Pilot is the first episode in Season 1 of Never Have I Ever and the first episode overall.
Synopsis[]
After recent trauma, Devi starts her first day as a high school sophomore determined to shake off old labels and finally become cool.
Plot[]
Devi Vishwakumar is an Indian-American girl that's about to start her sophomore year. She prays that after a traumatic year, she'll have thinner hair, a hot boyfriend and be popular. The previous year, at an orchestra night at school, her beloved father died from a spontaneous heart attack. Then a week later, while Devi was swimming, her legs randomly stopped working and she was in a wheelchair. As result, she has a limited group of friends in Fabiola, captain of the high school robotics team, and Eleanor, president of the drama club. Moreover, Devi also has a crush on Paxton Hall-Yoshida and when she saw his face at the mall one afternoon, she suddenly was able to walk again.
During the first day of her sophomore year, Devi tells her best friends that they need to rebrand to get boyfriends. She arranges who they should date and makes them sit next to their "targets", suggesting that she's slightly a control freak.
Devi also has a nemesis called Ben Gross who is irked by Devi flirting with the "in-the-closet" Jonah. As it turns out, Ben gave a nickname for Devi's group — the UN — and Devi believes he named them that as a racist term because they are diverse and academically inclined. But she later finds out from Ben that it really means "unf****able nerds."
At night, Devi has a dream about her father showing her his favorite tennis player John McEnroe. She cries and asks her father if she's ugly. Her father tells her to fight back at Ben Gross and stand up for herself like John McEnroe at the umpire. She then wakes up, distraught that it was all a dream.
The next day, she goes to school with a new look as she's "dressing hot" now. Devi and Ben start clashing in class again so they are sent to the principal's office and handed punishment tasks.
While doing the tasks, Devi catches Eleanor with her secret boyfriend Oliver Martinez and as it turns out, Fabiola already knew.
Devi is angry, feeling that she's the only one in the group who cannot get a boyfriend. She goes home and throws a book through the window and then tries blaming it on a bird to her mother. She then marches straight to her therapist, Dr. Ryan, spilling out what happened.
The therapist tells Devi that having a boyfriend isn't necessarily going to change anything and that she needs to focus on something that will make her feel good about herself.
Devi takes her therapist's advice very literally and introduces herself to Paxton. She admits to having a crush on him and asks if he would consider having sex with her. He surprisingly says yes and they shake hands on it.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi Vishwakumar
- Richa Moorjani as Kamala Nandiwadal
- Jaren Lewison as Ben Gross
- Darren Barnet as Paxton Hall-Yoshida
- John McEnroe as the voice of The Narrator
- Poorna Jagannathan as Nalini Vishwakumar
Guest Starring[]
- Ramona Young as Eleanor Wong
- Lee Rodriguez as Fabiola Torres
- Sendhil Ramamurthy as Mohan Vishwakumar
- Adam Shapiro as Lyle Shapiro
- Niecy Nash as Dr. Jamie Ryan
- Cocoa Brown as Principal Grubbs
Co-Starring[]
- Martin Martinez as Oliver Martinez
- Dino Petrera as Jonah Sharpe
- Markus Jorgensen as Boris Kozlov
- Gilberto Ortiz as Alex Gomez
- Mark Collier as Andy
- Andrew Fromer as Bike Guy
- Benjamin Norris as Trent Harrison
- Royal Patel as Six-Year-Old Devi
- Siri Hiremath as Ten-Year-Old Devi
- Peter James Smith as Mr. Chan
- Ryan Christopher Lee as Kid
Quotes[]
| “ | We are glamorous women of color who deserve a sexy high school life. | ” |
| — Devi to Eleanor and Fabiola |
| “ | People were still staring at me. They all think I was faking being paralyzed. Why would I fake that? Because it's such a cool look to have your cousin help you onto the toilet? | ” |
| — Devi to Dr. Ryan |
| “ | Woah, Devi, you look like an Indian Kardashian. | ” |
| — Fabiola to Devi |
| “ | Well, I know I did a good job. Get a load of sexy flapper girl. (DRAMATICALLY) My grandmother died in this dress. | ” |
| — Eleanor to Devi and Fabiola |
| “ | Shut up! My dad's hot. | ” |
| — Ben |
| “ | Look who it is. Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Idiot. | ” |
| — Principal Grubbs to Ben and Devi |