The final season of Sex Education has aired. Now it's not so fun
Miscellaneous / / September 25, 2023
New characters and adult problems are off-putting.
On September 21, the final, fourth season of the series Sex Education premiered on Netflix.
The first season of Sex Education was released in 2019 and created a sensation. The series about a virgin schoolboy who followed in his mother’s footsteps and decided to become a sexologist, cheerfully talked about teenage problems and experiences. By the end, the tone has changed, and the questions troubling the main characters are as different as possible from those at the beginning.
The leading roles remain Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson and Shuti Gatwa.
In the new season, Otis and Eric enter Cavendish College, where students run the show. In his new position, Otis faces a problem: he has to compete with another, more experienced sexologist who is popular. At the same time, the hero is forced to help his mother, who is suffering from postpartum depression.
The shift in emphasis may surprise
By the fourth season, Sex Education finally ceases to be a series
about teenagers. There are noticeably more “adult” problems on the screen. At the same time, it seems that there is something deceitful in the change, because the teenage problems of the first season were quite adult, it’s just that the school atmosphere made it possible to talk about them with humor and ease. Now the backdrop is college.Not only the location has changed, but also the characters - the fourth season introduces a lot of secondary characters. And they are very different from those at the beginning of Sex Education.
The rivalry between Otis and another sex therapist describes the change in the series. Otis in the first season is a notorious virgin who miraculously gives the right advice about his sex life. In the fourth season, he doesn’t exactly hide his abilities as a sexologist - he talks about them to the whole world, but this does not surprise anyone, there are other sexologists nearby.
Sex Education spends a lot of time on postpartum depression in its fourth season. Considering the diversity of other problems, this one looks like something out of another series (or peace). But it turns out too simple - not enough time is allocated to this storyline.
Superficial seriousness is puzzling
Introducing a bunch of new characters abruptly is a big risk, and Sex Education doesn't seem to be up to the task. In fact, these are not so much heroes as archetypes; the characters have no time for development. The difference with what happened at the beginning of the series is big: the “newbies” don’t evoke any special emotions.
At the same time, new characters influence the tone of the story. If earlier conversations about serious things were conducted furtively, now they are conducted in full voice. By the third episode it gets tiring. There is a depressing feeling as if someone is teaching you about life. This is no longer an easy and kind discussion of problems, but unpleasant conversation one of a series of those that begin with the phrase “We need to talk.”
Naivety triumphs
The sketchiness of problem solving is not exactly a weak point of the series, but it is too naive. With each season this structure became more and more evident, and by the end it had crystallized completely. If something bad happens, the heroes act as follows:
- At first they try to solve the problem thoughtlessly.
- They think about the reasons why the problem appeared.
- Analyze their behavior and desires.
- Accept themselves.
After the last point the problem is solved. This is very predictable, and therefore a little boring - well, the world of Sex Education is too simple.
On the other hand, from the very first episodes the series shouted to the viewer that you need to accept yourself for who you are. To illustrate this thesis, the scriptwriters were ready to use the simplest schemes. Of course, there is some naivety here, but “Sex Education” does not pretend to be an insanely complex show. But even accepting this fact does not help fight boredom, when the next hero launches a scheme that will end in self-acceptance.
Humor separated from drama
The only thing that the series kept from the very beginning and carried through to the end unchanged was humor. “Sex Education” is a rare project that relies on the same themes for jokes, but never slips into repetition. A scattering of new minor characters allows us to tangentially touch on the passion for horoscopes and natal charts, environmental activism and other modern trends. There are still a lot of jokes, they are varied.
True, the place of humor has changed. In the first season, comedy alleviated the awkwardness of the scenes and also reduced the pathos. By the end, everything changed: now serious words are separate, jokes are separate. “Sex education” still does the same thing make you laugh, but it’s like a bonus and not an important element of the project.
The latest season of Sex Education, if it doesn’t blur the impression of the series as a whole, certainly hints that the story was finished on time. The further he moved away from teenage problems, the less bright and interesting he turned out to be. A large number of new characters and locations does not allow you to empathize with what is happening in the same way as it was in the first season. But fans will probably forgive Sex Education the final eight episodes - the previous 24 were too good.
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