Never Have I Ever: Overview, Synopsis, Review

I love watching shows, especially on Netflix. Movies, sitcoms, documentaries, web series, TV series, you just name it! Now, TV series, something I have been really into recently (well since I am writing this during lockdown…Duh!), and that too teen dramas.

It has been a little over 2 weeks since I stumbled across a series from this very genre, called– ‘Never Have I Ever’, and quite frankly, I do not have the competence of finishing an entire season in a week, or even overnight! I am the finish-one-season-in-a-fortnight kinda person, but My, Oh My, did I totally surprise myself here!

Not sure what to watch next? Click here

Overview

For an overview, Never Have I Ever is a teen-romance Netflix show about an Indian teenager struggling through grief, high school and her severely damaged social status.

I won’t delve much into the statistics rather I am here to share my review on the show, but will surely go around the storyline.

With the opening of the first episode, we are introduced to Devi Vishwakumar (played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), who belongs to a Tamil (Brahmin) Indian family from Sherman Oaks, California, kneeling before Gods in praying in her household shrine, for popularity, fame and a boyfriend which are essentially the basic checks to thrive in an American High School.

Synopsis

American high school stories are funny.

Well, I am an Indian and when I was in school my schedule was thoroughly planned out as, going to school at 7 in the morning, coming back at noon, supper with family, afternoon nap, after-school tuitions (I didn’t have any, but mostly do), playing with peeps in the evening, do homework and study, and go to sleep for the next day.

But in America, kids our age are wearing casuals at school (envy!), going out on parties, staying out till midnight, drinking, driving, making-out in school and even doing drugs and having sex. Phew!

But Never Have I Ever alongside showing young adults living the American Dream, focuses majorly on Devi, who is an NRI, showcasing the ‘Indianness’ every family hailing from India has, for however many years they have been staying abroad.

Devi lives with her mother, Dr. Nalini Vishwakumar (played by Poorna Jagannathan), a successful dermatologist and her older cousin Kamala (Richa Moorjani nee Shukla) a PhD students from CalTech, whom Devi likes but envies due to her model-like looks and much needed ‘Indian’ demeanor her mom so likes.

Devi’s social status has always been that of a geeky-nerd and a goody straight-A student, who is also a part of the school’s music choir (she plays a harp), typical isn’t it?

After her father (Mohan Vishwakumar, played by Sendhil Ramamurthy) suddenly dies of heart attack, which struck him amidst Devi’s high-school recital while she was on stage. The heart of the series lies on the relationship Devi shared with her father, who according to her was the only person who truly loved her. His sudden demise also resulted in Devi’s leg-paralysis which lasted a couple of months, and the only person who could bring her out of this was her all-time crush, and also the heartthrob of Sherman Oaks High, Paxton Hall-Yoshida (played by Darren Barnet), who is an ‘aloof jock’, as the actor himself describes the character, and is in the swimming team. Not to mention the fact that he is of American-Japanese descent and speaks both the languages fluently (what could be hotter, yikes!).

Devi is now seen as the poor Indian girl who lost her father, and it’s clear that she doesn’t like this sympathy. So she makes it her mission to be one of the coolest people in her High-School before graduation, along with the two best friends, Fabiola Torres (Lee Rodriguez) and Eleanor Wong (Ramona Young). She already is in the music choir (which she struggles playing in anymore since her father’s death) and one of the top students in academics, who wishes to attend Princeton University as her alma-mater and the other topper is an excessively rich kid (with parents who are not around much) and Devi’s arch-nemesis, Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison). Devi and Ben are in constant battle to be good at everything the other isn’t (they even have truce as in who is allowed to participate in which extra-curricular) only to develop a friendship by the end and also Devi moving into Ben’s place after an ugly fight with her mom.

Devi’s story includes her dealing with the trauma of her father’s sudden death, which she exhibits to be perfectly fine with and hence never wants to talk about it even to her therapist (Niecy Nash). This leads her to commit numerous not-a-good-girl activities and ordeals like, wanting to hook-up with the high-school hottie (well, I don’t blame her for that!), sneaking out of her house (by blackmailing her cousin of her boyfriend), drinking at parties, getting bit by a coyote (as she thought it’s her dad) and a break-up with her childhood besties by not being there for them in need, all in pursuit of popularity.

Throughout the series we see Devi imagining her father and her dad guiding her through her misery.

The show targets quite a number of stigmas attached to an Indian lifestyle, like having a boyfriend and not marrying the guy your family chose for you. We see Kamala struggling to be with her boyfriend, Steve (Eddie Liu) but casually dumps him when she sees the guy her family is forcing her to marry is not that bad after all (smh). Well this also stems from her encounter with a lady at Ganesh Puja, who is boycotted by the whole Indian Community in Sherman Oaks as she married her Muslim boyfriend, in which Kamala is advised by the lady to marry whoever her family has chosen for her since that lady got a divorce and regrets her decision to go against her family.

As the season approaches the end, we see Devi arguing a lot with her mom for constantly trying to discipline her and says quite a few hurtful word to her mother when Nalini breaks the news of them moving to India permanently. She later on moves with Ben and doesn’t want to go with her mom to disperse her father’s ashes. Alongside we also see Paxton slowly developing feelings for Devi majorly because she is the only one who is amiable to his sister, who is a patient of and a good designer.

Amidst this dispute, Ben calls for Fabiola and Eleanor who have boycotted Devi, to come and talk some sense into her, which they do and Devi is reunited with her peers. Yay! They in turn convince her to go and bid a final goodbye to her father. Since her mom and cousin has already set course towards Malibu beach, Ben takes her there in time.

As she arrives Malibu, she is trying to get her mom to wait for her, who is unable to hear Devi and there she is aided by John McEnroe, tennis great, her father’s idol and the narrator of the story.

Now this is where it gets emotional (alert! You Will Cry) …

She goes down to meet her mother and cousin, with tears of regret in her eyes. She apologizes to her mom for saying those hurtful things, and together they disperse Mohan’s ashes in the ocean, in his favorite spot and with his favorite song, Beautiful Day by Irish Rockers, in the background, reminiscing him on his birthday.

After the ceremony and a lot of tears (literally!), they head back towards their car and Devi promises to return home. She sees Ben still waiting there for her and is overwhelmed by the amount of respect and care someone she never thought would, is providing her. The series ends with a dilemma for Devi (which will strike her in the next season), to choose between Paxton, whom she has loved all these years and is finally coming around and Ben, her nemesis whom she has despised all her life and who actually cares for her.

PS: Paxton is calling her to “hang-out”!

Conclusion: Do I recommend this for a watch?

Of course, I do! How many shows do you usually come across that portrays a modern outlook without side-lining the conventional perspective? This show deserves to be on top-charts, and from the responses got so far, it surely ain’t far away from making the hits. What responses you say? Read ahead.

What the audience have to say about Never Have I Ever?

‘The greatness of the coming-of-age rom-com is its ability to show us how realistic people, even nerdy ones, might better understand and connect to one another if they weren’t so awkward and scared all the time’ — The New Yorker

‘Never Have I Ever made me happier than I’ve been in weeks. In every way, it was an unexpected and fully welcome treat, a TV show I didn’t realize I badly needed until I’d finished it and instantly wishes for more’ — New York Vulture

So, what did you decide? Is it worth your watch? Let me know in the comments below how you liked it! Or not…well I would love to know!