|
Member
Forum Idol
Join Date: Jan 09, 2001
Posts: 124,493
|
Never Have I Ever's basic good TV storytelling is extremely hard to pull off
"For a comedy about awkward, messy teenagers, Never Have I Ever is astonishingly confident," says Joshua Rivera of Season 2 of the Mindy Kaling Netflix teen comedy she co-created with Lang Fisher. "In its second season, the Netflix comedy builds on a poignant, funny first season by continuing to nail a tricky balance between heartfelt realism and Disney Channel absurdism. It’s the kind of comedy that can delve into a tear-jerking meditation on grief in one scene, then seamlessly transition to over-the-top physical gags where a jock gets hit by a car. This balance makes it ridiculous, but also believable. It’s a comedy that’s hard to resist devouring in a single sitting, only partly because of incredible narration from tennis superstar John McEnroe." From Maitreyi Ramakrishnan's Devi on down, "Never Have I Ever’s characters are messy and raw in ways that feel true, even when they’re loud and elevated," says Rivera. "Devi is a bookish first-generation immigrant, but she’s also selfish and inconsiderate. She starts rumors, spies through a stranger’s skylight when she suspects her mom of going on a date, and tries to date both her crushes at the same time without either of them knowing. Devi is a hot mess, but her at times outlandish behavior is levied with moments that go straight for Friday Night Lights-level sincerity." Rivera adds: "Never Have I Ever takes its characters’ feelings seriously, and its writers work very hard to make sure the audience understands them. That way, when they do ridiculous things — like staging a marching-band apology performance, or trying to take two boys on a date to the same party, without alerting either one — viewers can laugh at the excess, but stay hooked because they understand. This is basic good TV storytelling, but it’s extremely hard to pull off. The approach needs everyone on both sides of the camera to agree about what to take seriously and what to goof off with. Never Have I Ever is one of the best shows on Netflix because it nails that balance, and showcases a high school that is nothing like high school, but still feels like it. It’s an appealing fantasy because it plays to such a familiar feeling. Part of the reason high school is tough is that it’s nothing like what the movies promised it would be. But what occasionally made it fun — and what Never Have I Ever recognizes — is the feeling that maybe, at any moment, it could be."
ALSO:
- Never Have I Ever still delivers in Season 2, but it needs to cut down on its "pileup of quirks" -- like John McEnroe's narration: "He was the plate of orange chicken on the table, invitingly tart but hardly necessary," Inkoo Kang says of the gimmick of using McEnroe to serve as narrator. But Kang adds that in Season 2, there is "more maximalism. Surprisingly, that’s not as bad as it sounds, with additions more suited to the show’s strengths," says Kang. She adds: "These story lines, building on the most compelling facets of Never Have I Ever’s first season, demonstrate that Kaling and Fisher have a robust grasp of what works, as well as which of their actors to lean on. But the duo are also too reluctant to jettison the components that no longer serve a purpose. (To their partial credit, Gears Brosnan does get a reduced role this time around.) The result is a follow-up season that, despite its greater narrative streamlining, feels crowded with characters and conflicts that make this otherwise sweetly horny, hijinks-fueled series feel bloated and weighed down. If there’s anything that adolescents or their parents know, it’s that sometimes the people you love the most are the hardest to be around. That insight is often the driving force of Never Have I Ever, which has a wholly believable narcissist at its center who chases away her mom, her friends and most reliably anyone who wants to get close."
- Never Have I Ever Season 2 continues to bring that perfect blend of heart and humor with a little sting underlying everything: "It’s hard to capture the magic of that first season, but Season 2 has something special all its own," says Kristen Lopez, adding: "It’s amazing what Maitreyi Ramakrishnan can do with this series. Because the sense of loss isn’t as overt as it was in Season 1, she’s having to play with far more complexity than before. Ramakrishnan has such a masterful control over not just her emotions but her facial expressions, whether that’s being surprised at Paxton’s attraction to her or her lingering worries that her mom believes she’s crazy. This season, Devi gets to evoke a more confident maturity and Ramakrishnan doesn’t hit big milestones but really illustrates the sense of growth over 10 episodes. Really, this season is about growth for all the characters, but it’s most compelling within Devi’s family."
