S03.E09: ...had an Indian boyfriend

[dubbel zout]

I'm going to keep the title spoiled for the fun of it. Added the title as the show has been out for a week at this point..

Quote

Watching Devi struggle with a painful memory, a nervous Rhyah orders Des to keep his distance. Paxton enlists Eleanor's help to break some news to Trent.

Edited August 20, 2022 by dubbel zout

[ProudMary]

Nalini really needs to open up to Devi more about how her grief over losing Mohan manifests itself. Devi's thinks she's crazy because she sees her Dad in random situations. I loved that she discovered that her Mom does too. Nalini has fought it for a couple of years now but she really does need grief counseling herself.

Rhyah, buh-bye. I feel sorry for Des. That woman is A LOT. Sarayu Blue did a good job with the character though. I've liked her in a few other roles and she was very good here.

[dubbel zout]

Nalini's telling Rhyah what's up was great, as was her followup talk with Devi. When the chips are down, Nalini always comes through.

"xoxo, John McEnroe." Hee.

[vibeology]

I knew Nalini was going to come through for Devi but it still made me cry. I just love their relationship. The love runs deep and the flaws are also very real. The fact that Rhyah thought she had Nalini wrapped around her finger was amazingly laughable. Nalini is always going to put Devi first. I do think she needs to talk more with Devi about her own grief journey but that's part of the real flaws.

[shapeshifter]

This season has had such consistently believable characterizations, that I was a little disappointed in Rhyah's development this episode.
Rhyah was so wonderful with Devi in the bathroom, but then that all kind of got cancelled. 
Rhyah has been more of a plot device than a real person.
I think it would've been okay if Rhyah might have told her son that Devi is still getting over the loss of her father and that he should be respectful of that or something, but I guess they wanted more drama in the breakup? 
IDK. 

Good job by the writers of resolving Ben's and Trent's issues. 

And, once again, good modeling with Trent and El (of emotionally healthy teen sex). 
I guess we didn't need the PSA on protection?

On 8/4/2022 at 2:34 PM, dubbel zout said:

I'm going to keep the title spoiled for the fun of it.

@dubbel zout, did you intend to change the title of the this thread to include "Indian Boyfriend" after it dropped?

[Irlandesa]

33 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Rhyah was so wonderful with Devi in the bathroom, but then that all kind of got cancelled. 
Rhyah has been more of a plot device than a real person.

I thought she was very real.  She saw herself as a good and compassionate person so it makes sense that she'd try to display that with a girl who is hurting.  But even in the very beginning, Des let it be known that she was judgy about his friends.  It was a throwaway line but it came roaring back in this episode.

Devi is good enough to be the daughter of her friend but she's not good enough to be the girlfriend to her son.  I think from the minute she walked in on them in bed, she was waiting to find a way to split them up.

[HappyBerry]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

  I think from the minute she walked in on them in bed, she was waiting to find a way to split them up.

Oh 100%, she was very willing to let Nalini be the bad guy and was quite disappointed when it didn't work.

Im sad for Des and Devi, but I have a hard time getting too sad about teenagers breaking up, it's sad for them but unlikely to have lasted anyway. But, I feel really bad for Nalini; making friends as an adult is hard and losing one sucks! She has shown as much growth as Devi has and I just want her to catch a break and get a good friend or a happy romance.

[dubbel zout]

10 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

On 8/4/2022 at 2:34 PM, dubbel zout said:

I'm going to keep the title spoiled for the fun of it.

@dubbel zout, did you intend to change the title of the this thread to include "Indian Boyfriend" after it dropped?

It amuses me to keep it spoiled. How do others feel? If enough posters want me to change it, I will.

[shapeshifter]

27 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

It amuses me to keep it spoiled. How do others feel? If enough posters want me to change it, I will.

After I watched this episode, it took a few extra seconds for me to find the thread.

But mainly it bugs me as a retired librarian and web editor for a college library. We tend to place a *lot* of importance on titles of things being listed correctly.

Edited August 17, 2022 by shapeshifter

[tennisgurl]

16 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Devi is good enough to be the daughter of her friend but she's not good enough to be the girlfriend to her son.  I think from the minute she walked in on them in bed, she was waiting to find a way to split them up.

