Emily In Paris established itself as a guilty pleasure when the world arguably needed it most (in 2020). In doing so, this show keeps with tradition from Darren Star, who has helmed decades of similarly soapy shows including Sex and the City, Younger, and Melrose Place. His newest protagonist, Lily Collins’ inexplicably irresistible fashionista, has been entertaining streaming audiences for three full seasons, but now, it’s time for the show to shake things up a bit. This goes beyond Emily attempting to finally get better at speaking French beyond an intro course.
As viewers know, the series has a tendency to gloss over consequences, including personal drama that should carry legit fallout. And Emily has obviously been carrying on-and-off for seasons with Hot Chef Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), who has also maintained having a girlfriend, Camille, with whom he actually arrived at the altar in the third season. This led to Camille calling out Emily and Gabriel and cancelling the wedding, after which Gabriel confessed to Emily that he and Camille are with child. Will the show use this climactic event to dive into drama, or will the show stay fluffy? Let’s find answers.
Plot
The series will have plenty of subplots like Mindy’s quest to Eurovision and workplace antics, but the love quadrangle will remain a key focus. How will that go? Sounds messy.
As the show’s newest trailer indicates, not everything will be rosy for Emily and Gabriel and/or Alfie. The latter is still reeling from finding out that his supposed girlfriend remains in love with Gabriel (the dirty skillet continues to charm), and he remains on the scene, but friction exists, since he asks Emily for some “time,” and you know what that means. Meanwhile, Gabriel is shown in the trailer hanging out in Emily’s shower (skeevy but a fun switcheroo, given that the series began with Emily having a shower catastrophe), but the two do engage at least one bitter shouting match.
Well, it sounds like there will be more than one fit of yelling and quarreling. As Lucas Bravo recently told Vogue, these characters will have to start acting like grown ups: “This season is all about maturity.”
“We really wanted to take it to the next level, not in terms of passion, but in terms of maturity and the connection between them. There’s a lot of problems that weren’t addressed for three seasons which we’re confronting now. We’re finally communicating and fighting and addressing things. That was great to shoot. We have a few scenes like that where we’re yelling at each other, and at the end of the scene, Lily and I were like, ‘This is so fun!’ We said to Darren [Star, the show’s creator], ‘You need to write more fighting scenes.’ It was all this tension being released.”
Bravo further revealed that “there’s a ballroom scene” involving Emily and Gabriel, and Bravo feels “such tenderness and adoration for her and what we built in that sequence.” Further, he’s not able to divulge where their relationship ends up, but “when I’m in Gabriel’s skin, I’m deeply, deeply in love with Emily. She’s the one–she’s my soulmate. So from Gabriel’s perspective, I think they’re meant to be together and I hope they will be.” Bravo did concede, however, that “from an outsider’s perspective, I think they need to communicate and be independent, and their relationship should be a bonus to them being separate individuals.”
Whereas Alfie actor Lucien Laviscount revealed (to Marie Claire) that Alfie will be present, and season-finale cliffhangers will “definitely get answered.” He added, “Fans can expect a beautiful train crash,” and Alfie will go through an “emotional” arc, and this season will be “a little bit more hectic than previous seasons in that true, daring style.” Cue theatrics.
Additionally, Darren Star revealed that Emily will be in travel mode “[f]rom the French Alps to the piazzas of Rome,” and “viewers will vicariously experience amazing new locations through Emily’s eyes.”
Don’t forget that this travel will also include odd fashion, gorgeous surroundings, and yep, there’s Alfie with Emily again:
Cast
The core cast will be back, including not only Lily Collins and Lucas Bravo but also Emily’s colleagues including Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu (Sylvie), Bruno Gouery (Luc), and Samuel Arnold (Julian) with William Abadie (Antoine) pushing everybody to be more luxurious. As already discussed, Lucien Laviscount will be back for more self-punishment as Alfie and Camille Rabat will continue to portray Camille’s bizarre quest for unhappiness. Thankfully, Ashley Park will be back as the ray of tolerable sunshine known as Mindy.
Release Date
Netflix’s two-part strategy will reign here with half of the season arriving on August 15 and the rest on September 12.
Trailer
The aforementioned “fighting” gets a special spotlight in this trailer.
