Well, my heart’s broken after watching the ending of Sex Education Season 4. The show that burst onto our screens in 2019 has now concluded, and what a final season it was.
Sex Education’s final season was gripping and emotional, and most importantly, it bid farewell to all the characters in a way they deserved. So hug a horse because it will make you feel better.
Let’s do a Sex Education Season 4 Ending Explained and break down all that there was to take away from this season. And it’s probably best to break this video down by each character, as their endings were all so different.
Otis and Maeve
Otis and Maeve was the love story that ran throughout the show, and it was all essentially building towards a “Will They or Won’t they” moment. And the harsh reality is that they didn’t end up living happily ever after together. A brave decision for the show to make, and I respect that.
However, what it did do was show the profound amount of impact that they each had on one another’s lives and that they helped each other become the people that they were in the present day, something which was far more valuable than a fling or a short term relationship, it was true love.
Otis Resolving With Everyone
Otis his arc was focused on becoming the therapist in the new college that he was attending. And he was up against a person called “O,” a character I wasn’t a big of. This was somebody who already had The Client List of the school.
But after the back and forth of leaning into the rivalry and then getting stuck in an elevator together, they realized that they were a lot more similar than different.
And when Otis came second in the vote at the end, he offered it up to O because he saw she was a better therapist than himself. And that he was essentially trying to take the very thing she cared about away from her. It was the very thing that she found comfort in.
At one point, Otis had a rift with many characters in this show season: Ruby, Maeve, O, and even Eric. He didn’t truly understand Eric for who he was and was never forthcoming with certain topics that Eric cared passionately about. But we saw that all of these rifts were resolved right at the end of the season when it closed out.
Otis felt devastated at the fact that Maeve had chosen to go back to the States, but knowing that he had the loving family support that he needed, we saw him see a note by his bedside, which Maeve had left him where it said about how he’d helped her come out of her shell, that she loved him, and that there would always be a part of him inside of her because of how much she changed her.
While, sadly, they didn’t end up together, the sheer amount of love between them was far stronger than that and almost made it sad but also joyous. It was a strange one when it came to deciding how to feel.
When Maeve returned from the US halfway through the season, and she and Otis ended up spending the night together, we saw that Otis finally saw through his performance anxiety. He could be intimate with Maeve in a way he’d never been before.
Meaning that on the night before she left, he was with her, and they admitted their true feelings for one another, saying they loved each other.
The line that he said when she was about to leave in the morning, “I’m going to close my eyes because I don’t think I can watch you leave,” was the lion that was utterly heartbreaking to hear. And you could tell just how much she cared about her and would miss her. So, it was a very bittersweet ending for Otis.
Maeve And Her Southchester
With regards to Maeve, her life was crumbling in this season. She was studying to be a writer, and her teacher was against her, which made her question her ability. She was in a rough patch with Otis, and her mother had also died, which led her to end up back in the UK.
But it was once she was back and was dealing with her flaky Brother, Otis, who at the time had said that he had spent the night with Ruby and her also being in the town that she always wanted to escape from, she realized that as much as she cared about Otis and that he changed her life for the better, her life was better suited to being in the States and making something of herself there. And that’s ultimately what we saw.
Maeve’s roommates in the state sent her story Southchester off to a publisher, and they liked what they read and were interested in seeing more. So it showed that she’d changed so much since that first season that she was now fully accepting of the person she’d become and that Otis had also helped her become.
Southchester being about her own life was something which was also representative of that too. It’s a shame that the both of them didn’t end up together, but man, that way, it was eventful, and we saw that they truly loved each other, which counts.
Eric And His Stand
Eric is hands down the funniest character in the show, and his chemistry with everybody is amazing. I enjoyed watching Eric’s story this season because it was about navigating space and worrying about what to do.
Eric wanted to be baptized, but he was worried because he knew that his sexuality would be something that the church would be against. This was something that was best represented by the visions that he had.
This person would come to him and show him what to do. Eric interpreted this as a way of seeing that he needed to be baptized.
However, on the day of the ceremony, he stood in front of his church and told them that he was a proud gay man and that if they accepted him, he’d be baptized. But if not, then he’d choose to walk away.
At that moment, all but his mother didn’t agree with him, and he instead chose to walk away from the community he once cared so much about.
Even after he left, he saw the woman again, and his final vision ultimately set him on his pathway for how his arc would end: becoming a pastor. The person said that the light that Eric admitted would shine so bright that it would light the darkness.
Meaning that with him as a figurehead of the local church, more people would feel more accepted and open and become part of the community, ultimately changing the wider mindset.
With his pastor attending the fundraiser right at the end of the episode, opening the dialogue, and stating that he wanted to learn more and be more open, the right discussions were set to happen.
There was a moment in this season where we saw that Eric and Otis had a rift between them, and this was because Eric felt as though Otis didn’t take much notice of his life that much and the issues that he would often struggle with. Things such as race and sexuality. But after the pair got back together again.
We saw that Otis was like that because he was afraid to touch on those topics because he didn’t feel he had a place to speak about them.
With the two of them finishing off at Eric’s playing video games, it was almost symbolic of the journey that they’d gone on together. Being best friends from such a young age to embarking on the next chapter of their life together.
There was a nice moment in this season where we saw Eric and Adam have a moment together where Eric was always proud of how far Adam had come. It was a wholesome moment to watch, and it was good to see them go off on good terms, considering it was awkward to start with.
The Meaning Of Sex Education Season 4
This season was all about accepting yourself, your pathway, and your development. It starts with many of the characters wanting to be accepted by those around them, such as Ruby with the popular girls, Eric with the members of his church, Adam with his father, Maeve by her teacher, and Otis by the students as the therapist.
But as the season went on, we saw that it was actually about forgetting what other people thought and more about, on a personal level, being able to accept yourself and owning the pathway that you’d go on to forge.
For example, Eric turned his back on the church for them to approach him and want to make a difference. Vivian spoke up and broke up with Beau.
Maeve didn’t care as much about her teacher and didn’t let one person dictate the future of her life. Ruby embraced those around her and began to fit in, and Otis turned down the opportunity of being the therapist.
It was a nice message for the show to convey, and I thought it was an appropriate one to have, too.
