Summary
Sex Education Episode 6 slows it down slightly, giving the characters a moment to breathe.
This recap of Sex Education Season 1 Episode 6 contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
Sex Education Episode 6 is the slowest episode so far in the series, and I felt it did not work in its favor. Maybe it is because the series has carried so much momentum that there was always going to be one episode that cooled it down slightly. Chapter 6 is most likely the calm before the storm, with the characters bedded in awaiting the big bang.
After the tragic events of Episode 5, Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) has seemingly lost his identity, wearing his less colorful clothes and concealing the wrath of anger that we have never seen in this character. Eric usually lights up the room with his comedy and quips, so it was sad to see the character really low. His aggression comes out, leading him to punch one of his peers near the lockers.
While Eric maintains his loss of identity, Sex Education Episode 6 has Otis (Asa Butterfield) worried about his virginity, so he recruits the same girl who tried to offer him sex a few episodes ago. They are both virgins, so the entire occasion is almost contractual so they can finally pop their cherries. Unfortunately, when things get heavy and sweaty, Otis has flashbacks to when he was younger, seeing his father cheat on his mother and the aftermath of that. He has a panic attack.
A common occurrence of Sex Education is that Otis cannot masturbate, but we now have the answer. His entire mentality towards sex is born from witnessing his father cheat and the arguments it caused with his mother (Gillian Anderson). The issues grow deeper than that because he clearly shows more respect to his father.
The sex clinic issue in Episode 6 is with Amy (Aimee Lou Wood) who is struggling to excite herself during sex. Otis’s solution is that she does not understand what she wants to get out of sex, and advises that she masturbates and explore her true desires, which follows with a compilation of scenes of her enjoying herself far too much around her house.
Meanwhile, Maeve (Emma Mackey) is dealing with her brother returning, who is a lost cause type of character. Episode 6 purposefully keeps Otis and Maeve away from each other to make the audience wonder if their friendship has dwindled, however, it was done specifically for the end scene, when Maeve looks confused that her boyfriend Jackson is chilling with her brother – she goes inside and sniffs a jumper – Otis’s jumper.
Trouble may be ahead, as Otis has managed to get a number off a girl who is the daughter of the man (Patricia Allison) who is trying to seduce his mother. The character has managed to gain a few love interests, but the question remains – will the illegal sex clinic owner get his high school crush?
