Never Have I Ever Cleverly Solves TV’s College Problem

In the previous season of Netflix’s sparkly teen comedy Never Have I Ever, Sherman Oaks High’s resident heartthrob, Paxton Hall-Yoshida (played by Darren Barnet), gave a poignant speech at his graduation about persistence. “Push yourself out there,” he told his classmates. “Defy other people’s expectations of you, and don’t ever let a label define you.”

However, at the start of the show’s fourth and final season (which began streaming this week), Paxton appears to have forgotten his own advice. Two episodes in—and after only two weeks spent attending college—he has dropped out and returned to his alma mater, where he has immediately taken a job as the assistant swim coach. The development initially felt like a contrived device to keep a character who had graduated high school in the mix. Paxton had been the object of affection for the series’ protagonist, Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), since the pilot; I assumed that the show sought to retain him as a love interest.

But as it turns out, Paxton’s return isn’t about forcing him to stay in Devi’s orbit. Instead, his arrested development yields a refreshing take on a common problem for coming-of-age shows. Series about teenagers tend to struggle with the college years; at a time when people naturally grow apart, such programs twist narrative logic to keep characters together. Somehow, Veronica Mars ended up at a school that also admitted most of her former classmates. Gossip Girl practically forgot that its characters were students at all; despite the early seasons showing the ensemble vying for spots at prestigious institutions, the show never followed them into classrooms. The O.C., Dawson’s Creek, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer had college-age characters drop out and enter the workforce to keep them in the storyline. Moves like these allowed plots—usually romantic ones—to advance, but they more often than not also got in the way of depicting characters’ emotional growth into adulthood.

Never Have I Ever tackles the problem directly, bringing Paxton back specifically to focus on his inability to grow up. His return is especially unexpected: Throughout the previous seasons, Paxton yearned to prove to others that he was more than just a champion swimmer with a pretty face. When he got accepted into Arizona State University without an athletic scholarship, his coming-of-age arc seemed complete; he’d worked hard and matured enough to earn the grades he needed to get out of Sherman Oaks. Yet when he comes back, the show wisely keeps him in the background for much of the season. Rather than featuring in Devi’s story, Paxton only pops up in a handful of scenes. As the season goes on, seeing him around becomes unsettling. Clad in red—the color for coaches—Paxton looks out of place, telegraphing a discomfort that the character seems unable to voice.

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When he finally does, late in the season, his identity crisis produces a particularly affecting episode. In it, he confesses his reason for abandoning ASU. “No one there liked me,” he tells Devi. “Everyone just decided I was some huge loser, and I was just like, Maybe I don’t belong at college.” The statement is illuminating for its immaturity: In the few scenes depicting Paxton in his dorm, he wasn’t actually disliked by “everyone.” He just failed to click with the other students, unable to charm those around him the way he did so effortlessly at home. In his two weeks at ASU, the insecurities he thought he had worked through in high school—those painful feelings of being underestimated and misunderstood—returned in full force. Believing you’re up for college, the show makes clear, is not the same as actually having the emotional wherewithal to withstand the challenges that come with a major life transition. But simply backpedaling to the apparent safety of high school isn’t the answer either.

During much of its endearing final season, Never Have I Ever concentrates on Devi and her friends as they get ready to head off to higher education: They compete for recruiters’ attention, take a class field trip to visit their dream schools, and meet regularly with their guidance counselor. Throughout these episodes, Paxton’s role as a supporting character subtly becomes more and more pivotal. He’s no longer Devi’s love interest—indeed, their only kiss this season is played as a side effect of Paxton’s confusion—but walking, talking proof for Devi that it’s okay to need more time to figure out what to do next. He helps the show reach a satisfying conclusion that feels thoughtful and true to life: High school, as familiar as it may seem, cannot last forever, but college also doesn’t have to click right away.

In the end, Paxton chooses to try again, this time enrolling in ASU’s Teachers College. He explains that after being a faculty member, he “wouldn’t mind doing that for a living”—not the most confident-sounding statement, but one that’s truthful in its apprehension. Teenagers are expected to make so many crucial decisions about their future when they graduate: what to study, where to live, what kind of career to pursue. But before such calls can be made, they need to examine who they are in the present. It’s not the kind of work that’ll lead to a diploma, but it’s just as vital.