Warning: spoilers
The series finale for ‘Never Have I Ever’ aired yesterday, bringing fans to a conclusion that divided opinions. Devi finally graduated high school, resolving the mystery about who is the man she will end up with.
The series revolved around a messy kid Devi, who navigates love, peer pressure from belonging to an Indian family, and deals with the death of her father.
From Season 1, there were two men in Devi’s life, Paxton Hall-Yoshida and Ben Gross. We were led through a four season long will-they-won’t-they as Devi made her way through misunderstandings, hurried confessions and miscommunication to now finally watching a grown and less-chaotic Devi who finally chooses…
Ben!
How did we get to this conclusion? Devi and Ben got intimate in the last season after which, the two remain awkward, drifting off, but eventually ending back together as friends. Devi ends up getting in to the college of her dreams: Princeton, with Ben’s help.
While packing for college, Devi misses Ben, who is in New York for a law internship. However, during her friend Nirmala’s wedding, Ben shows up at the last minute, with both deciding to give their relationship a shot.
Needless to say, this outcome did not sit well with a lot of fans, who criticised creator Mindy Kailing for hyping mediocre looking white men, and routinely depicting brown women who indulge in self-critical commentary and consistently put down their own culture and heritage in the shows.
Many pointed out that Devi’s conclusion with Ben was another domino in the long line of Kailing’s female leads hyping bare-minimum men, and putting down south asian men for the sake of appealing to a white audience.
the way mindy decided to just erase paxton’s entire character arc and who he is as person just to make ben look more desirable like bitch that still won’t work! ben still funny looking and a nasty piece of work #neverhaveiever
— aj ☽✧ ethandevi president (@hotgirltrauma) June 8, 2023
Ben showed up in a fucking hoodie to confess his love and they RODE AWAY ON A SCOOTER?? WHY THE FUCK WAS THAT EVEN NECESSARY. EVEN MORE CRINGE THAN “ONE FREE BIONK” THE WRITERS ARE SMOKING CRACK #NeverHaveIEver pic.twitter.com/IFGHbRry8M
— burnrbb (@xoxo58585858) June 9, 2023
wait just realized that all of devi's love interest aren't white except for ben, and he's the one she ended up with, mindy kaling is a sick woman #neverhaveiever pic.twitter.com/bq0futpvUX
— gab (@barainkiss) June 8, 2023
mindy really had devi date 3 hot poc boys only for her to end up with a white man icb 😭 pic.twitter.com/TYoB2mpJZY
— nhie spoilers (@literatiez) June 8, 2023
But other users felt that the conclusion was satisfying and were happy that Ben and Devi went from being enemies to close friends and finally falling in love with each other.
Anyone whos mad at the ending probably watched this show blind eyed because ben & devi are perfect for each other, season 4 showed us this again clearly & they ended up together for a reason whether you like it or not🤭 #NeverHaveIEver pic.twitter.com/LxMX1R6bcC
— ♈︎ (@bvbhive) June 8, 2023
the way ben went from thinking of her as crazy devi to being crazy FOR devi. this is so pleasing to my soul #NeverHaveIEver pic.twitter.com/UMLgKkMmrJ
— lucy – ⚠️ NHIE S4 SPOILERS (@benvilovebot) June 8, 2023
What did you think of the finale? Let us know in the comments!