RABBIA MOLAI
managing editor
rabbia.molai@my.tccd.edu

Netflix released season three of its hit series “Never Have I Ever” on Aug. 12th,  this latest addition to the series definitely had some interesting twists and turns.

For the past two seasons, we’ve watched Devi and her friends try and navigate the world of grief, drama and dating. Up until season two, Devi’s character development consisted of cheating on her boyfriend, breaking up and somehow getting back together all within the span of four episodes. 

The beginning of season three looked to be the same as the other two, however, this season had some interesting surprises. For one, Devi seemed to finally be picking up life lessons and making fewer of the same mistakes. Within the first couple of episodes, we saw her get more comfortable with her decisions. Even as she faced the pain of her breakup with Paxton, she worked through her feelings rather than resorting directly to rage as she’d done in the past.

One particular aspect of Devi’s character development was her surge in empathy towards her friends. In the past, she had a tendency to forget about Eleanor and Fabiola’s feelings and only consider her own, but now she seemed to genuinely care about their lives and wanted them to be happy even if she necessarily wasn’t.

One of the biggest new additions to the show was the entrance of an Indian male romantic lead in the form of Des. Although their first meeting was unbearably awkward the relationship between Devi and Des was actually quite refreshing to see in the show. Des seemed to really feel like an equal to Devi, he was able to understand the difficulties she was facing in her life as well as match her intellectual energy. 

Although Devi’s past prospects had their pros, they always seemed to lack somewhere for her. In her own words “Ben gets my super-brainy side, Paxton gets my mega-horny side.” It seemed like Des managed to check all the boxes for our brainy and hormonal lead character. Although the Des and Devi breakup was really unfortunate it did show the comfort that Devi had in herself, as well as the love and strength she gained with her mom.

Speaking of her mom, Nalini’s new friendship with Rhyah, though rocky, was a nice start to gaining an insight into her personal life. Along with the new additions, the continuation of flashbacks with Devi’s dad Mohan was a nice touch and gave a lot of context as to why Nalini had many of her rules in place for Devi.

This season also gave us more understanding into the lives of Devi’s friend group as well. Eleanor and Trent’s relationship was an unexpected yet adorable addition as they seemed to balance each other out well. On the other hand, Fabiola and Aneesa getting together for an episode seemed pretty unnecessary and was kind of overkill. 

If you’re looking for a light-hearted feel-good show, season three of “Never Have I Ever” is definitely worth a watch. The show has a decently well-balanced outlook on the new-age South Asian American experience and seems to be going in an interesting direction.