Never Have I Ever Season 1 Episode 9 Recap – …had to be on my best behavior

Devi stares at the figure of his father by the refrigerator when the grandfather clock chimes. She shouts just as Nalini arrives. She turns on the lights and sees Devi is actually looking at Aravind, her uncle. He‘s there to be the male chaperone for Prashant’s upcoming visit.

Aravind says sorry for frightening Devi, but he says they left the key under the mat. He says their house is effortless to break into as the owner of the number two home security company in San Jose. Nalini asks why he had to use a spare key when someone could have just let him in. He says Kamala is fast asleep, and Devi just got home. Nalini asks Devi where she was and what she’s wearing, seeing that she‘s wearing sweats. Devi lies and tells her she went for a run.

While Devi is trying to fall asleep, she remembers when she argued with her parents. It was when she had a concert to go to, but she misplaced the sheet music. She tried to push the memory away by thinking of her kiss with Paxton.

The following day, Nalini wakes Devi up and tells her she should get ready because Prashant will be there in an hour. She looks for the dress she doesn’t know Devi has worn but left at Paxton’s truck after falling into the pool the other night. Devi tells her she shouldn’t wear it because she will look too good when she shouldn’t because it’s Kamala’s day.

Nalini reminds her they shouldn’t have any of the usual Devi nonsense, so Devi promises to be on her best behavior during Prashant’s visit. Devi’s phone beeps. Nalini gets it before seeing it, saying she’ll keep her phone so she won’t be distracted the whole day. “What if it’s a college offering early admission?” Devi asks. Nalini asks Devi not to make her life any harder, for once. It suddenly brings back the memory Devi had been trying to bury the other night: when she told her mother that she hated her, so her father told her not to say such things to Nalini and tried to calm Nalini down. Nalini says she won’t calm down when Devi insists on being such a headache. Remembering it makes Devi promise she will be good.

Kamala is talking to Steve on the phone. He’s worried that Kamala might actually like Prashant. She tells him to stop calling and promises to call him after lunch. Devi and Nalini see her, so Devi asks Nalini why she’s not getting mad at Kamala for talking on her phone. Nalini tells her Kamala doesn’t need any additional pressure.

The doorbell rings, so they all come to the door to let Prashant in. When they open the door, they all get shocked to see that Prashant is a good-looking guy. He introduces himself to Kamala. Kamala can’t help but smile. They let him in, so he presents a gift to Kamala — a beaver made out of Swarovski crystals. Devi tells him that a beaver is a weird choice, but Kamala says it’s perfect because it’s the mascot of CalTech. Prashant and Kamala say the beaver is nature’s engineer. Aravind googles the price and says it’s valuable. Devi volunteers to take it to Kamala’s room for safekeeping.

Devi enters Kamala’s room and sees Steve sitting on her bed reading a hair magazine. Steve says he’s there to rescue Kamala from sexual slavery. Devi says he should storm down and get Kamala, but Steve says he doesn’t know how big Prashant is and is afraid of Nalini. Devi tells him to stay there while she gets Kamala.

Devi goes back down and tells Kamala to check out where she put the beaver. Kamala goes and takes a look, so Nalini asks Devi what she’s doing when she has promised there won’t be any Devi nonsense. Devi remembers how her father said he would fix everything after Devi’s concert. Devi tries to push the memory away again by focusing on what Aravind is saying while eating lunch.

Kamala sees Steve inside her room and asks him why he’s there. “Because you shouldn’t be bought and sold by your family like a prized calf,” he says. Kamala gets angry, so she says it’s not what’s happening and what he said is racial. Steve kneels and is about to propose to Kamala, but Kamala tells him to stop. She says she doesn’t want to marry Steve, Prashant, or anyone. She breaks up with Steve.

Prashant asks Devi what she’s into. Aravind proudly says Devi is a musician, so she plays the harp well. He asks Devi to play. Hearing it, Devi remembers how her father died while she was playing. Devi stays quiet so Nalini tells Aravind that Devi is taking a break from playing the harp. Nalini asks Devi to help her clear the table. While in the kitchen, Nalini asks Devi why she’s acting weird. Devi tells her she’s under a lot of stress. Nalini panics and pinches Devi’s legs to see if she feels them. Devi tells her she’s fine.

