Sex Education: Season 2, Episode 3

"Cum is kind of like a penis having a sneeze..."

This is a rather more serious episode than usual, focusing on Aimee as she suffers a sexual assault on a bus. Realistically, she dismisses it at first but is persuaded by Maeve, a wonderful friend using her birthday to accompany her to the police station, to report the crime. She seriousness of it all slowly sinks in until we see her break down in tears having been unable to tell her mum. It's a sobering reflection, in these post-#MeToo times, of the shit women and girls are expected to put up with, every day, by people who are the same gender as me.

Like last episode, there's a fair amount of bad sex via miscomunication this week as Olivia puts a pillow over her boyfriend's face while she cums because she has an "ugly cum face". How very teenager. I love how this series, so very often, is Marshall McLuhan with tits and willies. We also, rather bravely, get to see Otis being very immature indeed with the long-suffering Jakob, who ends up taking a staggeringly graceless apology with good grace. Meanwhile, Eric has a wonderful date with Rahim, who kisses him... only to randomly run into Adam, who is understandably very depressed indeed. Love triangle alert. And, on that front, and despite Aimee's advice, Maeve yet again fails to tell otis how she feels.

Touchingly, though, the very vulnerable Jackson has a bit of a crush on his tutor Viv as opposites- the athlete and the brainbox- seem to attract. He auditions for the part of Romeo- and nails it. I love where this is going.

Sex Education: Season 2, Episode 2

"Baba ganouche!"

This second episode is, on one level, setting up the actual character dynamics and plot arcs after last episode- hence we have Eric realising that Rahul actually likes him, and Marvel admitting- at least to Aimee and herself- that she isn’t over Otis. It’s also nice to see a couple of the more sympathetic teachers- Emily and Colin- shown as human beings with sex lives. But what makes this episode particularly great is that it’s all about one thing: communication.

We’re not great, in this country at least, about actually talking about sex, and what the other person wants. There seems to be an expectation, among far too many people, that there’s some magic trick that will please the other person without realising that the only secret of good sex is to find out what the other person likes, by talking to them, and doing it. Hence Colin’s problem with dirty talk, and even Otis’ rubbish fingering of Ola. (I love how Lily tells him!) Hence, perhaps, the culture of repressed gay sexuality at poor Adam’s cruel military school.

Part of the problem, I think, is how we Brits see sex as a joke, as “smut”, and not about an enjoyable and emotionally important part of life that is certainly fun and playful but also deadly serious, and important. It can, and often should, be silly, but it should never be treated as a joke- the excruciating scenes of Jean at the assembly and the equally cringeworthy sex education lesson (with Rahim as the voice of continental common sense; Brexit is even bad for our sex lives).

This is just what I like from telly- good characterisation and juicy subtext. Good stuff. And don’t forget, folks- ask about her orange.

Sex Education: Season 2, Episode 1

“You have discovered the wonders of your own penis, my friend...”

A new season dawns, so we have a first episode with a lot of exposition, that necessarily feels as though it exists to move the pieces into place. So yes, we have a sex advice client who is falsely accused of spreading chlamydia, and a hysterical STD scare with everyone running around in masks and worried about a plague- in a programme released in January 2020, which is creepy. We also have the usual wit, humour and character, not least with a hilarious opening sequence with Otis having learned to masturbate successfully and now doing it all the time like, well, a teenage boy. And there’s a hilarious conversation with Jean.

But there’s a lot of change to the status quo. Jean and Jakob are now an item- a fact accidentally revealed to their respective children. Ola is now at the school. Adam is not. Maeve isn’t, then she is, due to her cleverness and her favourite English teacher, Shabnam from EastEnders. There’s a new, handsome boy who is probably gay. And we meet the new Chair of the Board of Governors, a familiar face if you saw the excellent Years and Years.

Most tragically, it’s clear that Jackson is only working his arse off at swimming to stop his parents arguing. His self-inflicted injury is a cry for help, and should be seen for what it is: self harm.

Oh, and Jean is going to be teaching sex education at the school. I’m sure Otis will love that. And Ola has just found out about the sex clinic. Then there’s the love triangle with Maeve..

It’s all looking promising. It’s fair to say this first episode still managed to be fun even with all that exposition to do, but I’m glad the pieces are in lace.

Sex Education: Season 1, Episode 8

"My vagina has betrayed me!"

Wow. After last episode seemed to raise the bar we have an extraordinarily accomplished finale, which brings a satisfactory closure of sorts to a lot of threads while using the characters in a satisfying way. And, as ever, the way it’s all structured is a marvel and a complex plot is made easy to follow- this is a show with very good writing.

