Never Have I Ever season 4 premiered on Netflix on June 8, 2023 and has been enjoying high success on the platform. The show spent some time as the streamer’s number one TV show in the United States. It has since been knocked from the top spot by the new season of Black Mirror, but it’s still expected to hang out in the top 10 for some time.
Meanwhile, the season has received praise for providing a satisfying conclusion to the series. Never Have I Ever season 4 follows Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), now a high school senior, as she works towards getting into her dream college and navigates her complicated feelings towards long-time friend/rival Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison).
However, most critics and fans have acknowledged that it’s not a perfect season. It simply struggles to live up to prior seasons of the series, which have been as close to perfect as a TV show can get. That isn’t to say it’s a bad season; it’s just lacking a little bit of its usual charm and emotional depth. Its biggest issues are being too rushed and too predictable. After the first episode, viewers will already be able to tell where Devi will go to college and who she’ll end up with. This doesn’t make the season less enjoyable, but it does put a damper on some of the excitement and suspense.
The feeling of the show being rushed, though, is a big problem in season 4. It has plagued other seasons of Never Have I Ever, too, simply because it has such a big cast and can rarely fit all their storylines neatly into 10 episodes. Hence, some rushing is always inevitable, but this is the first season that completely sidelines some pretty major characters due to being short on time.
Kamala (Richa Moorjani) is largely sidelined, as her role is reduced to meddling in a family member’s relationship, while the romances of Dr. Nailini (Poorna Jagannathan) and Nirmala Vishwakumar (Ranjita Chakravarty) are rushed through with dizzying speed. In fact, not only do some characters get sidelined or rushed storylines, but some actually just disappear from the show without a trace.
Fans perplexed by character disappearances in Never Have I Ever
The two major characters who seemingly disappear in Never Have I Ever season 4 are Megan Suri’s Aneesa Qureshi and Michael Cimino’s Ethan Morales. Aneesa’s disappearance is especially perplexing because she has been a prominent recurring star in the series since season 2. It didn’t take long for her to become a fan favorite, with her maturity, charm, humor, and sweet personality. She forgave Devi for starting a terrible rumor about her, dated Ben, and navigated her sexuality with Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez). Hence, it was expected that she would play a big role in season 4, too, perhaps finally also finding her soulmate and disclosing her college plans.
However, Aneesa barely appears in season 4. She largely becomes a background character and has no story arc of her own. Every once in a while, she can be seen sitting with Devi and her friends and occasionally drops a casual comment. While the college decisions and general plans of nearly all the major characters are revealed, viewers are left without even the smallest hint of where Aneesa will end up after high school, and she’s one of the few characters left without a partner. Fans have taken to social media to express their disappointment at her minimal role in season 4.
Meanwhile, Ethan also performs a baffling disappearing act, considering he starts out as one of the main characters in season 4. He’s the new resident bad boy of Sherman Oaks High and becomes Devi’s new boyfriend. When he nearly ruins her chances of getting into Princeton by robbing one of the college’s reps, though, Devi breaks up with him halfway through the season. Then, he literally disappears—as in, we don’t see or hear of Ethan for the remainder of the series. We have no clue what happened to him. Did “Crazy Devi” dispose of him? Did he get kicked out of Sherman Oaks? Is he in jail? Despite being a “bad boy,” he isn’t as bad a person as Devi initially believes him to be. He just seems misguided, and fans aren’t happy they’ve been robbed of an actual ending to his story.
Why did Ethan and Aneesa disappear?
There’s no official explanation for Ethan’s and Aneesa’s disappearances. It seems they were characters meant wholly to be plot devices to develop other major characters and then bowed out when their purpose was served. One possible reason for the rushed Never Have I Ever season 4 is cost-cutting measures. A lot of streamers and networks are outright canceling shows in alarming numbers these days. Even the ones that survive are beginning to show the effects of budget cuts.
For example, both The CW’s Superman & Lois and Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy recently received season 4 renewals, but for seasons with noticeably fewer episodes than usual. Additionally, Superman & Lois will be cutting much of its cast due to budgeting. Hence, it wouldn’t be surprising if Aneesa’s and Ethan’s disappearances had something to do with budgeting, too.
It’s becoming common for shows to feature no more than 10 episodes per season. While it may be more cost effective for studios, time constraints do take a noticeable toll on storytelling quality.
(via The Independent, featured image: Netflix)
