Never Have I Ever – Season 4 Episode 4 Recap & Review

…wrecked my future

Episode 4 of Never Have I Ever Season 4 starts with Devi and Ethan being all over each other at school. Being a bad boy, Ethan mostly does not respect the teachers but he sure does rock Devi’s world! Devi tells her friends that she’s finally happy with how her personal and academic life is turning out.

At school, Devi tells Ethan that she will not be seeing him for the rest of the day since it’s College Fair that day. Professor Warner tells Devi in private that being with a bad boy like Ethan will not look good for her on college applications. She tells Devi that Ethan will probably be holding her back and asks her to be wary of romantic relationships clouding her judgement.

Meanwhile, Fabiola’s mother meets Professor Warner to discuss Fabiola’s college applications. Knowing that Devi wanted to go to Princeton, Fabiola wanted to keep herself from applying to college for the sake of her friend. Fabiola’s mother argues that she should worry about her future and still apply even if Devi had already called dibs on the college.

At the Vishwakumar house, Paati drives Kamala back from her Lasik surgery while Nalini leaves the two at home before going to work. At Sherman Oaks, Devi and Fabiola are excited to have a chat with their favourite college representatives. Devi tells her friends that Professor Warner believes Ethan is bad for Devi.

Eleanor and Fabiola call Ethan a bad person who’s just good for Devi to have fun with but Devi refuses to believe that. Professor Thompson tells Paxton that they were the only two professors left behind after school to supervise the college fair. He does not appreciate the fact that the senior students were being mean to her. Devi tries to talk to the representative for Princeton and is happy to see that she was an Indian woman named Akshara.

However, seeing that there’s a long queue waiting to talk to her, Devi cuts the line and talks about her merits. Akshara does not approve of Devi’s behaviour and cuts her off. Devi offers to go back in line but Akshara asks her not to. In his line to talk to the Columbia University representative, Ben starts getting nervous and has a panic attack. Devi leaves the College fair to meet Ethan and tells him about the issue with Akshara.

Ethan offers to slash Akshara’s car tires to teach her a lesson for hurting Devi. Devi goes back to the fair and begs Akshara to give her a chance. Akshara agrees to talk to Devi over lunch and the two finally start getting on good terms. There, Ethan sneaks up on them and praises Devi in front of her. At home, Paati had left Kamala home alone with Len. Kamala finally starts growing closer to Paati’s boyfriend but eventually thinks that he’s cheating on Paati with some other woman.

At school, Ben meets Margot to calm himself down. She asks Ben to be more like himself but this gets him to panic even more. Ben ends up getting paint all over his shirt. He rushes to his locker to look for a spare shirt but finds none. Devi, who is also at the locker, offers her shirt to Ben in order to help him. Devi tells him that she knew it was Ben who decided not to talk to her but still wanted to help him.

Ben, despite being pissed at Devi, wears the shirt. Fabiola tells Eleanor that she has already talked to Harvard and Yale which means that she only needs to collect a brochure for Princeton to please her mother. While talking to Akshara, Fabiola discovers that Princeton really does have a great robotics programme.

Meanwhile, Ben finds the courage to talk to the Columbia University representative and it turns out great for him eventually. Devi is making out with Ethan when she learns that Ethan had robbed Akshara’s wallet. He tells Devi that Akshara had wronged her and deserved to be punished for it. Devi finally comes to her senses and tells Ethan that she’s breaking up with him.

Devi decides to return the wallet to Akshara and confesses that Ethan had stolen it. She apologises to Akshara about Ethan’s behaviour and reveals about the break-up. Akshara is impressed with Devi’s honesty despite the chances of being reported for it. At school, Paxton talks to Trent about being walked all over by the seniors who used to worship at his feet when he was a senior.

Trent hypes his best friend up which leads Paxton to confront the senior. Paxton warns the student and threatens to punish him if he messes with Paxton again. While this is going on, Ben, Devi and Fabiola send in their early applications to college. However, the episode ends with Fabiola’s mother forcing her to send in an application to Princeton.

The Episode Review

I am not sure what is going on between Nalini and Mr Ramos but it does look like she is into him which explains the sudden spurt of renovations around the Vishwakumar house. As much as I feel bad for Paati being cheated on, I hope that Kamala has misunderstood Len. It is possible that the old woman will be too heartbroken after Len’s betrayal that she may decide never to give relationships a chance again.

The fact that Devi feels no sexual tension for Ben is reassuring but with her breakup with Ethan, and Ben clearly having some sort of feelings for her, I can see that the two might get together again. I really wish the makers hadn’t portrayed a Latino character like Ethan as a bad person and thief because there is already a stereotype around the Latino community, which is amplified through such characters.

Knowing that Fabiola is also interested in Princeton now, I really wish she would be honest with Devi from the start and explain how her mother was forcing her to apply. Knowing how Fabiola and Eleanor have supported Devi over the years, it is crazy for them to keep things from Devi knowing how things end up spiraling when they are not being honest with one another.