Welcome back everyone! Today we are reviewing Season 4 of Never Have I Ever! We have a lot to cover, so let’s get started!
*DISCLAIMER*
This post contains spoilers! If you haven’t watched the new season yet, come back after you’re done watching!
South Indian Representation
Overall, this season has shown character growth for Devi and how she has come to terms with her Indian culture. One main example is the dance performance that Devi and Kamala do at Pati’s wedding to the song “Saami Saami.” This performance shows her growth between the Ganesh Pooja episode in Season 1 and now. She used to be ashamed of her culture and 4 seasons later, she embraces it and shows her appreciation for it. Although the show has done a good job of showing the subtle details of Indian culture in the past, we felt as though they could’ve stepped it up a little bit more for the final season. For example, the song Saami Saami is originally a Telugu song but was used in the Tamil version on the show. It makes sense that the Tamil version was used considering Devi and her family are from Tamil Nadu, however, why not pick an original Tamil song to use for this scene instead? We were looking for details that were specific to South India rather than just general Indian culture. This is so that people are more aware of all of the different traditions that go on in India rather than the typical North Indian traditions that get portrayed in the media. In the past they have shown Devi eating traditional South Indian food like idli and sambar rather than naan and butter chicken, so something along these lines of detail would have been nice to see.
Nalini
One of our Season 4 hopes from our Season 3 review was that Nalini found her happy ending and it is so exciting to be writing this post knowing that she did! Nalini has gone through a lot over the past four seasons so to see her happy and Devi supporting her new endeavors is heartwarming. We really like how they showed Nalini's growth of accepting that she too deserves to be happy over the season and just because she liked Andres and his company doesn’t mean that she is betraying Mohan in any way. During episode five, Nalini gets some alone time and the house to herself and this moment makes her realize that the silence she was looking forward to is actually very deafening. The most symbolic moment of the whole season was during episode ten when Nalini takes her thaali off.
She will always have love for Mohan, but she found new happiness with Andres and knows that Mohan would want her to be happy too.
Pati & Kamala
This season, Pati took us for an unexpected ride; out of all characters, we weren’t expecting her to have a love story. Within the South Asian Community, remarriage after being divorced or widowed is considered a taboo. However, we love that there was more awareness brought to this situation and that NHIE broke that stereotype. Additionally, it’s pretty uncommon that we see elders getting remarried, especially in South Asian Cultures. But NHIE really spoke to audiences and emphasized the fact that you don't have to stop looking for love after a certain age.
Everyone deserves to be loved, regardless of what phase of life they’re in.
The fact that Pati went for a white man: definitely unrealistic. I mean, could you imagine your widowed grandmother, who probably doesn’t understand American culture, dating some random man she met down the street? Not likely, but also not impossible. Either way, Pati’s new relationship did bring more culture to the show and truly strengthened the Vishwakumar family bond.
Other than Kamala sneaking up on Len to make sure he wasn’t cheating on Pati, there wasn’t much about her character this season. We admired her for leaving home to accept a once in a lifetime opportunity; leaving home in South Asian families isn’t easy because family life is so important. We wished that there could’ve been more happening with Manish or maybe some setbacks that Kamala could’ve faced. Kamala is such a complex character with so much potential; we wished that more of that could’ve been explored this season.
Devi
Let’s first discuss the character development of Devi from Season 1 to Season 4. Devi has always been very rash with her decisions and unfortunately, we didn’t see growth in that area. Maybe when all of us started high school, we were pretty indecisive and probably made bad decisions. But, as we grew older, we started learning from our mistakes and thinking before we say/do anything important. Devi, during her senior year, was still making very childish mistakes, and honestly, wasn’t being reprimanded well enough for them.
Going back to Season 1, Devi thought the whole concept of the Ganesh Pooja was lame, and thought that it was embarrassing that girls were dancing. But, Pati’s wedding was a full circle moment when Devi and Kamala decided to perform an Indian song. S1 Devi would’ve definitely been shocked.
We were so happy that Devi pushed her mom to start dating Andres. She realized that her mom’s happiness is super important, and came to terms with her mother moving on. It was very caring that she was willing to make up with her enemy so that her mom could spend time with Andres. Devi definitely knew that her dad would approve of this new man, and that he would want Nalini to be happy.
In earlier seasons, Devi tried sabotaging Nalini’s date with Dr. Jackson and honestly, it’s valid. It sure wasn’t easy seeing her mom move on so fast.
We understood that Megan Suri was shooting another production while NHIE was going on, but it’s really disappointing that the show didn’t dive into a friendship between Devi and Aneesa. Not even regarding this season, but starting from earlier seasons, there was potential to create a beautiful friendship between the two South Asian girls on this show.
A lot of our childhood wouldn’t have been the same without our South Asian friends, and they’re a great outlet to have because they understand our family dynamic.
We get that Devi is best friends with Fabiola and Eleanor, but we believe we could’ve seen much more growth in Devi if her friendship with Aneesa was experimented.
And finally with Devi and her college applications: let’s just say that us two have a lot to say about this.
First of all, we didn’t like that Devi made it out that Princeton was her school; honestly, it was really manipulative. Fabiola was genuinely afraid of her due to this, and Devi wasn’t a good friend in this situation. Yes, she eventually apologized, but this situation could’ve been completely avoided if Devi used more emotional intelligence.
Second, it wasn’t smart of Devi at all to not apply to a single reach or safety school. It perpetuates a lot of negative stereotypes on the South Asian Community that Devi only applied to Ivy League schools. It comes across as no school is as good as Ivy Leagues, when in fact there are hundreds of amazing schools all over the country. This concept was extremely upsetting to watch; Devi could’ve at least applied to safety or reach schools, but still got denied from the Ivies. To be honest, it was nice to see Devi getting rejected from all these top schools because though she is extremely smart, it proves that college is truly like a lottery.
On top of everything, she lied about getting into all of these schools and when Nalini finds out and is righteously upset about it, Devi tells her mother she’s sorry that she came to America for no reason. Nalini has every right to be upset at her daughter for lying about something so big and not applying to any other school. It wasn’t fair of Devi to say that, and she acted like it wasn’t her fault.
And finally, good for Devi for getting off of the Princeton waitlist, but it would’ve been nice if she didn’t. It would’ve been a great learning experience for her because life doesn’t always align with the plans we have. She could’ve taken a non-traditional route to college and learned from her mistakes. However, as this show has done in the past, it will always manage to reinforce stereotypes, so of course Devi got accepted.
Things we hope are happening in the NHIE Universe
Though this was the last season of NHIE, here are some things we hope are happening in the NHIE Universe. If the show had gone on, we would’ve loved to see these things occur.
Kamala and Manish’s wedding
Nalini and Andres’ wedding
The return of Des and how that complicates Devi’s relationship with Ben
Devi struggling in college and not being a perfect A student
Devi finding South Asian friends at college and discovering a new side of herself
Devi figuring out how to balance her South Asian friend group at college and her friends back home
Devi on her last therapy session
Kamala becoming a practicing doctor and struggles she deals with on the job
Nalini finding another South Asian woman to befriend, who has gone through the same things as her in life
A special appearance of Mindy Kaling!
Last but not least are you team Ethan or team Ben?
We are team Ben, but be sure to go vote on the poll on our Instagram story to see what team the rest of our viewers are on too!
Thank you so much for reading our season 4 review! If there happens to be a spin off of this show, keep an eye out for a review! We are always looking for South Asian American TV Shows and Movies to do reviews on, so our DMs are always open to recommendations!