Before continuing to read, you should know that there will be spoilers for the 4th season of “Sex Education.” I suggest you go watch it before reading this. 

Sex Education is this massive hit show on Netflix that’s had my attention from the beginning. Essentially, it’s teenagers, and sometimes adults, navigating life and trying to form healthy relationships.

The novelty of the show, in my opinion, is it’s unapologetic way of telling the story. Does it get uncomfortable sometimes to watch because of how real it is? Oh yeah. I find myself skipping some parts because I can’t handle it at first and then going back after finishing the whole episode to watch it. 

The way they portray character growth may be slow, but that’s because sometimes that’s the reality of it. I find myself falling in love with the side characters because they’re so fully fleshed out. 

Did I cry when I saw Cal (Dua Saleh) try and come out of their shell but, at the end of the series, retreat into themselves because of their gender dysphoria?

You bet I did. 

Cal is going through so much right now; the fact that they are even able to try and battle their dysphoria so openly like that is a feat on its own. It’s inspiring and heartwarming, and it really cemented Cal as one of my favorite characters this season.

But we’re not here to talk about sweet Cal. 

We’re here to talk about the main characters in the series, the “will they-won’t they” couple: Otis (Asa Butterfield) and Maeve (Emma Mackey). Otis and Maeve eventually started having feelings for each other after their joint endeavor to establish a sex therapy clinic at school. 

This resulted in a back and forth of wrong timing and missed opportunities between the two, essentially using the first 3 seasons to show the struggles the pair has gone through before eventually admitting their feelings for each other at the end of Season 3. 

Just as we see the pair get together, Maeve is whisked away to America, and they try long distance. There’s where we start off in Season 4 with the Otis and Maeve story. And here’s where I start telling you why I don’t particularly like the pairing. 

I don’t like how Otis gets when Maeve is around

Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby (Mimi Keene) briefly talk about it in the halls of their new school. Otis seems to ignore everyone else when Maeve is around. As sweet as that may sound—that they give each other so much time—I personally think that’s not healthy. 

It is important to spend quality time with your significant other, but not at the expense of the other relationships in your life.

Eric

Eric and Otis have been best friends forever, but we see in this season specifically that their friendship takes a hit because Otis can’t properly listen to Eric. 

We see several scenes where Otis would attempt to ask Eric how he was or what was happening in his life, but Otis would abruptly cut him off and not let him finish. Which was super rude in my opinion. 

It felt like Otis was only asking because it was the polite thing to do and not because he really cared about Eric. That was so disrespectful to Eric, who had ALWAYS been there for Otis and ALWAYS supported and listened to him. 

I honestly felt no remorse for Otis when Eric confronted him about it, and the pair stopped talking for a bit. Otis got what he deserved. Thankfully, Eric finds a group of people who actually take the time to listen to him and understand what he’s going through. 

Otis eventually apologizes, and the best friends reconcile. Otis admits that he didn’t know how to address and talk about the differences that they had, but he was open to listening to Eric some more so they could bridge the gap. 

I just hope Otis doesn’t start ignoring Eric again when Maeve comes back around and starts talking to him again.

Ruby

Ruby, on the other hand, is Otis’s ex-girlfriend.

or ex-fling. I was not entirely sure they had a label.

Regardless, last season, Otis and Ruby were involved with each other intimately. There was great chemistry between the characters, and we even see a side of Ruby that I personally actually loved. She wasn’t just a stereotypical, popular mean girl in school.

I especially liked how she was confident in her feelings for Otis, unlike some people, and that she actually confessed her love for him.

BUT HE TURNED HER DOWN. RUDE.

Cut to this season, She joined forces with Otis to bring down her childhood bully, who coincidentally is Otis’ rival to be a student counselor. The more they worked together, however, you could see on Ruby’s face that she still had feelings for Otis.

Although Otis did make it clear that he and Maeve were together, ending up asleep together in Ruby’s bed isn’t the best look. 

In the end, Otis essentially ghosted not only his best friend Eric but also his campaign manager Ruby to comfort Maeve. I understand that Maeve’s mother died, but Otis could have given Ruby a heads-up.

HE COULD HAVE TEXTED. 

Sure, Otis was confused and guilty about falling asleep with Ruby, but it was very rude and immature of him to just stop talking to her out of the blue. Especially when he made plans with her to discuss his campaign for school counselor some more.

Maeve has ALOT of things going on in her life

In tandem with how Otis was essentially ignoring everyone around him because of his love for Maeve, I can’t shake the feeling that Maeve had been dangling her feelings over Otis’ head for the longest time. That’s why I didn’t really like how they got together at the end of season 3. 

I understand that Maeve needed time to evaluate her feelings because she had so much going on in her life. As much as she’s tried to make it clear to Otis that she didn’t feel the same way, there was only something that happened that made Otis hang on to the hope that it was possible. 

That’s the frustrating part. 

It always felt to me like Otis was running after Maeve when she was so indecisive about her feelings for him. Otis deserved better than to be strung along like that, but I can’t really blame Maeve because Otis was like the rock that steadied her no matter what happened. 

Was it healthy for Maeve to depend so much on a person who was madly in love with her without being sure about how she felt? NO. It made Otis feel that maybe, because Maeve needed him, she had feelings for him too. That’s my interpretation of it, at least. 

With all the things going on in Maeve’s life, in my opinion, she needed to sort herself out before diving into such a serious relationship with Otis.

Which brings me to my last point.

Otis and Maeve have some growing to do. Separately

Much like all the people in this series, Otis has a lot of growing to do. As much as he knows a lot of things about interpersonal relationships, there’s a lot he doesn’t know, as shown evidently in his conversations with student therapist rival O (Thaddea Graham). 

He needs to work on being a better friend, figuring out what he really wants, in my opinion, and not running after Maeve all the goddamn time. 

Maeve on the other hand, has only recently started opening herself up to new experiences and dreams. Essentially, Maeve is on the journey to find herself and I don’t think it would be healthy for her to be tied down to Otis as she does it. 

That’s why I’m fully satisfied with the ending of season 4. Having Maeve and Otis essentially put a period on their relationship right then and there leaves us with the promise that both parties will be able to fully explore who they are and who they want to be.

It might not be the ending that we’ve been anticipating, what with all the back and forth and “will they-won’t they” scenarios in the pair’s relationship. But it is the finale that feels right and in line with the overarching narrative of the series. 

The series is all about personal growth, as much as it is about love, sex and relationships. And what I’ve noticed about this season in particular is that it was all about overcoming hardship and finding their identity. 

It was only thematic that the main couple of the series would split up and start their own journey of self-discovery. 

So yes, I do not like Otis and Maeve together right now.

They both deserve the same character growth and identity journey that the secondary characters have been having throughout the run of the show.

Then maybe, in the future, I’ll dislike the pairing a little less.

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