Yeah, she clearly wanted them to break up the second she saw them making out, she just didn't want to be the bad guy. She in general seems like the kind of person who likes to look like a great person, but she is pretty judgey and two faced. Even in her first episode, she was going to drop her mother in law off after surgery until she started to too obviously fall, and she was complaining about how she wishes she could pick Des's friends. So she was great with Devi in the bathroom, but doesn't think she's good enough to actually be her sons girlfriend because of her "troubles" and can gush over Devi right after telling her son to dump her, and even then he didn't dump her so much as slowly ghost her. 

I really love Nalini and Devi's relationship, they have a lot of issues but they clearly love each other. Rhyah is ridiculous for thinking that Nalini could ever take her side over Davi's just because she gives her some mixed nuts. It sucks that Nalini lost a friend, but Rhyah clearly sucks. Feeling like you cant be loved because of terrible things that happened to you is an awful feeling, making someone feel that way is awful. 

Ben actually handled having to be the bearer of bad news really well, what are the odds that the "free bone" card comes back in the future? Maybe that will be how the show ends, Davi hands the card to Ben and they officially get together for real? Classic Chekov's bone. 

Dreams really do come true, I love that Trent and Eleanor ended up having the best relationship of the whole season.  

[Artsda]

Ryaha was a bad fake friend. Glad she's gone and good luck Des. You'll need it.

[Corgi-ears]

The show probably intended a larger critique of not only Rhyah, but Rhyah-types: it's no accident that her "job" (?) was in "wellness" (insert Nalini eyeroll), but she turned out to be all-too-ready to stigmatize Devi's mental wellness and health. I don't think the show went very hard in terms of expressing this skepticism of the wellness movement (or I wish it did), but it was kind of an interesting lurking critique.

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, Corgi-ears said:

The show probably intended a larger critique of not only Rhyah, but Rhyah-types: it's no accident that her "job" (?) was in "wellness" (insert Nalini eyeroll), but she turned out to be all-too-ready to stigmatize Devi's mental wellness and health. I don't think the show went very hard in terms of expressing this skepticism of the wellness movement (or I wish it did), but it was kind of an interesting lurking critique.

Yes. I think the writers did an excellent job of treading lightly with the topic of Nalini's medical science in contrast to Rhyah's not-so-science-y wellness approach. In the end, Rhyah was revealed to be a hypocrite with regards to her advice, but only when protecting her son's future was involved. Right? 

[possibilities]

I thought they showed her to be helpful with Nalini's mom when they thought she was having a heart attack, and also with Devi when Devi was melting down. 

But she was smug and annoying interfering with Nalini's protein bar, and she was shallow and cruel when telling her son to break up with Devi. 

It wasn't so much her professional behavior I think they were criticizing, but her personality. Those things might be corrollated, but then we've also seen mainstream medical professionals portrayed as asshole personalities, so it's not like that profession gets a bye, either. Nalini is not shown that way, but it's not rare (Dr. House is the worst, but not the only example).

She didn't respect Des's other friends, either. She said they ditched him when he says they didn't. So she's got a problem, and it seems to go beyond her attitude toward Devi or medicine.

[shapeshifter]

8 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I thought they showed her to be helpful with Nalini's mom when they thought she was having a heart attack, and also with Devi when Devi was melting down. 

But she was smug and annoying interfering with Nalini's protein bar, and she was shallow and cruel when telling her son to break up with Devi. 

It wasn't so much her professional behavior I think they were criticizing, but her personality. Those things might be corrollated, but then we've also seen mainstream medical professionals portrayed as asshole personalities, so it's not like that profession gets a bye, either. Nalini is not shown that way, but it's not rare (Dr. House is the worst, but not the only example).

She didn't respect Des's other friends, either. She said they ditched him when he says they didn't. So she's got a problem, and it seems to go beyond her attitude toward Devi or medicine.

Des is Rhyah's only child, right? That would tend to make a mom over-protective and overly defensive about that only child. 
And Devi is Nalini's only child. 
And, yes, both are in roles of professionals whom people consult for healing, which means as practitioners they need to always convey a level of confidence and authority.

That's a lot for a couple of B plots in a show to be woven into the main plot.

