Should I PlagueWatch It?: Never Have I Ever

Never Have I Ever is a show so good, the protagonist can tell a Jewish teenager she wishes he was killed by the Nazis and still be relatable.

The protagonist is Devi Vishwakumar; the line is delivered to her academic arch-rival Ben Gross. It is not deserved -- Ben is certainly a jerk (though he evolves as the season progresses, and honestly Devi isn't really any better than he is), but not anywhere close to where it would be even remotely acceptable to wish genocide upon him. There's nothing cathartic about it, no "well that might have been a bit much, but ...." Devi just said something terrible, hurtful, offensive, and self-destructive. And yet, she's still relatable.

This is a very hard feat to manage. Television is still reckoning with its era of the anti-hero, and after an array of male leads who were meant to be protagonists even as they constantly made terrible and callous choices (e.g.: Mad Men, The Sopranos), the latest trend seems to be female anti-heroes who are by no means one-dimensional villains but certainly mistreat friends and evade responsibilities with seemingly cavalier abandon (e.g.: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Killing Eve),  These shows are interesting because they explore personalities and inner conflicts that other shows don't. But it's supremely difficult to keep the audience onboard with a main character who just makes relentlessly bad and unlikable choices. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend -- and to be clear, I loved Crazy Ex-Girlfriend -- really wavered while walking this line. Never Have I Ever manages it better than maybe any show I've ever seen.

At the show's opening, Devi is returning to high school a year after her father suddenly died at her orchestra concert, and all she wants is for this year to be better than last. If Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a comedy that just under the surface is an exploration of mental illness, Never Have I Ever is a comedy that just under the surface is an exploration of grief. Devi, played outstandingly by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan in her first role, is clearly still traumatized by her father's passing. And that trauma manifests mostly by her being very, very angry. Devi is trying to suppress her emotions, but she often lashes out -- sometimes to real stimuli, yet often way out of proportion to what is remotely reasonable. Breaking a window with her textbook upon finding out that her best friend has a boyfriend she never told her about, for example. Or responding to a bit of smug condescension by her bitter rival by announcing she wished he had been exterminated, for another.

Ramakrishnan deserves a ton of credit for immediately establishing Devi so that this anger feels authentic -- it isn't drama for drama's sake, and it isn't one-note either. It's how this teenager would be responding to this trauma she's trying to work through (or avoid working through, as the case may be). That she's a teenager certainly helps: she doesn't have to always make smart or likable choices. She's a teenager! They screw up -- usually under far less emotionally taxing circumstances than these. Devi, it is alluded to, was by no means a perfect child before her dad died. She was stubborn and headstrong and a bit too invested in being the highest achiever in her grade. But in the end, she's a regular kid with regular teenage struggles and stresses who just took one emotional punch too many, and now is in a spiral. And that is certainly relatable.

Devi is such a strong lead character that I haven't even gotten into the superb supporting cast that surrounds her, virtually all of whom feel like fully-realized and lived-in characters. These include the aforementioned arch-rival, her two best friends, the popular boy who's the object of Devi's affections, and her older cousin with an American boyfriend and an impending arranged marriage (it's not really a love triangle, she explains, "It's more of a line with a dot if you're really going to graph it."). The most important is Devi's mother, who is a strict immigrant parent insisting on nothing short of the Ivy League and no dating until Devi is in her twenties. If these sound like pretty standard rom-com archetypes, they are -- which makes it all the more impressive how the show gives them each a fresh spin. I could quibble with some character choices around the edges, but they're really not worth the time. The show works, and it works well.

Oh, and John McEnroe is surprisingly strong as the narrator (yes, there's a reason for it, and yes, it makes at least enough sense to justify the conceit).

Should you PlagueWatch it? Definitely. Jill and I binged all ten episodes in one night. Never Have I Ever is very, very good.

Tupac Lives!

By now you've probably heard about this story. Basically, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear called a press conference to complain about people filing for unemployment benefits under fake names -- a practice which slowed down processing for real Kentuckyians facing real needs. The example he gave was a guy named "Tupac Shakur" -- obvious fake, right? Wrong. There is a real Tupac Shakur living in Kentucky (though presumably not the Tupac Shakur) who really filed for unemployment benefits. Upon learning this, Beshear called the real Tupac to apologize. And Tupac accepted, saying "I understand, he’s dealing with a lot. Mistakes happen."

There isn't really anything substantive worth saying about this. The reason I'm writing is because the story seemed like a rare instance of everybody involved being nice and reasonable.

• Gov. Beshear was reasonable in thinking the name "Tupac Shakur" was fake.
• The actual person with that name was reasonably embarrassed to be called out like that.
• Beshear, upon realizing his mistake, called Mr. Shakur to apologize.
• Shakur graciously accepted the apology.

Really, I can't ask for much more from either of them. Mistakes happen, apologies are made, people are understanding. It was just nice. And sometimes I like focusing on nice.

Should I PlagueWatch It?: Making the Cut

As many of you know, I've been a Project Runway fan for years. The show made Tim Gunn a household name and elevated Heidi Klum to perhaps an unprecedented level of international stardom. But in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal (Project Runway was in his portfolio -- recall Georgina Chapman's presence on the All-Stars seasons), they decided to leap to a new project. The result was Amazon Prime's own take on the fashion design challenge show Making the Cut, which just wrapped its first season (meanwhile, Karlie Kloss has made for a surprisingly strong Heidi replacement on the OG PR).

If you're a Project Runway loyalist, the show won't be anything too groundbreaking. The main differences are:

• A lot more money is floating around, both in terms of the budget (they're going to Paris! and Tokyo! and then back to New York!) and prizes (a cool million).
• The designers aren't expected to sew everything -- they have a team of seamstresses they're allowed to work with (this was actually something they thought about when launching Project Runway, only to conclude it was too expensive).
• The end goal is to identify the next great fashion brand, which is not necessarily the same thing as the best pure designer.

Ultimately, the show is entertaining but still groping a bit for its identity. Certain elements -- like having the judges come to preliminary decisions on eliminations but be open to changing their minds after "a conversation" -- felt forced (and rarely resulted in any changes). The focus on building a brand was harped on in rhetoric but wasn't always made clear in practice. And they had to replace all their catchphrases --  as an aside, how awkward must it be for Heidi that "goodbye" in German is now apparently off-limits for her? (Even sadder: no more "make it work" from Tim!).

On the other hand, the Heid and Tim segments were great, and Nicole Richie stood out as a really incisive judge -- so good on her.

Should you PlagueWatch it? If you like Project Runway, you'll definitely enjoy this show. But it offers nothing new for those who aren't already onboard. Think of it as the wealthier spin-off of Project Runway that it effectively is -- if that idea appeals to you, go for it. If not, skip.