✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
TV

Sex Education season 2, Netflix review ★★★★★

17 Jan 20 – 17 Jan 21, ON NETFLIX

In season 2, Otis (Asa Butterfield) enjoys his new-found sex drive, Maeve (Emma Mackey) receives a visit from her recovering mother, and Moordale School is infected with chlamydia

By Euan Franklin on 13/1/2020

2 CW readers are interested
Gillian Anderson in Sex Education season 2, Netflix
Gillian Anderson in Sex Education season 2, Netflix
Sex Education season 2, Netflix review 4 Sex Education season 2, Netflix review Euan Franklin
Contains some spoilers from season one

It’s hard to imagine another TV series starting, straight away, with an ecstatic montage of male masturbation. Thankfully, the opening to the long-awaited second season of Sex Education achieves this with hilarious and satisfying pleasure. The w***er in question is the 16-year-old sex therapist Otis (Asa Butterfield), who’s finally found his own sex drive, playing with himself at every opportunity.


But all his knowledge – gained from his outspoken mother Jean (Gillian Anderson), who's a professional sex guru – doesn’t help when it comes to actual sex, which he struggles to achieve with his new girlfriend Ola (Patricia Allison).



Otis (Asa Butterfield) and Eric (Ncuti Ganwa) roam around a forest. Both styles are valid...


Season two can’t quite match the consistent thrills of the first, but still proves an enticing and funny romp between the sheets of the ill educated. It maintains the gross laughs, the ebullient visuals, and the intense sexual research within the escapist town of Moordale, which suffers an over-dramatic outbreak of chlamydia. Diving back into this vivid town is a real delight, bursting with new and returning characters in many erotic and difficult positions.


Strangely, the abandoned, confidential therapy-bathroom is rarely visited by Otis, his flamboyant best friend Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) or the punky and pessimistic Maeve (Emma Mackey). There's a schism between Maeve and Otis, following the former’s exclusion from school and her realisation that she’s in love with Otis. Maeve's life becomes even more complicated when her unreliable mother (His Dark Materials’ Anne-Marie Duff) suddenly comes back to the caravan park.



The friendship between Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood) and Maeve (Emma Mackey) grows stronger than ever

But the real star of this season is the ditsy but delightful Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood), who’s left in shock after a traumatising experience in episode three. Writer/creator Laurie Nunn continues to tread that difficult line between cliquey teen fantasy and uncomfortable modern reality, and at the end of episode seven (one of the series’ best) Nunn embraces both in an aggressive, liberating show of female solidarity.


Nunn’s lessons are more than just spicing up the bedroom: they’re about growing into nice and considerate human beings. Viewers, especially men, should take note.


Although these female friendships take centre-stage, this season also dives into toxic masculinity: the emotions repressed, the anger released. Even the well-meaning Otis falls prey to it, showing that any man (nice or not) can be afflicted. In episode six, this develops into an excruciating few minutes during a party that’s gone out of control, in which Otis gets drunk and slurs his thoughts without considering the harm he's causing.



Adam (Connor Swindells) questions his own sexuality following the events of season one

Similarly, Adam (Connor Swindells), the bully from season one who enters military school, struggles with his sexuality after an intimate moment with Eric in the music room. He can’t express himself properly, a legacy from his emotionally and sexually devoid headmaster father, Mr Groff (Alistair Petrie). In this season, Groff sheds his semblance of an 80s John Hughes villain to form a Basil Fawlty-like image of male repression, of a kind observable in many middle-aged fathers.


Season two excels in the first three episodes, muddles a bit in the middle, and then storms into a funny and poignant conclusion. There are fewer appointments with Otis, shortchanging the premise, but this season is a worthy follow-up to be binged and re-binged with effortless indulgence until season three comes. Sex Education continues to be a bed that never loses its passion.


Sex Education season 2 is available on Netflix from Friday 17 January




What Sex Education season 2, Netflix review
When 17 Jan 20 – 17 Jan 21, ON NETFLIX
Price £n/a
Website Click here for more information



Most popular

Brie Larson in Lessons in Chemistry, AppleTV+ (Photo: Apple)
New in streaming October 2023: Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Prime Video, Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, NOW, ITVX
Things to do in London this weekend: 29 September –1 October. Photo: Frieze Sculpture Park
Things to do in London this weekend: 29 September – 1 October
London exhibitions to see this month
Top exhibitions on now in London

Editor's Picks

Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Netflix
What to watch on TV this week
Claes Bang in Dracula, BBC One
Dracula, BBC One/Netflix, episode 1 review
Michaela Coel in I May Destroy You, BBC One
Best TV shows of 2020
Sophie Cookson in The Trial of Christine Keeler, BBC One
The Trial of Christine Keeler, BBC One review
Guy Pearce in A Christmas Carol, BBC One
A Christmas Carol, BBC One review
Zendaya and Hunter Schafer in Euphoria, Sky Atlantic
The best TV of 2019
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
2

Sex Education

Gillian Anderson

Emma Mackey

Asa Butterfield

Netflix

Comedy

TV

2020

You might like

  • Ken Nwosu in Sticks and Stones, ITV

    Sticks and Stones, ITV review ★★★★★

  • Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 3, Amazon Prime

    The Marvelous Mrs Maisel season 3, Amazon Prime review ★★★★★

  • Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci thrive in The Irishman

    The Irishman review ★★★★★

  • © Secret Cinema - Luke Dyson

    Secret Cinema presents Stranger Things review ★★★★★

  • Imelda Staunton in The Crown season 5, Netflix (Photo: Netflix)

    The Crown, season 5, Netflix review ★★★★★

  • Vicky McClure and Kelly Macdonald in Line of Duty season 6, BBC One (Photo: BBC)

    Line of Duty season 6, BBC, episode 1 review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×