Critic Reviews

It is exactly what it is, harmless escapism, and on its own terms it is enormously successful. We wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s subversive, but Emily in Paris is definitely in on the joke. It winks at the audience. We know this is all ridiculous, it says, but don’t worry about it. Just keep watching.

Emily in Paris is a treat, a beguiling work of Netflix escapism. ... It is a Darren Star show, which means it’s fun and stylish and only partly steeped in reality. It is unabashedly on the side of its plucky heroine, played by Lily Collins, who dresses like Carrie Bradshaw and is self-involved like Carrie Bradshaw and is also charming, so you will root for her regardless of her flaws, like … Carrie Bradshaw.

As created by Darren Star (the mastermind of lush fantasies including “Younger” and, yes, “Sex and the City”), this series is a delight that poses the question of what it really means to grow up, against a truly inviting backdrop.

Despite my mean-girl enmity toward the protagonist, Emily in Paris is strikingly watchable, an escapist confection brimming with easily digestible plots, costumes and characters. Turn off your brain and crank up Candy Crush.

I gobbled up the 10 episodes of the fluffy Netflix show, available on Friday. If nothing else, it’s an escape from, you know, everything, as well as a ravishing tour of the City of Light. It’s travel porn, with a plot. ... [Emily's boss] Sylvie is beautifully played by Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who steals the show with her hauteur. There are many, many scenes of Sylvie sighing with disgust over Emily, bemoaning the younger woman’s lack of subtlety. I savored each one.

Emily in Paris is a confection, a series so charming and fanciful that it becomes impervious to snobbery and cynicism. Star has served je ne sais quoi in a glittery package, a tray of macarons arranged neatly in a Ladurée display window, each episode providing a morsel of airy delight.

Meatier Season 2 delves into Emily’s personal growth. Her emotional progression is gradual and almost imperceptible until the last two episodes of the season, when you suddenly realize yes, she might still be grating to the last, but she’s no longer the wide-eyed naïf she was when she stepped out of that cab in the fifth arrondissement. ... As was with the first season, the most valuable people on screen are Emily’s coworkers.

In its second season, “Emily in Paris” serves up more of the same, and more of something TV can do well: Charming, watchable, low-friction entertainment in a setting that’s fun to look at. It’s not the best of anything. But it’s good TV.

With a few small exceptions, Emily in Paris Season 2 is basically just more of the same, and who could ask for anything more? ... Emily in Paris remains an undeniably watchable delight, short on substance but long on satisfaction.

Unproblematic, stupid, and fun. ... Nothing makes sense. And thank goodness.