This show's writing really was exceptional. 

[festivus]

Lol at Fab."Is this seat taken?" You go girl, slide on in there. That cracked me up. 

[SoMuchTV]

On 8/17/2022 at 9:38 AM, dubbel zout said:

It amuses me to keep it spoiled. How do others feel? If enough posters want me to change it, I will.

On 8/17/2022 at 9:46 AM, shapeshifter said:

After I watched this episode, it took a few extra seconds for me to find the thread.

But mainly it bugs me as a retired librarian and web editor for a college library. We tend to place a *lot* of importance on titles of things being listed correctly.

It looks like you haven't gotten much feedback here, but I have to agree with shapeshifter.  It's the name of the episode, it's out there on Netflix and IMDB.  If TBTB wanted the theme of the episode to be a surprise, they wouldn't have put it in the title.  Maybe it's just me but I'm often annoyed by the inappropriate use of spoiler tags - either putting comments in spoiler tags that aren't spoilers at all, or putting spoilers about other shows in spoiler tags, but not indicating outside the spoiler that explains what it's a spoiler for (so you can decide whether or not to view it).

[twoods]

I appreciated the spoiler tags at the beginning because I wasn’t expecting Devi and Des to be a thing so soon so it was a nice surprise, but thank you for taking it off spoiler tags since it’s been out for a while.

Devi thinking she is messed up and unlovable broke my heart. She’s dealt with more than most teens her age and was wondering if it was just too much for someone to handle. Nalini’s “You’re never too much, and you’re always enough” line was perfect. Teenage heartache at its best.

Edited August 20, 2022 by twoods

[shapeshifter]

26 minutes ago, twoods said:

Nalini’s “You’re never too much, and you’re always enough” line was perfect.

Yes. I loved that line too.
 But my favorite exchange was:

• [DEVI]  ...I thought I saw Dad in the audience.
• [NALINI] That's okay. I see him everywhere.

[Paloma]

I alternated between laughing and crying (sometimes both at the same time) through the whole episode. This show has it all: great writing, great acting, and most of all great heart. 

On 8/16/2022 at 11:38 PM, Irlandesa said:

Devi is good enough to be the daughter of her friend but she's not good enough to be the girlfriend to her son.  I think from the minute she walked in on them in bed, she was waiting to find a way to split them up.

I think she started thinking of Devi as a problem much earlier, when Nalini explained why there was a wheelchair in the garage. Rhyah's face showed a combination of concern and dismay. Even if she didn't yet know that Devi and Des were romantically involved (I don't remember if they were involved yet, but I think there was already attraction), the wheelchair moment probably marked Devi as unsuitable girlfriend material for her son. 

[Scarlett45]

On 8/20/2022 at 7:13 PM, shapeshifter said:

Yes. I loved that line too.
 But my favorite exchange was:

• [DEVI]  ...I thought I saw Dad in the audience.
• [NALINI] That's okay. I see him everywhere.

I too loved that exchange. A fine bit of acting. 

[Niuxita]

On 8/16/2022 at 11:50 PM, HappyBerry said:

But, I feel really bad for Nalini; making friends as an adult is hard and losing one sucks! She has shown as much growth as Devi has and I just want her to catch a break and get a good friend or a happy romance.

Same. She seemed very content in that newfound friendship ("Shall we go find seats?" and her expression when Rhyah pulled out something for her to snack on, like it was the first time someone was looking out for her since Mohan). I don't understand, Kamala goes whole ass episodes without appearing and she still gets a love interest that in all likelihood will stick around. Why can't Nalini, arguably one of the show's central characters (being Devi's mom), be given the same courtesy? It just sucks because it retroactively tarnishes their entire friendship, since now we know that, apparently, Rhyah wasn't being genuine or didn't see Nalini as a real friend or whatever from the beginning.

That said, I loved the final Nalini/Devi scene (and Nalini sticking up for Devi with Rhyah earlier, plus Devi's shocked expression, like that was the last thing she was expecting 🥺). Those two are the main reason why I watch this show. Their evolution since season 1 has been a joy to watch.

There was something very Joey/Chandler-esque about Paxton and Trent's dynamic this episode, and it made me smile.