Do you remember the 21st night of September? Well, I do, because that’s when the long awaited fourth and final season of Sex Education premiered on Netflix. In the final run, we catch up on many characters’ storylines, relationships and sex drives. Despite Maeve being off in the US filming Barbie, Emma Mackey’s screen time was much more than people (Twitter) anticipated. Aimee is working through the trauma of her assault in the most Aimee way possible through baking, art and quirkiness. Eric becomes gay Jesus. And Otis remains endearingly insufferable. Right, let’s get into it.
Season four starts off with Jean struggling as a single mother juggling a career after her almost-baby daddy abandoned her. Otis is attempting a long distance relationship with Maeve who is pursuing a writing course in the States. He’s overburdened, also stepping in to help care for Joy, his new sister. Enter Joanna, Jean’s flighty free-spirited sister who moves in to nanny Joy while Jean takes a new radio show job. New characters are introduced at Cavendish College, the Gen Z student led high school commune celebrating sexual fluidity and positive vibes. Gossip isn’t allowed and no student grade rankings exist here – the closest thing to heaven in high school. Abbi and her boyfriend Roman rule the school’s social scene by shoving kindness down your throat. The college is nothing what the Moordale students or viewers expected, leaving Ruby to trout out allyship in order to become popular. The first episodes are all about the Cavendish and Moordale students adjusting to their new school. Minus Adam who didn’t return to school and started finding his stride by working at a local farm hand.
One of the major plot points this season is Ottis versus O, who is the other sex therapist on campus. O, an asexual woman also happens to be Ruby’s primary school bully. O markets her clinic on campus as a safe space without judgment. She also boasts of a lot of online followers much to Otis’ dismay. The thing is O is gifted. Otis is met with an ego battle, so he decides to wage war on O and start an election, so Cavendish will only have one sex therapist. Later O is asked to be the co-host for Jean’s radio show which leads to Otis and Jean both feeling humiliated by her.
Eric’s arch in this season is finding where he belongs in his church community as a gay man. He starts attending baptism classes while seeing visions of God. He fits in well at Cavendish with the prideful gay community and bonds easily with Abbi and Roman who are quick to point out that straight people like Otis have a harder time looking at societal differences. Otis anxiety spikes and he becomes worried that he’s losing his best friend.
The main romantic focus is still put on Maeve and Otis. The writers entertained some tension between Otis and Ruby, but it seemed they even got bored with Otis’ love life. Midway through the season, Maeve gets thrown into the unthinkable and can’t catch a break. She returns to Moordale because her mum dies due to an overdose. In light of that, her brother starts using again making the audience’s admiration for Maeve turn to pity. Otis can’t deeply be there for her and they end their relationship when Maeve goes back to school. She gets a decent send off and writes Otis a nice goodbye letter, but the breakup lacks luster and considering viewers have been shipping this for seasons. I guess, you call that emotional maturity?
Ultimately, there were too many characters to keep up with and no one got a proper goodbye. A couple of last minute random climatic events are thrown in to keep the audience watching till the finale, but these events were without any poignant breakthroughs making them barely impactful. The show’s creators struggled to tie up loose ends. For instance, there was a lot of time spent on coupling characters yet in the end many of the show’s regulars didn’t end up with anyone except Aimee and Issac. The most heartwarming moment was when Adam and his dad expressed love for each other and embraced in a horse field! Such tenderness amidst the stinky smells! That being said, my biggest letdown was that we didn’t receive a fulfilling reconciliation between Otis and Jean. Throughout the series, they constantly misunderstand each other despite their obvious similarities and love for each other, so I think a more compelling direction for season four could’ve been about how they could repair their relationship. The best case scenario for the finale would’ve been either Otis and Jean going to therapy together or Jean passing the therapy torch to Otis, so the plot would come full circle.
Overall, this season was bittersweet. Once again, I found myself fully immersed in all this Southchester high school drama that made me forget that this was the last time I’d see this niche kind of UK awkwardness on my screen. Although, I did have to skip through some scenes of teen mastubration.