#asa butterfield is in this too my heart is full <3

[scuddish]

“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”

THE WOLFMAN 2010 | dir. Joe Johnston

[atranioum]

Sex Education Season 4 (an attempt to cope after witnessing the horror they call season 4)

this is a rant with full on spoilers so you've been warned.

back in 2019 when i first found out about sex education, i thought it was just your usual typical cringe-fest teenage drama with who the fuck cares love story. knowing that asa butterfield is the main lead it's kinda a given what kind of character he's gonna play (no hate to asa i love him and i think he showed a lot of range in this series but it's kinda obvious) and then finding out about maeve's character, i remember rolling my eyes and thinking welp if it isn't your usual rebel and nerd pairing and then proceed to not give two fucks about this show. but then there's this one time when i just needed something to watch and after season 2 dropped, videos of maeve and otis kept popping up on my youtube recommendation, so finally i decided to give it a shot, and just in one episode they proved me wrong big time.

sex education is honestly a series none like any other, even until today i don't think i've watched any series that's even remotely close to sex education, in terms of what they bring and the way they presented it (season 1 to be precise aka goat season), it's very vibrant, it's somewhat stereotypical and yet it defies it too at the same time (idk how else to describe this), it's like you expect certain things about a certain character and it turns out they're completely the opposite, and overall the show just has a very unique tone. the scores, soundtracks and cinematic shots paired with powerful and impactful moments, and just the overall composition is the recipe that they served us with, and my god do we love it, and we craved for more, so they did just that, they served us the same recipe for 3 seasons straight (well 2.5 but i'll let it slide).

and then season 4 slithered its way into our lives🤗

can someone please get me a paper bag cause i'm gonna throw up.

man where to begin? to even call this season a dissapoinment is still a huge understatement, i guess i should've known what's coming when i feel zero excitement watching the trailer, but then i convinced myself like come on it's sex ed it's for sure gonna be great, and yep it's so great that i wish i could unwatch whatever travesty i just witnessed.

watching the first episode i can still feel some familiarity in it and it's still kinda sex education-esque but i didn't love it, a great contrast towards my reaction after watching the first episode of season 3 in which to this day still is one of my favorite episodes of the series. it has a little bit of everything, a refreshing ruby and otis dynamic, the good old longing looks between maeve and otis, and the very heart and core of the show which is otis giving advice helping out his peers and motis being a fucking great team and just the episode as a whole really.

but you know you can never judge something after only watching one episode, so i bite my tongue and just carry on watching. and after watching 2 episodes, something very apparent reveals itself, the pacing is fucked. like how am i supposed to feel anything when the show kept on throwing one thing after another, it feels like when you're eating something and you're still very much chewing but someone keep on feeding you stuff before you can digest or even swallow the food first.

and i think that's the overall theme of season 4, a whole lot of everything and nothing all at the same time, like i'm sorry how are you supposed to end a show after 4 seasons but shoves a bunch of new characters in the finale, how are you supposed to connect to said characters? however powerful the topic and message you're trying to bring it's hard to even care about these characters, because all we expect from a finale is a conclusion of a 4-season long story not an opening of a new chapter.

i rewatched some of my favorite episodes a few days before season 4 dropped, and now looking back at it i just feel like i don't appreciate it enough at that time, i mean the soundtracks are amazing especially season 3 and for a tv series their cinematography is kinda top notch. but then season 4 came out and we got the walmart version of it all.

and then a few hours after watching and hating the season i realized something, ben freaking taylor didn't direct any of the episodes in season 4, my god that explains a lot and idk i think that's kinda why the pacing is fucked? like i know he didn't direct every episode in the whole series but i always think of him as an executive director(?) if that's even a thing, i just feel like he kinda dictates the overall flow of the show. it's such a shame really, if he's involved in this season maybe things could've been different, but then again maybe even ben taylor wouldn't be able to salvage whatever shitshow the writers gave him. it's as if you're watching an avatar movie that's not directed by james cameron, it just feels... wrong.

the whole season just feels freaky to me, a lot of things felt too over the top and comical even. not to mention the storylines are super all over the place, take jackson for example, bro went from thinking about his feelings for cal and then having a cancer scare to getting rejected by his biological father, like what???

now i want to dive in to the characters a little, let's start with ruby and yes i do ship her with otis and somewhat wished for them to be endgame but we'll touch on that later. anyway ruby is not ruby this season and it feels exactly like when maeve wasn't herself in season 3 (which is mainly why i jumped ship). the whole "i was bullied when i was 10" shit is such a tryhard, if it's an attempt to make ruby more likeable and make her being a bully acceptable, dear beloved writers you failed, miserably. if i'm someone who hates ruby (which i'm not) this whole thing would make me hate her even more, like okay i get it you got bullied because you're a bed-wetter but then you became a bully yourself and did worse things to others? how is that suppose to be tolerable. like bro deal with it don't backtrack, she's a bully she did what she did, but that doesn't mean she can't change, doesn't mean she can't grow. and that was the whole point of her arc in season 3. the reason why she was one of the main attraction that season was because we get to see a different side of her, yes she's mean, demanding and particular about every single little thing that revolves around her, but hey turns out she can compromise, she turns soft when it comes to her family and at some point even otis, and don't even get me started on her fucking voice on that call the night she said she loves otis. i understand that they're trying to give her a back story explaining what made her the way she is but honestly the whole bed-wetter thing was a big big miss.

