After its premiere on April 27, the new Netflix series “Never Have I Ever” quickly made Netflix’s Top Ten in the U.S. list, ranking sixth by April 28 and second by April 29. Seeing its growing popularity intrigued me, causing me to jump straight into my Netflix to see what it was all about. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but after watching the series, I understood love for the movie. 

“Never Have I Ever” draws viewers into the life of Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), a first-generation Indian-American teenager. Going into her sophomore year, Devi must navigate the complexities of romance, friendships and popularity while also dealing with her personal traumas. The series also goes into the personal lives of many other characters such as cousin Kamala (Richa Moorjani) and her best friends, Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez) and Eleanor (Ramona Young). 

The beginning of the series had a rocky start. It began to remind me of cringy teenage romantic comedy and made me start to think, “Here we go again.” However, after a few episodes, the storyline developed and gained depth. I became invested after that point and ended up blowing through the series in one day. Although a show should be well-rounded from beginning to end, the emotional pay off in the series made it worth fighting through the first three episodes. 

One thing that impressed me the most about this series is the depth and development of the characters. Each character had his or her own stories and personal struggles which had you rooting for them throughout the series. Although having all these converging stories at once may seem confusing, “Never Have I Ever” combined them all in a well-thought out way, so  the final outcome made perfect sense. 

Part of the reason this series stood out from others similar to it is that it didn’t try too hard. Often, series that represent minority groups or try to include progressive ideas tend to overemphasize the fact that they’re being “inclusive,” causing the series to be more offensive than welcoming. “Never Have I Ever” took a different path as they did not just focus on the one fact that a certian character was Indian or another character was gay, but showed that those aspects of their identities were not the only thing that defined who they were.

Another thing I loved about this series was the emotional pay off. I’m not going to lie, the final episode had tears rolling down my face as, throughout the series, I had gained so much empathy for the characters. Each character was unique and had their own stories, but I still found myself relating to each and everyone of them in different ways. Seeing them each come to their own happy endings was extremely satisfying, almost as if I had found my own happy ending with them. 

I can see why so many people have rated this movie so high. Although it has its awkward or cliche moments, the overall series was heartfelt and relatable. Don’t judge the series by the first three episodes. Trust me, it gets better. If you’re bored during quarantine, I recommend you check this series out.