#[ almost as bad as ben/paxton ]

[heycoyotegirl]

love how the message of season 4 was that you have to have extremely good grades and have gone to parties to be able to successfully adjust to university

[cowboyxrencissance]

It was sometimes difficult for Liam to keep his feelings in check. He wondered if he was being too obvious and if Leon had noticed. Maybe Leon was only humoring him because he thought it was cute—not that Liam expected him to feel the same way. Leon was friends with his brother, so he probably didn’t want to risk ruining that. All Liam could do was indulge in a bit of wishful thinking.

Liam couldn’t help but giggle and blush. “So, you only do it for the pretty boys? Fair enough. In that case, you should come visit more often! I’ll be like your personal cheerleader—rooting for you, bringing you water and snacks. My brothers make me work all the time. Once, I told Alexander to go fuck himself, and he put me on manure duty. I’m still traumatized,” he shuddered at the memory. His heart skipped when Leon’s hand slid down to his thigh, though he tried to appear unfazed. “I’m usually well-behaved! It’s not my fault my brother corrupted my innocent, angelic nature!” he argued, smiling innocently. “Besides, Isabella might forgive me—and if she does, Thiago will have to as well. Worst-case scenario, I’ll hide behind Easton or just hang out here with you. It’s not my fault Caleb was being a jerk; he had it coming!” He looked up at Leon with a hopeful grin. “So, does this mean you’ll help me? I’ll even give you some of my blood to use and stuff.”

leon would be lying if he said he hadn't had a crush on liam for a while now, he had developed such a soft spot for the kid, not that he'd ever admit that, though. liam had frequented some of his dirty dreams more times than he would care to admit. so when liam comes to him for help, the witch can never turn him away, as much as he likes to pretend he would.

"well that's totally different, it was an observation. and i just have a firm belief that the pretty boys shouldn't have to work. plus your brothers deserve to be put to work, they're rugged and buff and should be working, it's only right." leon let his hands slide down and rest on liam's thighs, maybe he should have pulled them away the second he put him on the table, but he didn't. "yes, this time." his tone was that of a father telling off his child. "you know they're gonna kill you for messing with their stuff, right?"

[thefabulousfab-3]

After watching the series in its entirety, I used to think that Ben loved Devi loved that she loved him (just a little bit which I endorse for reparations) but now I realize she loved him the whole time and just thought it wasn't a possibility. For all of s2 and s4 she wanted to be be with him and only him, and with s3 they were basically flirting the entire season and devi just didn't entertain him as a possibility because she didn't know how he felt. Once he made that known, she immediately went for it.

RIGHT!!! Like I’m going to be bold here and say that ever since the kiss at the end of season 1. Devi was down BAD for Ben. Like she went absolutely feral over him not talking to her in season 2. She literally never expressed that type of jealousy toward anyone else. I know she liked Paxton but she loved Ben.

She dated Paxton because Ben was dating Aneesa then she dated Des because she thought Ben just saw her as a friend.

After the hallway scene she was ready to risk it all and spent the entirety of season 4 OBVIOUSLY in love with Ben. Her dating Ethan was purely to make herself feel better. Like when he started texting her dumb little memes and stuff. She was so freaking excited to the point she almost forgot about her college troubles. And when she got in he was the one she wanted to tell first!!!!

In that little hallway scene I could tell she wanted to ask him to stay but she felt like she couldn’t. I think at that point she was waiting for him to do something, WANTING him to do anything.

When he came to the wedding, her world stopped. Like she literally tuned out everything else to focus on him. Then the absolute almost disbelief when he told her he “thinks he loves her” to the relief of him telling her “that he does love her”.

Her soft safe face while riding the scooter to his house was absolutely precious. Like she was so so freaking happy to finally FINALLY know that he loves her like she loves him.

We talk a lot about how Ben loves Devi but Devi LOVES Ben. She really showed that this season especially even when he didn’t really deserve it.

