Last Night A Sex Kid Saved My Life
Episode 1 of Sex Education Season 3 begins with Jean on-air and under scrutiny by the radio DJs regarding her new book. This airs across to all the different characters in town – including Maeve who’s picked up by Aimee who’s driving now. Just… not very well. With a new school year upon us, Otis and Eric end up riding their bikes to school just like old times. Well, not quite. Adam rocks up with a bike of his own. The trio end up arriving at the same time as Maeve, who hasn’t talked to Otis since last term. There’s clearly some hostility here, stemming from that message Isaac deleted last season. The controversy surrounding Moordale has reached fever pitch, with the place known as “sex school” and camera crews even showing up to interview students and teachers alike. They also have a new headteacher now too, in the form of Mrs Hope Haddon. In her own words, she intends to get Moordale “back on track.” Well, to begin with that sees Maeve and Otis both brought into Hope’s office to discuss their on-campus sex clinic. The pair aren’t in trouble but there’s clearly still tensions between them. Otis struggles to open up and tell her how he feels, eventually leading to another non-starter. Otis obviously has his hands full already, and it doesn’t take long for him and Ruby to hook up again in the abandoned toilets. As they kiss, it turns out Kyle has actually taken up his role as Sex King, using porn as a basis of giving out tips to other students. When Kyle finds out about Ruby, it puts them both in at a stalemate. Otis eventually decides to break things off with Ruby, unwilling to be her dirty secret anymore. However, he’s clearly having second thoughts about this and remains unsure what he really wants. Speaking of help, Adam finds himself insecure and struggling with his own emotions, unsure how to articulate how he feels to Eric. Ola does her best to help, with Adam deciding to oust himself as gay. When he marches into the changing rooms, hand in hand with Eric, he actually gets a pretty good reception from the fellas. One person who’s having big issues though is Dex, who remains hung up over Kyle’s advice about his penis size. Well, one thing leads too another and Dex finds himself running outside naked, right in front of the whole class – and the news reporters too. Dex does eventually manage to get some solid advice from Otis and Maeve though, who team up on the whim to give him some encouraging words of wisdom. Kyle gets in on the act too, deciding he’ll still be the Sex King despite Ruby and Otis’s casual hookups have been the talk of the school lately. Meanwhile, Jean continues to dance around telling Jakob about her pregnancy. Eventually though Jakob does find out, thanks in part to Jean driving past his house 15 times. Given the swollen belly she sports, it doesn’t take long before he realizes what’s going on. It’s a big change of course, and one that Jakob has to think about. However, he does show up for the baby scan later on that day – which has the adverse effect of pushing Otis away. As the episode comes to an end, Otis gives Hope a tip-off, deciding that it’s best to destroy the old bathroom and get rid of the sex advice for good. While Otis is now casually hooking up with Ruby again – in the open this time for all to see this time – the final shot shows a destroyed toilet stall with the words “Sex kid saved my life” written on. It seems not everyone is going to be happy by this change.
The Episode Review
Given how many characters there are in this show now, it’s amazing that the writers have managed to juggle all of them in a way that keeps things feeling fresh and engaging. Players like Ruby are much more complex than first seen, while Adam and Eric’s complicated relationship has undergone a lot of interesting developments over the previous two seasons. There are teasing glimpses of Otis and Eric having some rocky times ahead though, while the whole sex clinic thing with Maeve and Otis doesn’t look like it’s anywhere near resolved just yet. The show has a lot going for it though, and the mix of comedy, drama and high school shenanigans make this a wholly unique Netflix original. This first episode has been a long time coming but boy does it feel good to be back at Moordale!
