SEX EDUCATION: Season 4. Let’s Talk About Emotions [REVIEW]
This won’t be an ordinary review. For a simple reason – Sex Education has never been and will never be an ordinary series; it’s a production that’s utterly wild, unconventional, and open to topics that have been neglected in other works. We’ve reached the finale and bid farewell to our beloved characters who have been teaching us about navigating conversations on sexuality and self-assurance since 2019. With the fourth season, a fantastic journey has come to an end, and the way the creators said goodbye to the fans is the best version we could have ever hoped for.
NOTE! The text contains spoilers about the final season of the series.
The fourth season has been a big mystery for us from the beginning. There were concerns about cast members dropping out of the project, uncertainties about whether the main characters would get as much screen time as usual, and the idea of moving the characters to a university setting didn’t seem promising to everyone. Fortunately, most of these concerns are dispelled in the very first episode, which immediately immerses us in the familiar atmosphere of previous seasons. Like the entire final series, it never slows down. There is a lot happening – both with the familiar characters and the entirely new ones who replaced absent ones like Ola (Patricia Allison), Lily (Tanya Reynolds), or Jakob (Mikael Persbrandt), whose stories concluded in the third season.
Otis (Asa Butterfield), Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), and the rest of the former Moordale high school students embark on a new stage of education at an elite, highly modern college where daily yoga sessions for students, gender-neutral bathrooms, and each student receiving a tablet with access to the student social network are the norm. Otis, just like in Moordale, aspires to open his own clinic but must compete for patients with O (Thaddea Graham), a girl who has long been a successful sexual therapist in the area. Maeve (Emma Mackey), who went on a writing course in the United States at the end of the previous season, is not excelling in her class, and her teacher consistently clips her wings. She is faced with a choice about her entire future and who she really wants to become. There is also a lot of new developments for Jean, who loses herself in her maternal duties without realizing how much she is losing of herself.
The problems that the characters in Sex Education face in the final season could be listed for a long time, and each of them is handled equally, even seemingly less significant subplots are fully resolved, which should satisfy most fans. It might seem that after so many years, the production would lose its spark and veer into a overly sentimental or cheesy ending, but nothing could be further from the truth – the fourth season is undoubtedly the most mature part of this exceptional series that millions have come to love. The creators weave themes into the story of almost every character that are still considered taboo in many communities, but as befitting Sex Education, they are handled with care, explained in a therapeutic manner, and the curse of shame is lifted from them. This season is a triumph of inclusivity, even more humor, and an ending that most of us probably expected, yet tears can still be seen in our eyes when we think about it.
In the following paragraph, there are spoilers about the plot.
The finale of Sex Education is a recipe for the perfect ending to the series. Our characters undergo numerous transformations in the final season – from mischievous high school students, they slowly become young adults who, thankfully, change for the better. We can see on screen how Adam (Connor Swindells) and his father have finally reconciled and are on the path to rebuilding the wasted years of childhood. A better ending could not have been imagined for Eric, who goes through an internal battle between his faith and remaining true to himself and his identity for most of the season. Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood) manages to heal from the sexual assault trauma she suffered, and Jackson, plagued by health concerns for most of the season, discovers the truth about his origins. It’s impossible to list everything that happens to each of the new characters, but you can trust me that there isn’t a single storyline that feels too rushed, too comical, or unrealistic. The creators of Sex Education pamper us with a season full of emotions, reflections on the modern world, religion, homophobia, or misogyny, in their classic manner, full of balanced humor and warmth. I’ll venture to say that the final season of the series is also its best – the most touching, action-packed, with a truly remarkable script and ideas for concluding the stories of the Moordale characters. Although not all of them will satisfy us (our hearts still long for Maeve and Otis), we will appreciate how beautifully they were honored.
Sex Education is making history, but in style! Undoubtedly one of the best series for teenagers, but for everyone, especially considering the emotional baggage of the last season, which will touch even the oldest viewers. It’s a beautiful ending to a beautiful story that has taught us for so many years how to openly discuss sexuality and how not to be afraid to be our true selves. It will be difficult to find something that surpasses this extraordinary series.
Mary Kosiarz