Never Have I Ever Season 2 Episode 3 Recap – …opened a textbook

Gigi Hadid, a California model, designer, and activist, narrates Paxton’s story. She says she relates to Paxton because they are both underestimated because they’re only seen as sex symbols.

Paxton goes to school with a cast. Aside from his arm hurting, he was also really hurt by what Devi had done. Devi apologizes to him, but he doesn’t pay attention. Gigi narrates that being two-timed by the weirdest girl he ever liked with Ben Gross really messed up Paxton’s head. During History class, Ben also voices out his frustration, saying that there should only be one choice and Devi should have known what it was.

At lunch, Marcus tells Paxton he can’t believe he got played by the dorks. Trent says he has lost his edge, but Paxton says he hasn’t lost anything because he doesn’t lack female admirers. Overhearing their conversation, Shira and her friend give Devi the nickname “Crazy Devi.”

Paxton gets called to Ms. Warner’s office, the college counselor. Ms. Warner tells Paxton that due to his injury, he might not swim for Stanford, and seeing that he only has athlete grades, he needs to work on his GPA if he wants to get admitted to respectable colleges. She asks him if he’s open to being tutored because she decided to pair him up with the school’s greatest peer tutor. Paxton agrees, but then Devi walks in. Paxton realizes she will be his tutor, so he tells Ms. Warner that he’d rather not go to college than work with Devi and storms out of the room.

Paxton comes home and finds Trent hanging out in his garage. He tells Trent that Ms. Warner told him college isn’t looking great for him without swimming. Trent cheers him up by telling him nobody needs college. He says he won’t go to college but will go straight into YouTube by creating reaction videos to reaction videos. Paxton spends the whole week hanging out with Trent, blowing up things, and playing video games with Shira and Zoe, but he doesn’t feel okay. He’s still anxious about college.

Paxton approaches Devi and asks her for help to get into college. He goes to Devi’s house and gives her his books. Devi opens his books and realizes that he has not opened them himself. She thinks she’ll tutor him, but he tells her she would be doing all his homework from then on. Devi tells him doing it means cheating, but Paxton says she’s good at cheating. She tries to explain her side to Paxton, but he refuses. He says he doesn’t care about Ben and her, but she trashed his chances at a swimming scholarship, so she needs to make it up to him.

Devi delivers Paxton’s homework to his garage. She sees Zoe all over Paxton. Trent calls her out when she blocks the TV screen, calling her Crazy Devi. Paxton just instructs Devi to leave the books there, but he doesn’t look like he’s enjoying punishing Devi as much as he thought he would.

Paxton receives an A for his homework but doesn’t feel pleased because he knows he didn’t earn it. One day, Devi goes into Paxton’s house to pick up his homework. On her way out, Becca sees her. Becca calls out Paxton for making Devi do his homework. Paxton explains she owes him for ruining his chances at a scholarship, but Becca tells him no one owes him anything. He says he just wants to go to college, which seems impossible without Devi. Becca says if it’s the case, then maybe he doesn’t deserve to go.

Over dinner, Paxton’s dad, Kevin, tells him to go by his grandfather, Ted, to the senior living facility to fix his email. His mom, June, asks him how’s school. Kevin tells him the counselor called and said swimming is on the back burner, so he should raise his grades. June tells him they told Ms. Warner they wouldn’t pressure Paxton because they knew school had never been his thing. Kevin tells him they’re okay with him not going to college if he doesn’t want to and adds that he can always work at their sporting goods store. Paxton tells them he wants an education and a career, which surprises them. His mother says he should work hard. Paxton gets offended that even his parents don’t expect much from him.

Paxton visits his grandfather. He helps him set up a new password for his email. He asks him if he’s too stupid to go to college because everyone he knows, including his parents, tells him so. Ted tells him he thinks Paxton’s a genius because he became fluent in Japanese even when he was just five years old. He tells Paxton he’s smart enough to go to college, and no matter what other people think of him, the only important opinion about himself is his.

Paxton approaches Devi at school and tells her he wants her to stop doing his homework for him and start tutoring him for real. Later that afternoon, Paxton goes to Devi’s house, so they start studying in her room. He asks Devi to make the topics more interesting, so Devi tries to rap the lessons out — it works. Nalini catches them and tells Devi that the door should stay open if they insist on being inside her room.

The next day at school, Devi quizzes Paxton on historical facts, and he does well. Trent offers him the answers and tells him to cheat, but he tells Trent he’s okay because he actually studied. But upon seeing that the test is not multiple-choice, Paxton panics and walks out of the room. Devi finds him by the stairs and tells him she thinks he had a panic attack, which might be good because it means he cares. Devi asks Mr. Shapiro to give Paxton a second chance to take the test. Mr. Shapiro says it will be unfair to the other students, but Devi guilts him by saying that by not giving Paxton another chance, he’s furthering the agenda of toxic masculinity. Mr. Shapiro takes the bait and agrees to let Paxton have another go. Ben overhears it and gets disgusted.

That afternoon, Devi goes into Paxton’s garage for another tutoring session. Paxton shows her he got a B on the test, so Devi tells him it’s a start. He thanks her for pushing him to study. She says she owes him for getting him hit by a car and for two-timing him with Ben. Paxton says they need not talk about it because they’re already cool. He has forgiven her. Devi tells him it’s a relief. He says it’s crazy how they thought they could actually work out because their being together doesn’t make sense. Devi gets sad but agrees with him and says the tutor and tutee relationship seems to fit them better. He asks her to sign his cast.

Paxton shows his B to Becca and tells her he got it himself because he studied. Becca says he’s proud of him.

Our Thoughts

Oh, wow. At least now, we know that Paxton has already forgiven Devi. That’s one less enemy for her. I wish they could be more than friends, but it seems Paxton doesn’t see Devi the way he saw her before — sad. Gosh, it must have hurt Devi, but maybe she can use some pain because when she feels so good, she ends up doing crazy things like having two boyfriends and thinking it’s okay. I hope Paxton will succeed in raising his grades so he can prove to his parents, among all, that he’s more than just a sex symbol.