- The good news is that Never Have I Ever's second season is just about as excellent as the first in every way: "Ultimately, a show is only as strong as its lead, and once again," says Carly Lane, "Ramakrishnan proves why she's the one to build an entire series around, not only in Devi's most ridiculous and chaotic moments (the show literally describes some of her wildest antics as 'pulling a Devi') but in the scenes that call on her to be quiet, vulnerable, and having to come to grips with the real emotions that drive her to make some confusing and (in true teen fashion) dramatic decisions."
- Comparing Chrissy Teigen vs. Gigi Hadid's narration: Advanced screeners featuring Teigen's voice narrating an episode focused on Paxton were sent out to the media before she stepped down in June in the midst her bullying controversy. Hadid was tapped as a last-minute replacement. "Except for Teigen’s mention of her Asian ethnicity, another commonality between her and Paxton, the voiceover remains almost exactly the same," says Lorraine Ali, adding: "And ultimately, the narrator swap does not take away from the story of the episode, much less change Paxton’s arc. The biggest different is tonal: Teigen’s voice was animated and playful, Hadid’s is cool and low-key. But even this transformation isn’t jarring within the context of the series — Teigen and Hadid both were, after all, playing themselves."
- If acting is Poorna Jagannathan’s calling, challenging stereotypes is her superpower: "She’s been poking holes in stock depictions of brown, Asian and immigrant women with smaller roles in TV’s most talked-about series for the better part of a decade: House of Cards, Better Call Saul, Big Little Lies, The Night Of, Ramy. Defending Jacob," says Lorraine Ali of Jagannathan. "But with Never Have I Ever, whose second season premieres Thursday, Jagannathan moves from the margins, where so many women of color continue to be relegated, to the center of the story. Jagannathan embodies much of what made Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher’s young-adult comedy about an Indian American high schooler a breakthrough series when it debuted last year, from its innate understanding and brilliant comedic manipulation of first/second generation culture clash to its nuanced portrayal of how grief, anger and fierce family love shape our lives. Nalini could have easily been a composite of stereotypes — an unyielding South Asian parent, a successful Indian doctor, a dutiful daughter-in-law. But in Jagannathan’s hands, she’s a refreshing representation of the realities behind cultural typecasting." Jagannathan says of playing Devi's mom: "The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. Yes, Devi is an overachieving, nerdy Indian American girl and Nalini is a tiger mom with zero capacity for finding middle ground. But they are all so much more than that. And that’s what makes this character so fulfilling to play. You see Nalini’s desires, her vulnerability, her grief alongside her relentlessly strict parenting. You see her as a three-dimensional person — something that American TV rarely affords minorities.”
- Never Have I Ever's Season 2 soundtrack features dreamy electro-pop songs and passionate bangers that get at Devi's brainy and thirsty sides
- Maitreyi Ramakrishnan admits "there is a little bit of pressure because you want to deliver" in Season 2: "Honestly, I had a lot of anxiety, and that’s not an exaggeration," she says. "I expressed all of these anxieties to Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher — and I love them so much, I don’t know how they deal with that — but they were like, 'Hey, you got this, you’re good. You are meant to be here. And if you sucked, we would tell you.' (I realized) I’ve got to trust the people that I trusted equally in Season 1 when I had no idea what all the technical terms meant when it came to filming. I’ve just got to trust that people will be looking out for me, especially Mindy and Lang. They would never let me look dumb or do a bad job. I was also sick and tired of just being anxious. I wanted to just have fun, like I did with Season 1 — have fun with the cast and just live in the moment." How has Ramakrishnan seen herself grow as an actor? "Oh my God, the crying," she says. "Just bam, all tears are real. All tears that you see, are just real sad boy tears. Just trusting my instincts when it comes to crying, but also my comedic instincts, when it’s physical comedy or just the line delivery. I trust those gut feelings, saying, 'OK this is gonna be funny. Let’s actually try it, just go for it.'"
- Ramakrishnan on filming Season 2's coyote scene: "When Devi first sees the coyote in the tomato garden, that was both of us but it was from a distance," she says. "It wasn't too close, we just make it look close." Ramakrishnan says she did get to pet the coyote.
