Sex Education Season 2
So I just finished the second season of this British show and am met with conflicting feelings. A lot of love triangles that are introduced in the previous season don’t get resolved until this one is well underway. And by the time these truths, passions, crushes, or whatever else have you are finally brought to light, it is anti-climactic. To lend from the thematic material—it is as if someone is bringing you to orgasm and the progress is suddenly halted and you’re left with want.
Still, there’s a lot to be liked here. Gillian Anderson’s stoic sex therapist Jean Milburn gets a new gig at her son’s school, cuing the student body to throng about her, hungry for sex knowledge. This makes for a score of amusing conversations and diversions, albeit to the horror of son Otis, who is currently navigating through an awkward relationship with girlfriend Ola. Otis and Ola are reminiscent of most peoples’ teenage relationships, particularly as they apply to lack of communication and sexual inexperience. Their relationship however is at times almost too well-depicted; intimate scenes involving these two tended to make me want to look away in embarrassment.
Things become significantly more complicated when Maeve returns to school and takes up the tag-team sex therapy sessions with Otis once again. The tension between the two reinstates, but get ready for a blue-ball because that’s how it felt when this relationship once again stopped growing with the show. This friends-with-potential-for-more angle just doesn’t deliver, and even at the end you don’t know what the hell is going on.
The more fascinating, better-developed love triangle is the one between Eric, Adam, and the new French student. When Adam returns from military school he sets eyes on Eric almost right away, positing to resume their hook-up. Yet with timing being what it is, Eric prioritizes the French guy’s attention over Adam’s overtures. For me the most poignant moment in the show is when Adam finally realizes he needs to profess his love to Eric while he plays in the orchestra pit at the play. To the tune of Dusty Springfield’s “Wishin’ and Hopin’ ” Adam races to school on foot, and his character development runs right along with him. What a great arc.
