Sex Education’s Maeve and Otis ending betrays its rom-com roots

Netflix’sSex EducationFrom the very first episode that I watched almost four years ago, this show has captured my heart. The show was a lot of fun and heartwarming. It also dealt with sex, relationships, and other topics honestly. And unlike other TV shows, its supporting characters — especially the Black characters, like Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), Vivienne (Chinenye Ezeudu), Jackson (Kedar Williams-Stirling), and Cal (Dua Saleh) — were fully fleshed-out and engaging. Like all classic teen comedies and stories of coming-of age, the two main characters, Maeve and Otis, shared a love interest.

Maeve and Otis are the inspiration for the show. Maeve approaches Otis to open a clinic that offers both of them mutual benefits (he helps people by sharing his knowledge, she receives cash so that she can raise herself). But that shared passion led to shared romantic feelings, with the writers keeping us in a will-they-won’t-they limbo until the end of season 3, when Maeve Finally, admits her feelings for Otis and they kiss at last. When Maeve got into a U.S. writing program at the end of season 3, the pair — after finally kissing — agreed to try long distance.

[Ed. note: The rest of this piece contains spoilers for the end of season 4 of Sex Education (which is the end of the show).]

But in season 4, Maeve and Otis’ long-distance connection is clearly disintegrating. Then, when she comes back for the death of her mother, they’re still not in sync (and understandably so; grief isn’t really the best atmosphere to build up a romantic connection in). Maeve decides to leave America after realizing that it’s the place she really loves. This is utterly a bunch of bullshit.

Let’s be clear: There are some incredibly valid arguments for why Maeve and Otis shouldn’t end up together. Several characters, like Otis’ best friend, Eric, and his former love interest Ruby (Mimi Keene) told Otis that he tended to neglect everyone else whenever Maeve was around, quite dickishly dropping all his commitments to be at her beck and call. Maeve was too slow to admit her love for Otis or let him in on her emotional side. She kept him away from her, while neglecting other relationships. The pairing had become stale because the ratio of conflict to cuteness was so skewed. Although parentless, low-income Maeve moving away from her only support systems — her many friends in Moordale — doesn’t make logical sense to me, Otis moving to be with her doesn’t either, and neither is mature enough for a long-distance relationship. This relationship, in therapy speak, was making the couple regress and not make progress.

Samuel Taylor/Netflix

If I had known Maeve in person, then I’d think that their separation was inevitable. Maeve and Otis aren’tReal life. They’re TV characters in a fun show where everyone dresses and behaves like it’s the 1990s and performs fellatio on bananas. True, it’s a show whose magic has always been its depiction of what healthy relationships do and don’t look like, how to leave an unhealthy dynamic and how to build one, how to figure out who you are and how to let other people see the real you. But still, with entertainment, we don’t want to just focus on what’s practical or healthy, but what’s romantic and mushy.

For me, that’s what Sex Education took from viewers with its “reasonable” ending. We spent years following this couple, waiting with bated breath for them to get together, only to get the TV equivalent of a slammed-door, no-contact, blocked-on-social-media breakup. Maeve and Otis ended their relationship on a happy note. ended, The possibility of them seeing or speaking to one another is not explored. This leaves fans with lots of material for fanfiction, but little emotional satisfaction.

When it’s logical for characters to split up, but you still want the sense of hope to remain, an open-ended separation is my favourite. Adapted from Sally Rooney’s stylish novel of the same name, Hulu’s Normal PeopleMy romantic heartbreak is ideal. Connell’s (Paul Mescal) acceptance to New York grad schools causes them to break up (why do all these British/Irish characters want to study American literature in America? This is not a great place! Marianne Edgar-Jones (Daisy Edgar Jones) is happy in Dublin. They part tearfully, but there’s this possibility hanging in the air of reconnecting. You know, partially because of the love that’s been established between the two, this is most likely a pause rather than an ending. Marianne and Connell, in my opinion, are married and about to have their first child.

My disappointment in the finale is less about wanting Maeve and Otis together specifically than it is about longing for a classic OTP (“one true pairing”), a fairy-tale ending. It’s important to reach a satisfying emotional conclusion after years of supporting a particular couple. You should feel satisfied, happy and fulfilled. And yes, I fully acknowledge that perhaps this is due to the cultural messages I’ve received that say an ended relationship is a failed relationship. I know that’s a toxic idea we have to combat, and yet I demand romance from TV and movies. In therapy, I’ll learn how to stay healthy.

But this is a show that we’ve followed since 2019, before we even knew what COVID was. It’s disappointing when you follow a TV romance for so long, only to have it end with a whimper. You just can’t help but feel like, That’s it? It’s true that breaking up and decentering the romance feels like the right choice. I also get the feeling that it is the choice of the future, because 2023 will be the choice made. But I think as viewers, we’ll never evolve past the need for happily-ever-afters, or more accurately, for hope. Maeve and Otis’ breakup felt like a lecture from an admittedly capable therapist, not an emotionally lasting scene. It’s obvious that this show is about a therapist, but will it be able to meet us halfway?

Sex Education didn’t do what Normal PeopleDid and left a hope-filled door open. Before the final episode, it ended a relationship in a conclusive way. It made me feel depressed. A series finale should make you feel connected to the show. It’s like waiting to see if a dilemma or conflict will resolve. But there wasn’t any remaining tension for that last episode. Cal, Vivienne Aimee Eric all got wonderful send offs. However, it was a bit predictable. It’s like a mug or tea in bed instead of a toast to champagne.

Cal will find money to pay for the surgery. We know Vivienne’s ex-boyfriend will not be able to control her emotions. Aimee will be liberated by her past trauma, and kiss her new lover Isaac. And we know Eric is going to reSo, if you want to know more about how to get started with your own business or organization, please contact us.lve his existential crisis (although I must admit the “I want to be a pastor” revelation did take me by surprise). But we also — and this is crucial — know that Otis and Maeve are so over. And then, if that final disappointment wasn’t enough, they have Maeve send Otis a letter that basically says “Love you forever, but we are never talking again, much less getting back together. Thanks, bye!” It all made for a finale that was cute, but not particularly engaging.

I won’t say that there aren’t The following are some examples of how to use shows delivering on classic romance and letting their OTPs ride off into the sunset, but it does feel like it’s perhaps an overcorrection for all those years Hollywood just let toxic couples end up together with no real healing or growth. This reminds me a lot of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a show that had us rooting for its very flawed, traumatized main character, Rebecca (Rachel Bloom), to find a healthy relationship, only for it to end with her… working on herself. It’s great! Not romantic. Dawson and Joey or Dawson’s Creek? (Clearly I haven’t gotten over this unspeakable TV crime.) Sometimes the problem is one of presentation, like 2019’s One Great PersonThis was supposed to be a romance, but in reality it was just a depressing tribute to a decade-long relationship. And I cannot remember anything that I got out of watching this movie. And I also won’t say that there aren’t definitive endings that are glorious (Fleabag’s “It’ll pass” has me in the fetal position every time). But for the most part, if I want to watch a healthy breakup, I’ll tune into a drama or get that storyline from a side character.

But the unspoken contract of romance stories is that there’s an OTP and they end up together. Admittedly, it might be my more toxic side showing, or perhaps it’s my age — I was raised on the rom-coms of the ’90s and 2000s, where everyone moved fast and ended up together in the end. It’s something I really enjoy. Sex Education because it’s different from those shows and movies. Sex EducationIt’s so unique because it makes us think about mental and physical health. And secretly, even though I’m annoyed, I like that, in general, it’s not afraid to depict the necessity of letting go. It would be nice to have a couple more happy endings in the romantic storyline.