Emily in Paris Season 4 Part 1 is a glossy, visually refreshed return that leans into the series’ knowingly silly romantic-comedy pleasures while giving Emily and her colleagues more emotionally complicated problems. The first five episodes look invitingly different in winter Paris, but their attempts to address serious workplace issues also expose the limits of the show’s light touch. The result is enjoyable and uneven rather than a clean reinvention.
What Season 4 Part 1 covers
Part 1 consists of the first five episodes of the ten-episode fourth season. They premiered on Netflix on August 15, 2024; the remaining five episodes followed on September 12, 2024. The story resumes after Camille and Gabriel’s disastrous wedding. Emily has unresolved feelings for both Gabriel and Alfie, while Gabriel is on the verge of becoming a father.
Those entanglements sit alongside the agency’s fashion and skincare work, Gabriel’s effort to earn a Michelin star, and Sylvie’s history with a powerful fashion executive. This review avoids developments beyond that setup.
Winter Paris gives the show a fresh look
The clearest change is visual. Instead of relying exclusively on sunny streets and flower-bright scenery, the first five episodes make room for gray skies, coats, and a cozier winter palette. Executive producer and director Andrew Fleming told Netflix Tudum, “We’re getting a different textural feel of Paris.” He said the team wanted to show the city in a more dramatic register, adding that it is “just as beautiful during the winter, if not more so.”
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The costumes remain central to the series’ appeal, but their purpose is not simply to make Emily conspicuous. Costume designer Marylin Fitoussi says Emily is “really coming into her own, asserting herself, becoming much stronger with a style that is reinterpreting Parisian fashion codes.” Fitoussi also describes the guiding spirit as taking “maximum risks.” The outfits are part of the show’s heightened fantasy, not a documentary picture of what Parisians generally wear; TIME has also noted the gap between the series’ clothing and typical contemporary streetwear.
Romantic and workplace plots: familiar pleasures, heavier complications
The love triangle
Emily’s feelings for Gabriel and Alfie keep the romantic comedy in familiar territory. The season adds genuine complications to that arrangement, especially Gabriel’s impending fatherhood, but the central tension still depends on a pattern the series has returned to before. That familiarity can be part of the comfort for fans; it can also make the story feel as though it is circling rather than moving forward.
Sylvie’s story
Sylvie’s past with a powerful fashion executive brings sexual harassment and workplace power into a show better known for romantic mix-ups, brand campaigns, and extravagant clothes. The subject has weight, but Part 1’s breezy surface does not always give it the sustained attention it needs. The Atlantic argues that this mismatch weakens the show’s social commentary, while TheWrap and The Independent also criticize the installment’s repetitive plotting or scattered, low-stakes feel.
Does the show need to get serious?
Not necessarily. Emily in Paris has always traded in a deliberately heightened version of life: fashion as spectacle, Paris as postcard, and problems that can often be absorbed into a light, brisk tone. TIME’s more appreciative reading is that a show can be ridiculous and still deliver delight. But when Season 4 Part 1 takes on harassment and other serious material, the contrast is harder to treat as harmless tonal play.
Rank #3
- Text by Marylin Fitoussi and foreword by Darren Star
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That tension explains why the response is divided rather than settled. Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus says the show’s frivolous charms “begin to sag” as it tries more serious conflict, while still finding it pleasurable for fans. The Atlantic’s Hannah Giorgis puts the limitation plainly: “Emily in Paris isn’t equipped to offer clear-eyed analysis of the real world in bite-size releases, and that’s fine.” The question is whether the show recognizes that limitation well enough to make its serious material feel purposeful, rather than like a dramatic interruption in an otherwise weightless fantasy.
The series’ self-awareness helps when it is used to sharpen the comedy or let the audience enjoy the absurdity. It is less persuasive as a substitute for depth. Part 1’s best balance comes when its visual exuberance and romantic foolishness are allowed to be pleasures in their own right; its weaker moments ask the same breezy storytelling to carry stakes it has not fully developed.
Rank #4
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Is Season 4 Part 1 worth watching?
For viewers who enjoy the show’s stylized Paris, fashion gambles, and romantic confusion, yes: the winter imagery makes the return feel newly textured, and the familiar silliness still has charm. Those hoping for a major shift in character depth or a thoughtful treatment of workplace harassment may find the season less satisfying. The Independent finds the Part 1 ending underwhelming, and the split release means this first batch does not provide a complete season arc.
Netflix is the listed viewing service in the cited season and reception listings. Catalog availability and subscription terms can vary by region and over time.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Emily in Paris design. Officially licensed Emily in Paris merch. Get ready to chic stuff up in this haute look from the hit TV show Emily in Paris.
- Perfect for fans of RomComs, TV Shows, Paris, French Style, Cute Shows, Girlie Fashion, and Fashion Design. Get ready for new fashions and new passions in this cute apparel.
- Lightweight, Classic fit, Double-needle sleeve and bottom hem
Sources
- Netflix Tudum: Season 4 overview and creative commentary
- Rotten Tomatoes: Season 4 release details and critics consensus
- Metacritic: Season 4 reviews
- TheWrap: Season 4 Part 1 review
- The Independent: Season 4 Part 1 review
- The Atlantic: Season 4 criticism by Hannah Giorgis
- TIME: Season 4 review
- Netflix: Emily in Paris
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