The show “Never Have I Ever” starring Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Devi), Richa Moorjani (Kamela), Poorna Jagannathan (Nalini), Ramona Young (Eleanor), Lee Rodriguez (Fabiola), is about an Indian-American teenager who tries to battle her way through high school while dealing with the loss of her father. Along the way, she tries to help her friends through their issues and find a way to get closer to her crush.

In the first episode, the narrator talks about the horrible freshman year Devi had, starting with the fact she lost her father, and one week after, during swim practice, she suddenly lost all feeling in her legs and couldn’t walk for three months. By making a list of things she and her friends should do throughout the year, she hopes to make sophomore year the best year of her life.

While struggling to get close to the guy Devi thinks she is supposed to be with, she lays her eyes on the most popular and attractive boy in school, Paxton. However, things quickly go wrong when a rumor goes around the school, saying she slept with Paxton. Throughout the season, Devi gets so unraveled by Paxton and the loss of her dad, that she completely neglects her friends when they need her the most. 

I would rate the show a 4.5/5 because there are flaws in the show, but it is still very entertaining to watch. I think one flaw was that some of the music didn’t match some parts of an episode because sad scenes would have music that would make you want to dance. I think the acting could have been a little better in some dramatic scenes because the facial expressions didn’t match what they were trying to tell the audience. 

I also don’t know how believable the show would be to someone who’s actually gone through the loss of a loved one. Specifically, in a scene at a party, Devi has a hallucination that a coyote was her father, and I don’t know if someone who’s faced that kind of loss has had this similar experience before.

Even though it does have multiple parties during the show that don’t accurately describe high school how high schoolers are, the show is a good demonstration of how stressful high school can be if you don’t have friends to help you through whatever it is you’re going through in your personal life.