I know I have my complaints about this season but I am truly so happy it gave us them together and in love. It makes me ridiculously happy everytime I think about it.

[awesomechocolatesauce]

I completely understand why people are mad at Ben for the first half of season four. Ghosting Devi, dating Margot almost immediately after, and then icing Devi out. All in all, not very good decisions.

BUT I'M GIVING HIM A PASS!

Why? Not only because from his perspective, he's afraid of Devi hurting him again, but narratively speaking, it was his turn to make bad decisions.

Remember when Devi cheated on Ben with Paxton and vice versa? Yeah, that was a bad decision, too.

It's only fair that Ben has his round of doing some fuck shit.

[rosstrytobe]

This season just showed how Ben and Davi are good to be together and loved each other from the first episode:

1)They thought about the other after they had sex because they thought they were bad and the other dind’t like it. This is really good because they were not thinking about themself or to just have a one night stand. Devi dream was about just have sex with Paxton and it was just a selfish dream. She didn’t think about what to do next. While with Ben, they both really cared about each other pleasure and likes. They didn’t communicating it faster but it’s fine. It was their both first time doing sex. it’s normal to panicking 

2) Devi really helping Ben to being himself and got him to go to Columbian instead of Margot who just ruin his shirt with her paint and juge him for his speech who wasn’t a good thing to do. Like Ben helped Devi getting to Princeton talking with her and make her feel like his thoughts and feels matters. And give her the courage to write the essay in the end. Instead of Ethan who just praise her and almost sabotage her way to get in Princeton in a right way. This just shows that Ben was wrong because Devi is the right girl for him like Ben is for Devi

3)They just helped each others and being there when the others need to (They did it from the start of the show)

 4)They can’t be without the other. Even when Ben told her they couldn’t talk. It didn’t stop them to being friends again becuase even when they were enemies they couldn’t be without talking to the other and just being around to the other

And i could go on and on but this a most important reasons i know they love eahc other and i’m happy how things had turned

[catty-words]

anyway, the show is so funny for making 3.07 and 3.08 sister episodes wherein ben and paxton have to watch devi/des co-opt storylines that would traditionally belong to them - academic competition and being the thing in devi’s life that outshines her grief, respectively.

in 3.07, along with des demonstrating ben’s affinity for being cutthroat in his academic pursuits, he turns up ben’s condescension to 11, all the while dressing up these ben-borrowed traits in some patented paxton so-cal chill. and the particular way his paxton-chill interacts with his ben-superiority keeps des from meeting devi on a level, either in terms of disposition or intellectual respect.

naturally, the casually supposed superiority frustrates devi. rather than trusting herself to think on her feet - which ben has a demonstrated history of inspiring her to do (see: the seawall corporation argument she pulled out of her ass and “i really have to thank you, you keep my devi on her toes.”) - devi essentially gives up by resorting to cheating. which is not to say that it’s des’ fault devi cheated - it’s very much not, she made her bad choice - but rather, it’s telling that his treatment of their rivalry led her to pursue disingenuous means of winning. the end result is that they’re not actually engaging with each other.

when devi and ben compete, on the other hand, there’s a sense of equals going toe-to-toe, only heightened by the full-on pipsqueak energy they’ll both start serving the second they lose the upper hand. more to the point, though, it’s not actually about the competition in and of itself where devi and ben are concerned. after all, their canon academic competitions are hardly more mature or productive than the debate tournament ends up being - think of the beaker smash and viva wwiii! no, it’s specifically the way they’ve developed their rapport in the fires of that competition and therefore have a well-honed ability to call out the other’s bullshit that’s important.

in the closing scene of 3.07, devi confesses her crime to des, and he calls upon his paxton-chill to let it go with ease. which is nice and everything - devi did a well enough job of holding herself accountable by telling des she cheated in the first place - but it still stands in sharp contrast to the dynamic upon which devi and ben’s intimacy is built.

