Emily in Paris Season 4 Part 2 Review

Emily in Paris Season 4: Part 2 is made fresh by the addition of new characters, and Emily Cooper’s Roman Holiday.

Part 2 undoes a lot of that, including further complicating the relationship between Emily and Gabriel. However, relocating to Rome, and introducing some new characters makes this silly, stylish series feel refreshed.

In Season 4: Part 2, Emily prepares to head home to Chicago for the holidays, when her flight is cancelled, and so Gabriel invites her to spend Christmas with himself and Camille’s family in the utopian French Alps. In Part 1’s finale, Camille learnt her pregnancy with Gabriel’s child was a false positive. Heartbroken, she refrains from telling him, realising that without the baby, she and Gabriel’s tie to one another will snap. Camille is holding tight to the promises of marriage and children she and Gabriel made while still together, and understandably, believes the birth of their child would mean their romance re-blossoming. 

Camille’s indecision to tell the truth paints her rather unpalatable this season, which admittedly feels out of character, as Camille is usually pretty conscientious. The costume designers even dress her like a chic Disney villain in Part 2, often wearing all black, fierce shoulder pads, and even a knitted cowl at one point. Camille’s pregnancy draws a wedge between Emily and Gabriel. Gabriel’s closeness to his baby-mama makes Emily feel second rate, and like his ‘mistress’, she remarks before they abruptly break up in their snow gear. The writers continue to make unnecessary excuses to keep Emily and Gabriel apart, and much like Ross and Rachel in Friends, it’s getting tiring. Just let them be together, for goodness’ sake!

Camille’s arbitrary villain status quickly fades, as does her screen time in Part 2 when Geneviève (Thalia Besson) arrives. French-speaking New Yorker Geneviève is a new intern at Agence Grateau, threatening Emily’s place as the token American in the office. Geneviève often interrupts Emily’s business ventures, and quickly develops a friendship with Gabriel, leaving Emily seething with jealousy. Part 2 leaves it unclear as to whether or not Geneviève is purposely pushing Emily’s buttons, or if she is just harmlessly navigating her new life in Paris. Geneviève’s frustrating charm made me scoff at the television, but in a good way; her arrival is a welcome slice of tension for Emily in Paris, setting up a drama-filled narrative for next season. 

Overwhelmed by work and drama, Emily decides to take a well-earned vacation. Early in Part 2, she meets dashing Italian ‘goat herder’ Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini) on the ski slopes, before running into him again in Paris — because Europe is just that small, right? Marcello whisks her away to Italy, where we as an audience are asked to kick up our feet and buy into the Emily in Paris fairy-tale. We’re transported to Rome with mouth-watering shots of carbonara, fruitful strolls to the gelateria, and Vespa rides to familiar landmarks like the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain, where Emily makes a Lizzie Maguire-related joke that made my Gen Z-self giggle. 

In Part 2, Emily’s style shifts; she channels her inner Audrey Hepburn, whom Collins is often noted for bearing resemblance to. In one scene, Emily wears a poodle-skirt, and wraps a silk scarf around her neck, much like Hepburn’s character in Roman Holiday. The episodes in Rome are the best part of Season 4 because once again, Emily gets to be the fish out of water in a new city, embracing a new language and culture. Part 2 essentially takes the Emily in Paris narrative full circle, but the change in scenery positively reinvents the series.

Emily in Paris has become a billboard for European travel, and Season 4: Part 2’s Roman venture revitalises the series. If this is the continued direction, I am aboard for wherever I can live through Emily next: Emily in Santorini? Emily in Berlin?

Emily in Paris Season 4 Part 2 is now available to stream globally on Netflix.