WARNING: Spoilers for Emily in Paris season 2!
In season 2, Emily in Paris makes Madeline Wheeler’s French-speaking skills a joke, which creates a strange plot hole in the Netflix series. Emily in Paris season 2 brings back Madeline Wheeler (Kate Walsh) for an expanded role. A high-powered marketing executive at Gilbert Group, Wheeler was originally supposed to head to Paris in season 1 to spend time at Savoir, a new Gilbert Group acquisition. However, Wheeler learns she’s pregnant, and Emily (Lily Collins) goes in her place instead. While season 1 sidelined Walsh, one of the most recognizable actors in the series, season 2 fixes Madeline Wheeler, allowing her to stir up some trouble on the show. In the second season, Madeline heads to Paris, and her corporate mindset clashes with the laissez-faire style of Savoir Chief Marketing Officer Sylvie Grateau (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu).
Lily Collins’ Emily Cooper faces a love triangle at the end of Emily in Paris season 1. Though the show’s protagonist finally had a romantic rendezvous with Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), she already agreed to travel to St-Tropez with Mathieu (Charles Martins). Making the situation more complex, Emily’s friend Camille (Camille Razat) got out of a serious relationship with Gabriel. Trailers for season 2 continued to tease the upcoming conflicts, with marketing focusing on the relationships between Emily, Gabriel, and Camille.
Season 2 creates a Madeline Wheeler plot hole with her French-speaking skills. Madeline becomes a more significant part of the story in the second season when she clashes with Savoir and Sylvie. The Savoir executive disagrees with Madeline’s work sensibilities and can’t stand her subpar French-speaking abilities. Madeline’s bad French is often a joke in season 2, but season 1 showed that she has a Master’s in French and always dreamed of moving to Paris. Thus, Madeline’s terrible French accent doesn’t work with her backstory from Emily in Paris season 1.
![Emily In Paris Season 2’s French Gags Create A Glaring Plot Hole](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/emily-in-paris-season-2-kate-walsh-madeline.jpg)
Madeline’s bad French accent is an odd season 2 plot hole. The entire series revolves around the idea that Emily winds up in Paris by accident and is a fish out of water. However, Madeline wasn’t supposed to be. She’s supposed to know the language thoroughly, which is demonstrated by Sylvie speaking French immediately to Emily in season 1, thinking she’s Madeline. Yet, season 2 shows Madeline is more inept in France than Emily. Her bad French is a constant pain point for others. Pierre Cadault (Jean-Christophe Bouvet) even calls out Madeline for her accent when he fires Savoir in the season 2 finale. Though the series plays Madeline’s bad French for laughs, the jokes undermine the character’s season 1 history.
The bad French is another self-inflicted problem for Emily in Paris season 2. In addition to Madeline’s foreign language skills, the season 2 finale repeats the same issues of the season 1 finale, leaving Emily in another complicated love triangle. The story choice appears to make the events of season 2 less critical. After all, why does season 2 matter if Emily wound up in the same situation she’s in at the end of season 1? Unfortunately, by giving Madeline Wheeler a bad French accent, Emily in Paris seems to make the events of season 1 less important as well. While it’s possible Madeline could slack off on her French after obtaining her master’s, that doesn’t seem likely since France is her dream. As the French might say, Madeline’s bad accent is a faux pas.