in 3.08, des switches gears to become the paxton analogue as the object of devi’s burning desire.

now, if you’ve been following along with my nhie brainrot for any length of time, you know i go hard for the layers of complexity in devi and paxton’s dynamic. he’s the symbol of normalcy she craves and getting with him is the goal she’s set to prove to herself and her peers that she, too, is totally normal. when she finally does enter a relationship with him, it all at once proves her worth as datable and turns out to be more alienating than ever.

so, by merit of being the next person devi dates, des inherits the runoff of that incredibly complicated dynamic. he is also escapism from herself, though this time devi’s not trying to get out of dealing with her grief so much as she’s simply relieved that she doesn’t feel the shadow of her reaction to that grief hanging over the entire relationship (x, x). the result is that she actually gets to experience the comforting normalcy of low-stakes high school romance and lust at the same time she handles her grief head-on and with a heretofore unseen emotional intelligence.

the thing is, this all happens almost incidentally to des’ presence in the episode. his paxton-like loyalty to his shitty friend keeps him from fully engaging with devi’s horniness, and his ben-like inferiority complex where paxton’s concerned keeps him from engaging with devi’s grief.

but you know who does acknowledge devi’s sexy efforts and emotional turmoil in one loaded scene? paxton hall-yoshida.

with all that laid out, it’s clear that these episodes have two things to say about des’ place in devi’s journey. firstly, of course, is the importance of their lack of history, which affords devi a freedom from her established identity as nerd and the space to explore which parts of her high school life are important to her, what she’ll carry with her when she leaves sohs behind in just over a year. 

the more interesting part, in my opinion, is the way des is sold to us as an amalgamation of everything we already know devi finds attractive: smart, dreamy, driven, and effortlessly cool. he’s supposedly the best of both worlds and, therefore, the ideal partner for devi.

in actuality, the way his ben-like and paxton-like attributes interact with each other in both episodes makes him a worse partner. possessive without being supportive, condescension dressed up like wit. though a combination of ben and paxton sounds nice on paper, the act of divorcing the two guys from their complexity and - yeah - their rich history with devi makes for a blander, shallower dynamic. the whole of both paxton and ben is greater than the sum of their parts.

at the end of 3.08, devi makes the choice to claim her identity as loser to des, and he affirms that the person he’s gotten to know is “super cool, beautiful.” their lack of history allows him to show her that she, too, is greater than the sum of her parts.

as such, this final scene marks an important turning point in the relationship. moving forward into 3.09, we get to see devi/des on its own merits, not as a blank slate for devi to sort her identity issues, nor as a ben/paxton dream combo. and we all know how that ends…

[number1spongebobfan]

T&F Diesel Headcanons

Diesel

He is devious!

He is in a rivalry with Duck and Thomas.

He smokes cigarettes. He's a baaaad boy (note that I don't support smoking, it's really bad for you guys).

He bosses Paxton and Sidney around, since they don't know any better.

He has Doberman Pinscher ears and tail in his animal form.

He's emo. He dresses in all black and listens to grunge.

He is miserable and self-loathing.

He drinks from soda cans filled with oil. He is often covered in diesel stains.

He does boxing. You do not want to see him and Thomas get physical. Different fighting styles, yeeesh!

Mavis!

She's a scene girl.

She listens to My Chemical Romance.

She has a passionate interest in rocks. She knows what kind are sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic.

She and Toby are good friends. Toby likes her cowcatcher skirt. Mavis likes his cowcatcher shorts!

Percy has a huge crush on her but she's oblivious.

She has Maine Coon cat ears and a fluffy Maine Coon tail in her animal form.

She hangs out with Diesel from time to time but doesn't tolerate his prejudice against steamies. A lot of her friends run on steam.

Her patron saint is Mother Mary Lange. She founded the first African American religious congregation.

Salty

He's the pirate train! Yo-ho-ho!

