Hello dear community! I don't know about you, but I adore teen series that unfold in school settings! They feel like a way of "reliving" some of the more uncomfortable moments of adolescence; a way to imagine the infinite possibilities of what might have been if we knew then what we know now.
The Netflix series, Never Have I Ever (2020), known as Yo Nunca in Latin America, is narrated by the 1990s tennis star John McEnroe and revolves around the life of a teenager of Indian heritage named Devi Vishwakumar (played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan). The series explores situations in Devi's life ranging from the challenges of adolescence, to grieving the loss of her father, to the complexities of decision-making (which realistically portrays the imperfect choices teenagers make), to navigating love, sexuality, and friendship. Along with its touch of romantic comedy, the show makes an excellent choice for a weekend marathon.
The following sections contain SPOILERS from various seasons of the show. If this is your first time reading The Unicorn Scale and you better understand the metrics and criteria for rating each title, you can go here.
To start, we’ll have to set the protagonist, Devi, aside to focus on her friend Fabiola Torres (Lee Rodríguez), a character we have known since the first season. She’s a kind and brilliant girl who loves robotics, who from the first chapters reveals her attraction to women, becoming romantically involved with the popular Eve (Christina Kartchner) until the relationship falters under long-distance constraints.
In the second season we meet the charismatic and beautiful Aneesa Qureshi (Megan Suri), another young woman of Indian descent. Aneesa has an awkward relationship with Ben (Jaren Lewison), Devi's ex-boyfriend, which sparks tensions in the group. Ben and Aneesa break up when Ben still shows feelings for Devi at the start of the third season.
After the breakup, Aneesa meets Fabiola and, suddenly, boom! They share a tender and intense kiss, but both feel uncomfortable about it and decide not to talk about it. Fabiola manages to ask Aneesa out, but the relationship doesn't work out.
In that same season, Fabiola meets Addison (Terry Hu), a brainy non-binary with whom she establishes an immediate and mutual intellectual, emotional, and physical attraction. Although the romance between Fabiola and Addison is not shown on screen, it is revealed in the last episode that they are dating.
What I Liked:
It is admirable how naturally they approached, not only Fabiola's sexuality from the beginning in her relationship with Eve, but also her later attraction to Aneesa and finally to Addison. And we also have Aneesa as a bi character, who first dated Ben and then Fabiola. At no time are these relationships perceived as forced or in compliance with a "queer quota" within the story.
Finally, it is important to highlight that Never Have I Ever is primarily directed at a young audience, which makes it an excellent reference for those who are exploring their sexuality and figuring themselves out.
What I Didn't Like:
Fabiola and Aneesa's queer relationships with the other characters don't carry as much weight and significance as they could. That is to say, Fabiola's most formal relationship was with Eve, later her relationship with Aneesa was strange, uncomfortable (as is common in adolescence) and short, only to later let us know that she is dating Addison. Although Aneesa was shown as a bi person (when dating Ben and then with Fabiola), it would have been stronger if her bisexuality had been portrayed with more confidence and certainty so that it could not be interpreted as a "curiosity" or something temporary.
The Rating:
Although the approach to queer relationships within the series is nice, the characters of Fabiola and Aneesa are endearing (especially the former) and the audience interest sparked by their romances carry the show. Fabiola turns out to be a girl who wins our hearts from the beginning and who "deserves" (as a character) to succeed in at least one of her relationships. With that said, it could have been a more consistent "statement" about the normality and success of relationships between LGBT people from adolescence and early youth.
Based on the charming cast, the subtle normalization of bisexuality, and the emphasis on female characters who exhibit bisexuality but who aren’t explicitly labeled as "bi", I would rate this series three unicorns.
Comments
Facebook Comments