Sex Education Season 4 Gave Maeve and Otis the Right Ending

After four seasons of Netflix’s Sex Education, the slow-burn romance between protagonists Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey) and Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) reached its climax before the two parted ways, seemingly for good. Maeve returned to America to study and pursue a writing career after the death of her mother brought her home, while Otis continued his life in Moordale, on track to one day becoming a sex therapist. While it was devastating to see this slow-burn dissolve as the characters stepped away from each other in the series finale, it is ultimately for the best that Maeve and Otis didn’t end up together. This was the right call, especially after what we have seen from them in their potential romance during the previous three seasons.

Frankly, at times, it was hard to root for Maeve and Otis to be together because of what the series did with the characters in order to keep this fan-favorite, slow-burn flame flickering in the night. (The night being the years between every eight-episode season, of course.) As such, their dynamic often became downright unhealthy throughout the series. First and foremost, Maeve and Otis seriously struggled to communicate. Not just in a “they’re teenagers” kind of way, but so much so that they could never truly have a real conversation because one or both were always holding things back, and the writers couldn’t allow for the two to have a real, deep conversation because then there would be nothing to stop them from being together.

Maeve and Otis fought constantly due to their vastly different outlooks and upbringings: Maeve’s childhood trauma fostered a maturity that Otis was nowhere close to reaching despite his very informed and educated view of life. The fighting continued even well into the final season, as the miscommunication between them reached new heights with the gravity of her mother’s death weighing on Maeve, and Otis’ secret sleepover at Ruby’s weighing on him. Plus, there’s Otis’ failed attempt at sexting, and the list goes on.

They, but especially Otis, would internalize whatever conflict was going on and take out their flaring negative emotions on each other, prolonging the realization and revelation of their shared romantic feelings. Despite being the central romance of Sex Education (as I would argue Otis and Eric [Ncuti Gatwa] are the central relationship of the series), their being together as a real couple always seemed unfathomable. Even in the final season, when they were together and embracing their feelings for one another, it didn’t feel quite right because of everything the characters had been through. This is partially why the romantic relationship between Otis and Ruby (Mimi Keene) became so popular after Sex Education Season 3, as the two were just allowed to exist and explore what was between them, only slightly complicated by Otis’ lingering feelings for Maeve. 

Nonetheless, when it came down to it, Sex Education handled Maeve and Otis parting ways with beauty and grace. (I say this as someone who, despite the reasons above, couldn’t help but want Maeve and Otis to finally make things work, grow as individuals, and see their romance finally come to fruition.) Being with Otis would have kept a part of Maeve trapped in Moordale for the foreseeable future, a place holding vast traumatic memories for her and lacking the opportunities she needed to break the cycle her family had been stuck in. She would have felt compelled to return home and visit him, distracted from her goals during her writing program in America. Additionally, given Otis’ own relationship blunders, it’s probable he would have accidentally created some serious issues between them if they tried to pursue a long-distance relationship.

So, instead of getting their endgame, the series finale made the choice to confirm how powerful their feelings for one another were before splitting them up (as we hear in Maeve’s beautifully written letter). The characters sacrificed this relationship for many reasons, but they were all good reasons. It was a classic case of the right person, but the wrong time. One could believe that, down the line in their lives, they will come back together and finally work it out. Or, as I’ve taken it and found heart-wrenchingly beautiful, they will forever be each other’s one who got away, never meant to be but changed forever by what they shared.

It’s never easy to see a slow-burn romance meet this end, and nobody could have predicted things would play out this way, but this is the right ending for the characters—Maeve especially. Truthfully, Maeve always could have done better than Otis, who was still very immature and so far away from Maeve emotionally even well into the final season. This is showcased by his petty rivalry with O (Thaddea Graham) from the moment he stepped onto the new campus, but also his ridiculous reaction to Jean (Gillian Anderson) giving Maeve the motherly advice she needed to follow her dreams and return to America. Otis was quite often the culprit regarding miscommunication and conflict between the two, leaving Maeve on a rollercoaster as he dealt with his emotions—as if she never had enough going on, dealing with new life-altering traumas every single season.

But, most of all, this ending—or new beginning, rather—is real. Sex Education never shied away from digging deep into various topics and exploring them thoroughly. It is, after all, one of the reasons the series is so popular. Life and sex are messy, and the series embraced that from the very beginning. Maeve and Otis not ending up together is just another aspect of how chaotic life can be, how disappointing yet still beautiful it can be for the universe to set you and your beloved on different paths away from one another. 

Jay Snow is a freelance writer. He has published many places on the internet. For more of his thoughts on television and to see his other work (or to simply watch him gush again and again over his love for the original Charmed) follow him @snowyjay.

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