S01.E01: Pilot

[Meredith Quill]

Quote

After recent trauma, Devi starts her first day as a high school sophomore determined to shake off old labels and finally become cool.

 

[QQQQ]

I love this show so far! It's a modern My So-Called Life + Sixteen Candles + Wonder Years, from the mind of Mindy Kaling. 

[Samwise979]

I was giddy to see Mohinder. I paused it and texted my friend this long thing about Heroes and how one of the actors is on this and how I'd watch the show just for him even if it's terrible. Then I pressed play again and watched the next two minutes of the show and had to text her back, nevermind. Mwa wa ☹️

[shapeshifter]

5 minutes ago, Samwise979 said:

I was giddy to see Mohinder. I paused it and texted my friend this long thing about Heroes and how one of the actors is on this and how I'd watch the show just for him even if it's terrible. Then I pressed play again and watched the next two minutes of the show and had to text her back, nevermind. Mwa wa ☹️

The second episode is a big improvement. 

[biakbiak]

I thought it was cute and will continue to watch but good lord John McEnroe is a prime example that voiceover/narration is a skill. He was awful!

[Angeleyes]

I’m in. This show is cute and funny. 

[raeb23]

2 hours ago, biakbiak said:

John McEnroe is a prime example that voiceover/narration is a skill. He was awful!

I agree that he was bad in the pilot. I'm 3 eps in and i think he gets better, or maybe I'm just acclimated to his monotone now. 

I'm liking the show so far. It's funny & the lead actress is doing a good job despite having so little experience.

[biakbiak]

4 minutes ago, raeb23 said:

agree that he was bad in the pilot. I'm 3 eps in and i think he gets better, or maybe I'm just acclimated to his monotone now. 

Glad to hear it he gets better! I have similar affection for him as Mindy but good lord his line readings were trying my patience.

[SeanC]

I was going to say similar about McEnroe.  The idea of having the show narrated by a random celebrity instead of by a character (or even a generic third-person narrator) is funny, but just going off this one my reaction was they should maybe have chosen somebody with more vocal range.  He attacks his lines with gusto, but a lot of them require comic timing he doesn't yet have.

I'm really liking the cast so far.

[Rahul]

I hope the scope of Devi's world evolves beyond more than her obsession with losing her virginity and sex. I've only watched one episode but I foresee her ending up with the academic rival Ben.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Rahul

[truthaboutluv]

23 hours ago, Rahul said:

I've only watched one episode but I foresee her ending up with the academic rival Ben.

Same and I'm already prematurely rolling my eyes. I'm BEYOND over the "two people bicker and fight because they are secretly into each other and end up together" trope. Dude, sometimes people just straight up can't stand each other.

Like it's 2020 and it's amazing how unoriginal so much of television/movie writing is. My annoyance at that future prediction happening aside and McEnroe's cringe narration that's already been referenced, I'm enjoying the show too.

[eelpout]

On 4/27/2020 at 10:48 PM, Rahul said:

I hope the scope of Devi's world evolves beyond more than her obsession with losing her virginity and sex. I've only watched one episode but I foresee her ending up with the academic rival Ben.

yep, me too. (2 eps. in here)

I'm still not sure whether we are meant to like the main protagonist, Devi, or not. Because I find her irritating (and yes, it's not lost on my why she may be so). 🤨

[twoods]

3 hours ago, eelpout said:

yep, me too. (2 eps. in here)

I'm still not sure whether we are meant to like the main protagonist, Devi, or not. Because I find her irritating (and yes, it's not lost on my why she may be so). 🤨

Yes she is very irritating but she does get called out for her crap in the upcoming episodes so it didn’t bother me (and like you said, there is a reason why she’s focusing on this).  

[dubbel zout]

I think John McEnroe as the narrator is genius. Such an out of left field choice. It works for me, especially as he settles in. Who better to explain hot heads than one of the worst? Hee.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, dubbel zout said:

I think John McEnroe as the narrator is genius. Such an out of left field choice. It works for me, especially as he settles in. Who better to explain hot heads than one of the worst? Hee.

