Moordale Secondary’s group of misfits is back on Netflix for the final season of “Sex Education.”
Season 4 picks up in the aftermath of Moordale’s closure as Otis and Eric begin attending Cavendish Sixth Form College along with former Moordale students Jackson, Vivienne, Aimee, Ruby and Cal.
This school brings new challenges to the Moordale students. Cavendish is far more progressive; the school is sustainable and student-centered. Everyone learns on iPads and the popular group is popular because they lead with positivity. This is quite the departure from what the Moordale students were used to.
Otis ran into a problem in the first episode because Cavendish already had a sex therapy clinic, one that was far better and more organized than the one he used to run. In trying to promote his competing clinic, Otis accidentally shares nude photos on a projector, making him the school’s most talked about subject.
In true “Sex Education” fashion, this incident led to an important conversation between Otis and Cal, who has just started taking testosterone. The show continues to show the awkward, but funny realities of navigating sex, sexuality and identity while maintaining a certain level of gravitas when handling important issues like Cal’s journey on hormone replacement therapy.
The first episode also navigates the trials and tribulations of being in a long-distance relationship. As Otis and Maeve focus on school, they struggle to find a form of intimacy that works for them both. It’s refreshing for the viewer to see that not everything runs smoothly and that it takes effort to make any relationship flourish.
The show also added two transgender characters to the cast this season. Roman and Abbi are the popular kids at Cavendish that everyone wants to impress. Their stamps of approval are an instant marker of popularity.
Kristen Istha, a writer on “Sex Education” told GQ ahead of the release of the fourth season that the characters were added “to show the breadth of trans experiences.”
The show continues to do as the title suggests by offering open conversations about sex, sexuality, consent, identity and desire without taboo or shame.
“Sex Education” helped quash stale conventions so that more stories can dig into the truth: “Your body can be whatever you want it to be, and the rules of desire aren’t written by anyone but you,” critic Naveen Kumar said in an article for Them.
In 2021, Teen Health Mississippi reported “fewer than 7% of queer students ages 13-21 report school health classes with positive representations of LGBTQ-related topics.”
“Sex Education” works at creating positive representations of LGBTQIA+ sexual relationships in popular media and its success paves the way for more media to focus on real queer stories.
TV programming in the 1990s and early 2000s featured queer representation, but the plot was centered around the character’s sexuality and gender identity. “Sex Education” is refreshing because being queer is not treated as the character’s only quality. For this reason, the show created characters who the viewer can resonate with.
Ultimately, the final season of “Sex Education” is one viewers will not want to miss. The show is just as funny and heartwarming as it has been in previous seasons. Fans will be sad to see the series end but feel fulfilled since the cast came together to make the final season special.
