Recently Emily in Paris season 2 came out on Netflix, and many people have mixed reactions about this season. Some people loved it; some didn’t. This makes sense to me cause recently, I’ve watched it in one sitting, even though Emily made me cringe with her dressing styles and her ability to make proper decisions. But I still enjoyed watching it. It’s a fantastic series for daydreaming about a perfect Paris trip.
This season starts precisely where the first season ends. If you watched the first season, you would know that Lily Collins’ Emily has a thing for her hot neighbor, Gabriel the chef (Lucas Bravo). They have an on and off-going relationship. Also, by doing so, Emily betrays her first and only real French friend, Camille (Camille Razat). In this season, we can see that Emily is undressing the France culture a lot better, but because of her poor language skills, she is struggling a lot. So she decides to take French classes, which she is miserably failing. This is where she meets Alfie, a British ex-pat, who describes her as obsessed with her work, no fun, and wearing funny clothes. But like everyone else, Alfie finds himself falling in love with her, whereas Emily tells everyone that Alfie is her boyfriend, but deep down, we all know what her heart really wants.
The second season continues to feature strong characterizations. We see Emily’s boss Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) take on more of a mentor role and also somehow end up in a love quadrangle. We also see a lot of character development in Mandy Chen. Her being the absolute best friend towards Emily and how they support each other throughout the show is worth watching. As for new characters aside from Alfie, we can see Madeline (Kate Walsh), Emily’s pregnant boss from Chicago. Madeline is the peppy corporate American counterpart to Emily, who has become more acclimated to her new home.
Everything in this second season feels like it might have been a movie or a series created ten, twenty, or more years ago.
What occurs between Emily, Gabriel, Camille, and ultimately Alfie is predictable, and every conversation is predictable. I found myself constantly anticipating what would be said or done next; even the ostensibly major shock at the end came as no surprise. Some plotlines are also illogical. Without giving anything away, why is Madeline (Kate Walsh), Emily’s pregnant Chicago boss, traveling to Paris since the entire crux of season one was that she couldn’t go because she was pregnant? But that doesn’t mean this snow is not attractive. If you want to give your mind a break from real-life problems, give it a shot. Don’t expect too much, and then you won’t be disappointed.