O-o-o-o-h-h-h! I didn't know, and didn't bother to look him up. But now I see "He was known for his shot-making artistry and volleying skills, and for confrontational on-court behavior that frequently landed him in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities." ( wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McEnroe ).

But even with out that tidbit of info, whenever he spoke I would assume at some point his presence would be explained, and, for me, it was, but not as much as if I had known his reputation as a "hot head."

[dubbel zout]

Calling McEnroe a hot head is actually underselling things; he was known as Superbrat because his behavior toward officials was so appalling. There may not have been the rules there are now for that sort of thing, but the referees let him get away with waaay too much yelling and delaying matches.

[truthaboutluv]

On 4/29/2020 at 3:58 PM, eelpout said:

I'm still not sure whether we are meant to like the main protagonist, Devi, or not. Because I find her irritating (and yes, it's not lost on my why she may be so). 

Oh I definitely think you're meant to find Devi annoying and be irritated by her plenty. But I think it's a testament to the talent of the actress that even when she's at her most frustrating and annoying, you still can't help like her. At least I did.

And I think that's what makes the show work. In a less capable actress' hand, yeah this would be a really hard show to get through even with all the hilarious supporting characters like the mom. But the actress does a great job of making Devi equal parts frustrating and yet so vulnerable you still want to root for her. 

[dubbel zout]

And the writing makes it very clear why Devi is acting the way she is. Some of it is the usual teenage stuff, but her dad's death, in such a public and traumatic fashion, is the main driver here.

[Duke2801]

On 4/30/2020 at 12:44 PM, shapeshifter said:

O-o-o-o-h-h-h! I didn't know, and didn't bother to look him up. But now I see "He was known for his shot-making artistry and volleying skills, and for confrontational on-court behavior that frequently landed him in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities." ( wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McEnroe ).

But even with out that tidbit of info, whenever he spoke I would assume at some point his presence would be explained, and, for me, it was, but not as much as if I had known his reputation as a "hot head."

They explained all this about McEnroe in the episode..?  I think they even included footage of his freak outs. 

[Zima]

On 4/27/2020 at 8:52 PM, biakbiak said:

I thought it was cute and will continue to watch but good lord John McEnroe is a prime example that voiceover/narration is a skill. He was awful!

 

On 4/27/2020 at 11:31 PM, raeb23 said:

I agree that he was bad in the pilot. I'm 3 eps in and i think he gets better, or maybe I'm just acclimated to his monotone now. 

I'm liking the show so far. It's funny & the lead actress is doing a good job despite having so little experience.

 

On 4/28/2020 at 12:02 AM, SeanC said:

I was going to say similar about McEnroe.  The idea of having the show narrated by a random celebrity instead of by a character (or even a generic third-person narrator) is funny, but just going off this one my reaction was they should maybe have chosen somebody with more vocal range.  He attacks his lines with gusto, but a lot of them require comic timing he doesn't yet have.

I'm really liking the cast so far.

 

On 4/28/2020 at 1:48 AM, Rahul said:

I hope the scope of Devi's world evolves beyond more than her obsession with losing her virginity and sex. I've only watched one episode but I foresee her ending up with the academic rival Ben.

 

On 4/30/2020 at 11:31 AM, dubbel zout said:

I think John McEnroe as the narrator is genius. Such an out of left field choice. It works for me, especially as he settles in. Who better to explain hot heads than one of the worst? Hee.

 

On 4/30/2020 at 12:44 PM, shapeshifter said:

O-o-o-o-h-h-h! I didn't know, and didn't bother to look him up. But now I see "He was known for his shot-making artistry and volleying skills, and for confrontational on-court behavior that frequently landed him in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities." ( wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McEnroe ).

But even with out that tidbit of info, whenever he spoke I would assume at some point his presence would be explained, and, for me, it was, but not as much as if I had known his reputation as a "hot head."

 The show's decision to have a white male narrate a story about a young Indian-American female is still super irritating to me.  So not feeling it.  Otherwise, I like the show a lot. 

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Zima said:

The show's decision to have a white male narrate a story about a young Indian-American female is still super irritating to me.  So not feeling it.  Otherwise, I like the show a lot. 

