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From the moment he walked onto Never Have I Ever with abs, swagger, and that slow-mo pool entrance, Paxton Hall-Yoshida had teen idols written all over him. But by Season 4, the show tears down that fantasy just enough to reveal the real stuff underneath. That’s when it hits, teen idols aren’t supposed to be perfect.
Paxton doesn’t just ride out the final season with charisma. He faces self-doubt, of course corrects his future, and shows up for the people he cares about even when it’s messy. At Sherman Oaks High, he starts off as the cool guy who coasts through life, only to later spiral when the mask slips. He’s smart enough to know he’s not trying hard enough, and brave enough to admit he wants to change that.
How Never Have I Ever Turned Paxton from Heartthrob to the Show’s Most Real Character?
By Season 2, Never Have I Ever starts cracking open his insecurities like when he breaks his arm and realizes his future won’t come easy. Or when Gigi Hadid’s voiceover spills the truth: Paxton feels used and unseen, like his looks are all anyone values. That moment strips away the heartthrob gloss and replaces it with a teenage boy who wants to be more than his abs.
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Season 3 sharpens the shift. His breakup with Devi doesn’t come from drama, it comes from emotional maturity. As Never Have I Ever co-creator Lang Fisher puts it (via Tudum), the split “comes from a place of immaturity on Devi’s part, but maybe maturity on Paxton’s.” Devi never really believes someone like Paxton could want her. And despite his efforts to prove otherwise, he walks away not to punish her, but because she’s got to believe in herself first.
As Maitreyi Ramakrishnan explains, “Kudos to the emotional maturity of Paxton to recognize that this is not good… I need someone who is sure of themselves, because I can’t keep reminding you of that.”
Darren Barnet doubles down on the takeaway: (via Tudum) “You spend so much time vying for someone else that you forget to do the work on your own self.” That hits differently when you remember how Paxton starts out, loved for his looks, overlooked for everything else.
By the end of Season 4, he’s grown. He owns his flaws. He’s still unsure, still figuring it out, but he dedicates his graduation speech to Devi not as a grand romantic gesture, but as a quiet thank-you. That’s what makes it real.
Never Have I Ever doesn’t try to fix Paxton. It lets him fumble, evolve, and find his own way. And that’s exactly why he becomes more than a teen idol, he becomes a real one.
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