Sex Education 3 Review: Characters That Overcome Stereotypes And A Multiplicity Of Situations To Make Everyone Feel

Creator: Laurie Nunn
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Emma Mackey and Ncuti Gatwa

Streaming Platform: Netflix
Rating: 4.5/5 stars (four and half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

After almost two years, we will finally know. We will know what happened after that fateful evening, after the voice message that Otis left Maeve , a pure declaration of love. All erased by Isaac, in turn lost in love with the girl played by Emma Mackey, and thus left us Sex Education. A year and nine months later, Netflix offers us the new adventures of one of its most successful and loved original series. How did it go after that night? We already knew it, because we were able to preview the show and now, at the launch of the new season, we are ready to express our final judgment.

Sex Education 3 Review: The Story

The story opens at the beginning of the new school year, with all of our characters still grappling with what happened in the past season. Otis (Asa Butterfield), who had declared himself with a message on the answering machine to Maeve (Emma Mackey) but had never received an answer, began a sex-only relationship with a classmate, she instead – after denouncing her mother and having thus taken custody of her youngest daughter from her – she is getting closer and closer to her friend and neighbor Isaac. Neither of them has plans to resume the sex clinic and their friendship seems destined to end. Even among their friends and schoolmates the situation is still complicated: between insecurities and obstacles Adam (Connor Swindells) and Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) are carrying on their story,

Not even adults are having a quiet time: Jean (Gillian Andreson) is struggling with an unexpected pregnancy – about which she has not yet said anything to the father of the child -, Michael Groff (Alistair Petrie) is instead trying to rebuild a life, between divorce and lack of work. It is the new principal who has brought even more havoc in the lives of Moordale’s teenagers: Hope (the Jamima Kirke we met in Girls) arrives like a tornado in the high school of the city trying to restore the standards of excellence of the school. Too bad that, despite her young age, she is guided by truly retrograde ideas about sexuality and how young people should approach it.

The Review and Analysis

As we anticipated, also in this case the series manages to insert and deal with new themes with which it explores the world of today’s teenagers: Education had already talked about homosexuality, abortion, the discovery of one’s own sexuality and masturbation, now he faces the discourse of non-binary identities, a reality that is talked about a lot but which so far has not found the right space in entertainment products for cinema and for television. The arrival of a new student * who does not recognize herself in the feminine or masculine gender allows the series to talk about acceptance of one’s body at a completely different level of complexity, stimulating a conversation that is as interesting as it is necessary. Even the theme, introduced in the previous season with what happened to Aimee, of sexual violence is treated with the right delicacy, allowing the viewer to understand what kind of consequences certain traumatic events can have on the emotional health of the victim. The character of Jean – played by an always splendid Gillian Andreson – finally gives us the opportunity to talk about motherhood, especially if it arrives, unexpectedly, at a mature age.

In this third season, Sex Education brings multifaceted characters and situations never seen before in a teen TV series (sometimes even shamelessly funny, it must be said). In addition to Cal and Layla, perfect examples of how there is no single way to be queer or non-binary, the character of Isaac (George Robinson), Maeve’s neighbor with a disability in a wheelchair, finds more space. Far from any kind of pietism, the new episodes not only do not demean Isaac but use his story to let viewers know something more about disability. The same goes for Adam and his learning disability: who can say they’ve seen such an issue dealt with so honestly in a teen drama? Another example is the queen bee Ruby, who is basically the prototype of the popular and superficial high school girl we see in many teen dramas but then the screenwriters show us vulnerable under appearances, overcoming the stereotype. In short, this season – which we are going to define as the best so far – Sex Education ends up conveying not only sex positivity and body positivity (themes we are already used to) but also messages of acceptance, hope and trust. The only problem? High school ends sooner or later. And (dozens of teen dramas teach) at that point you have to have the courage to close the series too.

