Never Have I Ever season 2: Lee Rodriguez opens up about how series ‘sheds light on toxic relationships’

Lee hopes viewers can relate to the show’s storylines (Picture: Isabella B Vosmikova/Netflix)

Warning: spoilers ahead for season 2 of Never Have I Ever.

Season 2 of Mindy Kaling’s hit comedy-drama Never Have I Ever has dropped on Netflix, with Maitreyi Ramakrishnan returning as Devi Vishwakumar, a teenager torn between two high school crushes – Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet) and Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison).

Devi’s best friends, Fabiola Torres (Lee Rodriguez) and Eleanor Wong (Ramona Young), remain at her side to offer some much-needed words of wisdom, while also dealing with their own tricky situations as they embark on new relationships.

Lee, 21, recently spoke to Metro.co.uk about the serious issues addressed in the show, including the topic of toxic relationships, which Eleanor experiences when she begins dating former Disney actor Malcolm (Tyler Alvarez), who treats her with disrespect.

Lee admitted that she was ‘not expecting’ Eleanor’s storyline to play out the way it did, as she was taken aback by how ‘mean’ Malcolm acted towards her.

‘I feel like Eleanor definitely deserves love and at the end of season two you see her and Trent [Benjamin Norris] at the dance and so I hope something comes out of that. I feel like that was just… nobody was expecting it and I’m here for it,’ she said.

Eleanor defends Malcolm when her friends point out how disrespectfully he’s treating her (Picture: Isabella B Vosmikova/Netflix)

‘I think it is important to shed light on what toxic relationships look like,’ the actor continued.

‘And also her realisation moment too of being like, “I deserve to be with somebody who treats me like a star,” and so I thought that storyline was unexpected and I really loved it.’

Lee expressed her hope that those who watch Never Have I Ever ‘can relate to at least one character’s storyline, because I feel like every storyline is saying something really important’.

‘Whether it be mental health – I feel like Devi’s storyline was a lot about her mental health and a lot about learning from her mistakes, and I feel like that’s really important,’ she said.

‘Fabiola’s is more so about being true to who you are, and Eleanor’s is also about choosing yourself too and getting out of toxic relationships, and Kamala’s [Richa Moorjani] is about women empowerment. So there’s a lot of great storylines. I hope that the audience can take something away from at least one character.

Fabiola and Eleanor have always got Devi’s back (Picture: Isabella B Vosmikova/Netflix)

At the very end of Never Have I Ever season two, Devi tells Paxton that while she understands she hurt him for dating Ben at the same time behind his back, she won’t accept being anyone’s secret girlfriend.

Having gone to the school dance alone, after being turned down by Paxton in front of his friends at school, Paxton turns up at the last minute and the pair kiss as they make their relationship public on the dancefloor.

Will Devi’s love triangle continue in season 3? (Picture: Isabella B Vosmikova/Netflix)

Ben appears disgruntled as he catches sight of them, as Eleanor explains to him that Devi did originally want to choose him to date, but she and Fabiola talked her out of it.

So now that Devi and Paxton are officially an item, who would Lee like to see the protagonist end up with?

‘I feel like as of right now, I think I want to see the relationship with her and Paxton work,’ the actor said, describing herself as ‘Team Paxton’.

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‘I feel like Ben kind of realised what he lost when she actually ends up with Paxton, and I like Paxton and Devi together right now because he kind of went to her on his own accord.’

While a third season of the hit Netflix series hasn’t been confirmed as of yet, we’d hasten a bet that this love triangle isn’t going away any time soon.

Never Have I Ever is available to watch on Netflix.

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