TV Review: Sex Education Gives Funny Lessons
The minute Netflix’s Sex Education started, I knew “the youth” would love it because there is nothing that feels cheekier than sex. (pun unintended). Sex is still treated as a taboo subject, even when you are an adult, but, for teens and early twenty-somethings, the inherent naughtiness of discussing carnal pleasures or the body’s lustful workings seems attractive, especially because you are just discovering them. Like forbidden fruit hanging from the conversational tree, Sex Education gets the bite.
Led by Asa Butterfield as Otis, Sex Education makes unlikelihood feel plausible. OF COURSE, a teenage kid, with a sex therapist as a mom, would be become a “legitimate,” valued sex therapist for his highschool, and every one would welcome it! Yet, Asa Butterfield gives Otis a kindness, intelligence, and a subtle mischievousness that makes his “sex therapist” role seem plausible. Moreover, every character you meet feels like a regular teen that simply wants to take to someone their age with wisdom beyond it. Oddly enough, Otis fits that criteria, but like most people, including his mom, he cannot be wiser for himself. It is as if he, inadvertently, become his mom 20 years before she became a sex icon/ sexual liberator, which means he has to go through the sentimental hills to build a mountain of self- confidence.
Gillian Anderson as Otis’ mom, Jean, is so fabulous that you wish she was friends with Agent Scully. She can feel so settled in her being and body, she epitomizes grace and freedom, which may be why her son is truly daunted by her. Every parent has flaws and makes mistakes, and Jean is not absolved of that. Yet, Gillian Anderson makes her character so refreshingly and accessibly confident, your both fall for her and feel threatened by her. It is a tall order to be confident, but when your own parent seems to be the poster child for this virtue, it feels too much. Thus, you understand why Otis, going through the most vulnerable era of his life, his teens, would feel burdened by his mom. It is not just that Britain seeks her sexual advice, it is that she truly is a person to admire, but, naturally, wants her to be more open and loving to her.
Like Otis, most of the young cast are casually good kids trying to figure out their “cool,” which is why they get into trouble. Honestly, how much of what you thought was cool, as a teenager, was actually so? Enter characters like his best bud Eric, (Ncuti Gatwa), whom adds a level of hilarity and warmness that furthers the brightness of the series. He is funny, fierce, and has a storyline that shows the journey of sexuality is vital to discovering sex. Meanwhile, Otis’ crush Maeve (Emma Mackey), becomes the embodiment of how lost and wounded you can feel through the “teen era.” Yet, these are only a few characters. From the hilarious Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood), and her journey of “self-love,” to the empowered Ola (Patricia Allison), there are so many funny, cute storylines of characters revealing a truth about high-school: you know a lot more then what your parents think you know, but a lot less then what you think you know.
Part of Jean’s “parenting swag” is that she does not underestimate Otis’ intelligence, but she overestimates how much he wants to share it with her. Yet, she is a single mom, and, like Otis, sees their partnership as them v. the world. The only problem is that Otis is really taking the “versus” to heart. As he begins to talk to students about their fetishes, sexual confusions, and their self-image/ relationships, you really see how much in common these “youngsters” have with the adults surrounding them. While this show thrives with humorous mishaps and quick wit, its true “gem” is revealing how age does not make you more comfortable with yourself and your desires.
After watching Sex Education, I wondered if the “pressure/ delusion” of high school is that teens genuinely think there is a “standard” to being confident, cool, and “owning” who you are, but growing up is realizing there is no rulebook. It is an eternal process that constantly stalls, but when it reaches a new, emotional lesson, you feel freshened by its wisdom. Thus, Sex Education, as a show, serves laughs, epiphanies, and, of course, sex. Sex Education Comes Out January 11 On Netflix.
