Devi and her friends Fabiola, Eleanor, Paxton, and Ben return as seniors in the show’s fourth and final season.
Season 4 picks up right where season 3 ended, Devi and Ben slept together, but the morning after is awkward, and both of them don’t handle the situation very well. The two end up not speaking the whole summer. Devi will discover on the first day of senior year Ben has a girlfriend, and our hothead from the valley won’t take it very well.
There’s a whole new senior year to face before graduating and going to college, and every character will encounter some challenges. Eleonor is planning to enroll in a conservatory, Fabiola wants to study robotics at an Ivy, and Ben wants to achieve his long dream to be accepted at Columbia. Devi needs to charm the Princeton rep because her admission to the prestigious college is not granted. Paxton is struggling at college. Ethan, the new bad, boy will generate some tension between Eleonor and Devi, while Princeton will create a fight between Devi and Fabiola.
The young adults are not the only ones who will face some obstacles in this farewell season: Nalini and Nirmala will have both a new chance at love while a great job opportunity has been presented to Kamala but she’s scared to leave her family behind to move across the country.
The final season will answer all the questions the viewers have had over the last 3 years including if and with whom Devi will end up with.
Do the final season and the finale live up to the whole series?
Never Have I Ever has always dealt throughout the 4 seasons with meaningful, serious, and deep themes such as death, grief, bullying, first love, sexual identity, and so on. Even if written with depth it has always been counterbalanced with lighter and funny moments and pop-culture references that made the series thoughtful and entertaining at the same time.
The last season is lighter and lacks the depth of previous seasons but we don’t actually mind that. It shows the cast has grown and dealt with many of their problems and is getting ready for a new chapter in their lives.
The leitmotif of season 4 is: change is good, as scary as it could be, change is necessary.
The entire 4th season is a satisfying farewell to the series and it reminded us why we fell in love with Never Have I Ever in the first place, and why we love Mindy Kaling writing so much. The stories and the writing are very similar to the previous 3 seasons, an aspect that we loved for a series finale, even if a little repetitive, there’s no reason to completely overturn and go into a new direction.
Every character has grown over the course of the last four years and it shows. Devi has matured, she faced and coped with the trauma of losing her father, and even if she’s still hotheaded sometimes, she has stopped all those erratic behaviors.The relationship with her mother has improved as well.
Nalini throughout these years has learned how to let go of her daughter, let go of her grief and let go of cultural values that aren’t serving her anymore and has found love again. Every single character in the series has been carefully written with depth and it’s lovely to see their growth over the seasons.
An aspect we end up loving and appreciating even more in season 4 is the incredible chemistry and dynamics between the 4 Vishwakumar women in their household.
The last season is not perfect and has a very predictable ending, everyone ended up exactly where you would have imagined but its delightful, cozy, and secure ending will be loved by the viewers who already were fans and enjoyed the previous season. We don’t feel to criticize that, sometimes, a predictable and feel-good ending is just what we need to watch.
John McEnroe’s narration informs the audience where Devi ends up and with whom as she begins her college career… “for now.” Does that mean we could get a continuation of Devi’s adventures?
Not necessarily. While this is the final season of the show, the “for now” indicates that the characters are still growing and learning and ready for the next step in their life.
Devi’s still a work in progress and while it ends on a happy note, it’s also realistic to understand her life is just getting started. This is just one of many chapters in a young woman’s life.
Never Have I Ever is an American comedy-drama series created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher.
Episodes: 10
Never Have I Ever premieres on June 08, 2023.
MAIN CAST
- Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi Vishwakumar
- Poorna Jagannathan as Dr. Nalini Vishwakumar
- Richa Moorjani as Kamala Nandiwadal
- Darren Barnet as Paxton Hall-Yoshida
- Jaren Lewison as Benjamin (Ben) Gross
- John McEnroe as himself, the narrator of the series
- Ramona Young as Eleanor Wong
- Lee Rodriguez as Fabiola Torres
- Michael Cimino as Ethan