Spoilers below.
Every Darren Star show features a will-they-won’t-they couple: Carrie and Big in Sex and the City, Kelly and Brandon in Beverly Hills 90210, Liza and Charles in Younger, and Emily and Gabriel in Emily in Paris. When we last saw Emily a month ago at the end of the first half of season 4, she was blissfully in love with Gabriel, the chef she’s been circling for the entire series. They were finally single at the same time and ready to give their relationship a proper chance, even if Gabriel’s ex-fiancée Camille was still around with a fake pregnancy.
However, Emily and Gabriel spend much of the second half of the season, now streaming on Netflix, apart. Emily unceremoniously ends things with Gabriel when he abandons her at the top of a mountain during a Christmas skiing trip with Camille’s family. Later, Gabriel also shows his irritation at always having to speak English around her (the French are never letting go of that stereotype). But Emily quickly moves on: She’s swept off her feet by Marcello, an Italian fashion heir, who invites her to Rome for a holiday.
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Sylvie, who is the real cause of Emily’s relationship troubles, appears only marginally remorseful for interfering in her employee’s personal life. She admits to a former lover, a dashing Italian film director from whom she took classes years ago, that it was wrong to use Emily’s blossoming romance to advance her own career. She also voices some concerns about how Emily’s ambitions might be jeopardising her happiness. However, Sylvie doesn’t exactly regret exploiting Emily, especially when she secures the coveted meeting.
Things aren’t going well for Mindy in the relationship department either. She and Nico have broken up for good after she realised she could never fit the trophy wife mould he was seeking. Nico turns out to be a vengeful ex: He uses one of Mindy’s songs for a commercial without her permission, violating Eurovision rules and disqualifying them from the competition. To mend her broken heart, she flies to Rome to visit Emily. With gelato in hand, they stroll the streets, and something Emily says inspires a lyric for one of Mindy’s unfinished songs. She takes over a piano in a piazza and performs an original song, “Beautiful Ruins,” lamenting the end of the relationship but still finding beauty in the memories and love shared.
Emily and tourists alike record Mindy’s performance and upload the video to social media. Even though Emily is a supposed influencer in the world of the show, it’s a tourist’s TikTok that goes viral and prompts a Chinese pop star to invite Mindy back to be a judge and perform the new song. If anyone can turn lemons into lemonade, it’s Mindy.
Back in Paris, Geneviève, Sylvie’s step-daughter and new employee, receives word that Gabriel has finally been awarded a Michelin star—for real this time. She rushes to deliver the news, and Gabriel’s first reaction is that Emily should be here to celebrate with them. Geneviève doesn’t let this deter her; at the celebration party later that night, she throws herself at Gabriel in front of Anton and Alfie. Gabriel draws the line and tells her he’d like to keep things professional. Still missing Emily, Gabriel leaves her a voicemail with the good news and expresses his gratitude. Emily returns the favour, leaving a congratulatory message for him in French, a nod to their break-up argument.
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That situation is immediately complicated when Sylvie announces she’s officially opening a Rome office, which Emily will run. She’ll be intimately involved with the Muratori account, but this is a detail that Emily in Paris glosses over—it seems her gesture to remain uninvolved was enough for Marcello. She’s accommodated in a beautiful villa with a stunning view of the city and takes a selfie to document her new life.
Mindy informs Gabriel of the news, and Alfie encourages him to go after her. “Don’t let your pride and misunderstandings get in the way of the greatest girl in the world. We both did,” Alfie says. This advice seems somewhat implausible coming from him, given how their relationship ended, but it’s the motivation Gabriel needs to ask Mindy where Emily is in Rome.
Meanwhile, Emily is busy posting her selfie on Instagram and considering changing her handle, contemplating dropping Paris from her name but not quite committing to @EmilyInRome. When Marcello knocks on her door, she leaves her phone behind (a first!) to hop on the back of his Vespa and start a new chapter in her life.
Netflix hasn’t officially renewed the series for a fifth season, but it seems likely the hit show will return: guest roles were auctioned off at an amfAR event at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this summer. When it does return, fans will once again debate whether they’re rooting for Gabriel and Emily or if they have room in their hearts for someone (and somewhere) new.
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Read the original article in ELLE USA.
