Season 2 of Emily in Paris did not redeem itself for being ridicule, as some actual Parisians cried* or for being anything but a “frivolous romp”**. From the creator of Sex and the City, Emily showcases an idealized version of Paris much like Carrie’s New York. The characters have impossibly deep closets with a constant supply of outfits unlikely seen outside Fashion Week. Winter somehow never occurs. No one takes public transportation. And even in Emily’s absence, the French speak a lot of English to each other. Still, there is something irresistible about Emily and all its Insta-ready images of Paris.

Emily’s “friend” and paramour, Chef Gabriel, is reliably charmant in Season 2 as his on-and-off again girlfriend, Cammie, the heiress to a champagne fortune. The love triangle with Emily from Season 1 has been squared with the introduction this season with Alfie, the reluctantly expatriated Brit, whose imminent return home begs the question in the finale: will Emily ditch Paris for London?

Emily’s true friend and now roommate, Ashley, would bring a dose of reality as a struggling artist, if her struggle wasn’t mitigated by the fact that her father is a billionaire. Most welcoming, however, are Emily’s office mates at the marketing agency, Savoir, and its clients. They form an entourage that is at once charismatic, serious, and outrageous. The work-related scenes are reminiscent of the French hit series, Call My Agent! (Dix Pour Cent). If one character stands out from this cadre, it’s Sylvie. She has qualities from several of Carrie’s entourage in Sex and the City: Miranda’s wit, Charlotte’s class, and Samantha’s sass. Sylvie also displays her own savoir-faire, appropriately so for the agency she runs. Incidentally, her one-time beau and rival, Antoine, is played by an actor who appears in both Sex and the City and its sequel, And Just Like That.

Hopefully season 3 will keep Emily firmly in Paris. After all, what would Emily in Paris be without Paris? The city is a character in the show much like New York in Sex and the City. In the season finale of And Just Like That, we see Carrie make a trip to Paris herself. Dressed to the nines, she stands on a bridge above the Seine and scatters the ashes of her late husband, Big, into the river below. (Luckily Emily wasn’t partying aboard a bateau-mouche floating underneath at the time.) And just like that, it was a bittersweet connection between New York and Paris. Is the shows’ creator, Darren Star, teasing us with a potential crossover?

* “’Ridicule’: The French Reaction to ‘Emily in Paris’,” New York Times, October 2, 2020(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/style/Emily-in-Paris.html)

** Emily in Paris: Season 2 on Rotten Tomatoes (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/emily_in_paris/s02)