Joyeux noël, ami! Ok sure, we're still several months out from the winter holidays but you can't tell creator Darren Star and the Emily in Paris crew that, because when we catch up with Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) and all of her French pals in part two of Emily in Paris season 4, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
"Last Christmas," the part two premiere was jam-packed with ice-skating rinks and insane fur coats, cozy fireplaces and chaotic ski trips; a mix of picturesque and pandemonium that we've come to expect from the romantic comedy series.
Read on as we break down everything that happened in Emily in Paris season 4 episode 6.
Ménage à Megève
After a festive party, the staffers of Agence Grateau are officially off for holiday break, with Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) basically commanding everyone not to call or text her until after the new year. And yes, that means Emily, who rings her boss to thank her for generously upgrading her to business class for her Air France flight home to Chicago.
Alas, her beau Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) won't be joining her to the states since he can't leave the restaurant for that long; instead, he will be keeping up tradition by joining baby mama Camille (Camille Razat) and her family out at their chalet in Megève for oysters, goose and skiing. At least all of the free treats in the very swank business class lounge help sweeten Emily's disappointment. Until all of the flights to Chicago out of Charles de Gaulle Airport get grounded due to bad weather in Illinois, leaving Emily stranded with her very overpacked luggage.
After phoning Gabriel of her bad travel luck, Camille's father Gérard (Christophe Guybet) graciously extends an invite to Emily to join them for the holiday, much to the chagrin of Camille and her scheming mother Louise (Camille Japy), who still wants things to work out between Gabriel and her daughter.
Emily is initially excited about the last-minute setting switch ("I feel like I'm in The Sound of Music!" That was Austria, Em), but things slowly but surely turn into a less-than-jolly Christmas, and not just because the French aren't big fans of her kitschy Christmas sweater collection. Camille's younger bro Timothée (Victor Meutelet) jokingly calls Emily Gabriel's mistress now that he's having a baby with Camille, which does not sit right with her. That uneasiness boils over during an afternoon on the ski mountain, when the more sportily experienced Camille and Gabriel leave her behind on the slopes to flail, fall and fend for herself. Thankfully, Em gets some much-appreciated assistance down the mountain by a hunky Italian tourist named Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini).
That intriguing encounter, however, does nothing to calm Emily's anger. By the time she meets up with Gabriel and Camille at the foot of the slopes, she's raging: "You're always going to choose her, which you should! But I cannot be the person who constantly pulls you away from your family." She tells him it's not going to work between them. "Coming here was a mistake. Or maybe it wasn't," she declares before storming off, leaving Gabriel looking heartbroken and Camille relieved.
The Grateau family grows
Back in Paris, Sylvie is dealing with her own drama — namely, the illegitimate child of her husband Laurent G (Arnaud Binard). Yes, he has a long-lost daughter Geneviève (Thalia Besson) who he didn't know about until she was 17 years old. Now a college grad, Geneviève is coming to Paris with the hopes of working in the fashion industry. She's staying with Laurent and Sylvie on their couch over the holidays while she looks for a job and an apartment, but her messiness has Sylvie scrambling to get Gen her own place sooner rather than later.
When Sylvie hears Geneviève has a job interview with Carine Roitfeld, a former editor-in-chief of French Vogue and an old acquaintance of Sylvie's, she offers to put in a good word. However, her strategy of hyping up Geneviève backfires, with Carine telling Sylvie she should hire her herself. So, to make it up to her new stepdaughter, Sylvie offers Geneviève a position at her agency.
Who to kiss under the mistletoe?
Mindy (Ashley Park) isn't joining Nico and his family in St. Bart's for the holiday, not a surprise given how testy things are between her and the De Léons. Instead, she decides to stay in Paris and have an "orphan Christmas party" with friends — like Julien (Samuel Arnold) and his Barcelona-based situationship Dominique, who is visiting for the holidays — and her bandmates Étienne (Jin Xuan Mao) and Benoît (Kevin Dias).
While Julien likes having Dominique around as a "stocking stuffer" (ahem), he's worried the Spaniard is moving too fast, with plans to move to Paris full-time and give things a shot as a real couple. "He's been here one day and he already wants to play house. He asked me to go to mass!" Julien gripes to Mindy.
Mindy also seems romantically confused. Though she told Emily earlier in the episode those sparks between her and Benoît when they performed together in part 1 was simply a performance strategy ("We were giving the audience a taste of what they wanted while also leaving them wanting more"), it's clear there's still something between the exes, as they swooningly perform a duet of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" at the party.
All I want for Christmas is... anybody?
Emily has returned to Paris, looking very dejected as she hauls that overpacked suitcase across the cobblestones. She perks up a bit when she surprisingly runs into a familiar face: Alfie (Lucien Laviscount), who Emily in Paris fans haven't seen since that masquerade party back in episode 3.
Em spills about the break-up with Gabriel and he fills her in on what's been going on with him, which apparently includes a pretty serious new girlfriend. He turns down her offer to join her at Mindy's holiday party, saying he's meeting said girlfriend and her family for Christmas mass. She says she's really happy for him but after he leaves Emily devolves into sobs, mourning not only her split from Gabriel but from Alfie, too. Of course, the weather gods then take the opportunity to make it snow. A messy Christmas, indeed!
All episodes of Emily in Paris season 4 are now available to stream on Netflix.
