But for most other than Devi, this goes unmentioned the philosophy for the characters and, it appears, the show, is to attain the long-sought ideal of being “just a normal teenager” and expanding who gets to claim such a distinction. The show, which shares an aesthetic (and glittery, Spotify-ready pop soundtrack) with Netflix’s teen staple To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, takes a swift and mostly tacit approach to diversity in its young cast classmates have designated the trio of Devi, south-east Asian Eleanor and Afro-Latina Fabiola as “the UN”, and the makeup of Sherman Oaks High is refreshingly and conspicuously not just white, cis, able-bodied. Checklist in hand, she directs her two best friends, Eleanor (Ramona Young) and Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez), into cool-adjacent boyfriends and a 10-step popularity plan. The first few episodes are clunky, as Devi, in denial-steeled striver mode, directs or antagonizes characters seemingly identified by one joke: her cousin Kamala (Richa Moorjani), the beautiful “good Indian” doctorate student at CalTech, wide-eyed with America and preparing for arranged marriage insult-throwing academic rival and rich kid Ben (Jaren Lewison). Only the sight of her crush, swim-team boy and said stone-cold hottie Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet) – a layered mystery or stock jock character, depending on the scene – and the promise of a “rebrand” in sophomore year, zaps Devi back on her feet. The shock paralyzed her for three months (teenagers: not forgiving of the concept “psychosomatic”), forcing her to use a wheelchair. (McEnroe, for no reason seemingly beyond the fact they could get him, narrates the series.) “As you know,” she half-prays, “last year sucked for a number of reasons.” As abruptly revealed in what seems like a first-episode bit but is not, her beloved father – a sunny, unbridled presence in sepia flashbacks and dream sequences, and Devi’s only true best friend – died of a heart attack at her orchestra concert the year prior.
She’s also a master deflector, reeling, with a John McEnroe-style short fuse, from a massive loss. You’ll be like Zayn and Gigi,” she tells her friend as a boyfriend sales pitch). Devi is, needless to say, a virgin, and also an intelligent firebrand with a seemingly effortless command of power-points, witty barbs and topical-enough pop culture references (“Yeah, but he has a hot face.
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