He sings sea shanties. Donald the Scottish twin sings along with him.

He's the Mr. Krabs of Sodor. He's attracted to shiny objects and can be very greedy.

He is attached to the sea. Sometimes he'll drink the sea water then his face looks like this 416c175b6a82f64209c441768857c61a.jpg (640×960) (pinimg.com)

He purposefully annoys Cranky with his really long sea stories.

He's a Japanese Spider Crab with wheels on his six legs in his animal form.

His patron saint is Saint Nicholas aka Santa Claus.

Boco!

He is a Metropolitan Vickers Diesel highly respected by the railfanning community.

He is a grandfatherly figure to Bill and Ben. He is able to withstand their tricks with firm but gentle discipline.

He and Edward are friends.

He dresses in military fashion.

He is best friends with Bear, the friendly diesel bear with wheels on his legs. He understands how he feels.

He is a bear with wheels on his legs in his animal form.

Bill and Ben tease him by calling him, "Boco Coco"!

He's kind of like Alex the Lion from Madagascar? Because he's so respected he got a bit of an ego, but he's a good guy regardless.

He had a crush on Ashima when she visited Sodor for the great race.

Diesel 10

He's not a nice guy.

He crushes steam engines with his claw.

He killed Lady, however she came back to life.

He almost killed Thomas. He ripped his arm off during the chase scene, but thankfully they put it back together again.

PT Boomer is his driver. He's a stick figure w/ a motorcycle helmet who carries dynamite.

Sir Topham Hatt doesn't kick him off the island due to finances.

He's a bull with train wheels in his animal form.

He's comedically villainous but when he's angry, you're screwed.

He treats Splatter and Dodge like punching bags, no wonder why they left him.

Daisy

She used to be very rude and sour when she first came to Sodor. Now she has a change of heart.

She's a dairy cow with train wheels on her legs in her animal form.

She's very girly and fashionable.

She and Lady have DIY spa days together. They get massages, mani-pedis, facials . . . they're girls okay! XD

Diesel thinks she's really annoying.

She uses strawberry flavored lipstick and high-volume shampoo for the extra bounce in her hair.

Her patron saint is Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.

She has back pain. She's highly sprung.

She dresses in flapper fashion and carries a feather boa around her neck.

[flergblerg]

Honestly I was never team Ben with Devi because they both have a lot of growing up to do and then together is just kind of bad schema chemistry.

Ben is the type of guy who simultaneously has a superiority AND inferiority complex because he’s good at school but that’s all he thinks he has (along with his parents wealth) and he thinks that girls don’t like him because there’s hotter guys around and they just don’t like “nerds” but in reality it’s because he acts like an asshole to them as a front bc they can’t deal with their emotions. But you are meant to feel bad for him simply because he’s not that good at socializing with his peers and the girl he likes got with the conventionally hot popular guy, but in reality that guy was genuinely way nicer than him.

Ben strikes me as the same type of guy who thinks that they will get “success revenge” over everyone they knew in high school that ignored them over not being popular or seen as hot, but in reality if they just let themselves get over their one sided bitterness of their almost own self-imposed loneliness, they might have made some genuine friends.

Ben is genuinely nice and sweet at his core, but he really got the wrong idea of the real reason on why he doesn’t have a ton of friends at school

To be totally real with you, he has all the makings of a guy who should be super popular in school with his wealthy dad, nice house, top grades and conventional “popular guy” makings, but he just seems bitter that he has what seems like everything but he is still lonely because of the way he was so tunnel-visioned about school which is not a bad thing but also the idea that he just unfortunately doesn’t fit in with his peers.

Plus the writers CLEARLY forced a character assassination onto Paxton in order to make Ben the more desirable (and now the only) viable option

[missflurry]

Leading up to the final season of Never Have I Ever I will share my thoughts before I’ve seen season 4 <3

First of all, I am definitely team Devi, but in my fangirl heart I’m also really Team Benvi 😭♥️ With the “you were my dream” scene to Paxton it for me just wraps up what Paxton was to Devi: a dream image, that helped her, but is not real relationship material.

