I never really talk about this, but I used to watch Never Have I Ever — the Netflix show — and the character Devi, the protagonist, who was absolutely unbearable and someone you wanted to strangle most of the time, is genuinely one of my favorite characters from recent teen shows (or shows about teenagers, however you want to look at it) precisely because she was someone you wanted to strangle.
And you didn’t want to strangle her because she was stupid. You didn’t want to strangle her because she was a crybaby. You didn’t want to strangle her because she was weak. You wanted to strangle her because she was genuinely unbearable. Objectively unbearable.
She was incredibly narcissistic, full of insecurities, extremely self-centered, an only child and you can tell she’s an only child because she’s so focused on herself. She has a lot of trauma, she’s emotionally dysregulated a lot of the time, she clearly has psychological issues she struggles with, she goes to therapy, she sometimes treats her friends horribly, she makes terrible decisions, she’s obsessed with the popular guy, and in some ways she only wants him because he’s the popular guy and because she has idealized him. She has a complicated relationship with her lifelong rival… There’s just so much going on.
Devi is a terrible person sometimes. She’s a massive mess. She’s unpleasant because she’s unpleasant. She’s a difficult person to like. And that’s exactly what I loved about her.
I loved seeing a female character in a teen show who wasn’t the heart of the family, who wasn’t always the one taking care of everyone else, because she genuinely wasn’t. She was extremely self-centered, and she had problems with her friends because she was constantly stuck inside her own head. She also wasn’t just the girl who follows boys around like a puppy. Her relationships with men are actually incredibly dysfunctional because of her own insecurities. She feels jealous of girls who are prettier than her because she struggles with her own self-worth. She’s a character who is genuinely difficult to empathize with. And I love female characters who are difficult to empathize with because they feel much more realistic. Women can genuinely be like this, and media doesn’t show that very often.
Devi is not mature for her age. In fact, she’s extremely immature. And one of the things I love most is that, for example, Devi is the top student in her class. She’s incredibly hardworking, competitive, and obsessed with being the best. And normally that’s something I don’t relate to in characters because I was never academically driven, I’ve never been competitive, and I’ve never wanted to be the best at anything. But with Devi, I didn’t care, because Devi is so emotionally immature.
I really like that characters with this kind of profile are usually portrayed as being incredibly mature for their age because they’re focused on their studies and the things society considers “important.” But the show handles it differently. It’s like: yes, she’s extremely competitive. Great. That can be an amazing quality and it can help her in life. But it can also become deeply dysfunctional and toxic. It can even start bordering on narcissistic behavior. And, most importantly, being academically successful doesn’t automatically make you mature, because Devi is emotionally a complete disaster.
And that’s something I really appreciated.
Anyway, during this humble afternoon where I’m just rambling endlessly, I just wanted to say that I love this character and I really enjoyed that show.
