Sex Education Season 3 Review – Well worth the wait

Season 1

Season 2

 Season 3

Season 4

 

 

Episode Guide

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8

 

Well-written, funny and with just a touch of poignancy, Sex Education has been one of Netflix’s brightest original series since it dropped back in 2019. The blend of American and British schooling actually worked surprisingly well, while the large ensemble of characters helped to make this a diverse and intriguing proposition.

Following the cliffhanger at the end of season 2 – and the subsequent delay thanks to a certain viral outbreak – Sex Education is finally back. And boy was the wait worth it.

Netflix’s teen drama is every bit as great as it was in seasons past, with a whole lot of drama to sink your teeth into this year.

The story picks up at the end of the summer holidays and lots has changed at Moordale. There’s a new draconian head teacher in Hope (who’s basically Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter) and plenty of angst for our teens to deal with.

After Isaac deleted Otis’s message, Maeve ends up growing closer to him while helping Aimee out, who’s still struggling with the sexual abuse incident. Of course, the looming presence of her Mum continues to be a deterrent to her education too, although late on in the season there is a good amount of progression done with this storyline.

Otis meanwhile has been sleeping with Ruby in private and the pair continue to grow CLOSER together across the first half of this season. Societal pressure, friendship groups and challenging established norms are all brought up in the wake of this, with episode 5 serving as an important chapter for their relationship – and the show in general. No spoilers of course but this one’s a biggie.

Another highlight this year is the adorable couple of Eric and Adam. In fact, these two are the real stars of the show and their development and growth has been great to see across the seasons prior to this.

There are some ups and downs along the way, and Rahim’s arrival does spice things up a bit – as does Eric’s trip across to Nigeria. By the end of the season though, there are lots of unanswered questions – which is true for a lot of the subplots too.

Given the sheer number of characters in Sex Education, there are a few times where the show buckles under its own weight of expectations. Some characters just disappear for large stretches of the run-time while a certain character is completely absent in the final two episodes.

Despite this, Sex Education certainly hasn’t lost its comedic spark and throughout the 8 episodes the show juggles genuine laugh out loud moments with quiet periods of reflection beautifully. There’s some very witty dialogue and the cast do an amazing job hitting the right notes.

Of course, its not all laugh out loud comedy  and when the show calls on those aforementioned quiet periods of reflection, there’s some really touching moments. Everyone from Ruby and Adam through to Otis, Jean and even Lily get their moments to shine and it works wonderfully to counterbalance the comedy.

Out of the three seasons, this third one is arguably one of the best. The tonal balance between comedy and poignancy is absolutely on the money while each of the characters get some great development too.

The open ending is a little disappointing but overall, Sex Education continues to be one of Netflix’s brightest original series.

 

Sex Education Season 3 drops on Netflix Friday 17th September worldwide!


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  • Verdict - 8.5/10
    8.5/10
8.5/10

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