*Season 2 premise spoilers.*
On the whole, I like this episode a lot. All of the main plots keep my interest and work well, although there are a few things that annoy me. As is frequently the case with the show, they take some pretty standard plotlines and put a compelling spin on them.
Otis is horrified when his mom is tapped to help the school revamp its sex ed curriculum, and her first days at school are, shall we say, less than comfortable for him. But he’s proud of the research and practice he did mastering his fingering techniques with Ola… or so he thinks. Elsewhere, Maeve struggles to fit into her new advanced classes, Jackson considers other possibilities for his future, and Eric can’t figure out the new kid’s deal.
The sex ed plot is a lot of fun. Last season, Jean’s storylines mostly stayed at the house, either dealing with her tricky relationship with Otis or her growing attraction to Jakob. Bringing her into the school shakes things up, for all parties involved: Jean, Otis, the headmaster, the sex ed teacher, and the students in general. I love the embarrassing scene of Jean’s first address to the students at morning assembly, seeking their input for what they want in their sex ed curriculum. Especially great is this line: “Maybe you’ve always wondered, ‘Is my labia a normal length?’”
Otis’s great fingering exploits are fun too. He gets all in his head about it—since Ola knows about the sex therapy, he figures she expects him to be an expert—and everything involving “the clock technique” is hilarious. I’m enjoying Lily as a friend/sounding board for Ola, and she helps Ola navigate her desire not to be subjected to Otis’s questionable fingering again without hurting his feelings.
Maeve recently joined the school’s “aptitude scheme,” advanced classes for gifted students. In a lot of stories, she would initially have a difficult time with the workload and have to study extra hard to prove herself. But on Sex Education, the issue isn’t the homework or the material. Rather, it’s Maeve’s own perception of herself and whether she belongs. Maeve’s home life has held her back for so long that it’s hard for her to know what she wants for herself, and she compares herself negatively to her high-achieving classmates who have their dreams all sorted out.
Eric has some kind of thing going on with the new kid Rahim, but he isn’t sure what. While the most popular kids in their class whisper and theorize about the mysterious hunk from abroad, eager to initiate him into their pack, Rahim keeps seeking out Eric. But he’s hard to read, by turns intense and nonchalant. He’ll stare at Eric from afar or come sit beside him out of nowhere, then vanish just as quickly. For his part, Eric is mainly just confused, and a little intimidated.
One thing that’s nice about this episode is that Otis and Eric both support each other’s plots. Ncuti Gatwa is hilarious as Eric follows the play-by-play of Otis’s fingering plotline. Early on, he points out, “Otis, it’s a vagina, it’s not an exam!”, and when Otis comes to him in (misplaced) triumph later in the episode, he exclaims, “I knew you had a freshly-fingered glow about you!” But Otis also listens to Eric puzzle over Rahim and tries to help him figure out the enigma of the new kid. I appreciate that. When the best friend character always serves the main character’s plot, it flattens them, and as I’ve said, that’s especially uncomfortable when you have a straight white protagonist and a marginalized best friend (in Eric’s case, Black and gay.) Also, it just makes the protagonist seem like a bad friend when everything is always about them. Here, though, we see both boys trying to give each other advice/support, and it culminates in a fun image of them running around the local fair together, Eric giving Otis a piggyback ride as they enjoy their night.
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