Final seasons are hard to get right. It seems like most shows rarely get it right, and it’s likely impossible to entirely please everyone. The popular Netflix teen comedy Sex Education will divide fans with its final season. Much of what audiences grew to love about the series is still present during season 4, but much of what made the first three seasons great is stripped away during its final outing.

A Brief Recap

Making its debut in 2019, Sex Education followed the ups and downs of a group of teenagers attending the fictional Moordale Secondary School. Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) began the series as an awkward, socially inept student whose only confidant was his best friend, Eric Effiong (Ncuti Gatwa). Otis’s inability to fit in is also because his mother, Jean (Gillian Anderson), is a famous sex therapist. Although Otis has spent most of his life being ashamed of the fact, he discovers that he has a talent for providing advice to his classmates struggling to understand their own sexual issues. His classmate, Maeve (Emma Mackey), notices this and partners with him to start a small business. Over time, Otis and Maeve begin to develop feelings for each other.

The first three seasons introduce various Moordale students, faculty, and staff struggling with their issues in and outside the bedroom. From bullying and fractured families to exploring their sexualities, the series highlighted various characters with various issues and told stories that don’t usually get mainstream attention.

By the end of season 3, the Moordale School is shut down, Maeve decides to study abroad in America, and Otis looks ahead by deciding he officially wants to pursue becoming a sex therapist.

Season 4

To say that Season 3 changes the status quo in a major way is an understatement. Picking up soon after the end of Season 3, Otis, Eric, and several of their classmates from Moordale are now attending Cavendish Sixth Form College in the middle of the school year. The immediate downside to this for viewers is that several beloved characters from previous seasons are missing because, realistically, all kids wouldn’t end up at the same school.

The Moordale exiles realize immediately that Cavendish is a lot more progressive than their last institution of learning. Students proudly proclaim their quirks and what makes them unique, and for the most part, everyone is open to learning alongside those from various walks of life and sexual orientations. Otis is shocked to discover that he isn’t the only young sex therapist around, or even the best, for that matter. While Otis struggles to find his place in his new environment, his best friend, Eric, blossoms. Eric always felt out of place at Moordale, one of the few openly gay students. At Cavendish, he finds acceptance and a sense of community.

Former Moordale IT girl Ruby (Mimi Keene) finds it impossible to be a queen bee at a school that is very against social hierarchies and bullying. She also struggles with her still-present feelings for Otis and a former childhood rival, O (Thaddea Graham), who attends Cavendish.

Maeve struggles to find her place at her American school as she tries to juggle a long-distance relationship with Otis and win the approval of her brilliant but bitter writing instructor (Dan Levy)

Eric’s ex-boyfriend and Moordale’s former resident bad boy, Adam (Connor Swindells), has decided not to return to school and pursue a career working with animals. He begins the season working on a farm and trying to connect with his father and former Moordale principal, Michael (Alistair Petrie). Michael is on a quest to win back his wife, Maureen (Samantha Spiro).

Otis’ mother, Jean, contends with raising a baby alone as her son prepares to leave home and make his way in the world. Her relationship with Jakob is in the past, and she now balances motherhood, a new job, and crushing loneliness and depression.

Aimee (Aimee-Lou Wood), Jackson (Kedar Williams-Stirling), Vivienne (Chinenye), Cal (Dua Saleh) and Isaac (George Robinson) all return for the final season as well.

The Pros and Cons Of Season 4

Sex Education has always been amazing about how it handles a diverse set of characters. Not only does the series always show diverse ethnicities and body types, but it has also spotlighted the lives of people with varying disabilities and trauma and gone to great lengths to ensure those characters are portrayed in nuanced and fully realized ways. Many shows struggle with this, but this one has always gotten it right.

Although many fan-favorite characters are missing during the final season, it’s nice to see the stories of the ones present. Our central hero, Otis, has come a long way from the socially awkward, painfully shy teenager we met in the first episode. Although he still has his moments, he’s confident, assertive, and believes in himself in a way he didn’t when we first met him. Eric and Maeve have come full circle from who they were when the series began. Eric is more comfortable with his sexuality and actively living as an out and proud gay man. Although he struggles to reconcile his sexuality with his religion, the series gives him a surprising and hopeful ending. Maeve has opened herself and her heart to opportunities and love. She’s no longer the girl from the wrong side of the tracks who is ashamed of where she comes from. She’s a confident, talented young woman ready to take on the world.

One storyline I’d like to spotlight is Cal’s. Cal is a student who clashed with Moordale’s principal last season about their identity as the only non-binary student at the school. Cal’s story continues this season as their friendship with Jackson hits a rough patch. Cal’s story is painful and moving all at once. Much of this is a testament to Dua Saleh’s portrayal and immense ability to infuse the character with much heart and vulnerability. Viewers will spend the season hoping and rooting for Cal to find the happiness, acceptance, and peace they crave.

It’s also nice to watch Adam and Michael reach a beautiful moment in their father-and-son relationship. The tension between the two was built throughout the first two seasons, ignored all of Season 3, but fully explored and addressed in the final season. Michael has finally learned to shed the harsh parenting style he thought he needed to inflict on Adam to make him successful and learns to relax and love his family as they are. Similarly, Adam learns that self-love is paramount and required if he’s ever going to be at peace with himself and the world.

The biggest con is that there feels like there is a disconnect between how Season 3 ended and where the stories pick up when this season begins. For example, Eric broke the hearts of both Rahim (Sami Outalbali) and Adam, and the series seemed to be heading toward a great realization on Eric’s part about why he tends to break the hearts of the boys who fall in love with him. The previous season even ended with a hint that Adam and Rahim might become friends or lovers moving forward. None of that is addressed here. In fact, Eric and Adam don’t encounter each other until the second to last episode of the season.

Jean and Jakob’s love story was going to have its challenges with baby Joy not being his child, but with the way the series had built it up, I thought we’d at least see him try to be with her. Maybe that’s wishful thinking, but seeing him and his daughter, Ola, would have been nice this season.

Speaking of Ola, the most disappointing thing about the final season is having no idea about the fates of all the characters we came to know and love during the show’s first three seasons. Perhaps much of this was out of the creator’s hands, and again, with many of the characters attending a new school for in-universe reasons, it’s realistic that they wouldn’t all end up in the same place. Be that as it may, it’s still disappointing.

Final Thoughts

Although the final season isn’t perfect, Sex Education, will always stand out among teen comedy dramas for being progressive in portraying the lives of a diverse group of young adults. The creators went to great lengths to ensure all its characters represented their world and breathed life into fictional young adults.

While the final season of Sex Education doesn’t go out with the bang many fans expect, it’s still entertaining and enjoyable. It brings the story of the Moordale students to an end as best it can.

The final season of Sex Education is now available to stream on Netflix.