At the end of ‘Le Nozze’, the second episode of this season, Dev departed from Italy and his co-worker and friend Francesca was left looking conflicted and somewhat confused by her feelings as Dev disappeared. Francesca’s look was the type of thing that could have easily been left behind by the program immediately after it happened; a ‘what-could-have-been?’ moment that goes un-examined like all the other infinite strands of life that pass Dev by. Similarly to how the great connection that Dev had with Sara in ‘The Thief’ appears to be permanently lost now (barring some sort of miracle). However, unlike with Sara, Dev has not lost Francesca’s number, and so she comes to visit Dev in New York, where their feelings for one another are brought into the open (for the viewers, at least) and explored.
Most of Dev and Francesca’s connection throughout the episode is left to simmer under the radar of friendly banter and is nothing more than something that could easily just be good friendship. Small moments like Dev admitting his frustrations at the inanity of ‘Clash of the Cupcakes’ show his comfort with revealing more of himself to Francesca than he is to others (on his date with Priya, Dev acts as though everything with ‘Cupcakes’ is going great, for instance). The episode also makes small references back to their time together in Italy. The overhead shot of them walking through the museum is almost identical to a shot of Dev crossing a square in ‘The Thief’; visually connecting Dev’s time with Francesca in New York back to the time in Italy where he was happier and more fulfilled than he is now.
The episode also makes a nice call back to the previous episode by bringing back Priya for her second date with Dev. The contrast between the effort that Dev has to go through to try and make a date with Priya go well (the pre-date work he goes through with Arnold and the forced conversations that end up completely failing, for example) and the simple, easy connection that he has with Francesca highlights how natural a connection these two have. Francesca texting Dev’s terrible pickup line back to him at the end of the episode (after he had un-ironically sent it to Priya after their first date) is a perfect example of this easy connection that they have with one another. Dev has to force some terrible line to Priya, whereas Francesca can jokingly send that same line back to Dev and have it work a million times better because of the charming nature of their relationship.
The hints at a deeper connection between Dev and Francesca have to be somewhat subtle in order for Dev to have a moment of realisation when Chef Jeff points out to that his feelings are clear to see from the way Dev looks at Francesca. If Dev already knew his feelings for her at that point (and, of course, also knowing that she has a long-term boyfriend) then it would feel somewhat more indefensible for him to ‘innocently’ invite her to the dinner party.
The low-key build up to Dev’s realisation also makes for a nice counterpoint to the comically over-the-top moment of John Legend singing literally the perfect song (Michael Jackson’s ‘I Can’t Help It’) after Dev starts internally working through his feelings for Francesca. This weird moment moment presumably came about from Aziz Ansari using his famously deep celebrity connections and it kind of works, although it is hard to escape just how ridiculously perfect it is to have John Legend sing in front of you whilst you work through your feelings. (It also perfectly fits the Chef Jeff character to make John Legend literally sing for his supper. Bobby Cannavale plays Chef Jeff as a likeable but brash and excessive character, somebody who is not afraid to ‘jokingly’ ask his waiter friend where the fuck the mozzarella is, or to ‘nicely’ force a guest to be a performing puppet for his party).
The rest of the episode presents several moments where Dev and Francesca could kiss and potentially destroy their friendship, or leave it and potentially let the chance go forever. We know that Master of None is obsessed with these moments from the fig tree analogy that keeps feeling fitting in every single episode since it was mentioned. Dev chooses not to seize the moment here; he lets Francesca get out the cab without telling her his feelings or attempting to kiss her (a nice call back again to how he attempted to kiss literally every girl that he ended up in a cab with in the previous episode. This relationship means a lot more to him, he is not willing to take the risk of destroying it, whereas last week he couldn’t have cared less about ruining the evenings that he has spent with those women). After Francesca leaves the frame, the episode ends with a flourish: a nearly 3 minute unbroken shot of Dev sitting in the cab rueing his inaction and going through emotional turmoil.
Ansari does some of his best work on the program in this nearly wordless scene. Typically, Ansari overacts a lot (I say this not as a criticism, it is undeniably a big part of his charm as a comedic actor), but here he resists the temptation to overplay Dev’s emotions and his restraint works very well. Despite his sadness and frustration, Dev doesn’t fall apart in the back of the cab. He acts the way one would in that situation: try to keep it inside, don’t break down in front of a stranger. The length of the shot keeps the viewer guessing that perhaps eventually something will change: that Dev will tell the driver to turn around, or Francesca will call and tell him to come back. But this type of cliché moment doesn’t happen. Dev is not the type to seize the moment like that (usually) and Francesca has a boyfriend waiting for her back at the hotel. The camera just keeps rolling and we have to keep watching Dev suffer until finally the ride is over and finally Dev breaks the silence with a weary ‘thanks’ to the driver before he heads home disappointed and unfulfilled, something he seems to be feeling almost permanently since he arrived back in New York.
Unconnected Thoughts
- Do we ever get any confirmation that Francesca has came to New York specifically to see Dev? Seems like she is there because of her boyfriend’s business meetings and the chance to meet up with Dev is just a nice side effect of that.
- Dev refers to Pino as “your boyfriend” to Francesca. I had assumed from ‘The Thief’ that they were all a close group of friends together. But this episode suggests that perhaps that Pino and Dev aren’t really friends but are simply acquaintances through Francesca. This could mean that Dev may be somewhat willing to do the dishonourable thing and break the acquaintanceship in order to get closer to Francesca.
