Madeline
Never Have I Ever kept popping up on my Netflix “to watch” list and I finally caved in. Once I started watching, I was in love. Then I realized why. If Mindy Kaling is involved in a project, any project, it must be amazing. This show proves this.
Premise of Never Have I Ever
From the amazing and talented, Mindy Kaling, Never Have I Ever is the story of Indian American, Devi Vishwakumar, an everyday normal American teen. She is smart and on the fast track to being Valedictorian of her High School class and then, onto an Ivy league school. But that is not what she wants out of her life. She wants a boyfriend. And the ideal boyfriend would be Paxton Hall-Yoshida. Episode 1, Devi not only introduces herself to him but also adds the opportunity to have sex with her. He accepts the invitation, but that is just the start.
I thought the whole story, all episodes, was going to be all leading up to them having sex, finishing with the final event. Not the case. Paxton squashes the idea in episode 2. In my opinion, it was a smart and bold way for these characters to meet. From that point on, they have various reasons to interact.
The little side stories are very entertaining as well. Like how her friends, who are brainiacs just like her, are also looking for love… and sex. Her beautiful cousin who is staying with them who wants to marry for love, not arrangement. Her father who recently died and her mother who is trying to fill his shoes but can’t.
Final Thoughts
Although Never have I Ever is funny and is much about sex and love, the sex and love piece is bounced off of growing up Indian American. Similar to Unorthodox, there is much family and surrounding pressure to continue with the culture she is brought up in. Also like with Unorthodox, this is not the culture she desires to be apart of as it requires old fashioned ways of love, sex, and family. These are two very similar stories but with very different cultures and very different story telling tones.