Ben and Devi’s banter is so freaking amazing. The actors have such amazing chemistry. If Devi is going to end up with someone, it’s Ben. He had supported her through everything. I do want for Devi to have a moment to maybe say sorry again for what happened, to have a real heartfelt moment to show him that she respects him, but was just scared for love and intimacy.

It would be nice for Ben to have a moment of true appreciation. I love his character and I want to see a lot of him! Also him standing up for himself, owning himself, and just some happy moments, because the Ben episodes have been my favourite but also pretty sad.

I am a bit scared though that we might not see a lot of Ben(vi), because of what we saw in the trailer. I wish I hadn’t seen the trailer. It doesn’t make me really happy, more anxious why they have to invite ANOTHER boy into it. Just give me some Benvi cuteness, PLEASE. I’m also afraid that the ‘boink scene’ payoff isn’t gonna be that grand, even tho it all left us breathless at the end of last season. I don’t mean we are gonna see a sex scene, nope nope nope, I mean that I hoped for some in depth emotional talk about it. Welp, seems like that’s gonna be drawn out ;)

I am happy well see Paxton too and I hope he’ll get a lovely storyline, exploring even more of his growth, but I also hope he won’t be a love interest for Devi anymore. I would love to see a real friendship between them!

I have the feeling that it’s gonna end in a ‘team Devi’ way, her not being in a relationship and focusing on her personal goals. I do however hope the ending will be leaning towards Ben. They have such a beautiful bound so I hope they will kind of leave it open, with a wink to their attraction to another. Or even an ‘where will they end up’ scene.

I want the PSYCHOLOGIST to be there almost every episode because I LOVE that this is a series where the psychologist is actually pretty capable. Gosh there are a lot of bad stereotypical psychologists in series. I hope for a lot more beautiful quotes from her. I feel like the teens watching need to hear ‘em.

I also love Nalini and Kamala and their growth so love to see that. I’m sorry but I’m not such a fan of Eleonore and Fabiola. I did like their storylines more last season though! So I hope they keep that up. Can we have a realistic and interesting lesbian/bi story please? Maybe with Aneesa? A good bi story? Please?

Trent is a cutie and a good actor for his age. Not my most fav character but I always like his scenes so I’m excited to see him!

I love the cast so much. I’m already watching interviews and Jaren, Maitreyi and Darren are so amazing!! I’m gonna miss them! I hope to see them in other stuff!

[gemsofthegalaxy]

"For kids like these college is where your life really start"

This show is bullshit on this front. They keep telling us that Devi and her friends are uncool and yet showing us that she dates fucking Paxton and Ethan and Ben ( who is nerdy is also fucking jacked and totally gets along with Paxton and his crew) and has almost no problem making new friends or getting involved in anything.

And they're dorky..... but they're still far above all the lame sweaty gross boys in the robotics club who somehow Fabiola has nooooo clue are assholes until someone else points it out to her and btw the Only fat person in this whole show happens to be the gross dude who is a misogynist. Sure there is much diversity for culture and race but i was floored when Devi called herself slim-thic when she is clearly just skinny. And so is every other person in the show.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad show at all, but there are much better shows with actual outcasts if that's the type of narrative you'd like to explore. Devi and her friends get along well with tons of people and all of them have multiple love interests and have sex in high school, they are not fucking alienated from their peers, nor are they nerdy weirdos who nobody talks to. They get tons of "experience" in high school that plenty of other people don't get until college and yknow what? Both are fine. But this show really plays into the expectation that the most normal time to start fucking is in high school.

[becky5203]

I think the whole cast did a great job this season and have been doing a great job throughout the whole show, but there were two standouts in particular to me: Benjamin Norris as Trent Harrison, and Jaren Lewison as Ben Gross.

