‘Mismatched’ Season 3 Review: Netflix’s Spunky Young Adult Drama Returns For More Cutesy Coming-Of-Age Conflicts

Writers: Gazal Dhaliwal, Aarsh Vora, Sunayana Kumari, Nandini Gupta and Akshay Jhunjhunwala
Cast: Rohit Saraf, Prajakta Koli, Ahsaas Channa, Taaruk Raina
Language: Hindi

Netflix’s sparkly, spunky young-adult series Mismatched has grown on me over the years.

It’s easy to be cynical and dismissive of the hormonally charged, coming-of-age teen drama and its glossy, surface level look at the messy intersection between identity, desire and technology. But, considering the often dull, unexciting storytelling that gets passed around in the name of young-adult shows these days, at least this one is well-packaged, has personality, and its heart is in the right place.

Mismatched is like that overexcited, “enthu” young colleague (who probably works in social media) who was initially irritating and loud but, in time, won you over and started to feel endearing and sweet. You’ve come to admire the colourful quirks and extra-ness. The Netflix series isn’t looking to be particularly deep or substantial as much as it is looking to tackle an assorted platter of “youthz issues” — like sexuality, insecurity, mental health and self-acceptance — with gentleness and empathy. And there’s an honesty to that.

There’s a refreshing sense of reinvention and switching things up in this third chapter. It’s been three years since the events of last season. The action has shifted from the three-month app-making course in Jaipur to a prestigious technology institute in Hyderabad called NNIT, where Rishi (Rohit Saraf), Anmol (Taaruk Raina), Krish (Abhinav Sharma) and Celina (Muskaan Jaffrey) are now all students. Well...I say students, but they feel more like employees working for the college dean Nandini Nahata (Dipannita Sharma), to build something called the Betterverse: a cutting- edge virtual reality social media platform which is the show’s equivalent of Facebook’s Metaverse (which, yes, is just as unsettling as it sounds). But more on that later.

Dimple (Prajakta Koli), on the other hand, feels stuck. After failing to get into NNIT like her friends, she’s crippled by rejection and coasting through online courses, while maintaining her long- distance relationship with Rishi. That is until Sid Sir (Rannvijay), decides to open his own institute literally next door to NNIT which he calls LLIT. Season 3, then, works as a solid drinking game: drink every time a character says “NNIT” or “LLIT”. (There’s an obvious Long Island Iced Tea joke in here somewhere, but I can’t seem to find it). Anyway, the point is Dimple, Rishi and the whole gang are all back together again, along with plenty of new faces, thus setting the stage for a fresh wave of overlapping, interlocking dating, unlikely friendships, tiffs, scuffles, hookups, heartache and heartbreak.

This season greatly benefits from writers Gazal Dhaliwal, Aarsh Vora, Sunayana Kumari, Nandini Gupta and Akshay Jhunjhunwala choosing to hedge their bets and cast a wider net, bringing in a sea of new characters and coming-of-age conflicts. It’s a smart move that plays to the show’s strengths - to go wider and not deeper. The lack of narrative focus also works well considering the central Dimple and Rishi love story just isn’t interesting or deeply felt enough to anchor three seasons of a show. At this point, it’s less “will they /won't they” and more “will they just get on with it and pick a lane already”. Despite the enduring earnestness and charm of lead pair Rohit Saraf and Prajakta Koli, Rishi and Dimple are far more interesting apart as individuals than they are together.

At its pacy, breezy best, this third season of Mismatched is another fizzy, frothy factory line of cutesy, well-intentioned, well packaged sketches, skits, montages and music videos. A queer pride party here; a speed dating event there. A romantic date involving booking out an entire arcade for your girlfriend, here; a college play about love that allows the students to confess their real feelings, there. A student debate that allows quarrelling friends to hash it out in public, here; a student protest against a sexual predator professor there.

Mismatched works best when it pleasantly probes trending hashtags and young adult trials about love, sex, attraction, mental health, body image and identity in its quest to be India’s answer to Netflix hit series Sex Education. But in the final few episodes, the focus shifts toward going needlessly big. We get drastic time jumps and numerous plot grenades of grief and major life decisions, when the narrative struggles under the pressure of needing to deliver explosive, life-altering, season-ending drama.

Thankfully the peppy ensemble cast and colourful characters manage to keep things afloat and endearing. I continue to like the casting of Rannvijay and the natural ease he brings to the paternal Sid Sir, despite the fact that he’s now married to Zeenat, played by Vidya Malvade; the two share a sauceless chemistry that can only be described as “sometimes roommates”. A charming Garima Rajinik as Anuradha also stands out, as does the inimitable Muskaan Jafferi as Celina who continues to bring a crackling energy to the series. I love how she makes the lines her own.

Unfortunately, not all the characters manage to have an impact. One of the new additions this season is Rith, played by a sincere Lauren Robinson. Rith is trans and identifies as a man. While Rith’s arc is well -intentioned and sensitively handled, it’s also convoluted and overwritten. He’s a hacker who somehow gets access to the Betterverse’s weakened firewall, so he can get admission to NNIT and access a VR world where he can be who he truly wants to be. Also thrown in is a romantic relationship that comes out of nowhere, all of which ends in a blur of betrayal, bullies, VR worlds, viruses and malware and...I wanted to lie down.

Speaking of which, Mismatched’s entire relationship with technology is very creepy and unsettling because… it isn’t. In the world of the show, technology, AI, VR and social media don’t seem to be forces for harm to our heads and hearts but an oddly wholesome, hopeful means to become your best self. These kids really need to watch Vikramaditya Motwane’s CTRL and get a reality check. I also continue to struggle with the show’s structure of every episode being narrated by a generic voiceover from a different character, even though that episode doesn’t focus any further on that particular character’s story. The voice keeps changing but the perspective never does.

The fact also remains that many of the core themes tackled in Mismatched have been dealt with more depth and care elsewhere, ironically, on other Netflix projects. CTRL and Kho Gaye Hum Kahan deal with the dangers of social media on young minds, Kota Factory tackles grief and the ethics of education, Little Things is a mature, thoughtful look at the challenges of maintaining a committed relationship and what happens after happily ever after.

Still, there’s something to be said about Mismatched’’s kind, cutesy, crowd-pleasing  pleasantness, in which complex conflicts can be neatly, snackably wrapped up and resolved with a single confrontation, andthe crushing weight of the world can be simplified and distilled down to neatly-packaged, easy-to-digest titbits and moments. It’s a hopeful thought. Maybe a single, wholesome monologue or cosy conversation really can save the day and make it all okay again.

The third season of Mismatched is currently streaming on Netflix.