It’s the midseason finale of Emily in Paris season 4! The first five episodes dropped on August 15 and the story of Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) and her France-set friends and coworkers will continue with the final five installments on Thursday, September 12. And given that not-so-little cliffhanger—plus, that snowy sneak peek of the upcoming eps—we’re going to be counting down the days until all of our questions are answered.
Will Camille’s (Camille Razat) secret ruin things between Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) and Emily? Will Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) be back for part 2? And just who is that hunky Italian that we saw Emily with on the ski slopes?Â
But before we look forward for Emily in Paris, let’s recap how everything went down in Emily in Paris season 4 episode 5, “Trompe l’oeil.”
Starry-eyed lovers
It looks like all of that romantic fantasy between Emily and Gabriel last episode is still going strong. Sure, Gabriel isn’t a fan of the over-the-top dessert theatricality and soufflé-related snippiness of his new pastry chef — especially with Luc’s (Bruno Gouery) girlfriend, the Michelin inspector, coming in to check out L’Esprit de Gigi for a third visit — but odds are looking good at that coveted Michelin star.Â
Gabriel reveals how much the industry distinction would mean to him during an after-hours hang at Bouillon Chartier with fellow restaurant staffers, which he invites Emily to. Later, during a romantic stroll along the Seine, Gabriel tells her: “I just want to freeze this moment, standing here with you.” He drops the big L-word and the two are gleamingly happy — for now.Â
Shine it all around
Speaking of happy, Julien (Samuel Arnold) is back! The Agence Grateau gang is officially back together now that Julien parted ways with JVMA and good timing, too, because their latest client is a doozy.Â
Li (Elizabeth Tan) is an old friend of Mindy’s (Ashley Park) who has a new Korean skincare line, Kadiance, that she wants Agence Grateau to sell to the Parisian market. Thinking they can turn the “glass skin” moisturizer into the new La Mer, Emily suggests they have a big sampling event for big-pocketed buyers to try out the product.Â
The only problem is that while at the Kadiance event, Julien shares some distressing news with Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) and the team: Li had previously tried to sell the product on the French version of Shark Tank, but back then she was marketing Kadiance as a KY-style personal lubricant. Yes, the super-shiny moisturizer that all of the customers are excitedly slathering onto their face is straight-up lube. But seeing how popular the product seems to be with customers, Emily and Co. decide to just go with it — and jack up the unit price. It looks like Ms. Cooper is rubbing off on the gang!Â
Dulled Michelin dreams
Things have been so busy with Laurent G’s club that Sylvie didn’t get a chance to celebrate her husband’s birthday. She wants to take him somewhere special for dinner, an impossible-to-get reservation, so she seeks help from Luc and his girlfriend Marianne (Laurence Gormezano). The latter believes doing Sylvie this big favor will open up the door for Luc to ask for a promotion, so they score Sylvie and Laurent G (Arnaud Binard) a table at the swanky L’Ambroisie.Â
However, Sylvie is less than please to find out that not only are Luc and Marianne unexpectedly joining them for the birthday dinner, but also Luc decides to ask for a raise right at the dinner table. Sylvie says her husband’s birthday celebration is hardly the place for such a conversation, so they’ll table it for another time.Â
But Luc’s chances for a salary bump are very much put in jeopardy when it’s mortifyingly revealed mid-meal that Marianne actually no longer is a Michelin inspector and was fired last year for insider dining. Their expensive dinner is no longer comped — Sylvie foots the bill because Luc can’t afford it, “not without a raise” — and it looks like Gabriel’s Michelin chances are kaput.Â
Will the truth come to light?Â
Camille (Camille Razat) and Sofia (Melia Kreiling) have officially moved out of Gabriel’s apartment into the unit next door, but that hasn’t solved all of their relationship problems. Camille wants the second bedroom to be the baby’s nursery; Sofia wants it to be her art studio. While furniture shopping, Camille wants to spend money on a pricey rocking horse; Sofia wants an easel.Â
The mom-to-be doesn’t appreciate Sofia’s attitude towards all things baby, which balloons into a bigger fight. It doesn’t help that Sofia spotted Camille and Gabriel sharing a sweet hug after the latter told his former fiancée to keep the engagement ring he had given her because, with a baby on the way, they were still family.
Soon, Sofia is packing her bags and heading back to Greece — she had initially come to Paris because she was worried about Camille but hadn’t anticipated uprooting her entire life. She offers for Camille and the baby to come to Athens with her, but Camille refuses — she can’t take the baby away from its father.Â
However, at an OBGYN appointment, Camille is told some shocking news: there never was a baby. It was a false positive on the home pregnancy test and her lack of period all this time has been due to stress. Talking to a friend at the café later, she’s clearly a wreck, worried about how this will affect things with Gabriel.Â
At L’Esprit de Gigi that evening, where Gabriel is nursing the bad news of his crushed Michelin chances with plenty of wine — he also immediately sacked that pastry chef and his obnoxious soufflés — the dad-not-to-be drunkenly declares that the lack of star doesn’t matter, he has everything he needs with Emily, Camille and the baby on the way. Camille doesn’t have the heart to tell him, so she doesn’t. But will she? Cliffhanger!
All five episodes of Emily in Paris season 4 part 1 are now available to stream on Netflix.
