Setting up a show is like pacing out your innings at batting. Season1 is about setting up an interesting premise. Quite similar to sizing up the pitch, the conditions and the promise of a big knock. Season 2 is always about maturity - the characters you set up have to mature into who they stand for; the narrative has to go beyond good writing to an absorbing and logical set of circumstances; most important though is that the story has to grow and matter for the audiences. Just like a good start flowers into a solid half-century but keeps going to make the innings material to the fortunes of the team and thus memorable!
ASHOK’s FIVE reviews Season 2 of #NeverHaveIEver, streaming now on #Netflix. If Season 1 was about a light-hearted dekko into the life of an American Indian teen growing up in California and dealing with a recent tragic loss, Season 2 manages to retain the same treatment but deals with a mammoth number of themes without compromising the witty dialogues and the hilarious clash of the cultures. Devi (#MaitreyiRamakrishnan) has gone from trying to date someone to having her hands full, dating both Paxton(#DarrenBarnet) and Ben(#JarenLewison). Nalini (#PoornaJagannathan) is now flirting with romance, bringing into focus the issue of a widow finding love and how it conflicts with her background. The rivalry at school takes on an altogether new meaning with the entry of another Indian student, Aneesa (#MeganSuri). And of course the issue of how Paxton struggles with balancing his swimming acumen with academics and finds help from Devi only to lose it.
The gamut of themes continue with the introduction of Nirmala (#RanjitaChakravarty) the grandmother who steals the show as she balances the culture and heritage of an Indian mom with values that are progressive and a sense of maturity that is refreshing. Issues of teens dealing with eating disorders, women hitting and breaking the glass ceiling in their careers and the values of apologizing genuinely when you have goofed up.
The creators of the show #LangFisher and #MindyKaling take the exploration of what seems to be a tenuous mother-daughter bond two notches higher in season2. Devi asks searching questions of her mother and learns to accept her loss better. She also tries to understand what she is really looking for. Nalini meanwhile struggles with her professional challenges while also dealing with interest from the opposite sex. Another track opens up when cousin Kamala (#RichaMoorjani) finds dissonance with her handsome beau Praashanth who thinks she should step back from asserting herself at work. She is drawn toward Mr Kulkarni at school. All through these themes, Devi’s late father Mohan (#SenthhilRamamurty) keeps reappearing in flashbacks, re-emphasizing the original plot of a family learning to cope with personal loss in a foreign land.
Devi Viswakumar (#Maitreyi) and the two boys have now gone on to become rockstars on the socal media circuit with a raging fan following amongst the teenage audiences but the success of the show is not just their fantastic performances. I think what #MindyKaling has done brilliantly is to get inside the NRI psyche and explore the insecurities very well. The dialogues and repartees are brilliant and the brand of humour consistent.
#PoornaJagannathan raises the bar. She is so convincing as Nalini that one identifies her completely with the character. The themes regarding colour bias are sewn into the episodes deftly. Aneesa lauds Devi on her nose ring and calls it an act of “decolonisation of the nose”. The event calls for a “halal moment of celebration” without alcohol or boys! Devi’s friends Eleanor ($RamonaYoung) and Fabiola(#LeeRodriguez) are also delineated better and dealing with their individual devils.
#NeverHaveIEver is an example of how you take an interesting premise and build it into a brand. The show has matured and is now ready to take off. The fortunes of Devi, her friends and her mother are now something a loyal audience is waiting for. A classic instance of plot, writing and incisive characterization coming together to make a winning show!
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