Never Have I Ever majorly shortchanged Aneesa with her season 3 storyline
The teen comedy took Aneesa's love life in a surprising yet delightful direction in season 3, before completely forgetting about her.
Whether it's Sex Education or Heartstopper, the teen comedy genre continues to go from strength to strength – particularly on Netflix, which introduces a new cast of up-and-comers, brightly-coloured costumes and addictive love triangles every few years.
However, the problem often faced by school-based shows is that when writing for a large ensemble of teens, there are always going to be a raft of secondary characters left stranded in storyline purgatory, abandoned and neglected when they're no longer needed for the plot. Unfortunately, Never Have I Ever is the latest to fall victim to this teen comedy curse.
The Mindy Kaling series returned for its third season last week, taking fans back to Sherman Oaks High where protagonist Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) originally set out to find a boyfriend – and by the season 3 premiere, it seems she's done exactly that, strutting through the school halls with Paxton (Darren Barnet) on her arm.
With Devi loved up, the show was able to turn its attention to the lives of her best friends, including Aneesa Qureshi, a popular season 2 addition played by Megan Suri. While Aneesa starts the season with Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison), doubts about their compatibility slowly creep in and after an unexpected but passionate kiss with Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez), the two develop feelings for one another and become an official couple.
What was an exciting development in both Aneesa and Fabiola's stories – and new representation amongst people of colour and the LGBTQ+ community – was unfortunately short-lived. As soon as Devi's love life returned to its default position of chaos, Aneesa and Fabiola discovered that they were better off as friends, while Fabiola decides to explore a connection with Addison (Terry Hu), Nirdesh's non-binary friend.
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Unsurprisingly, many fans weren't too happy by the writers' decision to abruptly bring #Fabeesa to an end after the couple's sparkling chemistry became a delightful left turn for the show to make. However, a lot of the outrage was directed at Aneesa's disappearing act following the break-up. Once she had friend-zoned Fabiola, Aneesa seemingly vanished from the show as season 3 focused back on Devi and her new relationship with Nirdesh.
Not only did the destruction of Fabiola and Aneesa's romance sway slightly into queer-baiting territory (the idea that creators hint at but do not actually depict LGBT+ or same-sex romance) but it did a huge disservice to Suri's character, with Aneesa never getting the opportunity to unpack her sexuality or process the fact that two of her relationships had ended in a very short amount of time.
While you could argue that the show's decision to ignore Aneesa's coming out story was actually a perfect way to handle the situation, considering that you don't have to declare yourself as straight and in the year 2022, identifying as queer shouldn't be a big deal. However, after Fabiola's sexuality journey was a huge plot point in season 1 and Aneesa's storyline appeared to face a sudden end once the romance was over, it feels as though this was less of a deliberate decision and more the case that the writers forgot about Aneesa.
With all of this in mind, hopefully the fourth and final season of Never Have I Ever does Aneesa justice. Whether we watch her rekindle her romance with Fabiola (which could be a possible after their popularity amongst fans), meet someone new or become involved in a storyline with no romance whatsoever, there are so many directions the Never Have I Ever writers could take Aneesa's character in – and with senior year fast approaching, let's hope they don't receive an F for effort.
Never Have I Ever seasons 1-3 are streaming now on Netflix. Check out our lists of the best series on Netflix and the best movies on Netflix – or see what else is on with our TV Guide. Visit our Drama hub for all the latest news.
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