I’ll admit, Trent has always made me chuckle, sometimes he’s annoyed me just as much as the characters in the show have been by him (see season 2’s “mountain dew” comment, which made me want to vomit), but overall I thought he was usually a nice bit of comic relief. But I think I did want more from him. I wanted him to evolve past just being “Paxton’s sidekick”. With characters like his though, they usually either get flanderised, lose what them appealing in the first place, or disappear altogether. I’m thankful he didn’t get any of that. Instead, he was given a rather sweet arc that didn’t upstage anyone in the cast, but still made him shine in his own right. And that’s not even mentioning his relationship with Eleanor, which, if I’m being honest, was probably my favorite subplot of the season. I’ll admit that when they were paired up at the end of season 2, I was worried this would become a boring “pair the spares” situation that felt forced and like a waste of time, but Ramona and Benjamin brought a lot of chemistry to this relationship and, surprisingly, I found myself rooting for these two.

Now though, I want to talk about Ben. I want to talk about Jaren’s performance. I think it’s safe to say that Ben was a bit sidelined this season. At least in the first half. Until episode 5, maybe 4, I don’t think I could say he was very present in the show, at least not in the same way he was in the first two seasons. During the first three episodes, we didn’t see a lot of him, and when we did, he was playing a supporting role in Aneesa’s storyline. We got some breadcrumbs of what was to come, sure, but nothing substantial, and nothing that was just Ben’s storyline. Episodes 4 and 5 gave us a better look into his life, but I felt it was still build up to when we were gonna see his story more in-depth, we weren’t there yet. Episode 6, though, that was the big one. This is the first time all season we’ve gotten a look into his life without it being anchored in a supporting role for another character. What’s important about everything before this moment, is that it’s passively shown, which is where Jaren comes in. Episode 6, cannot stick the landing without all of the slow buildup we’ve had before. After getting dumped by Aneesa, Ben doesn’t have a lot of support, so we don’t see into his world like we would Devi or Paxton’s, by him talking to other people, getting his own narration, or people talking about him. We get it through quick camera cutaways or small interactions, and all of this is carried by Jaren’s performance. We have to see the way all this pressure is slowly building up around him, the way he’s pining after Devi but still trying to let go, but we’re not gonna know how bad it really is until episode 6. After this, things may seem like they slow down for Ben, but they don’t. It’s once again passively shown, albeit less passively than the front half of the season, but we can still see that he’s on the upswing for the latter half of the season. That’s what makes the finale so satisfying, not just for Devi, but for Ben as well. With Devi we got to see her whole story unfold, but Ben had to take a step away. He had spent the prior season and a half almost latched onto Devi in some way, subconsciously in-universe, but also out of universe in terms of the narrative. After he tried to kiss Devi at his birthday party in 1x08, he was explicitly cemented in the story as her love interest. That’s great for us Benvi shippers but he wasn’t able to stand on his own again until this season. Because he knew he had to let go of whatever could’ve been with Devi. He couldn’t keep being apart of her story. He had to work on his own. And that’s why we didn’t see a lot of it. But that’s also why the Ben who clearly needed to slow down but sped up instead is not the same Ben we see at the end of the season. That’s why the Ben who clearly needed support but wasn’t reaching out to anyone is not the same Ben we see at the end of the season. That is why Ben is not the same person at the end of the season as he was at the start. He’s gone through his strongest character arc yet, but the real marvel is we didn’t even get to see all of it and it’s still one of the most captivating storylines of the season. And it’s because Jaren was able to show us that slow build in the little time he had in the first few episodes and then throughout.

[heycoyotegirl]

@fishyyyyy99 No need to apologize! I love people replying to my posts

I haven't spent much time on reddit, but from what I've seen, there seems to be one subreddit populated by Daxton shippers, where if you say anything positive about Ben, someone will come out of the woodwork to call him an abuser, and then one that's full of Ben stans who immediately downvote any positive comment about Paxton/Daxton. So if you were posting in the anti Paxton subreddit, not surprising that you didn't get much discussion on there.

