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| PopSugar |
Never Have I Ever (Netflix)-From Mindy Kaling (and some
other non-Mindy Kaling entity) comes a teen show that’s, for lack of a better
word, all that and a bag of chips. The protagonist Devi is an Indian-American
and teams up with two other minority students (Fabiola and Eleanor) to form a
trio of inseparable friends. But that’s not all they’re defined by and the show
doesn’t suggest that this is about whites verse other. The token dream guy is
Asian as well. Eleanor, who is East Asian, is also defined by a having a
deadbeat mother which bucks the trend of that ethnicity.
The world of this high school is also one that exists
without overt bullying. Some people are
less cool than others, sure, but this is a far cry from the slushie-in-the-face
trope of Glee (as far as we’re shown; there could be a serious battle royale in
the back for all we know. It’s kind of refreshing to see a world where
teenagers aren’t actively trying to make the nerds miserable. It’s also
possibly a more accurate depiction of high schools in 2020 as anti-bullying
campaigns have gone into effect.
The show won me over many times over by zigging where I
expected it to zag. Devi resolves to break out of her sheltered Indian-American
constraints and get a boyfriend and by the end of the very first episode, the
hottest guy in the school agrees to have sex with her. It seems like the show
has jumped the shark in the first 30 minutes but fortunately things don’t work
out that easily.
Pretty much nothing in Devi’s life is predictable along the
lines of a teen show. The biggest jerk in her social orbit suddenly becomes
legitimately friendly and even falls for her while her two best friends turn on
her for being a bad friend. But are they in the right? Is Devi a bad daughter
or someone restrained by impossible cultural norms? The answers aren’t easy and
the show isn’t the most hilarious on TV but it’s brilliant and emotional
without being melodramatic or heavy.
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