Summary
Sex Education Episode 1 introduces us to the young and fresh characters in a fantastic opening to the Netflix series.
This recap of Sex Education Season 1 Episode 1 contains spoilers. You can check out our review of season one by clicking these words.
Sex Education Episode 1 proved my reaction wrong to the official trailer. The series is nothing like the famous Skins that graced UK TV in my teenage years. The Netflix series is young, it’s coming-of-age, but its ballooned with extravaganza and over exaggeration. I’m not complaining; Sex Education feels fresh, and already feels like a welcome addition to Netflix.
The opening scene to episode 1 involves a sex scene with Adam (Connor Swindells) who appears stone cold bored by the girl performing cowgirl. He decides to change to the doggy style position, and after she begs him to ejaculate, he weirdly pretends that he has finished.
That scene becomes essential later. Sex Education Episode 1 then introduces us to Otis (Asa Butterfield), the central character to the Netflix drama series. It’s worth noting that Otis’s mother Jean (Gillian Anderson) is a sex therapist, and the impact it has had on the young teenage boy is evident; his entire face exuberates sexual repression.
Strangely enough, Otis is weirdly street smart, yet is irritatingly logical when approached with social cues. He spends most of Episode 1 diverting the attention from his own issues, one being that he cannot masturbate, which his mother senses.
Sex Education Episode 1 also introduces us to Maeve (Emma Mackey), the ultimate rebellious girl that everyone assumes has a lot of sex. Maeve is the type of character that owns the screen and has strange chemistry with Otis from the beginning.
I did wonder how these three characters were going to connect relevantly, but Episode 1 coolly slots in a storyline that will amuse the masses and tempt them to binge to the next chapter. Adam finds out that Otis’s mother is a sex therapist and reveals that fact to the entire school, forcing Otis to run out of class with Maeve rushing to follow him.
They bump into Adam who has comically taken three viagra pills to compensate for his poor performances. Despite the embarrassment Adam has caused, Otis uses his mother’s knowledge to calm Adam down and offers him advice; to build his narrative and not to allow the notion that his father is the headmaster change his fate; strangely enough that causes his erection to go.
Sex Education Episode 1 ends with Adam finally ejaculating while having sex with his bemused and now ex-girlfriend. Maeve gets wind of the news and realizes that Otis can be a niche at the school and asks him to set up his underground clinic. As Otis clearly fancies Maeve, he agrees.
Sex Education Episode 1 is a great start. Let’s hope the story keeps up with the momentum.
You can read the recap of the second episode by clicking these words.
