By Kelly Kim
Staff Writer
Netflix released the final part of the two-part fourth season finale of “Emily in Paris” on Sept. 12. The show follows the journey of a social media influencer who works at a Paris marketing firm, Agente Grateoux, experiencing the ultimate Parisian lifestyle in fashion, while also balancing the best of what France has to offer: romance and drama.
Emily Cooper moves from her marketing firm in Chicago and is relocated to work with Agente Grateoux, a marketing firm in Paris. While being the only American girl at the office, Lily Collins portrays Emily as the ditzy, quintessential tourist in Paris, on the prowl to capture the city’s sights and adventures. While trying to balance her work with her strict yet talented boss Sylvie and her love life with the handsome chef living in her apartment complex, Gabriel, the seasons of “Emily in Paris” take you on a journey of life, vibrancy and culture.
The first part of the fourth season premiered on Netflix on Aug. 24, picking up where the story left off with Camille, Gabriel’s ex-girlfriend, going missing. She was later found in Greece, living and dating her new girlfriend Sofia, a painter and artist.
While there are very extravagant and juicy plot details that occur in the second part of season 4, some of the content feels redundant and overplayed, almost playing into the stereotypes of what people and travelers think of Paris as being too much.
Emily being this ditzy and unknowing American girl in a foreign country has been the tone for the past three seasons, and I wish there was some dynamic character development, especially with her knowledge and communication of French itself. It’s somewhat disappointing, as much could have been done given the complex characters and the relationships that were previously established.
Rather, we get surface-level solutions to deeper-level problems that could have been carved out better had there been better plot improvements.
The second part of the season continues with Emily’s turmoil from both her current and broken relationships while also fixing the messes she now has to remedy.
The new season of Emily in Paris, while very entertaining, feels very draining and long. The same trope of a forbidden love, as exemplified by Gabriel and Emily, is not as romantic as one may think it to be. It feels like the beaten horse — trying to revitalize a concept that was never intended to work to begin with.
Shortly after the finale of season 4, Netflix announced the plans for season 5, with a release date that is still unknown. While viewers can be curious to see what comes next, there are only so many new details that can be created before aspects of the story start to become too repetitive.
