Sex Education Season 1 (2019)

A boy raised by a sex therapist mother secretly counsels his peers on their sexual worries. Put that way, the premise sounds like a flimsy drama chasing a provocative hook, but Sex Education Season 1 pleasantly betrays the expectation. It enters through the frank doorway of sex, yet the place it actually arrives is the anxiety and loneliness of adolescence, and the territory of family and friendship. Even amid nonstop laughter, it never handles a single character’s wound carelessly. I had no hesitation giving ★4.5 to this rare coming-of-age comedy that is honest and tender at once.

What it’s about — A Secret Clinic Set Up by a Sex Therapist’s Son

The protagonist Otis, raised by a sex-therapist mother, knows more about sex than anyone, yet stands hopelessly clumsy before his own feelings and body. Joining forces with the school’s rebel Maeve, he sets up a secret clinic to counsel his peers on their sexual troubles. Each episode brings a new client’s story, and in the process of working through those stories, Otis’s own life and the lives of those around him deepen alongside. It may look like a string of one-off episodes, but the impressive thing is how tightly the whole season is woven into a single coming-of-age tale.

Direction — A Fairy-Tale Tone Blended From Mixed Eras

The directing team led by Ben Taylor pins down the work’s tone cleverly. The school and town are British, but the costumes, palette and music call to mind American teen films of the 1980s. Thanks to this deliberate blending of eras, the work earns a fairy-tale atmosphere not tied to any one period. The space, ringed by blue lakes and woods, suits the fresh, unripe emotions of its characters.

The handling of colour and space is skilful, too. Highly saturated images bring out the lightness of the comedy, while in scenes of a character alone with their worries the colour settles into calm. Above all, the clear directorial attitude shows in the refusal to consume scenes about sex sensationally, using them instead as a tool to explain the characters’ feelings and relationships.

Acting and characters — Eric, the Most Luminous Discovery

Asa Butterfield anchors the work with a performance that holds Otis’s awkwardness and tenderness at once. There is something lovable about a boy who dispenses grown-up advice yet flounders over his own affairs. Gillian Anderson’s Jean, the mother, is another jewel of this work. She renders, with exquisite balance, an expert who speaks of sex without flinching yet stands utterly clumsy at the distance between herself and her son.

That every supporting character feels alive is a great strength. Emma Mackey’s Maeve catches the eye at once as a figure carrying a deep loneliness beneath a tough exterior, and Ncuti Gatwa’s Eric is counted as the most luminous character of the whole season. Eric’s journey — wavering before identity and discrimination yet ultimately affirming himself — leaves a deep resonance.

What the series says — Sex Is Really a Story About Communication

Sex Education uses sex as a pretext to speak, in fact, about communication. The root of nearly every problem its characters face lies in something they could not say honestly to someone. The misunderstandings and silences piled up between parent and child, friend and friend, lover and lover are carefully untangled across the work. It argues that sex is not something shameful or laughable but can be a passage to understanding another person. At the same time, its handling of identity and diversity is serious yet never preachy, putting the viewer at ease.

Ratings & reception

Sex Education holds an IMDb rating of 8. The work won or was nominated at several ceremonies including the British Academy Television Awards. The balance of handling frank subject matter without losing warmth is cited as the core of why it drew even praise from critics and viewers alike.

Verdict

Sex Education Season 1 lightly leaps over the prejudices attached to its subject matter. It is funny yet tender, frank yet thoughtful. Each character’s story is treated with its own weight rather than consumed carelessly, and by the time the season ends you have grown fond of every one of them. The impression that some conflicts resolve a little too smoothly does linger, but even that you come to accept as part of this work’s particular warmth. As a heart-warming coming-of-age drama, it is more than enough to earn ★4.5.

Recommended for

• Those looking for a coming-of-age drama that handles frank subject matter with warmth and care
• Those who love a British teen comedy that gives laughter and feeling at once
• Those who want to grow fond of charming supporting characters and dimensional roles