Sex Education (2019) Review: Frankness as a Form of Kindness

Is Sex Education worth watching?

Yes. Sex Education is one of the warmest and most genuinely useful teen comedies of its era, a show that talks about sex with complete frankness and treats its characters with real kindness. Its best seasons combine sharp comedy, honest emotion and a superb young ensemble led by Asa Butterfield, Emma Mackey and Ncuti Gatwa. The main reservation is that it loses focus as it goes, with the final season in particular juggling too many new characters and storylines.

What is Sex Education about?

Otis Milburn (Butterfield) is a socially awkward teenager who is deeply uncomfortable with sex, which is especially awkward because his mother, Jean (Gillian Anderson), is a sex therapist who discusses the subject openly and often. Having absorbed years of her professional vocabulary, Otis turns out to be surprisingly good at helping other people with their problems.

Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey), a sharp, rebellious classmate with a difficult home life and a head for business, spots the opportunity. Together they set up an underground sex-advice clinic at their secondary school, charging fellow students for Otis’s help. His loyal best friend Eric (Gatwa) is at his side, and the wider cast includes Aimee Lou Wood, Connor Swindells, Kedar Williams-Stirling and Mimi Keene as classmates whose problems become storylines of their own.

Sex Education was created by Laurie Nunn for Netflix. It is a British series in English, and this review covers the complete show: four seasons and 32 episodes, which ended in 2023.

A sex comedy that actually educates

The show’s great achievement is tone. It is explicit and often very funny, but it never uses sex for cheap shock or embarrassment. Each episode tends to pair a comic dilemma from the clinic with a deeper emotional story, and the writing covers consent, sexuality, body image, gender identity, sexual health and trauma with a clarity that many viewers found genuinely helpful. One storyline about the aftermath of sexual assault is widely regarded as one of the most sensitive depictions of its kind on television.

Visually, the show creates its own world: a British school with the colours, cars and letterman jackets of an American teen film, set against lush countryside. That slightly unreal quality gives the series a timeless, fable-like feel and helps its frankness sit comfortably alongside its sweetness.

An ensemble that became famous together

The cast is outstanding. Asa Butterfield plays Otis’s anxiety and self-absorption with great comic precision, while Emma Mackey makes Maeve’s defensiveness and intelligence equally compelling, and their slow-building relationship is the show’s romantic spine. Ncuti Gatwa’s Eric, flamboyant, funny and vulnerable, is a breakout performance, and his storyline about faith, family and sexuality is among the show’s richest.

Gillian Anderson steals scene after scene as Jean, a brilliant professional who is hopeless at her own relationships, and Aimee Lou Wood gives Aimee an irresistible sweetness that makes her one of the show’s most beloved characters. Connor Swindells turns the school bully Adam into one of the series’ most affecting figures.

Where it loses the thread

The later seasons are more uneven. As the cast grows, storylines compete for time, and some characters who were central early on are sidelined. The final season, which introduces a large number of new faces, feels crowded and at times preachy, as if the show is ticking off themes rather than letting them emerge from the characters. It remains entertaining, but the magic of the first two seasons is harder to recapture.

Who should watch Sex Education?

It is ideal for older teenagers and adults who enjoy coming-of-age comedy with emotional depth. Four seasons of eight episodes make it a manageable binge. It contains frequent explicit sex scenes, nudity, strong language and themes including sexual assault and homophobia, so it carries adult ratings in most territories. It streams on Netflix.

If you enjoy it, try:

• Derry Girls for another British teen comedy with a brilliant young ensemble and a big heart.
• Fleabag for grown-up British comedy that is equally candid about sex and emotionally sharper.

The verdict

Sex Education is a funny, frank and big-hearted comedy that helped change how television talks about teenage sexuality. The later seasons sprawl, but its outstanding ensemble and generosity make it well worth watching from start to finish.

Rating: 4/5