‘Never Have I Ever’ review: Mindy Kaling’s show grows up with Season 3

Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher’s teen rom-com Never Have I Ever is back for Season 3, and this time, the Netflix show begins triumphantly: after two seasons of heartbreak and romantic mishaps, Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) is finally with the (one of the) boy(s) of her dreams.

Following the show’s sophomore season, where a lot goes down, our messy, lovable heroine has ended up with Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet), entering a real, notably public relationship with the boy she’s obsessed over since grade-school. For anyone who knows the show’s penchant for romantic plot twists and questionable life choices, we never quite know how this is going to turn out. In Seasons 1 and 2, the show made a priority of exploring Devi’s unprocessed grief following her father’s death, however, this season is far more centered around love. This is true not just for our protagonist, but for the rest of the cast, too. Season 3 begins where its predecessor ended: Aneesa Qureshi (Megan Suri) and Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison) are coupled up, and Fabiola Torres (Lee Rodriguez) and Eve Hjelm (Christina Kartchner) are still going strong. What ensues, however, is an extreme focus on romance through an almost dizzying rollercoaster of relationships.

One of the newer romances for Never Have I Ever means more screen-time for Trent Harrison (Benjamin Norris), as he starts dating Eleanor Wong (Ramona Young). It’s fun to see stock characters like Trent develop their narratives beyond classroom-winning one-liners. But the sheer number of relationships examined in Season 3 means some, like Trent and Eleanor, are given less brevity and depth. With so much happening at once, plotlines are often discarded too quickly, before getting to the meatier bits. We get just enough of each secondary character to root for them one way or the other, recognizing who each person may truly be better paired with, but the potential to really draw out these potential pivots gets missed while we’re keeping up.

Still, Never Have I Ever grows in other ways this season. The idea of “being Indian” is explored in a nuanced storyline with cousin Kamala Nandiwadal (Richa Moorjani) and Manish Kulkarni (Utkarsh Ambudkar) and their budding relationship. Kamala and Devi’s grandmother Nirmala (Ranjita Chakravarty) objects to their union due to Manish’s Wikipedia-level understanding of India, Indian culture, and religion. This storyline speaks to a universal issue for so many diaspora kids: how connected are we to our culture? How connected do we want to be? The introduction of Des (Anirudh Pisharody) as a new love interest for Devi accomplishes similar conversations. Like Aneesa, who made her debut in Season 2, Des joins the school as one of the South Asian kids of Devi’s age, adding another layer to the circle she finds herself surrounded by.

There are also some fantastic one-liners and scenarios that blend culture in a way that’s rarely seen on screen. In this way, the show functions as a beacon of entertainment for the South Asian kids who never had this kind of purposeful, consistent representation on screen. My personal favorite is Devi yelling down the school hallways in episode four: “I’m happy, and healthy, and Hindu!” At the time, only one of these things was true. Some have argued that its second season tried too hard to cater to white audiences, and perhaps we could say the same for such writing. But I would argue that its approach tries to avoid being moulded for a white audience, instead using universal themes to explore a culture and what it’s like to be a high-schooler today. The show doesn’t expand on South Asian tropes any more than it needs to, but it doesn’t isolate its global audience either.

Elsewhere, there’s a thematic shift in the series, focusing more on identity, self-esteem, and change, whether this is true for Devi, her mother Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan), or Ben. Questions of personhood and feeling deserving of love are centralized, all explored with Never Have I Ever‘s signature humor and heart. And while Ramakrishnan keeps Devi characteristically impulsive and messy, her character exhibits personal growth in quieter ways (e.g. she and Nalini argue way less (!)). There may be some iced coffee being thrown in people’s faces, and drama at a debate tournament, but Devi appears to be en route to self-learning. The same can be said for Paxton and Ben. One of the season’s strongest episodes, “…had a breakdown” sees the two thrown into an unlikely situation, thanks to Ben’s dwindling health and rising stress levels. Barnet and Lewison deftly handle this scene, imbuing the characters with believable maturity and personal development, even after everything they’ve been through with Devi.

Of course, the depth of these themes doesn’t negate the staunchly Gen-Z approach of the show. Never Have I Ever has consistently pulled on trends and jokes that appeal to the TikTok generation, and this season is no different. There are references to Squid Game, Love Island, and Bridgerton; the latter has resulted in a “Lady Whistle Boy” ruling Sherman Oaks’ gossip mill. The punchlines are, at times, cringeworthy but manage to come across as charming — a testament to the show’s comic confidence. Tennis legend John McEnroe, who returns as the series narrator, pulls off pitch-perfect, hilarious commentary once again.

The formula of heartwarming storytelling, awkward high school encounters, and laugh-out-loud moments wins again for Never Have I Ever this season. One would think this would result in some ounce of mundanity or repetition. Yes, there are instances that feel like deja vú: Ben protecting Devi from herself, Paxton navigating college admissions, and Kamala exploring a new relationship. And at times, the show could have slowed its pace. Yet, the writers and cast have a wondrous, fresh approach to each circumstance, uplifting the series. Never Have I Ever remains unapologetically true to itself and its foundation, growing up and making us fall more in love with it.

Never Have I Ever is now streaming on Netflix.(opens in a new tab)