She should be with her friends because Eleanor is completely unraveling. (Devi’s love of pop culture is a fun and consistent part of her personality.) She should be with her friends instead of having an America’s Next Top Model moment. So Devi steps in, and while it’s nice to help someone out, it is absolutely not an emergency situation. She’s applying to fashion school and needs a last-minute model to show off her collection. She’s still hyperfocused on Paxton, but he’s not even the one who needs her help his sister Becca does.
In her mind, she can do both, but it’s clear where her priorities lie. We pick up with Devi’s choice to help Paxton instead of helping Eleanor. It messes with rom-com tropes instead of merely replicating them.
Never Have I Ever doesn’t always subvert expectations, but the times it does stand out. And at the end of the episode, she finally gets her long-awaited kiss with Paxton, another thing that genuinely surprised me. It speaks to the efficacy of placing us in Ben’s perspective that it seemed like something that might happen, because I think Ben really did think it would. Ben’s episode really makes it feel like we’re gearing up for a Ben/Devi rivals turned romance story, and while it’s not entirely off the table, it’s shot down for now. I’ll admit I didn’t really see Devi’s love life unfolding the way it does in this episode.