Author: Ahana Walanju
I must confess, the article may not be as harsh as the title appears. With its fourth (and final) season premiered on Netflix, ‘Never Have I Ever’ has successfully managed to encapsulate the complicated emotions of almost every teenager through an overtly dramatic series. The Netflixian description (did I just coin a term) outlines the American comedy as follows: “After a traumatic year, an Indian-American teen just wants to spruce up her social status — but friends, family and feelings won’t make it easy on her.” Apriori (owing this newly understood term to my economics professor!) the show does portray an Indian-origin teenager’s woes and sensual fantasies warped in an American context. In the first episode, Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) appears to be relatable to almost every Indian girl, praying to a widespread array of gods on her first day of high school (or is it just me?). The seemingly innocent and friendly conversations with the God idols struck home. Devi’s mother, Dr. Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan), holds a special place in my heart (you’ll understand later). And finally, cue Kamala (Richa Moorjani): Devi’s beautiful cousin, but quoted by her, “I’m not that beautiful”. Excuse me, what?
The protagonist’s best friends, namely Fabiola and Eleanor, are her die-hard companions, making her rollercoaster of a school journey, worth experiencing. Throughout the course of the series, Devi befriends a few fellow batchmates, but those relationships eventually turn sour. Moving on to her love interests… Paxton Yoshida, Ben Gross, Des, Ethan and Ben Gross again! For a misfit in high school, she sure does have a lot of love interests.
Never Have I Ever did get a lot of things right. An attempt at staging diversity was the biggest redeeming quality of the show. A present-day production focusing on the life of an Indian-American teenager is quite a spin on traditional young adult fiction. The unabashed portrayal of Devi’s sexual reveries and (spoiler alert!), sex scene with Ben challenges the South Asian understanding and representation of desire in multimedia. Finally, the unexpected death of Devi’s father is followed by a strange response in her behaviour. Such inconsistent patterns are revealed throughout the series. Here, I must appreciate the show’s attempt to recognize that grief is not consistent. Although Devi’s dealing with her father’s death was not constructive, the show does shift our skewed perception of handling grief. ‘Never Have I Ever’ recognizes that suffering and anguish is not linear, and can manifest in various forms.
The show, however, brings instances and scenes that greatly irk me. As the show progressed, I found myself relating less to Devi’s character. From the very first scene, till the last scene of the entire series, I recognized a shift in Devi’s dramatis personae.
The sudden (and unrealistic) cure of Devi’s paralysis, her toxic behaviour, and her self-centric tendencies rubbed me up the wrong way. Having feelings of sympathy for her in the beginning of the show, eventually spiralled into an excuse for her demeaning and selfish conduct. At the onset of the show, Devi may come across as being slightly racist herself! Being the only Indian-origin student in her school may have led her to lambast her culture, rather than embrace it. The messy, and slightly confusing representation of Devi’s affiliation to her culture seemed to display a skewed understanding of how Indian people actually behave. Another instance from the show that really affected me was Devi’s unfettered antics accusing Aneesa of having an Eating Disorder. In order to atone for her faults, Devi was suspended and later, embarrassed Aneesa while apologising to her. I strongly reckon that such a sensitive issue could have been addressed using a better and more refined approach. Finally, let us not forget Devi’s failed attempt at dating Paxton and Ben at the same time.
In a nutshell, Devi’s character poses severe matters in question. Albeit an exaggerated attempt to normalise ‘bad’ behaviour among otherwise ‘flawless’ South Asian children, the series is best appreciated when confined to the space of a fictitious rom-com. The way I see it, Dr. Nalini was the most accurately portrayed character from the show. A spirited combination of an Indian mother, dealing with her Indian-American teenage daughter (during her ‘rebellious’ phase, in an attempt to overcome her trauma); and an independent South Asian woman in Western society, is an inspiring merit to her persona. All in all, ‘Never Have I Ever’ is an avante-garde take on South Asian representation in Western media. The whimsical portrayal of Devi Vishwakumar and her shenanigans, accompanied by an excellent academic record (which takes an interesting turn in the final season) entices the audience to keep watching till the end. Before I sign off, I’d like to quote Devi, “I’m chill as a slurpee, bro”… or at least I think I am?
