2023-09-21 19:30:07
Ruby (Mimi Keene) and Otis (Asa Butterfield) in the fourth season of the series “Sex Education”, created by Laurie Nunn. SAMUEL TAYLOR/NETFLIX
NETFLIX – ON DEMAND – SERIES
For those who remember the little revolution that was Sex Education upon its arrival on Netflix in January 2019, this fourth and final season of the series created by the British Laurie Nunn will allow us to measure the progress made since then in terms of the representation of bodies and sexualities on television. Gladly educational, raw and uninhibited, Sex Education has been offering for almost five years a positive and caring alternative to the neuroses ofEuphoria and of 13 Reasons Why.
For this last round of episodes, the series puts aside the gags on the subtleties of anal douche and tackles delicate questions: transidentity and non-binarity in mind, subjects touched on in season 3 with the character of Cal (Dua Saleh), who begins his transition this season. Given the atmosphere, the choice to push the cursor this far is courageous and we cannot blame Sex Education to shirk his ambition to remain the great « safe space » from the teenage series.
Read also: “Sex Education”, a delightful and fine series on the sex lives of teenagers
This space finds a form of materialization through Cavendish College, an ultra-progressive establishment in the (fictitious) town of Moordale to which Otis and most of his comrades came to complete their secondary education. Students are welcomed as they are, with their personality, their sexual orientation, their possible disability, their taste in clothing, etc. They use pronouns and « they » to perfection, and seem to spend more time on a yoga mat than in class. Otis (Asa Butterfield), a young straight white male, is cleverly pushed to the periphery of the story so that women and queer characters can flourish.
Absolute tolerance
The scenario is a bit busy, since it involves examining the relationship between religion and homosexuality, discussing alternative motherhoods, the fate of young mothers at work, and the equality of relations between teachers. and students… Always in the direction of absolute tolerance, and with more or less success depending on the story. Curiously, it is when it moves away from its bases (very beautiful episode 6, around death) that the series still surprises.
For the rest, Sex Education relies as before on language, conversation, kindness and the excessive maturity of its characters to show, in this ideal world, how things could and should happen. Despite the repetitions, there will always be something touching in this way of making Moordale the response to a terrifying, barely glimpsed reality.
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