Never Have I Ever Season 2 explores a painfully familiar experience for young people of color
"The moment feels startlingly, painfully familiar. In the fourth episode of the new season of Never Have I Ever, our charmingly hotheaded protagonist Devi is stopped in her tracks when she is faced by a horrifying sight: another Indian girl has arrived at her school. Worse yet, she looks pretty and cool," says Brandon Yu of the addition of Megan Suri as Aneesa, adding: "We see in Devi’s eyes, a complicated look: one of threatened panic, rooted in a sense of mutual identification...The tension Devi immediately feels is a reflection of a very specific phenomenon that is common to most people of color who have been surrounded by people that don’t look like you — the feeling of entering a classroom, or any room, in which there is just one or two 'others' like you. The energy — an unusual mixture of wariness, of hostility, but also perhaps of comfort and warmth — that links you can be immediately palpable, even if others might not notice. In this case, others certainly do...It’s a funny joke that also distills a viscerally uncomfortable truth. Within this brief moment of sizing-up the one other Indian girl, there is a maelstrom of conflicting implications and emotions, from resentful admiration to a confusion of the innate racial dynamics of high school’s social hierarchies. How is it that this girl can bulldoze through the school upon arrival, piercing through the ceiling of popularity as an Indian girl, while Devi has rather faithfully accepted and cultivated her role as an archetypal high-achiever? Aneesa, Devi seems to think, isn't sticking to the script."
ALSO:
- Never Have I Ever stars found the overwhelmingly positive response to Season 1 both moving and shocking: “I don’t think any of us knew that it was going to take off in such a big way,” says Richa Moorjani, who plays Devi’s cousin, Kamala, in the series. “First of all with stories like these we never get to tell them or make it past the written pilot stage let alone getting picked up straight to series.” Poorna Jagannathan, who plays Nalini, adds: “We’ve been talking about representation for a long time. This show is radically diverse and radically authentic yet radically universal. When you imagine something and it comes into being, it’s much more joyful and amazing and beautiful then you ever thought it could be. And it gives us all so much purpose.”
- John McEnroe admits narrating Never Have I Ever is "fatiguing mentally": "The first year, it was at recording studios in New York and L.A.," he says of working as narrator. "This season, it was all Zoom. It’s weird work, narration. Luckily, I don’t do it that much because you want to get it right so badly that you got to keep at it, keep that focus and intensity. Then they’ll be like, 'Your voice sounds a little scratchy, maybe we should take a break?' Yeah, no kidding! You do it really hard for a day and then you sort of take a break. I’ve never done more than two episodes in one sitting. I guess it’s easier than a lot of things, but it’s sort of fatiguing mentally." McEnroe says he's learned from his wife, he singer Patty Smyth, that water is important for keeping your voice right.
- Meet Megan Suri: Never Have I Ever's new addition is coming from Netflix's Atypical
Never Have I Ever is a great teen comedy that would be even better if it ditched the frustrating voiceovers
Gigi Hadid voicing the inner thoughts of heartthrob Paxton Hall-Yoshida -- in place of Chrissy Teigen -- "quickly proves just as flat and unnecessary as (John) McEnroe’s, exposing a frustrating flaw in an otherwise very entertaining teen comedy," says Caroline Framke. The gimmick of McEnroe doing voiceover paid off in Season 1 on an emotional level, says Framke. "Pressing play on the second season, though, I was rather hoping not to hear McEnroe’s voice," says Framke. "After hearing him try to express teenage excitement over the course of 10 episodes, it became clear that his commentating career didn’t necessarily prepare him for one in voiceover, a specific and trickier than meets the eye form of performance that requires more nuance than McEnroe’s flat affect ever grasps. The difference between an actor who knows how to narrate and a person enlisted for the fun of it becomes even more stark in '…been the loneliest boy in the world,' an episode that trades Devi’s inner monologue for that of her school rival Ben (Jaren Lewison), whose pithy voiceover came courtesy of comedian Andy Samberg. At the very least, the Never Have I Ever scripts are self-aware about the jarring clash between the characters and their narrator counterparts. As aforementioned, Hadid immediately admits that she might seem a strange choice to narrate Paxton Hall-Yoshida’s life. Just about every episode sees McEnroe point out how weird it is that he’s the one telling Devi’s story, whether literally or by reacting to her adolescent misadventures with a world-weary sigh. But even these winky moments don’t make up for the inherent disconnect between Devi and her thoughts as relayed by McEnroe. The show can give him a million jokes to milk the oddity of his presence, but he still has to deliver them with something like finesse. The real reason it’s so frustrating to listen to one-note narrators like McEnroe and Hadid, though, is that they’re ultimately unnecessary. Voiceover can be an effective TV tool when used right, but it more often ends up an obvious shortcut for writers to say exactly what their characters are thinking and feeling without letting their viewers figure it out for themselves."
