Never Have I Ever Loved Mindy Kaling More By Mckenziee Belton
M
indy Kaling’s latest show, Never Have I Ever, co-created by the incredible Lang Fisher, is funny, smart, and delves into the realities of being a teenager.
Devi, played by breakout star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, battles with what every teenager does: finding their identity. She decides with her two best friends that this year is going to be different and that they will be popular, but things get sidetracked as they are each dealing with their own obstacles. Devi struggles to grieve the loss of her father, Eleanor reconciles with her mother’s abandonment again, and Fabiola explores her sexuality, all of which adds layers of difficulty in understanding who they are and want to be. As with Mindy’s other classic shows (The Mindy Project, Four Weddings and a Funeral) and film projects (such as Late Night), her characters are deep and complex, and she peels additional layers back with each episode. Her magic is having the ability to make you hate a character, and then fall in love with them as you realize the reasons behind their flaws. Again she proves that you cannot judge a book by its cover. As someone who lost a parent in high school, I felt seen. While Devi and I grieved in very different ways, Lang Fisher did a fantastic job writing the show’s finale by conveying how complex grief is and its ability to show up at any instant. I loved the scene in an earlier episode where Devi thinks a coyote is the reincarnated version of her father. She has this sweet moment before it attacks her for getting too close. Symbolism quietly settles in after someone’s passing, and the way the writers were able to both make you remember her father in this sweet scene and then ground you back into reality in a humorous way brings a lightness to a difficult topic. Everyone handles grief differently, and it’s not something that can be easily translated on screen, but I applaud the writers for their ability to showcase it meaningfully. This series definitely felt more personal as it gave us a deeper look into some aspects of Mindy’s childhood. I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the incredible fashion done by none other than the great Salvador Perez. True Mindy Kaling fans know that he designed the looks in The Mindy Project, and Four Weddings and a Funeral. In Never Have I Ever, Perez is able to bring each character to life by highlighting different aspects of their personalities, such as having Eleanor show up in her Grandmother’s flapper dress 91
