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Cast: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan, Darren Barnet, Jaren Lewison, Lee Rodriguez, Ramona Young, Richa Moorjani, Benjamin Norris, Michael Cimino, and ensemble.
Creator: Mindy Kaling & Lang Fisher.
Director: Multiple Directors.
Streaming On: Netflix
Language: English (with subtitles and Hindi dub available)
Runtime: 10 episodes around 30 minutes each.
Never Have I Ever Season 4 Review: What’s It About:
So Devi has spent 3 years of college and now moves to the fourth, and final year in which she is about to get graduated. There is an added pressure of landing into her dream college and also the brigade of boys who have loved her and still love her following her. How she grows up between all of this and navigates life is the fourth and final season of the show.
Never Have I Ever Season 4 Review: What Works:
Introduced to the show amid the peak lockdown, Never Have I Ever for me didn’t land at all for me with the first season. Being a brown man myself, I couldn’t relate to half of the things, and the representation felt too dramatic and over the top to me. For the next two seasons, I watched as an audience without the thought of assessing the show later, and I kind of started enjoying the gig. Not that I would have thought otherwise if I was writing reviews, but the show did manage to pick up the pace and moved towards telling a story rather than only being a flag bearer of representation and that too in the reverse direction.
The fourth season as Mindy Kaling confirms is the last one, and she says there is no point stretching it any further. Having seen it now, I can second Mindy, and agree it is a good decision. Not many creators understand the importance of ending their IPs on the right note, and Mindy is definitely not one of them. Never Have I Ever season 4 is a heartwarming goodbye, a safe one, but still not harmful at all. It does what it is supposed to and serves fans what it exactly is supposed to. A finale that competes for every arc and leaves one with the feeling of accomplishment but also a happy void.
Yet again created by Lang Fisher with Mindy Kaling, season four is by far the most nuanced writing the show has ever witnessed. Of course, it still continues to navigate the witness but now it also has a sense of responsibility. Mainly this is also because Devi and the world around her are not just growing up, but also moving on. This could not work for the audience who consumed the series only for giggles and s*x jokes, but for a viewer who loves to look beyond what is in the frame, it is an entire team on and off screen growing together and quite beautifully.
You see people accepting their shortcomings, the careless kids so far making life-altering decisions, and the once-hot studs now facing the brunt of the life that has more for them in store. While the show does it very subtly, but the growing up is embodied in Praxton’s character and you see his entire demeanour change in no time. His body language, his conduct, his dressing style, everything shifts overnight and life hits him hard. For the rest, it is a gradual process, and you can see it.
Even the humour in the script gets very mature. We are no longer made to laugh at sleazy jokes, but there is more. There is also a nod to mature relationships and the need for a partner. Even Devi’s mother gets an interesting storyline because even her grief needs to be acknowledged. The finale season does a pretty good job of giving everyone the audience desired climax and redemption. They make sure every pivotal character reaches their end and there is no nod left unattended.
Never Have I Ever Season 4 Review: Star Performance:
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan has kind of grown up with the show. She has become so synonymous with Devi that one might not even look at them as an actor and her character but as one entity. She has to bring a wider range with season 4 and she even managed to do it pretty confidently. What she chooses next is an interesting thing to see.
Poorna Jagannathan gets a more detailed limelight this time and she is own it like a good actor should. Richa Moorjani evolves even more and so does Darren Barnet, who are not just hot people anymore, but are now facing life and have to tackle it.
Lee Rodriguez and Ramona Young continue to be adorable parts of the show and are good at playing their parts. Jaren Lewison is a treat, as he has a lot of heavy lifting on his plate.
Never Have I Ever Season 4 Review: What Doesn’t Work:
Never Have I Ever in its Season 4 ends up playing too safe. Things are predictable because the writing never goes the wild way to surprise the audience like it did in the last two seasons. Things end up being too neat with a black or white perspective with no grey existing by the end. Everyone has a partner, a college, and a successful-looking future, with things they have dreamt of. That is not how real life looks, there are some who are left behind and the absence of that fact takes away the magic from the show.
Also, the climax of the show can be seen from far away and there is no surprise left when it actually happens. The relationships did deserve to have their limelight in a more realistic way. Ignoring the first, and considering the last two seasons, they did manage to bring in the realism and the dilemma of being a teenager on the screen pretty well. But the season 4 only takes half the cues from them and feels like an incomplete project.
Never Have I Ever Season 4 Review: Last Words:
Never Have I Ever season 4 is a safe ending to a rather daring show, but it serves what it is supposed to.
For more recommendations, read our Last Of Us Review here.
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