Never Have I Ever season 1 episode 6 recap: …been the loneliest boy in the world

Never Have I Ever episode 6 changes tack, focusing on Devi’s nemesis in an unexpectedly heartfelt examination of family, love, and what it means to belong.

In episode 5 of Never Have I Ever, Ben Gross found himself being decimated by Devi in the Model UN. But not winning the golden gavel isn’t even the worst part of it—Ben can’t understand why Devi is so angry with him. They’d had a great conversation the night before and were becoming friends—how did it go so bad?

It doesn’t help that life in the Gross household is less than ideal for a teenage boy. We go into the life and mind of Ben Gross as we recap episode 6.

A Lonely Life

Just as Devi’s life is narrated by John McEnroe on Never Have I Ever, Ben’s life is narrated to us by Andy Samberg—because Ben’s dad is Andy’s lawyer and he has to do this. That pretty much sums up Ben’s life.

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He comes home just as his mom is leaving on yet another retreat—all for her to be a better mom to Ben. Which she could achieve by, you know, actually being at home with him?

But Ben is used to this and he just lets her go because there’s nothing else he can do.

During the day, Ben’s only companion is his darling house manager, Patty (Donna Pieroni), who treats Ben like a prince and is more caring than his parents have ever been.

To distract himself from his extreme loneliness, Ben plays basketball by himself, and video games by himself. He also spends his time on Rick and Morty subreddits, debating with super-fans. How exciting.

But there’s a light at the end of this lonely tunnel! Ben’s dad has courtside tickets to the Clippers’ game for himself, Ben, and Ben’s girlfriend, Shira (Hanna Stein). Ben is ecstatic—not only will he get to see an amazing game but he’ll have his dad for company.

One Game Ticket

Unfortunately for Ben, his joy is about to get cut short. First up, the great Shira—who we have only heard about on Never Have I Ever, so far—turns out to be an extremely shallow young woman who has no interest in anything but gaining Instagram followers.

Shira refuses to go to the game because she will be eyebrow sculpting with her friends—even though Ben had informed her about this game months ago.

Ben now has one free ticket and he goes around the school asking anyone he can whether they’re interested. His choices are quite poor, to be honest.

He asks Trent and Trent’s friend—even though he only has one ticket. Unsurprisingly, the conversation becomes extremely awkward within minutes—Ben never talks to these boys and they’re uncomfortable with him engaging with them out of the blue.

Ben then makes the colossal mistake of asking Paxton and comes away shamefaced because apparently nobody can act like a normal human being around Paxton.

Had Ben’s friendship with Devi actually happened, he might have asked her, but him talking about Paxton during Model UN has put Devi’s back up—though it’s really her fault, even if she won’t admit it to anyone.

Eventually, Ben gives up and decides to go along with his dad. Or not at all, apparently. Ben’s dad bails at the last minute—something he’s done far too many times before.

Rather than go alone, Ben decides to give the tickets to Patty and her sons—initially, she insists on going with Ben, but finally acquiesces to go with her boys in the hopes of meeting Billy Crystal.

Alone and sad, Ben follows the game online and is buoyed by a video of Patty sharing snacks with Billy Crystal. She sounds delightful, and it’s a relief that Ben has at least one good person around him.

Family Dinner

Seeing Patty being so happy leads to Ben putting his guard down—he posts about Patty being his house manager and excited he is for her. His post is seen by a fellow Rick and Morty subreddit user who asks to meet up.

Things might be looking up for Ben—he’s about to meet a fellow desperately lonely teenager. At the meeting point—which is, fortunately, a busy restaurant—Ben finds a much older man. Apparently the ‘69’ in his screenname was the year he was born and not a suggestive joke.

Ben decides to humor the man for exactly 10 seconds before the man makes the encounter very creepy. Thank heaven’s for Ben’s strong instincts because he books it out of there the moment things become uncomfortable.

Abandoned by his mother. Forgotten by his dad. Ignored by his girlfriend. A botched meeting with a fellow fan. And now a huge zit—when will Ben’s life get better on Never Have I Ever?

Well, it’s about to. The zit is so bad that Ben has to see a dermatologist—none other than Devi’s mother, Nalini.

After the nightmare of a day he has had, a few kind words from Nalini send Ben into a spiral of tears—so much so, that Nalini invites him to dinner at the Vishwakumar household.

Kamala has made gorgeous dosas, with coconut chutney, and sambar. It looks great, and a bit spicy. Which is exactly how Devi is feeling about her nemesis invading her home. She takes her mother to task about it—a conversation that comes through a bit too clearly via the freshly-cleaned vents in the house.

Despite Kamala’s valiant attempts at distracting Ben, he hears everything Nalini and Devi have to say—at least they’re not unkind, but they are extremely sympathetic which makes Ben feel uncomfortable.

But he stays for dinner, and despite the extremely spicy food, and Devi’s coldness, Ben enjoys his first family dinner in years.

While cleaning up, Ben and Devi have a heart-to-heart conversation—he talks about how lonely he is and Devi clears up the air about her non-relationship with Paxton. They may not be friends just yet, but they’re getting there.

Final Thoughts

Never Have I Ever continues to surprise with every succeeding episode. The change in focus to Ben comes as a surprise—why would a show about diversity choose to spotlight a rich, white boy?

But the writing has been so strong throughout and this episode is yet another example of what this show does right—gets to the heart of the character and a relevant issue, all without losing its sense of humor.

One has to applaud the show for the sensitive handling of Ben’s loneliness, without making it a punchline. The extremely uncomfortable and creepy encounter with his catfisher was extremely well done—the audience knows how badly it could go and the Never Have I Ever team don’t gloss over the matter, either.

I’m not sure I’m completely on board with where the show is going with Devi and Ben—they are intellectual equals, but the ‘guy is mean to the girl because he actually likes her’ trope has been done to death and has dangerous real-world connotations. Devi is definitely mean, as well, but this sounds like the beginning of a toxic relationship.

It’s also a bit strange that Never Have I Ever has so few fat characters—for all its diversity, there is really only one fat kid at school, and he seems to be the butt of all jokes. I do hope the show manages to fix this issue—it’s doing a great job in terms of representation but falling into fatphobic territory is distressing.

Considering how many surprises this show has thrown our way, I’m interested to see where the show takes Devi’s arc next.

Never Have I Ever is currently streaming on Netflix.