Emily in Paris season 2 started precisely where season 1 left off with Emily (Lily Collins) and Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), but season 2’s finale ending with Emily about to confess her feelings to Gabriel showed how that would be a perfect turning point in Emily’s story, no matter who she will end up with in the future. The two were framed as the show’s main couple from the beginning of season 1, before introducing Camille (Camille Razat) as Gabriel’s girlfriend and one of Emily’s friends, as season 1 saw the protagonist unable to bond with her Savoir colleagues. Emily in Paris season 2’s cliffhanger ending resting on her decision to stay in Paris or not, which was also influenced by the possibility of exploring a romantic relationship with Gabriel, makes Emily’s choice to finally listen to her feelings for Gabriel particularly monumental.

Emily in Paris season 2 set up Emily and Gabriel’s relationship as unbalanced, with Gabriel ready to talk about his feelings for Emily and Emily literally running away from him, sometimes even to the French Riviera to avoid any kind of discussion about what happened at the end of season 1. Indeed, Emily’s behavior was influenced by the guilt she felt about hooking up with Gabriel, and maybe even more by the awareness that he stayed in Paris for her while she spent the night with him precisely because he was moving to Normandy. As many of the decisions Emily took in Emily in Paris season 1 were influenced by a lack of accountability or at least the promise of it, season 2 saw Emily’s messes finally catching up to her.

Although Emily’s avoidance of Gabriel might have fooled those who believed she tried to ignore her feelings for him out of respect for Camille, it became clear that she did so because she couldn’t see a future with him, as her stay in Paris had an expiration date. However, the possibility of following Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) at her new marketing firm, causing her to remain permanently in Paris, changed things for her, making Emily run to Gabriel’s flat to confess her feelings, only to find him back in a relationship with Camille. Despite how that ended in Emily in Paris season 2 finale, it proved the perfect switch to Emily’s habitual plan of action, which consisted in avoiding anything that might cause conflict with somebody else.

Emily proved to excel at ignoring what she felt to prioritize somebody else’s feelings, be them friends or clients at work, and run away from conflict anytime she could. She despised conflict so much that she tried to fix things with Camille in any possible way, even if that entailed being unfair to Gabriel, which brought Mindy (Ashley Park) to suggest that, maybe, the only thing she could have done was just leaving things as they were. With their friendship essentially ended, especially after Camille followed her mother’s plan and manipulated Emily into letting Gabriel go, deciding to finally listen to her feelings and sharing them with Gabriel would mean a change of pace for Emily, who always tried to avoid them as she did throughout Emily in Paris season 2.

Although Gabriel and Emily were framed since the beginning as the only possible couple of the show, sometimes bordering dishonesty towards Alfie (Lucien Laviscount), ending up together wouldn’t even matter to the main story. Emily in Paris has shown many times how characters that weren’t Emily were expendable, so it’s clear that her moving forward would be the most important story. Emily finally choosing herself, choosing to be decisive in work matters and her personal life alike, would make her character grow, setting up an interesting foundation for Emily in Paris potential future seasons to build up on.