Educational Curriculum

I recently finished watching the final season of Netflix's series Sex Education. I watched all four seasons at the time they were released, and yet (in a major oversight) I seem never to have blogged about the show. I must take this last chance to rectify that, because I really can't praise it highly enough.

Sex Education centers on young Otis Milburn, student at a secondary school in small English town. His mother is an accomplished sex therapist, and much of her knowledge has transferred to Otis. With the help of a rebellious fellow student, Maeve, Otis sets up a "sex clinic" at his school where he dispenses the sort of advice the teens aren't getting from the authority figures in their lives. It's all a sound foundation for teen sex comedy hijinks. But this show transcends those conventional foundations in every conceivable way.

First of all, creator Laurie Nunn and her writers are interested in more than laughs. The show is as much a drama as a comedy, and is very interested in exploring the profound and real problems of its large cast of characters. Sex Education is the epitome of "you'll laugh, you'll cry" entertainment; within a single episode, the show can get as raunchy as American Pie, and as deep as Freaks and Geeks. (I go back to the 90s for those touchstones, because I can't readily think of anything that's done as well at either thing -- much less both -- since then.)

Secondly, the show has a deep commitment to diversity. From day one, the characters include a young gay teen trying to reconcile his sexuality with the values of his Nigerian family, a pansexual teen being raised by her single father, and a writer of alien-themed erotica. Over the course of four seasons, the show includes story lines exploring trans issues, poverty, deafness, wheelchair accessibility, and more. The stories are all interesting, illuminating, and relatable -- and it all just seems to get better the more it encompasses.

Third, the cast is exceptional. In the beginning, the recognizable star was Gillian Anderson as Jean Milburn. But as good as she is (and she is), it seems like everyone else on the show rises to her level. Asa Butterfield plays Otis, and always threads the needle of playing a character who can be both wise beyond his years and painfully exactly his age. Ncuti Gatwa is outstanding as Otis' best friend Eric, and has parlayed his work here into becoming the next Doctor on Doctor Who.

Familiar guest stars from James Purefoy to Hannah Waddingham to Jason Isaacs to Dan Levy come rolling through -- sometimes for a single episode, other times on a recurring basis. But while they may have been there early on in the series to lend credibility, it seems by the end of the show that several other young performers in the cast eclipse them, poised to go on to more successful film or television roles, from Emma Mackey to Aimee Lou Wood (who won a BAFTA for the second season) and more.

The final season moves the kids to college, but the show is still as strong as ever... and I respect the choice to end it at this point and essentially "go out on top." In particular, the final 3 episodes of the 8-episode season include some of the most powerful moments in the show's entire run.

Netflix has a way of swallowing great content whole, more than any other streaming service. It's entirely possible you've never even heard of Sex Education. If not, that's a tragedy -- but one you can easily remedy. From beginning to end, the show was an absolute A... one of the very best things on television during the time it ran. Check it out!