Warning: Spoilers follow for the ending of Season 1 of “Never Have I Ever.”
The first season of Netflix’s latest coming-of-age series “Never Have I Ever,” created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, leaves off on a cliffhanger regarding the fate of the love triangle between leading lady Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), her handsome and popular friend Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet), and the boy who was once her sworn academic enemy, Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison).
In the final scene, Devi kisses Ben after he hijacks his dad’s Porsche to get her to the beach in time to spread her father’s ashes. But at that very moment, her longtime crush, Paxton, finally realizes that he was an idiot for blowing her off and resolves to finally ask her to be his girlfriend.
We asked Barnet to weigh in on who Devi should choose: Paxton or Ben.
“Oh man, there are so many great arguments for both,” he said. “Paxton, I think, really does show his true colors in terms of how he cares about Devi, and he does save her from parties twice, and he rushes her to the hospital.”
But the actor was a little tougher on his on-screen competition.
“Ben is never quick to act. And, Ben, for one, is in a relationship,” he added.
But, this interviewer had to ask: What about that popular girl Paxton is always flirting with at school?
“It’s just a fling,” he said. “Obviously, they’re the two hottest people in school and everybody thinks they should be together, so they flirt, but he’s not in a relationship like Ben is.”
Fair enough.
“Then again, I think Ben and her in many ways are more compatible,” he conceded. “But, sometimes, you meet someone so much like you it can be a bad thing. Opposites sometimes do attract, and Paxton and Devi are opposite enough. But also, the more you get to know them together, you more you realize how similar, in a way, they are.”
If it wasn’t clear where Barnet stands — “I’m team Paxton,” he said.
Watch the full interview above.
“Never Have I Ever” is now streaming on Netflix.