FWIW, here’s the spin on Mindy Kaling making that choice: people.com/tv/john-mcenroe-narrates-mindy-kalings-netflix-show-never-have-i-ever

[Zima]

19 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

FWIW, here’s the spin on Mindy Kaling making that choice: people.com/tv/john-mcenroe-narrates-mindy-kalings-netflix-show-never-have-i-ever

Thanks for the info! I still hate it, lol! 

[EtheltoTillie]

Even after it was revealed as McEnroe, I kept thinking it was Seth Rogen!  Sounds so similar. 

[Paloma]

Based on Netflix's brief description of the show, I was going to give this show a pass because I thought it would be a silly teenage comedy of no interest to someone like me who is old enough to be Devi's grandmother. But I needed a new show to watch on the treadmill so decided to check out the first episode today, and I loved it! Someone mentioned above that it reminded them of Wonder Years and My So-Called Life, and I agree with that but maybe even more this reminds me of Freaks and Geeks, However, I remember all of those shows as being gently humorous and touching, even poignant, while Never Have I Ever is more laugh-out-loud funny. I hope future episodes are as good. 

Also, while recognizing that McEnroe doesn't have good narration skills, I remember his angry behavior on the court so his role here makes sense given Devi's tendency to explode in anger (as well as her father's admiration of McEnroe). I found his narration humorous.

I'm glad they are mostly using unknown actors because it is so distracting to me when I recognize someone who was memorable in another show--like Devi's friend who was in Santa Clarita Diet. Also, until I just looked her up, I thought Devi's mother was Indira Varma from Game of Thrones (and many other things).  

[Enginerd]

I think John McEnroe's extremely blunt, non-actorly narration is hilarious. Also, while I see the point about the intrusion of a white man into this Indian-American girl's story, I actually like that presence on the sidelines, because for basically forever, teen girls stories in particular have so typically been brushed off as frivolous and unimportant and only interesting for teen girls themselves. Doubly or more so for stories about minorities. Mainstream culture generally dismisses these narratives, while literature teachers and history books and politics and basically almost everything tells us that the stories and concerns of older men are Very Important and worthy of our time, no matter who we are.

So although it is a point that should never actually need to be made, this older white man following Devi's story and taking her seriously and empathizing with her emphasizes that this is not a niche show just for teens and just for minorities. It's a human story, and it's for anyone, like all such stories. Although I still would dislike it if the narrator were just any old white man, but that he's a hothead like Devi (and her mom) and has that connection with her memories of her father makes it make sense.

[tennisgurl]

That was a really cute first episode, I figured I would like this, as I like Mindy Kaling quite a lot, and the actress playing Dev is very effortlessly charming, but I didnt expect quite so much drama, and that it worked reall well. I like that she isnt always super nice or likable yet (one of her friends called her a sociopath) but you can see why she is acting like this after going through so much so quickly. I hope we keep seeing her dad in flashbacks, I am always happy to see Sendhil Ramamurthy, even if its as a ghost. 

John McEnroe as the narrator seems hilariously random, but when they explained it t became really sweet and I totally caught it. Of course, it helped that I too grew up watching tennis with my dad, who is also a McEnroe fan, temper tantrums and all!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I'm finally getting around to seeing this and I liked it about as much as I expected (but I like Mindy Kaling so I'm not surprised that I like this show).

It seems fitting that Devi's solution to finding a boyfriend/not being as much of a nerd is to assign each of her friends an attainable boy and then for each of them to have small assignments to work their way toward that goal.

I totally get why she was upset that Eleanor had kept her boyfriend a secret. When I was the same age, I made a friend who went to another high school. I introduced him to a friend who attended my school. The three of us would hang out on the weekends together. A few months later, I found out that they had been seeing each other behind my back. I had no interest in the boy as anything other than a friend so I wasn't bothered that they had started dating. I was hurt that they lied to me for months and snuck around behind my back (and since we already hung out together, the amount of lying and sneaking around they had to do so that they could see each other after we had just hung out together was complex). I had no idea why they felt they had to keep it a secret from me and that was what really hurt my feelings.

