The first three seasons of Never Have I Ever followed our girl Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) as she explored crushes on Ben (Jaren Lewison), Paxton (Darren Barnet), and Des (Anirudh Pisharody). But Season 4 welcomes an unexpected new hottie to Sherman Oaks High School: Ethan Morales.
Love, Victor‘s Michael Cimino shines in Never Have I Ever‘s farewell season as a skateboarding, day-drinking bad boy who turns out to be Devi’s perfect senior year distraction. In the Season 4 premiere, narrator John McEnroe introduces Ethan as a “Hot Pocket,” one of several popular burnouts who damage school property, laugh in the face of academics, and rebel against authority figures without a second thought. After growing two feet and developing a “claw-able torso” over the summer, Ethan transforms into “a stone-cold 10” who initially catches a newly-single Eleanor’s eye. It’s not until Devi learns Ethan spray painted the words “STUPID BITCH” on her new car — mistakenly assuming it belonged to a teacher who gave him an F — that she starts developing feelings for him. As one does.
Season 4, Episode 2 ends with Ethan calling Devi sexy for yelling at him, and Episode 3 opens with her having a NSFS (Not Safe For School) dream in which he tells her she’s in detention “for being bad.” Dream Ethan slides his shirt off to reveal that tight torso, pushes Devi’s textbooks onto the floor (because “bad girls don’t need books”), and proceeds to have a steamy make-out sesh with her atop a desk. Wooof! After Devi wakes up and has a brief battle with Eleanor, she gets the green light to date Ethan. And thanks to Cimino’s charming portrayal of the character, we overlook his many red flags far longer than we should.
After playing Victor Salazar — a wholesome, intelligent good guy on Love, Victor — Cimino guest starred on How I Met Your Father as Swish, a young college himbo with a puppy dog personality who falls in love and prematurely proposes to his girlfriend. With Never Have I Ever, Cimino shows his range by embodying an edgier, more carefree crush with a dangerous side. But by bringing his signature charisma to screen, he gives Devi and viewers hope that underneath Ethan’s rebellious wardrobe, floppy hair, and IDGAF attitude lies a heart of gold and a genuinely kind soul.
Spoiler alert: Ethan isn’t a good bad boy like Jess Mariano. He’s just bad. And it’s not long before he starts pulling Devi down with him.
Thanks to his boyish charm and youthful glow, the 23-year-old actor seamlessly walks the halls of Sherman Oaks High without making viewers wonder, “Is that dude in his 30s?” (Sorry, Paxton.) Ethan lures Devi in with a sparkling smile, childish humor, glimpses of emotional maturity — like when he admits he got a little greedy after his senior year glow-up but wants to be exclusive with her — and, uh, amazing sex! But in Episode 4 her short-lived “sensual hornissance” comes to a grinding halt when Ethan shows his true colors after the college fair.
When Devi makes a horrible first impression on a Princeton rep, Ethan’s first response is offering to slash the woman’s tires or key her car. He even suggests Devi trick the rep into thinking she seriously injured her with her car, but in a surprising twist, Ethan comes through for Devi by kindly talking her up to the Princeton rep and taking pride in being her boyfriend. Just when it seems he has good bad boy potential after all, Devi learns he stole the Princeton rep’s wallet and dumps him on the spot.
“Oh my god, you are a dirtbag. You’re not a bad boy, you’re just a bad person,” she says. “Thanks for the sexual awakening, but I’m having a moral awakening.” That’s our girl!
Even with all the funny one-liners and parking lot skateboard skills, Ethan wouldn’t have been nearly as big a dreamboat had Cimino not landed the role. From smooth dialogue delivery to smoldering stares, the actor perfectly nails Never Have I Ever‘s bad boy. And though Devi did waste a precious chunk of her senior year test-driving life as a bad girl, if Ethan didn’t steal the Princeton rep’s wallet she wouldn’t have had a chance to return it and make an even greater lasting impression. Plus, she wouldn’t have had that crucial moral awakening. So thanks, Michael Cimino, for being so good at playing a bad boy.
All four seasons of Never Have I Ever are now streaming on Netflix.
