Netflix just dropped the highly-anticipated second season of Sex Education. The series follows Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield), the son of a sex therapist, as he partners with Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey) to run a sex advice clinic for the students at their school.
Season one was met with high praise from critics and was streamed over 40 million times soon after its debut. Season two was up to par, holding a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s due to it hitting on some topical themes that matter to a lot of people, as well as the connection we have to these characters. It was filled with more emotional scenes than expected. Consider this your spoiler warning.
Ruby Discusses Her Life
Up until the penultimate episode of season two, we didn’t know much about Ruby. She was part of the “Untouchables,” was mean to everyone, and had an altercation with her friend after an explicit photo was leaked. That all changed when we discovered that she had slept with Otis.
Unsure of their use of a condom, the two spend the day together as Ruby takes the morning-after pill. While hanging out, Ruby opens us about her father’s sickness. It gives us a deeper look into the character, though she quickly drops back into her usual persona. Seeing Ruby be this vulnerable was touching.
Otis Argues With Eric
The friendship between Otis and Eric is one of the most important aspects of the series. Their fight during the first season was one of the hardest things to watch. It seemed like they were possibly heading down that route again when they went on a camping trip with Otis’ dad Remi.
Eric finally opens up about his feelings for Adam. Otis runs him down for wanting to be abused by someone, and Eric fires back about the way Otis was handling the Maeve/Ola situation. While it doesn’t go further, it was emotional to see them later point out that their reactions were simply because they wanted to keep the other safe.
Jean Confronts Otis
Otis has always had something of a strained relationship with his mother. She’s not a bad mom but her work as a sex therapist and lack of boundaries have caused major problems for Otis. Things reached a boiling point when she found out about his sex clinic business.
Jean confronts Otis at home about his actions. Their argument leads to him attempting to therapize her. It opens things up for them and their history. Seeing Jean react to Otis’s recollection of their past was heartbreaking. Otis realizing the error of his ways and praising her in the finale was made better by this scene.
“I Want To Hold Your Hand”
Adam spends two seasons struggling with his sexuality. He always considered himself straight but hooked up with Eric before being sent off to military school. Upon returning, he becomes friends with Ola and starts to come to terms with who he is. He realizes that he doesn’t want Eric gone from his life.
In the season finale, Adam sprints to the school and interrupts a play to tell Eric how he feels. He does so by offering to hold his hand, which is his first attempt at public affection, showing he’s come to accept his sexuality. It’s the culmination of two seasons’ worth of storytelling.
Aimee’s Breakdown
Aimee’s big storyline this season involved her getting sexually assaulted on the bus. At first, she brushes the whole thing off as not being a big deal. However, Maeve gets her to report the altercation to the police and her nerves seem to get worse as the day and discussions go on.
When Aimee gets home, she mostly avoids her mother and heads upstairs for bed. After taking a shower, Aimee sits on her bed and starts to cry. She doesn’t say anything but we can tell that this situation caused her plenty of distress. It ultimately causes her problems for several episodes.
Otis’ Voicemail
Season one ended when Maeve went to Otis to declare her feelings, only to find him kissing Ola. Season two saw the pair go through a handful of ups and downs. When the finale rolled around, Otis finally decided to tell Maeve the extent of his feelings for her.
He did so in a voicemail that we don’t hear until the closing minutes. While the words are sweet, we end up feeling an angry emotion. That’s because Isaac, Maeve’s neighbor with a crush on her, listens in on the voicemail and deletes it before she can ever hear it.
Jackson’s Breakdown
Aimee wasn’t alone in having her emotions take her over. Jackson began this season by purposely injuring his hand to get away from having to swim competitively. While out of action, he turns his attention to acting and forms an unlikely friendship with his tutor Viv.
When his hand heals, Jackson’s mom immediately wants him in the water again. At Otis’s party, Jackson starts to have a panic attack. He nearly hurts himself again when Viv walks in. Jackson lets out the tears as he discusses the immense pressure he feels from everywhere. Viv does her best to talk him down and eventually goes to his parents to get him help.
Maeve Calls Social Services
A major plot point of the season saw Maeve’s mother Erin re-enter her life. At first, it seems like she’s really trying to get herself together. However, she gets fired from her new job and begins to neglect Maeve’s young half-sister. Maeve has her neighbors investigate and they find proof that Erin is using drugs again.
Fearing for the safety of her sister, Maeve makes the difficult decision to call social services on her mother. The heartbreaking scene unfolds as Erin feels betrayed. Maeve is crushed as her mom promises that she’ll never forgive her for what she did, adding another tough moment in a long line of them regarding her family.
The Bus Ride
As noted earlier, Aimee suffers a harrowing assault while riding the bus one day. She hides her pain for most of the season and nobody knows what’s going on. But when she’s stuck in detention with Maeve, Viv, Ola, Olivia, and Lily, she bursts out in tears and reveals her feelings.
As she does, each of the other girls opens up about a past experience with some kind of sexual assault. The girls bond over this and when they smash things together to let out their frustrations. However, the real emotion comes the next day. The girls surprise Aimee at the bus stop and ride it in unison, helping her get over her fear.
Maeve Comes Clean
Maeve spends the first half of season two pining over Otis but never saying her true feelings. After Otis loses her sister, Maeve gets frustrated because everyone lets her down. Emma Mackey’s delivery of that line and her reaction to Otis saying he’s leaving to see Ola (after they find her sister) are enough to cause a strong emotional reaction.
That is followed by her admitting that she messed it up with him romantically. As she does this, Otis gets angry. He admits to tearing himself inside out over his feelings for her. The two breakdown into tears over this missed connection. There were more serious issues tackled on the show, but with this relationship being the driving force of the series, it had to top the list.
