At the beginning of 2024, Netflix announced that Emily in Paris would return with a new season split in two five-episode parts with different premiering dates: August 15th and September 12th. That strategy follows the streaming’s new policy of keeping the public’s audience and excitement for a longer time than before (as we experienced in Bridgerton and Stranger Things last seasons).
With the first part now available, we’re to tell you all of our initial thoughts. But, before telling you our impressions about part one, let’s do a little recap of the latest events that will receive an ending on this season (spoiler alert!).
alfie or gabriel?
After having an affair with Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) and discovering he is Camille’s boyfriend (Camille Razat), Emily (Lily Collins) keeps their relationship in the “friendzone” (or at least she tries). The marketing executive at Savoir (that later will become Agence Grateau) decides to take French classes and meets Alfie (Lucien Lavinscount), her British classmate who ends up becoming her love interest.
Although Camille made her promise that none of them will ever date Gabriel again, Emily discovers that both of them are back together and about to get engaged. However, the French chef has never forgotten her, declaring his love for the American girl while he was drunk.
As the couple says their vows in front of all the guests during the ceremony, Camille calls the wedding off and tells Gabriel she knows that he is still in love with Emily. That breaks Alfie’s heart, and he decides to break up with Emily.
Now that both of them are single, will Emily finally date Gabriel? Or will she try to get back together with Alfie? But before we get into that, there’s an important detail to be mentioned: Camille says that she is pregnant with Gabriel’s child just as season 3 ends.
camille’s love affair
In the last season, we were introduced to Sofia (Melia Kreiling), a Greek artist who came to Paris to present her works in an art gallery – where she meets Camille and starts to develop a love interest. Both of them begin to see each other more often, ending up with Emily seeing them kissing on the rooftop during a party.
In spite of the fact that Camille was dating Gabriel at that time and Emily was aware of her double love life, none of them told him about it. So, will Sofia and Camille get a chance at a relationship after her break up with the chef?
the michelin star
After receiving an offer from Antoine (William Abbadie), entrepreneur and owner of Maison Lavaux, to be Gabriel’s financial investor on his restaurant purchase, the French chef finally sees an opportunity to have his own establishment and pursue his dream of winning a Michelin star (an award for outstanding cooking).
He opens L’Esprit de Gigi and does his best to achieve his goal. Emily, willing to help him, finds out that Luc (Bruno Gouery), her work partner back at Agence Grateau, used to date a Michelin inspector named Marianne (Laurence Gormezano). Which sparks the question: will Gabriel’s restaurant finally be awarded with a Michelin Star?
our firsts impressions so far
Season 4 begins right where the third one left off. In the first minutes of episode one, there is a quite funny recap of what happened at the wedding ceremony. Camille’s youngest brother Timothée (Victor Meutelet) posted a TikTok about how Emily was guilty for her friends’ breakup, damaging her image. Although we know that she had a flirtatious relationship with the chef, they didn’t even have a chance to date. However, that seems to change in the new season.
Emily’s and Gabriel’s relationship has a deeper approach, as both of them are finally single and ready for romance. She seems to be more mature and this reflects on her actions. The marketing executive apologizes to Alfie and feels free to express her feelings towards Gabriel. After an incident during a masquerade ball promoted by Agence Grateau for a brand, Alfie is no longer seen or mentioned in the series, causing a perception of leaving second characters behind that could still have important roles in the series.
At the same time, Camille gets back together with Sofia – this time for everyone to see – after she went missing because of her wedding ruin. Their relationship is almost heading towards a happy ending, but the fact that Camille’s ex is always around displeases Sofia and she travels back to Greece.
Also, it is revealed that Camille is not actually pregnant after going to a doctor’s appointment. This outcome wasn’t what the audience was expecting, being a forced strategy to focus on the main couple. Now that she is single again and hiding a secret from everyone, that could become a thorn in Emily’s and Gabriel’s relationship, which would be a sad ending for this character’s trajectory.
When it comes to Eurovision, in which Mindy (Ashley Park) and her band are participating, the competition is barely mentioned. The first episode addresses the fact that they need money to endorse themselves for the competition, but then nothing else comes of it . Emily’s friend gets involved in her boyfriend Nicholas (Paul Forman) drama and that narrative is not mentioned again, which doesn’t make sense considering that the band even busked to become popular in the past episodes.
Thankfully, we are pleased with their first and only performance of the season during the opening of a club where we can remember the chemistry between Mindy and Benoit (Kevin Dias), the guitar player who used to date her. Is there a possibility of reviving their love relationship? I really hope so!
In season 3, we get to know that Sylvie worked for Louis de Leon (Pierre Deny), the CEO of JVMA who has the reputation of being abusive with his female employees. Now, in season 4, he is finally unmasked and everyone gets to know about his behavior when an article with Sylvie’s testimony is published in Le Monde.
This narrative is very interesting for the series plot and it gets the focus it deserves, as it shows how strong she is to risk her career when exposing the owner of a prestigious fashion conglomerate.
While the series follows the premise of presenting haute couture looks and beautiful French landscapes, such as Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny, the events follow the same path as the past ones. Considering that each episode lasts an average of 30 minutes and Emily in Paris doesn’t delve into its own events, some narratives can have a shallow approach that causes the feeling of something is missing.
Despite of it being a series that you don’t need to think too much while watching, where just enjoying the drama of Emily’s love life and work is enough, the acting is just so on point and we can also have a glimpse of the French vocabulary, just like the main character does.
Lastly, after watching the fifth episode, there is one question to be answered: What about Camille and her fake pregnancy, will she tell Gabriel that she hasn’t been expecting a child this whole time? That, we will only find out in further episodes! Au revoir, ma chérie!
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The article above was edited by Mariana Aguiar.
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