggest highlights, but it’s hard not to notice how she maintains such an impressive wardrobe when she lives in her cozy Parisian apartment on her marketing salary. Realism has never been this show’s strong point. When Emily in Paris first dropped, the pandemic had left just about everyone feeling starved for on-screen glamour. Now, four seasons deep, all that glamour and glitter is beginning to wear off.
The new season picks up with Emily just coming off her breakup with Alfie (Lucien Laviscount). At the end of Season 3, it was Camille’s fiery outburst, accusing Emily and Gabriel of having hidden feelings, that sent Alfie running. Work brings Alfie and Emily together once again as they have to work on a campaign, which brews old tensions. Camille continues to stir the drama, but as usual, Emily steps in, trying to smooth things over and stay on everyone’s good side.
However, Camille has quickly become one of the most frustrating characters. Initially adored in the first season and even somewhat forgiven in the second, her recent actions have pushed her into a role that feels flat and antagonistic. Despite the arrival of her lover Sofia (Melia Kreiling), Camille’s storyline continues to fall short of its potential, which is disappointing given the depth her character could have offered.
In the storyline, a further complication is added in the form of the arrival of Sofia from Greece, which increases the tension between Emily, Gabriel, Camille, and Sofia. Somehow, everyone continues with their feeble relationship, and even Camille becoming pregnant with Gabriel further complicates things. Simultaneously, Camille and Sofia find a way to ignite their love between them, and after this Gabriel, astonishingly doesn’t show any fuss over the issue.
While all this, Emily also tries to juggle her love life between helping Gabriel win his first Michelin star. But then comes Camille, letting Alfie know that she and Gabriel never sealed the deal on their exclusive relationship. This makes Alfie wonder whether he has done the right thing by stepping away from Emily. Then, just when all finally seems okay, Gabriel once again spills his guts to Emily, and Part 1 ends with another twist.
One of the most wasted opportunities over the season has been the mishandling of the sexual harassment subplot surrounding JVMA CEO Louis de Leon. Though the storyline could evolve in Part 2, so far it feels like it has been used more as a plot device than treated with the seriousness it deserves. Worse, it seems more like a narrative obstacle course en route to Sylvie’s husband Laurent and Mindy’s romance than it does an investigation of the apparent victim of Louis’s serial behavior: Sylvie herself.
There are also missed opportunities for other storylines of Julian being overshadowed at work and Sylvie branching off to start her marketing agency. Represented only minimally in architectural lip service, these plots steal from themselves the depth and impact that they could have had.
But as Season 4 progresses, it feels like Emily in Paris is starting to run out of steam. This is a “will-they-won’t-they” long game, which has held back character development for far too long and even impeded the momentum of the show. One can’t help but wonder, once Emily and Gabriel finally get together for good, is there a story worth telling anymore?
Even for viewers who only watched the series casually, up until Season 4’s first half, the offering may fall a bit flat. And dividing the season in half probably wasn’t one of Netflix’s best ideas either.
The thing that just recently seemed so light, refreshing, and almost endearing in its modern fairy-tale manner now felt bogged by its repetitive storytelling. That charm, of an innocent abroad starting a new life in Paris, which was what obviously made the show so beguiling, has worn off. The series never goes far deeper, and unless something changes very drastically in the second half of the season, the time might now come to bid adieu to Emily and her escapades in the City of Light.
That said, we hope that with the second part of the season airing on the 12th of September, there’s some “je ne sais quoi” that the show needs and that will keep audiences coming back for more.