But I did laugh at Oliver's explanation as to why they had to keep their relationship a secret. As someone who did theater tech and was also in the spring musical, the whole techie dating one of the actresses as drama club scandal cracked me up (although I feel that I should add that at my high school, it was not a big deal for one of the actors to date someone on the crew - one year the girl who had the lead in the musical started dating one of the tech guys and no one cared or made a big deal about it).

I give Devi credit for being assertive. At that age, there are so many things in your life that you can't control so I liked that she found a few things that she could make her own decisions about and went after them. I was pleasantly surprised that she approached Paxton at all and without any fake reason (cue Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles in the hallway of the dance making up different excuses to talk to Jake Ryan).

But it does speak to her immature/self-centered teenage mindset that she interprets her cousin Kamala having an arranged marriage with "she gets to have a boyfriend and I can't get one." If she had taken even a second to notice her cousin's reaction, she would have realized that Kamala is not interested in marrying a stranger.

I really like Devi's therapist. Not only does she have good advice but she looked amazing in that sequin dress!

I really hope Devi doesn't end up with Ben, but knowing how much Mindy Kaling loves romantic comedies I'm expecting it.

Edited May 29, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[dubbel zout]

52 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I really like Devi's therapist. Not only does she have good advice but she looked amazing in that sequin dress!

The amazing, and criminally underused, Niecy Nash.

[possibilities]

I just binged this show, after listening to Kaling's "Fresh Air" interview with Terry Gross, on NPR. Apparently the interview happened a while ago, but I had missed it. 

I hated McEnroe because I think he's an abusive asshole who is being given a pass on his behavior as "cute"-- but then Mindy's explanation for using him changed my mind. 

I was very worried about the set up of the dad dying and her becoming temporarily paralyzed in the aftermath, because it sounded like another weird disability trope, where they are just using something like paralysis as a metaphor and not involving any real representation, but in the interview she says that actually happened to one of the writers, so I decided to let it go. I mean... you can't criticize people for telling a story they know nothing about when it's actually their own experience!

 

[SoMuchTV]

On 7/11/2021 at 12:40 PM, possibilities said:

I just binged this show, after listening to Kaling's "Fresh Air" interview with Terry Gross, on NPR. Apparently the interview happened a while ago, but I had missed it. 

I hated McEnroe because I think he's an abusive asshole who is being given a pass on his behavior as "cute"-- but then Mindy's explanation for using him changed my mind. 

 

I’m right there with you. I listened to the Fresh Air rerun while I was stuck in traffic a few days ago (who schedules construction during rush hour?!?!) and I decided to check it out. 

Why is John McEnroe’s voice so familiar? I know who he was but I don’t remember really hearing him speak.  Does he do commercial voiceovers? I want to say he sounds like the guy in the “nose blind” commercial. Or maybe some other laundry related stuff?

[Irlandesa]

11 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

Why is John McEnroe’s voice so familiar? I know who he was but I don’t remember really hearing him speak.  Does he do commercial voiceovers?

He does tennis commentary and he has appeared in commercials. I don't know if he has done voice overs in commercials.

[ZootSuitWyatt]

Might not help you, but he was on an episode of 30 Rock (his go-to in my mind is "WHY ISN'T THERE ANY GOOD ART IN HERE?").

[Scarlett45]

I’m late to this party but so far I’m enjoying the show. 
 

“Devi- are you lying to your mother and bringing shame upon a poor bird????”🤣🤣🤣

[ashleytylerjohn]

Just saw it for the first time, and really liked it, and even think have McEnroe narrate is hilarious, especially when forced to enthuse about teenaged boys' hotness ... but oh my God, he actually mispronounced the word "look," saying "Luke" rather than rhyming it with hook, brook, shook, etc.

Edited January 28, 2023 by ashleytylerjohn

[peachmangosteen]

8 hours ago, ashleytylerjohn said:

but oh my God, he actually mispronounced the word "look," saying "Luke" rather than rhyming it with hook, brook, shook, etc.

Isn't that how the kids say it these days though?