‘Never Have I Ever’ 3×05 Review: “… been ghosted”

Here’s the thing about being a teenager – everything is confusing. You can claim you have everything together, but you rarely do. Half the time you are doing things for the first time and half the time you are avoiding all of the things that have already broken you.

You’re figuring out who you are.

Devi is spiraling a bit, because Nirdesh hasn’t texted, even though he asked if he could. So what is the problem? Why is she experiencing this? Well, the first mistake she makes is she goes to Eleanor and Fabiola for advice.

While I do love Eleanor, her dramatics continue to be a lot. Half the time, I don’t even know if she believes the things that she says, or if she read it in some place and thinks that it’s a performance. Because the truth is, Eleanor seems to think that life is a lot of performance.

She tells Devi that she’s got dust on her sexual karma, basically, and she needs to get her groove back. Des is ghosting her, because maybe she is a ghost to him due to this.

Eleanor, lets be real. That’s some bullshit, but being in high school, we know the shit that Eleanor says gets to Devi. It makes sense because they are teenage girls and best friends know everything. I mean, my best friend, if she told me that the sky was pink, I would stand by that and defend her til the very end.

Eleanor suggests that Devi can get back on track by kissing someone. She suggests the perfect place for Devi to do some kissing and dust off her karma is by kissing someone at the drama event that night.

This should be interesting.

PAXTON WANTS MORE

Paxton is in college counseling and the principal tells him that he needs to be more well rounded. Clubs, Community Service, etc. But for him, he seems to think he’s above that.

I think that kids like Paxton will realize one day that the people that they thought were nerds or the things that were too good for them, in fact weren’t. It would be the things that help them grow.

The principal suggests that he work the drama club event, which I do believe is a great thing.

He decides to go to the drama club event and help that night, even though it’s the last place that he wants to be. It’s annoying that he acts as though he’s above things, but then again so did every popular guy that I met in high school so not shocked.

What I do love though is that the person that he ends up working with is Fabiola. Paxton is perceptive and notices that there is some tension between Fabiola and Aneesa. This means that Fabiola can finally speak about her feelings.

Paxton gives amazing advice to Fabiola, and hell, even though Paxton makes me crazy, he is able to give her confidence, which she so desperately needs. I do feel like this is important for Fabiola, because she’s definitely finding herself and starting to explore relationships.

Paxton giving her advice makes her have to think. It challenges her to face her feelings.

We’ve all known that Aneesa and Fabiola are having a hard time trying to figure out who they are and what they want. When life is that confusing, what are you supposed to do? You don’t want to be the person that speaks first and you don’t want to be the person that gets shot down.

Aneesa hasn’t really come to terms with what she’s feeling. Well, except her distaste for Ben.

BENS FEELINGS ARE SHOWING

So Devi has been trying to let loose, but her cock block at every turn happens to be none other than Ben Gross. We all know that Ben has feelings for Devi, but has seen everything as a reason why he can’t be with her.

But it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to be.

I don’t think that Ben hasn’t wanted to be with Aneesa, but I don’t think he should have been with anyone. Why? Because he wasn’t over Devi and didn’t understand why she wanted to be with anyone else. He was protecting himself. He wanted to keep his heart safe.

But he was selfish and didn’t think of Aneesa’s feelings. Anessa has gone through a lot and he put that to the side, versus taking it head on and making sure that he was in the space.

Aneesa does see what Ben wants though. He wants Devi. She’s hurt and she is angry. And she makes sure that Ben knows she’s annoyed.

THE KISSING

Devi explains to Ben what she’s doing and in what I believe is an effort to connect with Devi versus showing that he’s jealous of the thought of her being with anyone, these two make a bet that they’ll be the ones to kiss someone that night.

Ben – it doesn’t take long for him to get attention and for one of the drama girls to want to talk and be there for him. He claims he wants to keep his options open, but I do believe that what he is hoping is that the person that he will be kissing is Devi.

But she’s not showing that she cares and she’s just showing that she wants to kiss some rando. That rando, being Alejandro, the dorky guy with the smooth voice. Like all teenage girls, we get distracted by the singing voice.

It’s quite interesting what we can get distracted by when hormones are leading the way. Devi gets her kiss, and it does make her feel better, but I think it also makes her feel worse.

It makes her be able to talk to Paxton and for him to see that she’s over him. However, I don’t even think that he’s over her. He really liked Devi. He really wanted to be with Devi. And it’s gotta be difficult to keep guessing if you did the right thing. He’s got a new girlfriend, but it’s not the same. It’s not like Devi.

But I also believe that Paxton is growing and that’s part of what is keeping him second guessing. He’s made connections he never has before.

FABIOLA AND ANEESA

The principle has shut down everything and sent everyone home. Leaving, we see Fabiola and Aneesa walking out together.

The two have become close. Their friendship has been what has kept them propelling forward, even when it is something that they are trying to ignore. But you can only ignore feelings for so long.

As Fabiola tries to use the moves Paxton gave her, but Aneesa cuts her off quickly. She is blunt and asks if they should just be together, like date. Because they like each other.

I love that they are blunt and open. These two are so cute and I can’t wait to see how this all works out for them. They both deserve happy.

KAMALA AND THE NEW PLACE

While I don’t think that Kamala is doing the smart thing by moving out and finding her own way, I do think that it’s necessary for her to do. There comes a time in life, where we all have to find our own way.

We all have to accept what is and who we are. But sometimes finding who that is, means standing on our own. For Kamala, she needs to stand up for herself and find her own way and her own path. Because her path keeps getting interrupted by the needs of her family and she’s frustrated.

Granted she didn’t make the wisest choices when moving out. She ended up moving into an apartment complex of wanna be child actors. When she can’t get out of her lease, she realizes that maybe, even though this will be hard, it may be the best thing for her.

Sometimes that’s the hardest part – realizing that the hard things are the things that we really need to do. It doesn’t mean you’re going to have it easy, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to be alone.

Kamala is going to have family with her and that’s a beautiful thing. This family and their support of each other is a beautiful thing.