Never Have I Ever Series Finale Recap: Ben? Paxton? ‘I Choose Me?’ How Did Devi End It All? — Plus, Grade It!
Never Have I Ever‘s series finale caps Devi’s senior year with some good news, a sweet celebration and a definitive answer to the question of which guy had the biggest hold on our girl’s heart. Is it Paxton? Ben? A 90210-inspired “I choose me?” Read on to find out!
Devi gets into Princeton, and the first person she wants to celebrate with is Ben. As she muses about spending time together that summer, he breaks the news: He’s heading to New York for a law-firm internship right after graduation. It’s a blow to Devi, but she pushes on and manages to get named valedictorian at graduation — with Ben as salutatorian. “But for the first time,” John McEnroe voiceovers, “she didn’t feel like rubbing his nose in it.” Ben heads to the Big Apple, Devi lives it up for a few months with Eleanor and Fab, and then suddenly we’re at the last weekend before college.
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Nirmala and Len are getting married that same weekend, so Nalini is in overdrive trying to make sure everything is ready for the party and Devi’s departure the morning after. When Devi sadly realizes that she’s hanging out with Fabiola and El for the last time for a long while, her grandmother comes in quickly with an assist, inviting Devi’s besties and Paxton to the festivities.
The wedding is a beautiful affair, and it’s where we learn that Paxton and Lindsay are officially dating. At one point, Kamala — who took that great job and is moving to Baltimore with Manish — counsels Devi that Ben clearly has feelings for her. But the festivities are interrupted (for Devi, at least) when Nalini yells at her daughter for procrastinating packing for college. Upstairs in her room, Devi imagines that Mohan is there, offering her help, but he disappears when she yells at him in her frustration. Nalini then shows up just as Devi is crying about not wanting to leave because she doesn’t know if she can live without her mother. Nalini apologizes for being so harsh on her daughter in the recent past — a foolhearted attempt to make their parting easier — and they cry, hug and decide to pack together.
When she returns to the reception, Devi leads an elaborate dance with Kamala, learns that Paxton is going back to Arizona State University to be a teacher (and hugs him, saying that he’s an even better friend than he was a boyfriend), and plays Never Have I Ever with all of her friends. They’re all having a good time when Ben walks into the tent, to Devi’s great surprise and joy.
“I was in New York, and all of a sudden, I got this feeling that I needed to tell you that I like you,” he says. “Actually, I think I love you, Devi.” She says she loves him, too… but she can’t leave the bash with him, because Nalini will kill her. But Kamala covers for her cousin, and because Devi’s car is blocked in by the guests, the teens take off for a romantic [checks notes] motorized scooter ride to Ben’s house.
In his bedroom, they have FAR better sex than the first time around, and the next morning he suggests a long-distance, Columbia/Princeton romantic relationship; she happily agrees. Then, in perhaps the episode’s low-key sweetest moment, Ben pulls up a YouTube tutorial to help Devi get back into her sari.
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She makes it home in time to leave for the airport with Nalini. Just before they get in the car, Devi runs upstairs to say goodbye to the deities in her bedroom shrine and ask them to take care of her mom in her absence. “And I’ll see you at Princeton,” she says to the framed photo of Mohan.
In a series-ending montage, we see: Nalini and Andres happily sharing some wine, Fabiola in her robotics element at Howard University, Trent working special effects on a film project that Eleanor is starring in and directing, Paxton studying at ASU, Kamala and Manish enjoying frozen yogurt in Maryland, and Ben and Devi getting cozy as he visits her at Princeton.
Now it’s your turn. What did you think of Never Have I Ever‘s big sendoff? Grade the finale and the season as a whole via the polls below, then hit the comments with your thoughts!
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