Spoilers below.
When Maitreyi Ramakrishnan first landed the role of Devi Vishwakumar, the lead of Netflix's Never Have I Ever, she was only 17. Since then, the now 21-year-old has given her character a youthful vulnerability that is often missing in teen shows these days, while also highlighting the experiences of an Indian American family. Through all her shenanigans, Devi has reminded viewers of all the chaotic emotions, landmark moments, and confusion around identity that tend to happen in those key high school years.
She also got tangled in a classic love triangle.
Devi begins the series infatuated with the most popular boy in school, Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet), but her reputation as “Crazy Devi” precedes her. After the death of her beloved father, Mohan (Sendhil Ramamurthy), her grief paralyzes her. Literally. When she finally returns to school able to walk again, Devi finds herself acting out to avoid confronting her feelings. Case in point: She directly propositions Paxton to sleep together.
The show’s four seasons follow Devi's discovery of sex and dating, and quickly introduces the other object of her affection, Ben Gross (Jaren Lewinson), who starts out as her nemesis before they quickly become more. While other potential romantic interests pop up here and there—including season 4’s bad boy Ethan (Michael Cimino)—Devi's ties to Paxton and Ben always caused the most tension.
Now, the beloved series draws to a close as its fourth and final season arrives Netflix, and it centers on a lot more than Devi’s romantic life. Here, we break down the ending with the help of the cast.
What happens in the finale?
The last season is largely about transitions as everyone figures out where they’re heading post-high school. Devi graduates and is accepted to Princeton, while Ben is going to NYC for an internship over the summer. It seems like their paths are finally diverging, and it’s time to let each other go. Meanwhile, Paxton has found love with another teacher (a young teacher) after he starts working as a swim coach at the school, having found his freshman year of college a little too challenging. That wraps everything up, right? Not quite.
One of Devi’s moral foils in the show has been her grandma, Nirmala (Ranjita Chakravarty), who tearfully confesses in season 4 that she has been dating a man named Len (Jeff Garlin)—a white man, which she can’t stop mentioning. Devi and her mom, Dr. Nalini Vishwakumar (Poorna Jagannathan), are actually very supportive of Nirmala’s love, which could never have happened without the growth they experienced these past four seasons.
The finale features the celebratory wedding of Len and Nirmala. The whole event is a showcase for how Devi’s relationship with her family has changed through the years, in particular with Nalini and her cousin, Kamala (Richa Moorjani). In a fitting display of their sisterly bond, Devi and Kamala dance together at the wedding.
“It just felt like such a celebration of our characters, of our characters’ journeys and growth and the relationships,” Moorjani told ELLE.com at the Never Have I Ever “Had An Inspiration Like You” tastemaker reception this week. “[It’s] Kamala and Devi dancing together after season 1, where Devi would’ve never even considered that, but also just a celebration of the show. It could not have been a more perfect ending.”
Jagannathan agreed. She also weighed in on Devi and Nalini’s “mother-daughter relationship, which has required growth from both parties.” Toward the end of the series, we see that “Devi steps up to parent and guide and encourage Nalini as well,” not just the other way around. “She’s always taken care of people. By season 4, she is being taken care of a little bit,” she adds.
Nalini is also going through changes herself, with her only daughter going off to college and a new love interest, the family’s contractor Andres, in her life. “I always say it’s a season of letting go: letting go of my daughter, letting go of grief, letting go of cultural values that just don’t serve us anymore,” Jagannathan says.
So who does Devi end up with?
One of the difficult lessons Devi learns as she grows up is that she can’t treat people like they only exist to serve her desires; at one point, she dates Paxton and Ben at the same time, hurting them both. In Paxton’s case, he actually gets hit by a car—still, they stay close throughout the series. In season 4, sparks seem to reappear between Paxton and Devi when they get accidentally get locked in a supply closet together and kiss. But ultimately, they keep their distance given Paxton is now a member of the school staff and Devi is a student, and they end the show as friends.
“I like how they ended in the sense that they really do value each other. They do love each other in a different way,” Ramakrishnan told ELLE.com at the at the Never Have I Ever “Had An Inspiration Like You” event. She added that Devi and Paxton “have a very deep real respect for each other that’s really quite beautiful.”
In fact, she’s glad the final season focused on more than just romance; Devi’s friendships with Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez) and Eleanor (Ramona Young) also take center stage. “Platonic relationships are just as important as romantic relationships, right?” Ramakrishnan explained. “I hate in TV shows and movies when they make it seem like that the person, that love interest, once they get together, that’s their best person in their life. I’m like, ‘What the hell, man? That’s so dumb.’”
As for Ben, at the end of season 3, he and Devi have sex, and season 4 opens with the repercussions of that decision. (They’re awkward teens after all!) When they’re unable to express their true feelings, they’re driven apart—Ben dates Margot for a bit; Devi has a fling with Ethan—until the last moment.
Ben shows up at Nirmala’s wedding to confess his love to Devi and ask her to give their relationship a serious try. He’ll be in New York for college at Columbia, and she’ll be in New Jersey at Princeton. Not too far. The pair get a do-over back at Ben's room, and this time their sexual encounter goes much better.
However, Ramakrishnan doesn’t think that’s the end of Devi and Ben’s story. She describes their relationship as “a rollercoaster, but not one that is done. It’s going to continue.”
What happens next?
We don’t see everything, but in a closing montage, Never Have I Ever does try to give everyone a happy ending at the college (or movie set) of their choice. Fabiola is building robots, Eleanor is directing a film with her boyfriend Trent overseeing pyrotechnics on set, Paxton has finally found a college he enjoys being at more than high school, and Ben and Devi are cuddling in a college dorm.
Kamala and Nalini’s futures look bright too. “I think [Nalini is] stepping into a time of being brave, of self-care, of exploring who she is without attachments,” Jagannathan told ELLE.com. “A totally different phrase of womanhood that she was unable to have until now.”
Kamala, on the other hand, is getting ice cream with Manish in Baltimore in the epilogue montage, hinting that she ended up moving there to take that job offer. Moorjani’s hopes for her character are simple but grand: “I think Kamala's going to win a Nobel Peace Prize.”
To Ramakrishnan, the scene that really captures Devi’s evolution is the final time she kneels at her family’s altar to pray, a regular practice for her in times of stress. This time, Devi has a much more hopeful and appreciative tone than ever before.
“That last altar scene, that’s what matters to me,” she said. “What happens after, no matter who won after, it didn’t really matter. Because to me, it's about that praying scene. That’s the epitome of Devi’s character. That is the final pit stop, not ending up with Ben in the dorm. Not that. It’s being very grateful for the life that she’s had and that the life she will continue to have because of the people she has around herself, but also for the person she is herself.”
Ramakrishnan knows that Never Have I Ever will be missed, and that it leaves behind a legacy of representing Indian American teens and families in a groundbreaking way. But she senses that even more progress lies are ahead.
“For the fans that are like, ‘Oh, we’re going to miss the show. No, what are we going to do without it?’ Just wait a little longer because something better than Never Have I Ever is going to happen,” she said. “It’s only inevitable. That’s the only way I’d see minorities of all different identities coming around: bigger and better.”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now.
