The first season of Master of None definitely showed Dev (Aziz Ansari) as someone on the learning curve when it came to romance. In New York, he truly had his challenges with regards to dating and finding love, especially in a social media-driven era where life revolved around food, drinking with friends and casual sex. It did seem to change when he met Rachel (Noël Wells), but by season’s end, them moving in together fizzled. However, while it surprised many, there were red flags that it was always destined to fail.
The season began with them having an awkward fling and Dev’s condom breaking, leading to a weird Uber ride to purchase Plan B. Rachel didn’t appear again until mid-season after failing with her ex, when she and Dev went to Nashville for a weekend, really getting to know each other in a series of dates that didn’t revolve around physicality.
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At this point, it felt like a mature, nuanced approach, only for Dev to then ignore Rachel’s need to be by the airport early so that she wouldn’t miss the flight for her niece’s recital back in the Big Apple. He insisted on picking up some BBQ sauce at a joint, and when they missed the flight, it led to her becoming distant. It felt passive aggressive, but rightfully so, as Dev was like a child. The shot of the same BBQ sauce also being sold in the airport rubbed salt in the wounds, and him making up by offering her a “Nashville Rocks!” tee felt superfluous.
Sadly, the series didn’t address the real problem — his selfishness — and we’d see it later with Rachel always supporting him in his aspiring acting career, even going off on a director that cut him from his first feature. Yet, Dev never offered her the same in her music publicist job. And it’d continue this way with Season 1 never showing real resolution to their problems. It popped up again with Dev hiding her from his parents despite dating for a year. She told her parents about him, but Dev simply chalked his error up to cultural differences as Indian parents are stricter about people living together. But the show randomly switches later to the parents meeting her, rather than explaining why she’s offended.
The same happens when Dev and her get into a fight over feminism as he’s tone-deaf on how women are harassed or ignored, even after seeing it in public with Rachel and his commercial director. Unfortunately, Rachel simply caves to an apology that Dev always delivers — not because he means it, but because he just doesn’t want to argue.
As a result, all these issues made the break-up really underwhelming as their relationship was all style, no substance. It’s why when the finale just shows Rachel follow her dream of visiting Japan and Dev going to Italy to follow his passion of pasta-making, there’s no connection to the fans as say, something from Dawson’s Creek with Joey, Pacey and Dawson.
It’s because the series shifted their relationship to the centerpiece, yet focused on the destination and not the romantic journey itself where it deconstructed how they tried to work out problems. It dedicated more problem-solving to flings and random hook-ups, which did show Dev wasn’t ready for commitment and made it no surprise he’d drive Rachel away.
Season 3 of Master of None will premiere on Netflix in May.
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