Sex Education & O Appreciation Thread

[hemogoblin]

This thread is for appreciation. If you don't like the show or portrayal, there is a thread here.

So you may have heard of the first ace character Sex Education had in its earlier seasons, who had a rather small and stereotypical part that a lot of asexuals were left unfulfilled by. This season, aroace advocate, Yasmin Benoit was hired to help consult on a new (aromantic) asexual character: O. The show cut a lot of the stuff Yasmin worked on, which greatly disappointed her, but I still really liked this season and O as a character.

I went in with low expectations because Yasmin was disappointed in parts they left out and I read all of her commentary before actually watching the season, but honestly, I thought it was great. I loved O. She's been called manipulative by many people, but I disagree. I found her a teenager. She'd been under attack by day one from Otis, who was the newcomer who came in insisting he invented sex therapy/giving sex advice AND demanding there could only be one of them practicing. IMO, Otis was set up as a "villain" of this season pretty clearly. (And I don't mean that Otis is unlikeable by that. I very much like Otis a lot. But he was the antagonist to his own show in a lot of ways here this season in regards to O and Maeve.) And about the whole bullying storyline - it was grade school. Does that make it okay? No. But it also doesn't need to haunt her for the rest of her life, much less define her forever. We've all done shit we're ashamed of and that we shouldn't have, and many of us were lucky enough to be able to deny it and grow up without having to constantly apologize for it.

To me, the core of Sex Education is about growth and redemption. All the characters are awful at times. They all fuck up. Several have been outright bullies that became beloved characters who turned it around and became better people. Look at Ruby herself. We gain sympathy by seeing how she was hurt, but that doesn't change that she has been utterly awful to people in constantly acting like she's better than them. What happened to her with O doesn't excuse the way she treated most people. I think by giving O an arc like this, they were actually pretty strongly saying: people like O are just like the rest of us - they're human. They're imperfect and that's what's beautiful about them.

The elevator scene was definitely fantastic and really helped bring the arc to a fulfilling conclusion, too.

I do think it was silly that by the end of the season, they still decided to stick to their guns of "there can only be one sex therapist!!!" Like maybe some people would be more comfortable with a choice? Maybe some would be more comfortable with O and others with Otis. Maybe some topics could be more comfortably brought to O and others to Otis. Like why could there only be one?

One thing that I was disappointed was that they completely skipped over any aromanticism. I kept eagerly awaiting for that to come up because there were so many perfect opportunities, but apparently not.

For reference, I think Sex Education is a great show, and I watch it regularly. I didn't just watch this season alone after hearing about O, though that's also valid.

Edited October 31, 2023 by hemogoblin

[Holmbo]

Thanks for sharing. I've not watched the show as I though some of the actors looked so old that it took me out of it.

[nonmerci]

I didn't like O. I made a whole poste about it so I'm not going to repeat myself, but I didn't like that the way the debate was set up made me think she was lying when she came out. I can't watch this thing without remembering how her saying "I'm asexual" made her pass from "not my favorite" to "I hate her, please Otis destroyer her even if you are a complete idiot who was in the wrong the entire time". Even if I know now she was not lying, it has a bad taste in my mouth.

 

The elevator scene redeems her a bit for me because this scene is absolutely perfect, and I really recommand people to watch it even if they don't watch the show. Most relatable thing ever.

 

And yeah I agree it is stupid that there can only be one therapist too. A therapist can't be good with everyone no matter how great they are, so people need to have the choice. I guess it's better they decide to work together but still.

 

Sorry ha ha, you may guess that I'm not a big fan of O. I just think she is representative of the whole season for me : she has potential but was wasted. I would have appreciate more if we had one more season I think, just like we dis with Adam that I ended up liking a lot.

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by nonmerci

[such]

Yeah I agree that O had a lot of potential as an ace character that was wasted. It's a shame that some key scenes got cut and I found myself getting more and more disappointed the further the season went on. 

But there were some strengths to the character too, she had a lot of great moments throughout the season, where she was portrayed as being cool and confident and an empathetic human (which is so rare for a canonically ace character!) 

For me the most disappointing part was the ending, where she attempts to make apologies. She just didn't seem that genuine to me and continues to be widely hated until someone else makes a gesture to forgive her at the very end. That's a pretty weak redemption imo. It's no wonder that so many people read her as a villain throughout the season.

And yes a real shame that aromanticism isn't included! She was sort of queer coded though.

[hemogoblin]

Oops, added the link to the thread for critiquing, which I meant to do when creating this and forgot. 

3 hours ago, such said:

continues to be widely hated until someone else makes a gesture to forgive her at the very end.

I think that says more about people as a whole than it did about her in particular. In the age of "cancel culture fear" (because cancel culture...not a thing), people accept th flimsiest apologies from people they want to forgive (largely white people who have committed the most heinous crimes) while being hypercritical of apologies from those they want to condemn (largely poc in particular).