I highly recommend Mindy Kaling’s Never Have I Ever and here are some takeaway romcom tips. If you haven’t watched it, watch it before you read below. It will make you laugh, cry, swoon and feel good at the end. Spoilers alert.

The Flawed Protagonist

One of the most brilliant things about Mindy Kaling’s Never Have I Ever is the character of Devi Vishwakumar, who is definitely flawed, but so appealing that you’re immediately rooting for her. She has a temper, which is why John McEnroe is her narrator (brilliant casting). She storms out on her friend Eleanor when she finds out Eleonor is dating someone and didn’t tell her, and then angrily throws a book out the window, breaking the window, admits that she’s jealous of her beautiful cousin Kamala. . . and this is all in the pilot episode. As she admits, she does not take the high road. She’s also refreshingly honest.

She’s also vulnerable and hurting because she idolized her father and he just died. And their scenes together always bring me near tears.

She’s also incredibly determined. Joining the hot boys lunch table takes guts.

And I love the whole Indian-American cultural aspect, especially the mom’s comments about America. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is an amazingly talented actress.

The Love Triangle

Never Have I Ever has a well-done romantic triangle. There’s the hot, but sensitive jock (Paxton Yoshida) vs. the nerdy smart guy (Ben Gross). And normally I would be all for the nerdy smart guy, but he was so awful in the beginning that I couldn’t get over that, especially because of his UN comment and how mean he is when he’s doing the school project with her friends.

Paxton is also very sweet. And I like that he doesn’t drink at parties during swim season. I liked how he apologized and was there for her on multiple occasions.

• when he comes over to her house to apologize that he wrongly freaked out about her meeting his sister. (He is very protective of his sister.) And he gives that glance back after they part.
• when she gets bitten by the coyote and he rushes out to pick her up and take her to hospital. (And then her mom is so mean to him.)
• When he tells her “you do you.” Which is kind of like Colin Firth’s statement “I like you just the way you are” in Bridget Jones.
• and the kiss in the car (which he even tells his sister about).

So, I will admit that I am Team Paxton and not Team Ben.

I was so disappointed when it switched to Ben Gross’s POV so that we would develop sympathy for him. But it did work, so that definitely gives tips for how to make someone likable again:

• have his parents completely abandon him. As he says, he’s Kevin in Home Alone, except his parents decide to stay in Paris.
• have his self-centered girlfriend ditch him
• show him being lonely
• make him cry when someone is nice to him
• have them work together as a team

And Ben’s behavior improves, especially when he offers her a place to stay when she has a falling out with her mom. And that car drive! So, I definitely saw his appeal. And I was less impressed with Paxton when they did the homework assignment together and his slogan wasn’t very good. And of course, Paxton often ignored Devi.

BUT I am still Team Paxton. And I can’t wait for Season 2 when presumably the love triangle tension will continue.

Or maybe I am just Team Devi.

The Antagonist

In many ways, Devi is her own worst enemy, but she’s a brilliantly developed character. And her fraught relationship with her mother, masterfully revealed, propels the plot.

Another takeaway is to give your character hard choices so that you test your character. I thought it was a tough choice when she has to choose between doing a favor for Paxton by modeling clothes for Paxton’s sister and being there for Eleanor. The right thing to do was to be there for Eleanor, but that’s not what she wanted to do.

Let’s Talk

Have you seen Never Have I Ever? I also love all the subplots (the mom’s, Kamala’s, Fabiola’s and Eleanor’s). What are your favorite scenes? Are you Team Paxton or Ben? And what romcom tips did you take away?