'Never Have I Ever' Ending Explained: Devi, Ben, and Paxton's love triangle leaves the door open for Season 2
Spoilers for 'Never Have I Ever' Episode 10 - '... said I'm sorry'
At the start of 'Never Have I Ever' Episode 10, Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) is done with her mom, Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan), and the whole India schtick. She has moved out of her home into Ben's (Jaren Lewison) house after she accidentally comes to know that her mom has decided to move them both to India.
She asks Ben's dad if she could be "emancipated" so she doesn't have to move. She also says, "I don't negotiate with terrorists" when her mother comes to talk to her about coming with her and her cousin, Kamala (Richa Shukla), to spread her dad's ashes on his birthday.
Devi thinks it is a ploy to get her back home so that her mother can then convince her to come to India. When Devi realizes she wants to be there for the special moment with her family no matter what, Ben drives her to the beach. She is able to reconcile with her mom and spread the ashes in the sea with her.
But what is left unresolved is the big India move. It is still happening for now because we see Nalini putting up the house for sale and there is no way she is leaving Devi in the US. In fact, the reason she wants to leave her lucrative practice and yank Devi out of school is that she wants to have the familial support system to bring her up.
Devi has been sneaking off to parties, getting drunk, and kissing boys — fairly regular things for an American teen. But for Nalini, who is pretty traditional, these are signs that Devi is going off the rails and needs a more disciplined life.
Could Season 2 see Devi in India dealing with a country and culture she has no idea about? That could yield some pretty funny and interesting culture clash scenarios, especially since Devi is allergic to most things Indian in her life, and sees herself as an American as many second-generation children do.
The other big loose end is the new love triangle between Devi, Paxton (Darren Barnet), and Ben. After his sister calls him a douche for rejecting Devi for being "smarter than him", Paxton goes around to call on Devi. He is finally ready to take Devi more seriously and take things further than the one kiss he gave her when he drove her back from Ben's party. Little does he know that right at that moment, Devi is kissing Ben, her former nemesis-turned-buddy-turned-love interest.
Devi, after her emotional release of spreading her dad's ashes in the sea, finds Ben drooling cutely in his car, having fallen asleep waiting for her. At that moment, she suddenly realizes that Ben is the one who is always around her and has been with her during a time when she has pushed away everyone else in her life, from her mother to her two best friends, Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez) and Eleanor (Ramona Young). This is the same time when Paxton, who is good at being the nice guy from a distance, has essentially been ignoring her.
But Paxton has always been the one to get Devi up and running (literally) and once she finds out that Paxton is interested in her — not for a one-time hookup or kiss, but as a girlfriend — will she go right back to him or will her love life involve juggling Ben and Paxton, while trying to cover her two-timing tracks? There will the additional tension of her mother preferring smart Ben to Paxton, who she has called stupid to his face.
After setting up the love triangle, the show leaves this angle unresolved as well. Again, this makes great material or Season 2 if Nalini decides to stay in India and give this single parenting thing another shot.
'Never Have I Ever' premiered on April 27 on Netflix.
