‘Sex Education’ pushes familiar tropes of teen-comedy genre into new territory

Butterfield (left) and Connor Swindells in “Sex Education”

Gillian Anderson has got her work cut out for her, as she’s often tasked to figure out the biggest and strangest “mysteries” of the world—from aliens in “The X-Files” to sex-crazed teenagers in the Netflix series “Sex Education.”

In the eight-episode show, which premieres next week (Jan. 11), Gillian portrays sex therapist Jean Milburn whose awkward 16-year-old son Otis (Asa Butterfield) suddenly finds himself the center of attention and intense peer scrutiny when he starts dispensing sex and relationship advice to troubled teens in his secondary school. He may be a virgin, but he knows how to fake it till he makes it.

Surrounded by manuals, videos and frank conversations about sex with his vagina workshop-facilitating mom, Otis soon turns his reluctance into a financially lucrative business partnership with Maeve (Emma Mackey), the whip-smart bad girl he has a huge crush on.

Asa Butterfield (left) and Gillian Anderson

Otis doesn’t just see the partnership as an opportunity to move up the social food chain; it also gives him the chance to get closer to Maeve, who enjoys the occasional roll in the hay with the school jock, Jackson (Kedar Williams Stirling).

Together, Maeve and Otis, with his gay best friend Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) in tow, set up an underground sex therapy clinic.

Otis’ “clients” include Adam (Connor Swindells), who bullies “weaklings” when he isn’t distracted by his “oversized appendage” and unexplained impotence.

It doesn’t take long before Otis’ reputation grows—and so does the number of his clientele.

His situation takes a complicated turn when Jackson comes to Otis for “professional” advice—but, is he in it for love or money?

To make matters worse, just when he thinks he stands a chance to have his feelings for Maeve reciprocated, he learns that—she’s pregnant!

What to do?

Framed by great music from the ’80s and ’90s (like The The’s “This is the Day” and Go West’s “King of Wishful Thinking”), the series revolves around teenagers’ “more adult” concerns as it shuttles between irreverent humor and heartwarming drama to make its protagonists’ issues relatable, relevant—and entertaining as heck!

Adolescent ‘emergency’

Episode 3 was particularly engaging. In it, Otis had to deal with an adolescent “emergency” (he had a wet dream).

Meanwhile, his friends come to terms with problems of their own: The musically inept Eric auditions for the school band, while Maeve finds herself visiting an abortion clinic.

Butterfield (left) with Emma Mackey

Their problems may not always be of the “wholesome” variety, but the show manages to stage them in ways that bring out viewer empathy for its troubled teenagers.

Laurie Nunn, the show’s creator, explains it best: “‘Sex Education’ takes the familiar tropes of the genre and pushes them into new territory, telling a nostalgic coming-of-age tale from a different perspective.

“The series was made with teenagers in mind, but it also acknowledges that everybody was 16 once. Whatever stage of life you’re at, we hope viewers will be able to relate to the excruciating and awkward vulnerability of first-time kisses, conflicts and loves.”