So we have Lily’s fury sexual experience ruined by her sex slamming shut, making her an unofficial client of the week, but her fear of losing control and enjoying sexual pleasure is a direct parallel of Otis’ own issues, and ultimately they help each other to get over them- and it’s all rather cute. Lit is a wonderful character, wonderfully portrayed.

But we also have Goff getting a stupidly wrong end of the stick and accusing Maeve of dealing illegal drugs, leading her to take the fall for her brother and to be at serious risk of expulsion- something which, despite Jackson’s protestations, is very much up in the air, and not looking good, as the episode ends.

More positively, Eric and Adam end up in detention- and, after a little of the usual bullying, Adam throws himself on Eric and they have sex. Wow. The thing is, Mrs Llamastrangler predicted this, and I pooh poohed her. She always thought Adam’s bullying looked suspiciously as though he fancied Eric- and he does. But he goes straight into denial mode, and the closet, afterwards. That last sight of them sitting awkwardly together in the science lesson, not holding hands, is so very sad. And Adam, it seems, is off to some horrible military school. I hope Goff gets his comeuppance: he’s a baddie you love to hate, and Alistair Petrie has been consistently superb.

We end with apologies to Otis, and a kind of wisdom, from Jean, who has admitted to Jakob that she wants more than sex. And, in another elegant parallel, he makes up with Ola and they kiss... which leads to a splendidly and necessarily figurative final shot of Otis’ first ever masturbatory orgasm.... to the sounds of Sigurd Sigue Sputnik.

This finale, and in hindsight the whole season, has been superb.

Sex Education: Season 1: Episode 7

"Sometimes the people we like don't like us back, and it's painful, but there's nothing we can do about it."

This penultimate episode is extraordinary- full of depth in terms of both theme and character. It seems to have shifted gear into something more serious and philosophical. The comedy hasn't gone, but by this point it's just a natural part of the drama.

And the drama is about very deep feelings and passionate longing, beginning with Liam, client of the week, who is being a bit creepy about unrequited love- and quite rightly gets the "no means no, so back off" talk from Otis. Interestingly, though, we get a lot of ironic banter about the innate stupidity and sexism of the upcoming school prom- very much an American import and not so big a thing in this country: I never went to mine in '95 and nor did many of my friends. But a reluctant Maeve is persuaded by Jackson, and a similarly reluctant Otis is persuaded by Ola, in both cases rather sweetly.

Also sweet is how Jean and Jakob are falling for each other, with Jean teaching for ever more transparent excuses to see him... but, when they stop shagging and start talking, the sex therapist proves to be utterly like insight. She tells him she thinks of him as divorced and bored of monogamy. But she is describing herself; Jakob is a widower, Jean is the first person he’s slept with since the bereavement, and he wants more than just the physical.

But the ball is awkward; Maeve isn’t fully happy with Jackson, and there are in resolved and mutual feelings between her and Otis that are very much lampshaded by the case of the week- Otis’s speech to a suicidal Liam at the end is very much heard by Maeve. It seems our two leads may get together.

But, of course, it is not to be, as Maeve is disgusted when a drunken Jackson reveals the confidential advice Otis gave him. And Jackson himself is far from a bad bloke, with one of his parents living her dreams of sporting glory through him. It's a terrible burden for one far too young. And, to complete our triptych of things going wrong, Oris stupidly upsets Ola, seeming to lose her. This is nicely structured storytelling. And throughout the episode we have Sean, Maeve's very human but dodgy drug dealing brother, as a worryingly damaging catalyst.

Eric has a better time this episode, however, starting to reconcile his very Christian, African family background (let's hope it doesn't remain just generically African, which would be dodgy) with his sexuality- and there's a lovely conversation with his concerned but caring dad. He arrives at the party looking fabulous, and gets cheered (yay!), finally accepting Otis' frank apology. But we can't have a happy ending to a penultimate episode; Otis sees the book his mother has been writing is... about him.

This is superb; it's extraordinary that a short series in its first season should develop it's characters so well by this point.

Sex Education: Season 1, Episode 6

“I’ll bring the condoms. You bring the lube...”

A lot happens in this episode, and it happens to a lot of characters. And yet, by this point in the season, we know the characters and are invested. It’s complicated, but it doesn’t feel it. That’s good writing.