I genuinely don't understand the impulse some people have in shipwars to criticize an actor's abilities or ignore canon to pretend that the relationship never had real emotional weight. Benvi isn't my favorite, but I wouldn't go around saying that Jaren Lewison is a bad actor or that Ben and Devi don't have genuine feelings for each other. Like, not only is it obnoxious, but it also makes it seem like you don't have any basis for your ship preference other than irrationally hating the other option. And isn't part of the appeal of a (well-written) love triangle the fact that both romantic interests are viable options with pros and cons? Otherwise, there's no choice for the protagonist to make.

I've honestly been curious how many Benvi shippers are happy about the ending just because their guy "won" vs actually enjoying the final season and how Benvi came about. Like, they completely wrote Daxton off as a possibility, so there wasn't really any choice for Devi to make. (And, really, she didn't make a choice. She dated Ethan and then was single for almost the entire season until Ben showed up again at the wedding. She didn't really have agency in her romantic life after ending things with Ethan; she just passively waited around for Ben to get his act together.)

And even platonically, Paxton and Devi's relationship was a huge focus on the show. So the fact that they cut it down to nearly nothing (despite the two of them physically being in the same building) removed a lot of the emotional depth of the show and made this season feel very surface-level.

Yeah, there was definitely flirting, but it honestly could've just been friend-flirting, since there wasn't more intentionally-written pining to back it up. And I personally read his interactions with Lindsay as more of a new-friend-crush than anything (and found her interest in him hard to believe), but ymmv obviously.

Also, since I'm always curious about this: What makes you prefer Benvi over Daxton?

the writers should've just committed to the one-sided pining daxton, but they're cowards who refused to accept that it's fundamentally impossible to write a version of paxton who is not in love with devi

[the-paris-of-people]

I've seen some (not a lot of people but it was enough for me to get annoyed) react like Devi owes Paxton her virginity. They don't necessarily say it that way but the anger that it wasn't him is the subtext I'm getting. I'm a benvi shipper but I thought it will be Paxton for a long time too but at the end of the day shouldn't people be happy for Devi that she got some when she was good and ready not because it was what she thought is expected of her (this was her thinking in almost every close call with P imo). Would love to hear your thoughts. (Also idc if they break them up for dumb reasons next season but I know a section of the fandom will be insufferable if they make Ben "bad at sex" so all I'm asking for from Mindy and Co is anything but that 😩)

Honestly from what I see from the Daxton shippers, they don't see Devi as a person in her own right, nor her journey, they see her as a self-insert to fulfill their own romantic and sexual desires. Something Maitreyi said is she was happy with the season 3 finale because Devi actually had agency in her life for once. She realized her dream had changed and was open and willing to her life changing, and once she reflected on what she wanted out of this new life of hers, she realized Ben was a part of her dream. Ultimately the finale was a triumph because it was DEVI deciding she wanted Ben, which shows tremendous character development and growth from when we first met her. However, I don't expect most Daxtons to understand this since again, they don't care about what Devi thinks or wants, they ultimately just want steamy scenes with Paxton. I love Ben and Devi, but if her losing her virginity to Ben or being in a relationship with him was out of anything but her genuine desire, or driven by a need to be in a relationship, I would not be happy at all because ultimately the show is about Devi's self-actualization and I watch it FOR THAT, not for some high school fantasy wish fulfillment.

[thefabulousfab-3]

Reflections on NHIE now that we've (almost) survived a whole summer without a new season?

Okay here is my “I haven’t rewatched it for a bit” rapid fire list:

Season 1 was the best season with season 3 coming in close second

Trent and Eleanor was the best unexpected decision the writers made.

