#jaren lewison is such a fucking good actor

[re-x]

OK. Never Have I Ever 401 and 402 spoilers below.

Ben had two “I’m sorry” moments during the first two episodes of season 4.

1. During the parking lot scene at the end of 401 (explanation here) Here is a muddled recording of it:

2. Near the end of 402 (explanation here), after Ben told Devi that Margot had asked him to stop speaking to her. Devi challenged him on it and implied it was unreasonable, and here’s Ben’s response:

I believe he said it with such sadness in his eyes, and you could hear the heartbreak in Ben’s voice.

So why am I sharing this with you? Because I wanted to demonstrate that there’s so much more to moving pictures as a storytelling medium than just the plot. The acting is what makes or break a story. And Jaren Lewison is just about as good a 21/22 years-old actor gets.

[postgleeworld]

having devi vs. david thoughts about season 4; particularly which one we will hear first and why - this is just spec, ofc, but i can't stop thinking about it, so...

i think we're going to get a "devi" before we get a "david" this season, and i think it's going to be spoken directly to devi - as opposed to most times when ben refers to her as "devi" only when he's around other people. right now i'm just looking at 2 particular scenes in the trailer that i think the first "devi" could be from:

immediately post-boink. i don't have a screenshot for this one, bc they didn't give us ben's reaction to devi immediately bolting (which i'm thankful for, bc i really want to wait to see his reaction!) but i can see him saying "devi, wait" or something along those lines. i'm not totally sold on this one, honestly, but the thought's there.

the other scenario - and the most believable to me, from what we've seen so far - is immediately after devi sees margot kiss ben and confronts him. we can see they have a bit of a....i wouldn't call it a fight, but fight-adjacent, and from the looks of the trailer it doesn't seem like it gets too heated, but....

ben looks hurt and confused which - is so good (obv not for him but like - i live for the drama, whatever, it's just good entertainment). i don't know exactly how this would go, but i know how i want it to go: after ben tells her he thought it was a one time thing, devi tries defending herself, and he says "devi, you left," to parallel this fucking amazing scene from 2x04:

(cue everybody moved on i stayed there dust collected- yeah it's been almost 2 years and i still haven't gotten over this scene. jaren lewison the actor that you are.)

i could be completely off-base here. the first "devi" could be neither of those of course, and hell we might even get a "david" first instead. and while 3 seasons isnt enough to establish a pattern just yet, i'm hoping that after 4 seasons we can. see below:

season 1, we get a "david" first:

season 2, it's a "devi":

season 3, we're back to "david":

i'm hoping they continue the back-and-forth trend of this first devi vs david in the final season - idk! i like patterns! i like repetition! and like, his choice of which one to refer to her by first each season shows the status of their relationship:

season 1, "david," that playground nickname that's used to antagonize her (even if it doesn't work), showing their immature animosity for each other

season 2, "devi" to show her he's serious, he wants her to be his girlfriend, he doesn't want to hurt her, or annoy her, or make her feel less-than anymore - he's all in!!!!!!

season 3, "david," now evolved from an immature nickname almost into a term of endearment, a mark of friendship.

i just think a "devi" in the beginning of season 4 would be a great way to show the status of their relationship with each other; he can't use "david" because "david" has turned fond. so using "devi" would feel like - like a level of separation between them, if that makes sense? to make this whole interaction between them less...familiar. less safe, i guess. to show her he's hurt and confused, confused as to why she left and confused as to why she's the angry one when she made him feel like it was a one-time thing - using her name and his tone of voice to convey, "you walked out on me, you ghosted me, you made me feel like it wasn't special, like what we had wasn't special." i want devi to see the consequences of her leaving in his eyes and hear it in his voice - he's not angry like he was in season 2, hell, maybe he's not even totally heartbroken over this, but he's still hurt, you know?

(and again like i've said before - i'm not totally, solely blaming devi for what happened here - we still don't have enough facts, so as far as i'm concerned right now, the miscommunication [and like, total lack of] is both of their faults in my eyes, at least until s4 paints the whole story for us.)

[re-x]

I was just giffing the 4x04 Ben-Devi bathroom scene when I noticed this very important detail. When Ben took his shirt’s off and he was staring at Devi, then shook himself out of it… his pupils were dilated.

Dilated:

This was how they looked before (not dilated):

You cannot fake dilated pupils, it’s an involuntary physiological response. Unless you are a fucking good actor like Jaren Lewison, I guess, and you are feeling what you character is feeling.

[re-x]

If you love Ben for Devi, you are going to love season 4 of Never Have I Ever, most likely more than all the previous seasons.

If you love Ben as a character in his own right, then you are going to love it even more. I can pretty much guarantee you that much.

I have only seen the first two episodes and even I can already tell how much he’s going to be going through in season 4. And how much Jaren Lewison is going to impress us all with his performance. Because the first thing I wrote after I left the screening was, “Poor Ben. Also, Jaren Lewison is a fucking good actor.” He just keeps getting better and better and better.