Contrary to the common sense that talking about sex – and especially about sex education – can be something boring and uninteresting, the Sex Education series arrived on Netflix to deconstruct and demystify debates on the subject.
The apparent cliché of American schools almost disappears when Otis (Asa Butterfield), Maeve (Emma Mackey) and Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) begin to give life to the story. Otis, despite being the son of a sex therapist, is sexually repressed and can’t masturbate. Eric, black and gay, tries to conquer his own space. Maeve gives signs that she is insensitive and antisocial, but then demonstrates to be intelligent and understanding.
The school’s sex therapy clinic, organized by Otis and Maeve, brings out the great merit of the series: escaping the teenage stereotypes so explored in the cinema, portraying different views of the subject. The charisma of the protagonists invites the viewer to discover the direction of the narrative, solid and a few times predictable.
Image Source: IMDb
With a perceived sense of humor in the first episode, the comic tone is consistently maintained throughout the season. Behind fun scenes, Sex Education fulfills its mission of a necessary discussion about sex education for teens and teenagers.
The series doesn’t want to explain the fundamentals of sex to its audience, but rather to expose how important it is to understand that each individual has their own experience and their own desires. The proposal is to explore the psychological aspects of their characters, trying to determine the motivation and impulses behind their sexualities.
Sex Education portrays how much teens believe that their identities depend on their sexual routines, nullifying themselves to fit certain patterns. This is only surpassed when the characters are able to perform a work of self-understanding, discovering and understanding their own wills.
Sex Education is light, fun, and its characters keep the viewer engaged without much effort. The main narratives don’t have an effective conclusion, leaving space for a second season. In addition, the issues addressed are far from being exhausted, that is, there is still much to be debated and used for our own reflection.