ALSO:
- Devi Vishwakumar is the perfect anti-hero: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan's character "is one of the great anti-heroines of the teen comedy-drama genre and the second season of Never Have I Ever solidified it," says Princess Weekes. "Season two of Never Have I Ever came out this weekend, and we were returned to the complicated world of fifteen Devi Vishwakumar, a brilliant Indian girl with a penchant for drama, anger, and not making the best choices for herself." Weekes adds: "Never Have I Ever… is engrossing. Without meaning to, I ended up binging the entire series and being completely enthralling with the bad decisions that Devi was making. There is always this lingering knowledge that Devi knows she is making the harder choice, but she is doing it because manipulation comes more naturally than being genuine. She is always eager to apologize and will go above and beyond. Still, that never stops her from just making the right call at the beginning."
- The Devi-Aneesa rivalry is the most compelling aspect of Season 2: "There's always been an unspoken paradox of sorts for women, people of color and all marginalized identities, who are often the one, token member of their community in a number of settings," says Kylie Cheung. "Being the only person who represents your community in any given space can be exhausting and lonely — yet, when other members of your community do join you in the space, their presence can feel like a threat, or competition, mostly because traditionally white, male spaces offer so few spots to anyone who's different from them. We've seen echoes of this on The Simpsons when overachiever Lisa Simpson feels threatened by a new girl who is better at everything – school, the saxophone and even dioramas – that Lisa feels makes her unique. And in Kaling's other sitcom, The Mindy Project, her gynecologist character attempts to distance herself from another Asian female candidate going up for the same job. In the case of Never Have I Ever, Devi immediately tries to downgrade Aneesa's social clout with insults and gossip, beginning with her humorously hypocritical comment, 'I get sort of a self-hating Indian vibe from (Aneesa). I bet she doesn't have any Indian friends.' Devi, of course, has none herself."
- Never Have I Ever works because Devi isn't there to serve as "cultural dressing on a white bread sandwich": "Never have I ever felt so seen by a television show – seen in all of my cross-cultural, problematic, uncomfortable, funny, sad, angry glory," says Zoya Patel. "Never Have I Ever follows Los Angeles teen Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), who is navigating all the usual trials and tribulations of being a teenager: dating, identity, popularity, and the demands of her family and cultural life. Devi is Indian-American. But Devi is also so much more than that – she’s obnoxious, precocious, principled, funny, insecure, sweet, and hopelessly out of control when it comes to her emotions. Devi is Indian but she is also a person, not a caricature of an Indian migrant, there to serve as cultural dressing on a white bread sandwich. While Kaling doesn’t shy away from bringing culture into the story – Devi’s cousin Kamala is in the throes of navigating an arranged marriage set-up; Devi has her textbooks blessed at the mandir, which she also attends for Ganesh puja – it isn’t the defining and only driving force behind the show. Instead, much like myself and every other second-generation South Asian migrant I know, Devi’s cultural background is one element of her broader personality and life, which doesn’t in any way detract from or alter her experiences of adolescence as a teen in the western world."
- Common on joining Never Have I Ever after being a fan: "Last year when everything stood still, I started watching a few shows," he says. "A friend of mine told me to watch Never Have I Ever. It was touching my heart. I watched at least the first five episodes (immediately) and then I couldn't wait to watch the next ones. I was really impacted by how good I felt watching it. It had a lot of things that I love in movies and great TV shows...Yeah, it makes you feel good. I needed that in my life, and I need it now in my life. I can remember the last scene (of Season 1) of Devi going to the ocean, that really was moving to me. Some of the lessons and things she was dealing with, it hit on the truth but it also was very feel-good and inspiring." Common recalled hearing from his manager about Mindy Kaling wanting to meet with him about a part. "I got super happy, I was telling my friends who watched it, 'I might be on Never Have I Ever!," he says. "It was sincere joy. I really wanted to be a part of the world and deliver something that was what they envisioned about the character but also give it some other nuances and give him some more heart."