Fabiola and Aneesa should have been endgame.

The whole Margot & Ethan plot lines in season 4 were pointless and stupid and never ever should have happened.

I need to sue mindy for never having Ben and Devi dance together. Like it’s a crime.

Season 4 could have been so great if mindy knew how to write a consistent love interest/ love story.

Ben was actually done really dirty in season 4 and i honestly don’t know him. Like who is that guy????

Devi should have been allowed to have wt least one freak out moment in season 4.

Devi and Ben should have chosen to go to a different school than the ones they were planning on and they should have chosen to go to the same one 🫡.

Fabiola was also done kind of dirty in regards to her love story. Like everyone else gets a fleshed out love interest and she gets “random person number 3”.

Sticking Nalini with Margot’s dad was a choice that felt like a fanfic premise in a bad way.

I maintain that Ben and Devi should have dated in season 4.

We should have gotten little Ben and Devi flashbacks

No offense to Paxton but he shouldn’t have gotten a solo episode and lowkey probably shouldn’t have even been a part of season four besides like a camo 😶🤫.

[seeyoumondaydevi]

Can we all just cut Paxton AND Ben some slack? Yeah they both were mean as hell to Devi but she literally cheated on them? The whole situation came to light in the worst way possible-

They BOTH were hurt. They took it out.

Especially stop trying to make Paxton a jerk for how he was with Devi after she cheated on him and he almost got killed-

Yes he treated Devi bad, because she cheated on him.. but he developed sm later?

[catty-words]

Same anon! And you’re right I think canon explore Ben and Devi as mirrors in s1 and since they got a “romantic turn” (in my opinion the dynamic was completely compatible w romance already) they tried to idk change Ben and Devi dynamic making them acting ooc sometimes like for example when in Paxtons episode in s2 Ben narrator interrupted Gigi, I was like this is it, this is a good moment to show that even when they’re in bad terms Ben is always kind of paying attention to Devi (like when Devi saw Anessa flirting w Ben and Paxton noticed and I was thriving w the 3 of them being aware of each other) but them they totally forgot it and make Ben and Devi act so so different even if Devi was guilty I can’t accept a universe where Devi just DECIDE TO TAKE BENS SHITTY BEHAVIOR?! We are talking about another girl! (Maybe that’s why I loved your fanfic where she entered the tent during the rally THATS DEVI) this is so long again but yes YOU MAKE JUSTICE FOR BEN AND DEVI THAT WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE THE CLICHE DRAMATIC COUPLE!

you did it! you boiled down my issues with season two (and swaths of canon beyond) - that they tried to morph the dynamic to milk it for traditional romance angst like miscommunication and The One That Got Away energy. both of which are ANTITHETICAL to the thematic richness inherent in their set-up!!!

like, okay, it's realistic to write teenagers as self-absorbed and too preoccupied with their own narrative to see the complex inner world of others, but that's devi and paxton's story, not devi and ben's!! devi and ben are specifically the counterweight, accountability to the point of violence. seeing exactly who you are reflected back to you in someone else's perception and wanting to DESTROY. miscommunication should never come up as a legitimate obstacle for devi and ben because understanding the other comes as naturally as understanding themselves.

and because they're painfully recognizable to each other, they can't be a romantic ideal. they've been rooting around in each other's guts for too long, narrowing in on weakness, to ever be an unattainable object! they are wrestling in the muck of identity!! it's slippery but they grasp at each other anyway and their claws catch!!!! i'll never forgive the writers for messing this up!!!!!!!

because when they position ben as a romantic objective for devi, they obscure him from her. she can't be certain he forgives her. she can't be certain he likes her back. they become delicate and precious with one another and it's WRONG. fundamentally incompatible with their backstory.

anyway, thanks for prompting me to re-read the 2.05 fic. it is beautifully violent in all the ways that obviously get to me re: this pairing. almost like i wrote it to my own satisfaction or something.