Sex Education (Season 2)

Last year, around this time, I fell in love with Sex Education. A quirky UK original Netflix show about teenagers and their sex problems. It was funny, emotional and I definitely rooted for most of the characters. Now that season 2 is out I can safely say that Sex Education is still one of the best shows! Still hilarious, still relevant and still telling diverse stories that are very important. It also brings on screen an unique Romeo and Juliet adaptation that I need a full version of…. like by yesterday.

PLOT

The show revolves around Otis (Asa Butterfield), who in the first season ends up giving sex therapy to his fellow high schoolers. He has a knack for advice because his mother Jean (Gillian Anderson) is a sex and relationship therapist. The second season follows Otis, Jean and all the other supporting characters after the aftermath of the first season. New characters are introduced, relationships are put to the test and sex is still the main focus!

Second season also brought in a lot of new topics that are important. Especially Aimee’s story line where Aimee Lou Wood manages to bring out so many layers of emotion in her character. There’s also the running theme of the level of sex education in public schools. I haven’t been in school for a while but I assume in many parts of the world this is still a huge problem as well.

STILL LOVING THE VIBE

The show is rooted in 80’s and 90’s style but has the 21st century’s technological enhancements. I loved and I still love this juxtaposition of style in the show. Not sure why but it somehow makes the story pop more and you can really tell that phones and social media isn’t in focus here. Sex Education, by throwing itself back in time in terms of style, is able to step past the pressure of social media and not make it the priority. Phones exist but with the style being so different it never feels odd that they don’t mention Instagram, Youtube or TikTok.

I like that. I also love how some of these conversations and discussions feel so current, yet the kids all look like they stepped out of 80’s/90’s music videos. Which is basically me saying that I love the style in Sex Education!

CHARACTERS

It’s hard to talk about the second season without spoilers. So if this sounds vague and far from coherent, it’s because I’m trying to avoid them. Sex Education has a variety of characters, main roles and bigger supporting roles, including smaller roles that appear every now and there. While the main character could be considered Otis, the second season has a lot more going on for other characters as well. In other words, I’m still not the biggest Otis fan and that is okay.

My favourite characters in the first season were Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) and Adam (Connor Swindells) – this is no different after finishing the second season. While their characters maybe had a less prominent story line due to other characters, new characters and Otis, they still shined the most. Plus, it’s hard not to smile when Gatwa is on screen, that guy just oozes charisma and his character just brightens my day up. Swindells is perfect with physical comedy – so many small hilarious moments throughout this season!

New bigger supporting roles in the second season were Isaac (Geoge Robinson), Viv (Chinenye Ezeudu) and Rahim (Sami Outalbali). All three bringing a lot of diversity into an already quite diverse show. Just like his character Isaac, Robinson is in a wheelchair after a spinal cord injury in 2015 while playing rugby. For Robinson, as well as Ezeudu, this was their first role and I think both did quite well. Ezeudu’s characters’ unexpected friendship with Jackson was everything! Outalbali is French and brings quite a lot of mystery to the show as Rahim.

While the teens were more in focus during season one, the second season brings more adults into the mix. Jean (Gillian Anderson) is still in the main adult though. Yet we also get a lot more Adam’s mom in this season and she’s delightful! Two of the teachers had a bit more to do as well and Maeve had an unexpected adult appear in her life too.

MY BABIES (SPOILER GUSH)

Alright I can’t stand it any longer and I have to gush about my favourites for a little. Eric and Adam, my babies. As mentioned before, Gatwa as Eric is a joy to watch. Connor as Adam is even more enjoyable as his character gets a more subtle arc in the second season. He has very little dialog but I feel like that’s what makes him stand out. Adam’s arc of course is the kind that I enjoy the most so it’s not a surprise. His bisexuality discovery scene was priceless!

While I enjoyed Eric with Rahim, I’m more excited to see where how his relationship with Adam develops. Adam was really trying to find his softer side in this season. He is clearly smitten with Eric and it shows because he becomes quite jealous. Yet he hides a side of himself from the world. But at the end of the season, I think it’s his father’s absence that helps him to be true to himself.  The hand holding at the end was everything!

Of course there are going to be difficulties in Eric’s and Adam’s relationship but I hope Sex Education finds a unique and fresh take. I’d rather not watch a predictable relationship drama, no thank you. I prefer them to have an unique yet comforting story line in the next season. While I get the fact that this could be seen as a toxic relationship, I’m not totally on board. Partly because I do believe some people can change, and I’m glad to see such changes in Adam.

FINAL THOUGHTS

While I found Sex Education’s second season to be funny and great, with an awesome finale episode, it’s not all that perfect. What I thought was a little lacking was the balance between characters. When the first season was progressing we got to see a lot of the characters as duos or groups. The events in the first season divided some of these duos/groups and we got more characters to follow. Does the show lose a bit of its momentum and become a little chaotic at time because of it? Yes! But I think at the end of the day, it’s not that bad.

Most of the new additions didn’t have a lot of interaction with other characters outside the one they were linked to. So we basically got three new duos but I hope the next season (yet not announced but hopefully coming) brings some of the threads together. Otherwise I feel like the show is going to have a harder time focusing on all the story lines. Which I’m guessing it will because we got A LOT of new possible arcs happening in the next season.

If they also follow the same trajectory and add new characters to the next season then it’s going to be mental. While I don’t mind a lot of characters, diversity and multiple story lines, it does become a little harder to give each character the attention they deserve. Anyway, your girl is still, regardless of the show’s plot expanding in all directions, a fan. And hopefully season three will show us the entire Romeo and Juliet musical because IT WAS BRILLIANT!