- Jaren Lewison discusses the Season 2 finale
- Maitreyi Ramakrishnan discusses the final episodes of Season 2
- Mindy Kaling on the season finale: "I've watched enough romantic comedies that it's not interesting unless it's constantly shifting and changing"
Never Have I Ever fans are distracted by Paxton Hall-Yoshida being played by a 30-year-old
Darren Barnet may play a 16-year-old high school student on the Netflix teen comedy, but in real life he recently entered his 30s. One Twitter user complained that Barnet being so old "sets such unrealistic expectations for young/teenage boys on how they should look like.”
Never Have I Ever is TV's best teen show because it aims for relatability over sensationalism
"It’s a tricky feat to be as sweet but also as smart and observant as Netflix’s Never Have I Ever," says Kevin Fallon. "That’s important praise because of the fact that it actually feels like you’re watching teenagers and their bubble-boiling lava field of emotions, anxieties, and mistakes unfold on screen. And it’s done without losing the television filter—wittier dialogue than anyone would ever actually speak, slightly exaggerated circumstances—that makes watching TV, well, fun. It’s kind of funny that the second season of Never Have I Ever came out last weekend amidst what seems to be Gossip Girl reboot mania. The two series are like polar opposites of the teen TV spectrum. There’s always been pop-culture tension between teen soap provocateurs like Gossip Girl—and The OC, Dawson’s Creek, and Beverly Hills, 90210 before it—and the more grounded fare, sometimes dismissed as juvenile, like Never Have I Ever." Fallon adds: "Real and relatable are interesting concepts when it comes to teen series. While Never Have I Ever doesn’t shy away from the realities of partying, sexually active teens, it’s hardly the pearl clutcher that’s become the de facto depiction of Gen Z on TV in the likes of Riverdale, Euphoria, Generation, or, now, the Gossip Girl reboot. Is it more realistic to portray teenagers as having narcotic-fueled orgies in between sneaking into clubs, lying about their ages on sex apps, and throwing raves so gritty and depraved you’d think you accidentally turned on a Tarantino movie? Or is the sunny universe of Never Have I Ever—or, in a similar vibe, Netflix’s Sex Education—a more informative reflection of the times? As if the youths weren’t already terrifying enough, the impossibility to discern an accurate picture through pop culture makes them all the more intimidating." ALSO: Never Have I Ever is a s how about nerds that doesn't do justice to nerd culture.
Never Have I Ever offers one of the best depictions of dealing with grief
"Grieving and experiencing loss can indeed be overwhelming, and sometimes we just want to escape from it, even just for a while," says Reyzando Nawara, who recalls losing an uncle suddenly 10 months ago. "I understand this very well. There are times when I talk to a lot of people or get deep into dating apps just to distract myself from my grief. There are also times when those interactions become unhealthy and very codependent. Never Have I Ever has shown me that those distractions and my desire to cling to normalcy do not actually equal healing. Instead, the healing process can only begin when we open up and acknowledge our pain. No matter how many times we try to avoid our grief, it will eventually catch us if we keep leaving it unresolved. For two seasons, Never Have I Ever has shown us the dire repercussions of unprocessed grief and untreated trauma—how it can intensify our worst traits without us even realizing it, and how loss can morph into an abandonment fear. The show may be a cheesy teen rom-com on the surface, but deep down, it’s a show that makes me understand myself. Most of all, it makes me want to apologize to everyone I hurt along the way while also forgiving myself. Devi’s journey of healing herself is far from over, and so is mine, and I’m sure there will be times when things get hard again. But with Never Have I Ever, at least I know that I’m not dealing with this alone.
|
06-10-2021, 04:07 PM
Netflix Sets "Never Have I Ever" Season 2 for July 15th
