[Warning: This review contains spoilers.]
The fourth and final installment of “Sex Education,” created by Laurie Nunn, released on Sept. 21. During the span of eight episodes, the season focuses on Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) and his friends as they begin their college journey while the other beloved Moordale residents try to manage their eventful lives.
The former Moordale Secondary students adjust to a more inclusive atmosphere of Cavendish Sixth Form College. A new progressive school means more opportunities to get to know more like-minded people, and new subplots for the show to cover on top of the already chaotic storyline. These newly introduced characters are the college’s queen bees which includes Abbi (Anthony Lexa), Roman (Felix Mufti), and Aisha Green (Alexandra James).
In the United States, Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey) attends Wallace University, and experiences self-doubt about her skills in writing. Adam Groff (Connor Swindells) decides to join the workforce as a horse riding instructor on a local farm.
To Otis’s surprise, there is another successful sex therapist on campus, Sarah “O” Owens (Thaddea Graham) who threatens business to his clinic that was originally built with Maeve at Moordale Secondary. Strangely enough, Otis’s new nemesis is also Ruby Matthews’ (Mimi Keene) childhood bully. They both team up against Sarah for vengeance and ownership of being the university’s only student sex clinic.
The slow burn romance between Maeve and Otis continues until the final episode as they manage a long distant relationship. Both of them love each other, but Otis realizes how much of a setback he is in Maeve’s life. In the end he decides to let her go be single in America. This is another example of Otis deliberately messing up the things in life due to his anxiety-filled, over thinking personality. Another thing Otis does is push away his romantic partners, which is evident in his previous relationships with Ola Nyman (Patricia Allison), Ruby, and now Maeve. It’s as if Otis has lost all his character development over the span of the entire series.
While the storyline of Otis dwindles, other characters go through severe changes in their lives. Vivienne “Viv” Odusanya (Chinenye Ezeudu) finds her dream boy who turns out to be an abusive, controlling narcissist. Jackson Marchetti (Kedar Williams-Stirling) discovers who his biological father is because of a testicular cancer scare. Otis’s mom, Jean Milburn (Gillian Anderson) finds single motherhood difficult to balance with hosting a radio show about sex and receives help from her younger sister Joanna (Lisa McGrillis). Ruby struggles with making friends and fitting in with the rest of students compared to her previous popular status. Eric Effiong (Ncuti Gatwa) befriends the queen bees, and begins his difficult journey reconnecting to God and religion as a proud gay man. Aimee Gibbs (Aimee Lou Wood) conquers her fear of wearing the pants she was sexually assaulted in, and experiences a new romance with Maeve’s old fling Isaac Goodwin (George Robinson). There is so much information revealed in the plot while never finishing other stories in the series.
The central storyline feels unfinished as if there is a fifth season in the works. Sex Education’s legacy has potential to grow with the new amount of information given about the recurring characters for at least another season in the future. If there is another season, hopefully the main characters will not feel left on the back burner of importance compared to the newly introduced and underdeveloped ones.
