“Sex Education” Season 2

By Kate Tiffin

Season 2 of “Sex Education” dropped on Netflix a few weeks ago, riding on the coattails of a successful first season. The show follows the lives of “Otis, Maeve, and Eric” and the sex clinic they run in their wildly uneducated high school. Season 1 hinted at a potential romantic spark between Maeve and Otis, but the relationship took a backseat in season 2. While the lack of focus on Otis and Maeve's relationship was a disappointment to many fans, this shift allowed space for several new, and frankly, more interesting and relevant, storylines to come to the surface. 

Some of the most significant plots that took shape this season were the trauma of sexual assault, the importance of female friendship and support in a world run by men (we see this when the girls go to the bus stop to ride the bus with one character who, because of a triggering event, no longer felt safe riding the bus alone); parental abandonment (which both Maeve and Otis navigate after their parents who left come back into their lives); and the continuation of exploring sex, sexuality, and love. The show portrays each in a complex form. One big storyline that has resonated with audiences online is a sex crime experience and the fallout and trauma that someone carries after experiencing this. 

No matter who you are, everyone can find a little bit of themselves in the show’s second season. Although the final was bittersweet and somewhat divisive, it left audiences excited for season 3 of “Sex Education.”