We start with a flashback as a very young Otis sees his father have sex with someone else- and it was him, as a little boy, who innocently told his mother and caused so many arguments and so much drama. It’s not hard to see him blaming himself. Especially when, desperate to lose his virginity, he agrees to shag Lily (Tanya Reynolds is both brilliant and perfectly cast)... and a flashback to that moment prevents him doing it. There are issues there, which are without a doubt going to be explored. This is all paralleled, of course, with his mother’s curiously cute and old fashioned courtship of the handyman.

Eric is in a dark place, alienated not just from Otis but from everyone. It’s a superb bit of acting from Ncuti Gatwa here as a very different and suddenly much angrier Eric- culminating in a pinch at Anwar. And he and Otis are absolutely no closer to reconciling. Yet Eric’s relationship with his traditionally African yet well-meaning father is interesting. I like the nuance here; the father may not be from a background where being gay is easily accepted, but he’s nevertheless trying to do right by his son, and obviously cares.

Maeve, meanwhile, has issues of her own as her unreliable and mercurial brother is back, no doubt up to something, while Jackson is feeling real conflict between the demands of swim training and the demands of having a girlfriend. You feel for her as a young swimming widow, but you feel for the lad too. And, of course, Maeve’s essay written for Adam wins a prize, leading to undeserved praise for someone who blatantly didn’t write it. And yet, interestingly, Mr Goff seems determined to ignore all signs of this and pretend his son wrote the thing. There are seeds of real conflict here, and corruption. I suspect this will develop.

This week’s sex therapy case is interesting- Aimee, in a nice little microcosm for how she always lets herself be walked on, has never orgasmed and is struggling to accept the idea that sex should be about her pleasure, as her nice new boyfriend exists. And after discovering the pleasures of wanking she’s a a very satisfied customer.

But we end, interestingly, with the intriguing Ola asking Otis out on a date, but he continues to show real chemistry with Maeve, and we end with her smelling his jumper, showing she does have feelings...

Sex Education: Season 1, Episode 4

“Why don’t you start by telling me your earliest memory of your scrotum.”

Another fascinatingly well-structured episode here, which hints at the likelihood that this series won’t be taking a “case of the week” format but with have much more of an emphasis on season arcs, but also seems to be still setting up the pieces. We meet two new characters here- an unnamed Swedish builder who seems to be set up as a possible love interest for Jean and his daughter, who will have some connection (romantic?) with Otis.

The A plot is very well done, of course- Otis really likes Maeve, but I adverts it ends up giving advice to Jackson which ends up with her agreeing, against her general principles, to be her boyfriend. But Jackson isn’t a bad guy, and is genuinely in love. And it’s not much consolation to Otis to get a random proposal of mutual cherry- popping from the quirkily likeable Lily.

Incidentally, these teenagers are young enough to be my kids. So why do they all like the same bands as me? We get Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Joy Division and others all name checked- even Bikini Kill. It’s interesting that there seems to be no clear cut generation gap.

Meanwhile Adam gets even more desperate because of his authoritarian wanker of a father. And Eric seems to have similar problems, if both less clear and apparently less intense. There’s a lot going on, but it feels natural and easy. This may not be top drawer, but it’s very, very good.

Sex Education: Season 1, Episode 3

“It’s better not being a mum at all than being a bad one.”

Interestingly, this episode doesn’t take the formulaic, “case of the week” approach that might be expected: perhaps that’s not the sort of series this is. Instead we get a focus on the fascinating Maeve, whose life is tinged with sadness and deprivation that belie her intelligence, her cut-glass vowels and (as we see here from a very ITV television quiz) that she is well read and cultured.

Bravely, the episode focuses on Maeve having an abortion following the events of the previous episode. The whole process is shown with realism, including the horrible nutters shouting inhuman abuse outside at women who really don’t need it. We get to know her, and Otis even tries to dispense some sex advice, but they’re not nice people and they shouldn’t be allowed to do that.

Emma Mackey is superb at showing us both Maeve’s tough exterior and the vulnerability that lies beneath. And there’s a brief moment of joy when she realises that Otis actually came through and waited for her. She seems to trust him, and even shows him the caravan park where she lives- and that her absent mother is an addict. We last see her staring at childhood photos. This is all wonderful character stuff.

We also meet Otis’s father for the first time, and and get to laugh at his guilt that his first wet dream should be about Maeve and that he’s “objectifying” her. I think it’s clear that the two of them are going to get together.

But there’s more, too: we see Jackson swimming, and how his pushy mum is urging him to train further. Meanwhile we see how the headmaster is seemingly more fond of this successful substitute son than he is of his own. And we see Eric’s large family, with real homophobic undercurrents, as he makes a rather touching friendship with the delightfully eccentric Lily.

This is all quite gripping.