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Did Never Have I Ever Nail Or Fail Aneesa’s Coming Out Story?
The internet is divided on how the character’s queer romance played out.
Spoilers for season three of Never Have I Ever follow.
In season three of Never Have I Ever, Aneesa and Fabiola were a thing until suddenly they just weren’t anymore — and the internet has a lot of feelings about that.
Aneesa (Megan Suri) first became Devi’s (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) rival in season two when she began dating Ben (Jaren Lewison). But in season three, she experiences a queer awakening and falls for Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez) instead. In the process, it gave audiences the queer Muslim representation that’s so rarely seen on screen. But the connection between the two is very brief as Fabiola instead strikes up a romance with the non-binary character Addison (Terry Hu).
There’s a lot to unpack here in terms of representation. Some of it should be applauded, but there are also aspects that left fans scratching their heads about who and what the show truly values.
That a queer character like Fabiola gets a relatively fleshed-out dating story with multiple partners to choose from is exciting. That the show has added a non-binary character, again, is amazing. But that Aneesa, a bisexual Muslim girl’s love story is so abruptly cut short? That has viewers who were thrilled by the representation feeling let down by the series.
Fans who felt Anessa just got pushed aside unceremoniously were not thrilled and let it be known on Twitter.
\u201cWell can\u2019t say I\u2019m surprised but still disappointed at the complete lack of character development between Aneesa and Fabiola, guess we\u2019re just throwing and discarding random queer relationships with zero explanation \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffd\u201d— Pardesi (@Pardesi) 1660312293
\u201c7 episodes into #NeverHaveIEver3 and aneesa feels like the most tokenized Muslim character ever. Just get rid of the character if ur not gonna use her for anything outside of shoehorning in random plots out of nowhere and other peoples character arc. Wasted potential.\u201d— watchwithneebz (@watchwithneebz) 1660498267
\u201cNah I\u2019m on ep 8 of never have i ever and the writers fucked up aneesa and fabiola they\u2019re literally perfect!! i wanted it so bad\ud83d\ude2d #NeverHaveIEver3\u201d— \ud83d\udc90 (@\ud83d\udc90) 1660351218
\u201cAneesa deserves better #NeverHaveIEver3\u201d— R\ud83d\udda4\ud83c\udf80 (@R\ud83d\udda4\ud83c\udf80) 1660624563
\u201cLmao Netflix really hates lesbians. \n\nI absolutely loved Fabiola and Aneesa it\u2019s not fair. #NeverHaveIEver3 #NeverHaveIEver\u201d— asmii \ud83c\udf42 (@asmii \ud83c\udf42) 1660386967
\u201cnever have i ever season 3 spoilers!!!!\n\nANEESA AND FABIOLA OMG?!?! THE QUEER MUSLIM REP\ud83e\udef6\ud83c\udffd\ud83e\udef6\ud83c\udffd\ud83e\udef6\ud83c\udffd\u201d— mysha is listening\ud83e\udef6\ud83c\udffd | \u0aae\u0abf\u0ab8 \u0aae\u0abe\u0ab0\u0acd\u0ab5\u0ac7\u0ab2\ud83e\udef6\ud83c\udffd (@mysha is listening\ud83e\udef6\ud83c\udffd | \u0aae\u0abf\u0ab8 \u0aae\u0abe\u0ab0\u0acd\u0ab5\u0ac7\u0ab2\ud83e\udef6\ud83c\udffd) 1660293536
\u201cOmg aneesa and fab LETS GO SAPPHICS #NeverHaveIEver3\u201d— Eli (@Eli) 1660332105
\u201cAneesa my girl, you deserve the world \ud83d\udc9c\n#NeverHaveIEver3\u201d— Dee \u1da6\u207f \u1d50\u02b8 \u1d4f\u1d43\u1d57\u02b0\u1d52\u207f\u02b8 \u1d49\u02b3\u1d43 (@Dee \u1da6\u207f \u1d50\u02b8 \u1d4f\u1d43\u1d57\u02b0\u1d52\u207f\u02b8 \u1d49\u02b3\u1d43) 1660295699
\u201ci need aneesa and fabiola to be endgame #NeverHaveIEver3\u201d— \ud83c\udfbb (@\ud83c\udfbb) 1660297319
\u201cFabiola and Aneesa we will get your endgame in season 4 trust!! @mindykaling @ramakrishnannn #NeverHaveIEver3 #NeverHaveIEver #NHIE3\u201d— Vish (@Vish) 1660586000
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Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
