Lucien Laviscount and Lily Collins in “Emily in Paris” 2020. IMDb photo

When we first met Emily, she was a Chicago marketing executive who was sent to join the French luxury firm Savoir in Paris, run by Sylvie (played by the perpetually glamorous Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu). She hit the streets of Paris running.

SERIES INFO

Comedy, Drama, Romance

A young American woman from the Midwest is hired by a marketing firm in Paris to provide them with an American perspective on things.

Rating: Moderate sex and nudity, mild profanity, alcohol, drugs and smoking.
Creator: Darren Star
Stars: Lily Collins, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Ashley Park
Network: Netflix

When the show opened in October 2020, it became an overnight hit, and has since been blessed with two, count em’ two, more seasons.

Emily (Lily Collins) is as show runner Darren Star seems to imagine her, a reincarnation of two Leslie Caron characters.

It turned out that this Leslie was a smarty pants from America and is more like Faye Dunaway in 1976’s “Network,” with a wilder, more up-to-date wardrobe.

I wasn’t crazy about Emily or any of the characters in her new Paris office, except for the mesmerizing Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, one of Frances’ greatest stars, as her boss Sylvie.

At any rate, I continued to watch at my family’s nudging, and came to give Emily more chances to touch my Netflix heart. As the series moved into the second season, that all changed.

Maybe it was the writing, maybe just me, a reviewer tired of a growing pile of lesser shows.

I think we were all delighted to see the comedy duo of Julien (Samuel Arnold) and the tall, spindly Luc (Bruno Gouery).

And most definitely Jean-Christophe Bouvet as the impossibly manic master designer Pierre Cadault. These three characters made it all work for me.

In the second season, now streaming on Netflix, Emily and her co-stars all took on more nuance, got better lines and a couple of additions added sparkle to the glittery neighborhood.

At the end of season one, we learned that rich girl Mindy (Ashley Park) gets a job singing in a Parisian drag bar. Fun.

Hot boy from the hot kitchen, Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), the most level headed of the suitors, decides to leave Paris and move to the lower heat of Normandy? Wait. As you’ve seen for yourself, all is not lost.

Emily’s boss Sylvie, caught in her own romantic web, softens, and an entire box of new characters emerges.

Here comes out of nowhere Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) Laviscount, a British transplant and potential new love interest for Emily. Alfie adds more pepper to the pot. But will he be around long?

Some viewers tell us that they’re moving back through season 2, still streaming on Netflix, to re-watch and enjoy this cast grow.

OK. I’m hooked, pulled in and waiting for seasons 3 and 4.

“Emily in Paris,” seasons one and two currently streaming on Netflix.

J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.