There are many adolescent series, but the list is greatly reduced if we have to talk about those that are really worth it and even if we want to find one that has a truly distinctive approach. ‘I never’ you have fulfilled both of these requirements since your arrival in Netflix in April 2020 and this June 8 is the date chosen by the platform for all of us to say goodbye to Devi Vishwakumar.
Surely all the followers of the series remember where ‘I never’ had left off at the end of its third installment and, obviously, season 4 already resolves it with the opening scene of the first episode. It is also clear that ‘I never’ lives from the continuous conflict and from resolving all that arises on the fly but with amazing precision. All this until the arrival of an ending that can be called predictable, yes, but that is also perfect for the series.
princeton dream
One thing the series created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher he has always done very well is the way he handles his characters and the links between them. Of course, everything revolves around Devi and that one of the great revelations of ‘I never’ is the wonderful interpretation of Maitreyi Ramakrishnanbut everything around them has always been developed with care, being aware that they had to be much more than complementary characters for their protagonist.
That point is evident with the rest of the cast’s regulars, but season 4 once again demonstrates the expertise of those responsible for introducing new characters with an obvious role from the first minute -it couldn’t be clearer in the case of Ethan from Michael Cimino (‘With love, Victor’) – without this implying a loss of freshness or hindering the enviable rhythm of ‘I never’, where the great axis becomes that it is the last year of high school for its protagonists.
For this reason, Devi’s overcoming of the duel is something that loses relevance -although it does not disappear and, obviously, gains importance again at the end of the season, where the circle is closed flawlessly- to focus more on the difficulties that are arising to try to fulfill his dream of studying at Princeton. In this way, ‘I never’ can once again influence the insecurities of its central character without betting so heavily on romantic plots as the main narrative driver. Far from it, do not think that this axis of the series disappears -in fact, it is the season that most sexualizes its protagonist, although without exceeding it either-, but this decision helps to alleviate the inevitable sensation of repetition that at this point could turned very against him.
What remains completely intact is the characteristic humor of ‘I never’, especially brilliant in the use of john mcenroe as narrator. There, the series has always had a great self-confidence, the result of a script work where not only are the ideas very clear, but also the whole subject of representation is introduced with enviable naturalness. Here it really is something that marks their characters and is treated with respect, but it is also a source of jokes when the occasion calls for it. And besides, you don’t live only on that either, as demonstrated by Trent, a character who in any other series could have been a disaster or become repetitive after several appearances but who here continues to shine whenever he appears on the screen.
It is true that we have reached a point where we all smell how each of the plots that are being proposed are going to develop, but something curious happens there, and that is that practically all of them feed back on each other, making that what is really essential is the mixture that arises. It may be that some remain a little more disconnected from the rest -I am thinking above all of those dedicated to Devi’s mother and grandmother-, but even there those responsible end up getting it right for different aspects, be it for the effective signing of jeff garlin or for the way in which he allows Nalini to also finish overcoming the duel for the loss of Mohan.
And it is that one of the great keys of this season 4 is that everything is heading towards a closure in which there is not the slightest risk, but it is that ‘I never’ has never lived from that either, but from the way in which that gives its own voice to an adolescent story that at the moment of truth makes use of solutions seen in many similar productions. In addition, what is really important here is not so much who Devi ends up with or if she manages to go to Princeton, but the personal self-realization of both her and the rest of the protagonists and that they all end up. in a situation where they feel satisfied with what they have achieved and what awaits them ahead. That does it very well, incidentally transferring that feeling of well-being to a viewer that at this point is basically what he is wanting above all else.
I have no problem admitting that I am going to miss Devi and the rest of the characters a lot, but I can think of very little that can be improved in its 40 episodes beyond some subplot that perhaps did not work as well as the rest of the episodes. individually but not out of place at all. And it is that ‘I never’ is already on its own merits one of the best high school shows of all timeand, of course, one of the best Netflix series so far this year.
In Espinof | The 27 best series in the history of Netflix