In Sex Education’s Overstuffed Final Season, You Never Stop Coming of Age
Photo Courtesy of Netflix
Sex Education’s final season finds itself in a strange predicament: the Netflix teen comedy-drama that premiered in 2019 made superstars out of its cast. Initially, the series’ biggest name was Gillian Anderson as a sex therapist, but she was only the initial selling point before international audiences fell in love with the rest of the cast. Simone Ashley rose to fame as the leading lady of Bridgerton Season 2. Three of its main actors (Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey, Conor Swindells) all appeared in Barbie. Ncuti Gatwa is also going to be the new star of Doctor Who. Emma Mackey won the BAFTA Rising Star award this year. Suddenly, everyone got very busy and the show that brought them to fame was faced with no other option but to end before most of its cast members leave.
Season 4 ultimately feels reluctant to be a final season. After the explosive Season 3 finale that saw Moordale High being shut down, the cast finds themselves in a new environment. Season 4 takes place at Moordale College, a free-spirited, inclusive, paperless school that is probably every Fox News watcher’s worst nightmare. This also brings new characters, specifically Abbi (Anthony Lexa), O (Thaddea Graham), Roman (Felix Mufti), and Aisha (Alexandra James) as the most popular group in school that are all openly queer. It’s a complete subversion of not just the previous Moordale school, but of every school environment most teen dramas take place in.
But this change of scenery is one that ultimately hurts Sex Education’s final season. It’s no fault of the new characters, they are all wonderful and fit perfectly into the show’s colorful dream world. But a final season is an opportunity to start winding things down, narrowing in on your main characters arcs and bringing everyone to their conclusion. But so much change makes it seem like Sex Education doesn’t want to end, and it feels like it’s accelerating along toward a potential Season 5 for most of Season 4. So many main cast members are gone (Ola, Olivia, Anwar, Lily, and Jakob are missing, most of whom are not even mentioned in the last season). It made me wish Moordale High’s closing had been the end of this season instead to serve as a more definite conclusion to this phase in these characters’ lives.
Despite this, there is a lot to love in Season 4. One of the shining points of the season—and the entire series—has been Eric (Gatwa). He gets the most introspective and compelling plotlines as he wrestles with his Christian faith and his sexuality. Gatwa has been a series highlight since Episode 1, and this final season is a clear display of his incredible talent. It’s no question he will continue to land big roles beyond Barbie and Doctor Who. He is simply a star, and Eric is where he shines the brightest.
Season 4 also pairs Isaac (George Robinson) and Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood) as friends—and potentially more. I never thought Isaac’s character fit perfectly in Sex Education’s world, but he finally seems to find his place with Aimee. The two have a great opposites attract dynamic (deeply cynical man and uproariously goofy woman), and their storyline about using art as a way to process internal emotions was a stellar way to send off both characters and a brilliant resolution to Aimee’s journey processing her trauma.
Sex Education has had another shining star that you never see, and that is composer/songwriter Ezra Furman. She has been turning in absolutely beautiful pieces for four seasons straight. She is a fundamental part of the audio-visual language of Sex Education—bright colors, a killer soundtrack, and the most beautiful folky melodies. Furman’s crackling voice is imperfect and heart-wrenching. The show would not have the soul it does without her, and she desperately deserves credit for her wonderful work.
After four seasons of will-they-won’t-they pining between Otis and Maeve, there is finally a conclusion to the couple that incited the entire show. It’s definitely bittersweet, but perfectly fitting for a series that has always been most interesting through its side characters. It’s a show that turned stereotypical mean girl Ruby into one of the funniest and most refreshing characters, and gave the mean Headmaster Groff a redemption arc. The main couple getting together hasn’t been the point of the show in a long time. They have outgrown that concept and that growth provides a much more emotionally developed end for the two of them.