There Is An Air Of News At Moordale

We have already told you about the starting plot in our first impressions on Sex Education 3. Otis and Maeve no longer talk to each other: the protagonist, now engaged in a casual sex relationship, has interpreted the lack of response from his beloved as a rejection, and has moved on. Maeve, for her part, has experienced the estrangement of her friend as a further distance from her, and is increasingly involved in a bond with Isaac that could result in love at any moment.
Eric and Adam try to understand what kind of couple they want to be, Aimee is looking for new stimuli because from the harassment she suffered on the bus she is no longer the same, and she does not experience sex as she would like. Ola and Lily, more and more in love in the beginning, face the first couple problems and in general the whole Moordale high school finally enjoys a school environment without taboos, free from the repressive grip of the principal Groff. But a new character arrives: Hope, the new principal, ready to squeeze the school into a tremendous spiral of censorship and rigor, in order to restore the institution to its former glory. A personal mission, which only towards the end of the Season will be clear and will deepen the different nuances of this new supporting actor.

In short, everything is in its place in Sex Education 3: the new season is a natural evolution of the previous one and evolves all its protagonists towards really interesting storylines. It is a plot that in some moments is not afraid of daring or exaggerating, proposing absurd and funny situations without ever falling into ridicule (the episode of the trip to France, without spoilers, is absolutely among the most hilarious), but enhancing the charisma of an extremely brilliant cast.

The News Of Sex Education

If the first season of Sex Education fielded an almost anthological value, dedicating each episode to a specific theme on sexual education, with the second the show created by Laurie Nunn pushed the accelerator on the plot, making the opera lose a bit of that appeal that made us fall in love with the first iteration. The third also goes in this direction, but rests on a roster of even more adorable and convincing characters.
Through the vicissitudes of each supporting actor, Sex Education 3 even takes some risks in dealing with rather delicate issues such as gender identity, but even in this case it comes out splendidly triumphant. In fact, the third season of the Netflix series manages to deal with topics that are now thorny, now taboo, maintaining a simple and light writing, capable of transmitting deep and precious messages without falling too far into dramaturgy.

Everything works, really everything, with the only flaw of a perhaps too hasty ending, conceived to ferry the plot towards Season 4. In short, you can only hang from the lips of a substantially impeccable product of its kind, packaged with skill also from a technical point of view. From a direction capable of enhancing the glossy scenarios of an out-of-time England to a perfect editing: a title that, supported by a script that is now more than solid, is not afraid to experiment even on a formal level.

Sex Education 3 Review: The Final Words

We conclude this review of Sex Education 3 by reiterating how this third season of the Netflix show that talks about sexuality to an audience of adolescents is once again appreciated both by the target it is intended for and by those who at that age look with nostalgia. The excellent in-depth analysis of the characters, the storylines developed with coherence – even if in some cases in a somewhat hasty way – and the introduction into the intertwining of new themes make it one of the most successful series among those produced by the streaming giant.

What Worked

• The plot that develops with coherence and originality.
• The new themes introduced, from non-binary identities to mourning and maternity in old age.
• The characters are always three-dimensional and well characterized.

What Didn’t’ Worked

• Some of the storylines are closed a little hastily.

[sc_fs_multi_faq headline-0=”h2″ question-0=”Does Maeve And Otis End Up Together?” answer-0=”After being accidentally stranded in France on a school trip, Otis told Maeve what he said in the voicemail that was deleted by Isaac in the series two finale, again declaring his love for her. her, and the two shared a passionate kiss. At the end of Sex Education Season 3 , it looked like Maeve and Otis were finally going to be a couple. Otis admitted he started the sex clinic to be close to Maeve and they reconciled, with Maeve deciding to move in with Anna, her sister Elsie’s adoptive mother, and give her relationship a boost with Otis.” image-0=”” headline-1=”h2″ question-1=”Sex Education Season 4 Coming or Not?” answer-1=”The end of Season 3 leaves us with several unanswered questions. How long will Maeve be in the US? Will she come back one day? How will Otis’ family situation evolve after his mother’s accident? How will Moordale’s financial situation develop? All of these intrigues will be continued in Season 4 of Sex Education and we should have some big changes! On the casting side, we should find most of the actors and see new faces.” image-1=”” count=”2″ html=”true” css_class=””]