Mindy Kaling’s Never Have I Ever has been delightfully consistent throughout with every season offering a fair share of humour, romance, sentimentality, and a lot of teenage drama. The fourth season makes no exception, and the characters are seen moving into their senior years at school with Devi’s (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) constant attempts to become the “sexy successful senior” accompanied by her infamous screw-ups.
But before the kids of Sherman Oaks bid goodbye to their school life, they still have to get past their senior year. Yes this means, Devi has to deal with another set of awkward scenarios and their chaotic aftermaths. But the final season also calls for the characters to make major life decisions, creating a lot of anticipation among the audience.
The first episode of season 4 takes off exactly where the last episode of season 3 left us, which was when Ben (Jaren Lewison) and Devi had their first time in his place. And it is a crazy ride from here for Devi. Paxton Yoshida(Darren Barnet) who had left high school and the show, as per our assumption, was also seen making an unexpected entry yet again, and does not fail to add to the action in Devi’s life. With college acceptances right around the corner, there is a lot of pressure among the characters about applying and getting accepted into their dream colleges. While Devi puts all her energy into getting accepted into Princeton she also realises that she is not ready to move away from her home and family.
With 10 episodes to wrap up every character’s journey, and give each of them happy endings, the final season fails to surprise us. Unlike the previous seasons, the ending was rather predictable, leaving the audience expecting the expected. Things felt rushed through towards the end, leaving no scope for a deep dive into anyone’s life. The finale just offered quick glimpses of their life changes like moving out, budding romances, celebrating each other, and their much-awaited prom and graduation.
With the show throwing surprises at us throughout the chaotic earlier seasons, it was fair for fans of the show to expect some breakthroughs in the finale too. But the final season of Never Have I Ever fails to meet those expectations as it stuck to a pre-planned route map and not the characters’ instincts, which could be a bit of a disappointment for some. But for the ones who wanted Devi and co. to end up just where they planned on being, that is exactly what you have.
Never Have I Ever season 4 is streaming on Netflix
Rating: 3.5/5
