[There are spoilers ahead for season 2 of Sex Education. If you’re not finished bingeing yet, feel free to exit this post!]
The best news about Sex Education season 2 is that it’s just as good as the first season. The somewhat not-as-great news about Sex Education season 2 is that if you’re looking for it to be a huge Maeve and Otis love fest, you might be slightly bummed (sorry). However, there are tons of other storylines that more than make up for it. The most powerful of all of them is definitely Aimee’s.
You know this if you already watched the season, but here’s a quick refresher: In episode 3, Aimee was riding the bus to school when a man masturbated onto her leg. At first, she tried to shake it off, but as the season progressed, it became pretty obvious that she was really struggling with what happened and rightfully so.
During an afternoon detention with the other girls, they all mutually discovered that they’d been harassed by men in the past. One girl, Olivia, told the story of how she was groped by random strangers on the train, and she said, “It feels like they thought by body was theirs or something.” Another girl talked about how when she was a young girl, a man flashed her in their community pool, so her mom wouldn’t let her go anymore.
It’s pretty messed up that that’s what they realized they all had in common, but it certainly wasn’t surprising. I mean, I don’t think a single woman who watches this show will think to themselves, “Wow, nothing like that has ever happened to me! Can’t relate!” Because we have all quite literally been there.
What felt different about this narrative, though, was that the girls who spoke out about what happened to them were sharing stories that may have, even a few years ago, been written off as “boys being boys.” Before #MeToo, we might not have paid as much attention to a random groping on a train, but that’s not the case anymore. It doesn’t have to ruin your life to be worth talking about, which is a Samantha Bee quote that becomes more and more relevant all the time. What happened to Aimee is just as big of a problem as any other case of assault.
Watching these girls talk about these things and reassure each other they had nothing to feel bad about was incredibly refreshing. You shouldn’t have to be ashamed because of what someone else did to you without your consent, and the season does a good job communicating that. I’m 25 and I felt like I needed that reminder, so I can only imagine what it would be like to learn that through a show like this at the age of 15 or something. The plotline had its earnest moments, like when they all get on the bus together at the end of episode 7, but it was an important addition to a show that works really hard to teach you lessons without pounding them down your throat.
Yes, I definitely went into the second season of this show hoping Maeve and Otis would get together, and I’d get to watch that unfold over the eight episodes, but this plotline was way more important than that. I’d rather watch a group of girls ban together to help their friend any day.
