Dev, we love you — but you're a terrible detective.
Much has been made of Aziz Ansari's character's pursuit of the engaged "manic pasta dream girl" Francesca (Alessandra Mastronardi), but that's not the only romance Master of None's second season delivered.
Cast your mind back to "The Thief," the first episode of season 2. Dev, now living in Modena, Italy, arrives for a solo birthday meal at the famed Osteria Francescana. An attractive British woman (Clare-Hope Ashitey) is being told that she's come to the restaurant on the wrong day; her reservation isn't until the following month, and the place is fully booked. Dev does the right thing and invites her to join him at his table, prompting a meet-cute montage involving bicycle rides, gelato, wine, and every other falling-in-love-in-Italy cliche you can imagine. It's the perfect day.
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Sara is smart, successful, and, unlike Francesca, single. She's into Dev, and invites him to join her and some friends for a weekend away. He promises to call her and they agree to save their first kiss for their next date. He bids her adieu, and then almost immediately has his phone, with Sara's digits inside, stolen.
This all kicks off an unsuccessful (albeit entertaining and beautifully shot) homage to The Bicycle Thieves. Dev is never able to track down his phone, and resorts to desperately, but fruitlessly, searching the internet for women named Sara who like Under the Tuscan Sun and work in finance. It's like he's never Googled before.
Viewers waiting for the two of them to cross paths again were disappointed. Dev never connected with Sara, and thus moved on to dating apps and climbing out of the friend zone with Francesca. That's because Dev is an idiot.
Here's what he should have done. This all started with Sara having a reservation at Osteria Francescana. The restaurant would have had her full name and contact details in their records. If you go to their website now and try to book, you're asked for your name, address, email, and phone number. All Dev had to do was go back to the restaurant and plead for this information. The chef likely would have remembered him, and even if she felt conflicted about giving out Sara's details, she could have agreed to contact Sara with Dev's number.
Problem solved, manic pasta dream girl crisis averted. Total amateur move, man.