Thursday, Sept. 21 marked the premiere of the fourth and final season of the hit Netflix series, “Sex Education.” With the whirlwind final season receiving mixed reactions, let’s go over what happened.
Starting strong, we can discuss the ending of Maeve and Otis. Unfortunately for those who wanted them to end up together, they don’t. When Maeve returns home after her mother’s death, the pair are forced to confront their future — mutually deciding that it would be better for each to go their separate ways.
Maeve and Otis share a bittersweet goodbye the morning after they sleep together. While some fans are angry at their ending, it’s very realistic as to how some high school relationships end and was overall the best way for both characters to continue growing off-screen.
And for those who wanted Otis to end up with Ruby, they don’t either.
Turning the spotlight to other important characters, this season explores Eric’s relationship with the church through a beautiful and self-accepting journey. Eric tells his church that he is gay just before his baptism, which is met with nothing but silence.
He later finds help from a mystery woman with the sole goal of helping Eric become comfortable with maintaining both relationships. The woman is revealed to be God — played by Jodie Turner-Smith — helping Eric further his journey, to which he eventually becomes an inclusive pastor.
Personally, this plot line was well written and offers hope to the audience who might be struggling with the same or similar identities as Eric.
Another well-written plot line involves how Aimee navigates how to move forward from the trauma she experienced in season 2 of the series. Throughout the final season, Aimee is seen on a healing journey — complete with a cathartic moment where she curses out men who were cat-calling her on the street.
Adam also goes through a journey of acceptance as he mends his relationship with his father, finds new happiness in horse training and ultimately becomes comfortable with his sexuality.
Other plot lines explored in the final season include Jackson’s desire to know the identity of his father, Viv’s abusive relationship ending, Jean’s postpartum depression and Cal running away — with the school banding together to pay for Cal’s top surgery.
While a lot of the characters ended up in good standing for both themselves and the audience — and I wanted to enjoy it — this season did feel rushed to wrap up.
There were too many subplots being explored simultaneously for such a limited amount of episodes, resulting in rushed endings and resolutions. The pacing and editing of the episodes were off, and scenes would change before the audience could grasp the emotion.
Most notably, there were a bunch of new characters added to the series that I did not feel like I had a connection to — simply because there was no time to fully flesh them out.
At times, it felt like a completely different series. I believe if this season had more episodes — or even a time skip to tie up loose ends — it would have been a more satisfying conclusion. However, others believed this to be a perfect place to end the series.
“I just thought, ‘this feels like the right time [to] step away rather than try and stretch it out,’” show creator Laurie Nunn said in an interview with Elle.
While we will miss this show, we also have to thank the show for its lessons and legacy.
“Sex Education made people very curious about themselves, gender and all the things we touched on about personal boundaries. It incited people’s passions,” actress Patricia Allison said in an interview with The Female Lead.
Rating: 3/5 stars
