'Never Have I Ever': 'Boy-crazy' Devi seems to have a better connection with men than her female friends
In one of her therapy sessions, an exasperated Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) says, "I am a teenage girl, I'm supposed to be boy-crazy!". This is after her therapist is gently trying to get her to address her repressed grief about her father, Mohan's (Sendhil Ramamurthy) death.
Devi's relationship with her mother, Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan), isn't that great — she was definitely the bad cop in the parenting equation, while Mohan played peacemaker. In some ways, this defines the way Devi interacts with the two genders too.
While she does have two female besties, Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez) and Eleanor (Ramona Young), she seems to want to get away from both of them (and their problems) most of the time. The only time she makes an effort, so to speak, is when she is on the verge of losing them altogether.
Devi is the same with her mom as she switches off whenever the latter talks. This might be because her mother nags her all the time. Nalini connects better with Devi's beautiful cousin, Kamala (Richa Shukla) who is more 'Indian' than her first-generation daughter. She definitely gets Kamala more than she gets her own daughter, something Devi realizes and secretly resents.
Her all-female family is also quite traditional — another thing Devi hates and tries to get away from. Her bonding moment with Kamala comes when she catches her making out with her boyfriend in her bedroom — the most un-Indian thing she has ever done.
Mohan, in the flashbacks, seems less traditional and keener to embrace life in America — buying a moped and happy to finally be living in a home close to the 90210 pin. In comparison, Nalini is shown to be crouching in the porch scared of everything in the new country she has moved to — and she is equally scared about what is going to happen to her daughter.
Devi is the same as her father, embracing the "American stuff" over itchy saris and religious festivals. She also keeps fighting to get away from her mother and Kamala. Her difficult female family relationships are also reflected in her relationships with Fabiola and Eleanor. She wants to do fun things like #squadgoals to look cool at school but doesn't really want to hang around to share and bond, which makes her a bad friend. She also uses her mother and girlfriends as support systems — like when she keeps talking to her friends about how to make Paxton (Darren Barnet) her boyfriend or is surprised when her mother isn't there to make her a hot snack.
In comparison, she is really enthused to be around the men in her life. With Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison), even though it is not friendly at the start, the relationship has more passion than the meh equation she has with Fabiola and Eleanor. She puts special effort into hating him at the start and then as she gets to know him better, she bonds with him.
Though she uses Ben to get away from her mom and house after the surprise "move to India" news, she genuinely responds to him when she sees him waiting for her. It is at that moment that she realizes that he is the boy she had wished for in the therapist's office — "A boy who really cares for her."
With Paxton, her enthusiasm is limitless. She chooses him over her female friends and essentially uses her interactions with him to distract herself from the loss of her father. In some ways, Devi's closer relationship with the boys in her life shows that she is filling up the male-shaped hole in her life, emotionally. With the excess of women in her life, it's no surprise, really.
'Never Have I Ever' premiered on April 27 on Netflix.