and what's with the whole speech thing at the end of episode 8, it's very un-ruby like, if they're trying to show her character's growth and depth then wtf there's so many other ways to do it without making her super out of character. for instance here's a few things i have in mind; and this one is my personal favorite, like she could have a real conversation with maeve about shit like idk letting otis go or maybe the other way around like maeve telling her about how otis is actually happy with ruby and whatnot (idk maybe something less cringey but still along those lines); or they could explore her friendship with adam, and they could lean on one another and talk about how they lost their first loves, and how a certain pair of best friends completely broke their hearts (because come on why would they show the glimpse and the potential of adam and ruby and not explore it at all fuck they fumbled so bad); or the most logical of all, her dad dying (sorry roland)(i still don't get why maeve's mom is the one that died), anyway her dad being sick was always a big part of her arc, so with him dying we could explore how she would handle and cope with the whole thing now that there's literally no escape, with otis being with maeve etc.; or idk have a fucking proper conversation with otis, have some closure, either it being "i can't be friends with you because my feelings haven't changed", or yes maybe we could be friends, the point is just have a proper closure ffs, don't go around helping him whenever he comes begging for your help, like honestly i refuse to believe the real ruby (the properly written ruby) would let otis string her along like that. yes i get it she's in love with him, has a soft spot for him, but she's still ruby fucking matthews, so really the whole season she was way out of character.

moving on to our boy otis (but still ruby related hehe).... Read the rest of the thread on Twitter.

[sashagilljournalist]

Review: Sex Education, Season 2

It seems like Netflix has been churning out some excellent television recently. It is difficult to understand how a show with a concept as bold as Sex Education has managed to worm its way into our hearts. But I am not mad about it. In fact, the second season was so terribly delicious that I devoured it within the span of a day.

It starts as it means to go on, that is - with absolutely nothing being held back. We begin where season 1 ended, with Otis’ sexual awakening. This involves a particularly embarrassing scene in a public parking lot (whatever you’re thinking – it’s worse)- all within the first three minutes. The pace never falters, and eventually ends in what is probably the most erotic and mind-boggling musical take on Romeo and Juliet, and I am here for it.

This all takes place in an Moordale High, an American-type high school with British teens, in the throes of a chlamydia outbreak. All set in an ageless period where the dungarees, space buns and fanny packs of the 90s are coupled with the laptops and iPhones of today. Lily’s wardrobe, in particular, is absolutely fabulous.

Writer Laurie Nunn has worked some absolute alchemy and has managed to convey the heavy material in a genuine but light-hearted way, bursting forth with pastel hues and edenic landscapes. The whole gig leaves you with a feeling of absolute revelry. Her writing is furiously quirky, and no topic is off-limits, no subplot is unimportant. There is not a single weak link in the cast - they wholly embody their real and complex characters, so much so that you develop a profound interest in them, and they begin to feel like your own friends.

Otis (Asa Butterfield), Moordale High’s resident sex guru, is navigating his first serious relationship with his girlfriend, Ola (Patricia Allison). All the while, he is having to deal with his glamazon sex- therapist mother (Gillian Anderson) working at his school and unknowingly stealing away his ‘sex clinic’ customers. Emma Mackey is back as the headstrong Maeve Wiley, rough-around-the-edges but a big softie at heart. Her flaky mother is back in town, allegedly ‘clean’, with her 3-year-old half-sister in tow. Maeve wrangles her way back into Moordale, manages to bag a spot in the Quiz team, and the whole ‘will-they-wont-they’ dance between Otis and Maeve from season 1 is back in full force. I am one satisfied customer.

Nncuti Gatwa is absolutely brilliant as Otis’ fiercely loyal best friend, Eric, a role to which he brings such infectious energy that it is almost impossible not to fall in love with him. Eric has caught the eye of the new French exchange student, and he finds himself caught between his old flame, and ex-bully, Adam (Connor Swindells), and the sexy, foreign Rahim. Swindells himself is magnificent. I think he must have spoken no more than 200 words over the entire season, yet manages to perfectly portray Adam’s inner turmoil over his sexuality, and being wrongfully kicked out of military school and sent back to his overbearing, hateful headmaster father.

The supporting characters, too, have engrossing storylines. Sexual assault, pansexuality, asexuality, slut-shaming, douching, female friendships in both the young and old, unplanned pregnancies, #metoo… Nunn tackles it all very deftly. Even the characters you are meant to hate are given a lovable kind of vulnerability. The result is entirely heart-warming.

Sex Education is woke without being needy, inclusive without being preachy. Season two is, I daresay, even better than the first. My only criticism is that the season is a mere eight episodes long. I demand a spin-off episode totally dedicated to Lily’s Romeo and Juliet: The Musical – for what a joy that would be. With Sex Education being one of the top Netflix productions in both the UK and US, it seems like season 3 is a done deal. I am already itching for more.

Ultimately, this is a show about love. Not just the romantic kind, but, more importantly, the kind of love that flourishes from beautiful friendship.

Originally Published in The Oxford Student, 31st Jan 2020