Other Doctor Lives: Sex Education: Season 1, Episode 6 (2019)

*One spoiler from episode 5.*

As we move through the second half of the season, we’re getting deeper into the major characters. The client-of-the-week plot is brief and involves one of the supporting characters, while the principles all delve into the mire of navigating themselves, their desires, and their relationships. Also, Ncuti Gatwa does a fantastic job despite only having a handful of lines. Well done, sir!

Worried that he’s too far behind his peers, Otis decides he should lose his virginity (note, “decides he should,” which isn’t “decides he’s ready to.”) He finds an eager partner in Eric’s friend Lily, who’s in a similar “anyone will do so long as that cherry gets popped” position. When Maeve’s deadbeat brother blows into town, she’s wary of how much of her home life to share with Jackson. And Eric struggles with the fallout from his attack in the last episode.

Lots of stuff going on here. We’re shown clues to where some of Otis’s sexual repression comes from, which makes him trying to force the issue, virginity-wise, even more Bad Idea Jeans. His scenes with Lily range from hilariously awkward to painful, and Asa Butterfield does some fine work here.

I like getting more insight into Maeve through her brother, who she knows is an untrustworthy flake and tries to steel herself against, but who she finds herself loving anyway. A lot of her plot with Jackson this season has been a hot-and-cold rinse, repeat, but meeting her brother definitely tells us more about her as a character. Meanwhile, I’ve enjoyed ditzy but well-meaning popular girl Aimee since the pilot, and she’s a lot of fun as Otis’s client for the episode.

And then there’s Eric, who gives us a very sad, vulnerable story told almost entirely between the lines. In episode 5, after Otis (unintentionally) ditched Eric in full Hedwig drag, Eric was attacked by homophobic/transphobic assholes on his way home, and it’s clear that this sunny, optimistic boy has been shaken. He starts the episode by pushing past all the brightly-patterned shirts in his closet to dress in muted browns, literally trying to blend in for his own safety.

It’s also a reflection of his muted manner—as Otis points out, Eric isn’t speaking to him, but for solid chunk of the episode, he isn’t speaking to anybody. He drags himself through the school day in a morose, guarded stupor, bristling with pain that nobody notices. And when he does finally speak, I think he startles himself at how raw and angry his words are.

It’s a really poignant portrayal of a struggling teen in danger of falling through the cracks. Gatwa does so much without any dialogue at all, his expression by turns blank, defeated, depressed, on edge, and simmering with rage. He makes you feel everything Eric is going through in this episode, and even when he breaks and lashes out, you can still see all the hurt behind it.