Netflix “Sex Education” Season 2 Review: Shakespeare Will Never Be the Same

Season 2 of Netflix’s Sex Education is now available to stream.

This season could, and perhaps should, have been an Otis (Asa Butterfield) and Maeve (Emma Mackay) love story. Instead, we’re given a growing ensemble of characters that delays what we all want to see happen.

Despite this, Season 2 is bold, poignant and every bit as good as the first.

Two things to know about this review:

1. We aim to be 100% spoiler-free, so this is all opinion.
2. We watched the whole series, not just an episode like other websites.

CHECK OUT: Netflix Dracula review, a tale of three episodes

Unexpected arcs

The big change from Season 1 to 2 is that the focus has moved heavily onto relationships. Not all are romantic, but friendship, family, and unity is put on a pedestal, as is telling the truth. It sounds sappy, but it’s delivered perfectly across the shows eight 50-minute episodes.

Season 2 takes us away from expectations set up in the first season and never gives us the payoff we really want. It shouldn’t work, but it does.

The biggest surprise is that despite veering away from expectations, the season manages to bring us back to the main reason most of us are binging: Otis and Maeve.

For many, this season might end up being considered filler, but having binged all episodes, this is a journey Otis and Co. needed to take. It builds on the first season and should lead to a bigger payoff in Season 3.

CHECK OUT: Netflix Medical Police review, please no Season 2

A season without a payoff

There are many outlandish scenarios in Season 2, with oranges and Shakespeare being the most obvious victims of the show’s creativity (neither will ever be the same). The worst victim, however, is Season 3, because adding a potential new love triangle for Maeve is an issue.

This bombshell complicates how Season 3 might be paced. Right now, we fans need that main story arc payoff since Season 2 had conclusions to everything but Otis and Maeve. Simply put, we cannot wait another eight episodes.

Regardless of how good Season 1 and 2 are, Season 3 should be the last in this “will they, won’t they” Otis and Maeve arc. If this new love triangle delays that payoff again, it will be the last time I binge on the show hoping for a satisfying conclusion.

Despite this concern, Season 2 is a brilliantly told story of acceptance through the eyes of numerous well-developed characters.

CHECK OUT: Netflix Messiah review: The leak didn’t spoil it

4k/HDR/Dolby Atmos

Sex Education Season 2 looks and sounds fantastic in 4K, with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos fully supported.

CHECK OUT: The Witcher review: Netflix has its Game of Thrones

Sex Education Season 2 verdict: Binge

• Streaming on Netflix
• Created by Laurie Nunn
• Starring Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Ncuti Gatwa and Emma Mackay

Sex Education gives us an opportunity to see what most people don’t talk about. It takes on personal and private aspects of the real world, and not only provides solutions but countless laugh out loud moments.

The combination of great characters, real-world problems, and engrossing personal journeys come together to create a show that is a perfect example of how to tackle social issues without being preachy or pushing blame. Nothing is sacred, nothing is off-limits, and Season 2 is compelling because of it.

Some may say Season 2 was eight episodes of filler that only delay the inevitable. They’re right, but in nearly seven hours of entertainment, the only negative is that we didn’t get the expected payoff. Now that’s what I call amazing filler.

Check out the official Sex Education Season 2 trailer below.

CHECK OUT: Netflix V Wars review, vampires on a budget