Nalini tells Devi to go and talk to Aravind and Prashant while she checks on Kamala. Before Devi can even prevent Nalini from going, Nalini walks into Kamala wiping Steve’s tears away after she broke up with him. Devi follows shortly. Nalini tells Kamala she knows she has a boyfriend because she saw him falling off the roof. Kamala apologizes to Nalini, but Devi can’t help but feel scared for her because she knows how Nalini is when she’s mad. To Devi’s surprise, Nalini calmly tells Kamala it’s okay, and she understands. Devi tells Nalini she has never understood her before. She sits beside Kamala and tells her no one is forcing her to do anything; they are only pointing her in the right direction.

They instruct Devi to distract Aravind and Prashant so they can sneak Steve out of the front door. Devi goes down and tells them she’ll play the harp. She tunes the harp for a while and plays a song. While playing, she remembers how her father got her first harp and told her that anyone could play the guitar, but only a real musician could play the harp.

Nalini, Steve, and Kamala get out the front door. Kamala bids Steve goodbye just as Paxton comes. Nalini brings Kamala back inside and comes back outside with Devi. Nalini tells Devi that more boys are coming and going out of their house than the GameStop at the mall. Paxton says he can go because it doesn’t seem like a good time. He explains he just came because Devi was not responding to his texts. Nalini sees Paxton holding Devi’s dress, so he tells him not to go. Devi explains she did take off her dress and left it in Paxton’s car but not in the way she thinks. Nalini tells her not to explain. She can’t believe her because she keeps lying. Paxton tells her Devi is telling the truth: Devi fell in the pool at the party, so she borrowed his sweats.

Nalini sarcastically thanks Paxton for clearing things up. She tells Devi that she blatantly disobeyed her by going to the party and getting so drunk that she fell into a pool and did God-knows-what in Paxton’s car. “All we did was kiss,” Paxton blurts out. Nalini gets enraged, so she asks why she won’t just let Paxton knock her up. Devi defends Paxton and says he’s not an idiot. Nalini refuses to believe, so she asks Paxton if he’s an honor student. Paxton gets hurt that Nalini is talking so small of him, so he says he’ll go. Nalini tells him he must be busy returning dresses to other smart girls whose futures he’s trying to ruin.

Devi gets mad and asks Nalini to stop. She says she barely did anything. She says she just kissed one boy once, while the boy Kamala’s having sex with just broke into their house, but she didn’t even care. Nalini and Devi are caught up in their drama that they don’t notice that Prashant, Kamala, and Aravind are actually standing on the porch.

Prashant goes back in, a bit pissed at what he heard. Kamala follows him and apologizes. He says he just wasted his time. Kamala explains that Steve and she are not together anymore, but she’s not ready to be engaged yet. Prashant tells her he’s relieved Kamala doesn’t just do as she’s told because it makes her more interesting. He says every other girl she has been set up with tried to act like his mother. They agree they will take things slow, even after admitting they both like each other.

Aravind, Nalini, and Devi walk back in. Aravind says the house is out of control, but Devi says it may be under so much control. He says the lack of respect in their house is astounding. He promises that the behavior won’t be tolerated when they return to India. Nalini reveals she has decided they will return to India because she thinks it’s better for them. Devi walks out and runs into her room.

Nalini follows Devi and explains she doesn’t have a support system in the US, and with Mohan gone, she’s struggling to raise her. Devi remembers when she overheard her mother telling her father that she’s done with Devi. She said Devi is no daughter of hers. It brings Devi to tears. She tells Nalini she’s struggling to raise her because she doesn’t like her. She tells Nalini she heard what she said to Mohan: She’s not her daughter. She says she should go to India with Kamala since she’s the daughter she always wanted. Nalini tells her she’s being unfair, so Devi tells her what’s unfair: that she lost the only parent who cared for her. She said she wished it’s Nalini who died.

Our Thoughts

Whoa. Lots of things to process here! First, I hope Kamala and Prashant will end up together because they look good together and seem to get along well. Maybe arranged marriage is not so bad at all. Second, will Paxton ever talk to Devi again after knowing how little Nalini thinks of him? Oh, it happened just as Paxton showed feelings toward Devi — unfortunate. Third, is Devi not Nalini’s daughter? Or did Nalini just say it out of frustration? Fourth and last, are they really returning to India? That wouldn’t be so good for Devi as she must leave everything behind. So many questions; I hope we find some answers in the next episode.