We’re taking our time watching the new Sex Education season because it’s the last one and we want to enjoy every moment. In Episode 4, the midpoint is emotional; it takes a melancholic turn, but at the same time, it makes you laugh out loud in a very Sex Education kind of way. This episode leaves all the main characters with some questions in their minds, and it’s a turning point for some of them. Some are coming to realize certain aspects of themselves that they didn’t know much about before. Sex Education Episode 4 focuses on Eric and Maeve more than the rest. It makes room for Joanna and Ruby to explore certain things on their own too, and an unexpected couple gets back together.
Spoilers Alert
Maeve’s return
Everyone’s missed Maeve, but the reason for her return isn’t an easy one. In Sex Education episode 4, Maeve meets her younger sister and older brother because her mother has overdosed. She asks Amy to drive her down to the hospital, but Otis comes down too, showing his support even though Maeve never asked him. She’s happy to have him there, though. In the hospital, Maeve and Steve (her brother) find out that their mother passed away about 20 minutes before. Maeve’s devastated, but her coping mechanism is to do crossword puzzles while Steve tries to make terrible jokes. Neither of them cry, but interestingly, when Steve leaves and tells Amy and Otis about it, they tear up immediately. Maeve is wired differently because of everything she’s been through, and she doesn’t know how to express herself. Even after Steve leaves, she spends the whole evening trying to solve the crossword and only leaves when she’s solved it. Otis and Amy tell her that they’re there for her, whatever she needs, and Maeve is grateful as she holds Otis’ hand in the car.
Eric
Otis is technically upset with Eric, but I think he forgets to tell him about Maeve because of the sheer rush of things. Eric shows up at the door only to find out that Otis is with Maeve, who has returned. Eric keeps getting pooped on by birds in Sex Education episode 4, and there’s no understanding why until a homeless person tells him that it’s clearly because he’s lucky. Eric also finds a bible in the middle of the street, seemingly out of nowhere, and he’s forced to go to the soup kitchen with the homeless person, even though it’s organized by his church and he’s dressed as he would normally be outside of church. These are clear signs that Eric should consider accepting his place in his community, but something is still stopping him. He ends up staying back at the soup kitchen because there’s a staff shortage, and he leaves Abbi a voicemail because he can’t see her. Abbi shows up at the soup kitchen to Eric’s surprise and helps out too. The pastor, on the other hand, who Eric doesn’t like very much (because he told him to hide his identity), tells Eric that it’s nice to have people outside the church joining them, but it’s a shame the place is shutting down. It looks like some ideas are brewing in Eric’s mind, though, because he and his new friend may be able to help out.
Michael
It looks like Adam wasn’t the only one facing performance anxiety trying to ride a horse (not what it sounds like), but his father, Michael, who tries to go on a date, ends up failing because he’s missing a key ingredient. Michael tries to speak to Adam about this, which makes Adam feel appalled, but he gives him good advice that he had just received himself. Michael gets overexcited and calls his date over again, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work again, and he’s left calling Jean on the radio show to ask for advice. He pretends he’s a guy named Martin and tells Jean and O how he feels. They make him realize that he misses his ex-wife, Adam’s mother, and tell him to figure out how to forget her fully; then things will be better in bed too. Interestingly for Michael, Adam’s mom heard everything on the radio and came running to him because she missed him too. Maybe with a more understanding Michael, things can actually work out between them.
Viv and Beau
There seems to be something about Beau, the guy who is best friends with his father. The guy gets jealous of Jackson and asks Viv if there’s something going on between them because, even though it’s quite early, he wants her to be his girlfriend. Is Viv making a rash decision by saying yes? Probably.
Cal & Aisha
Cal feels embarrassed for thinking Aisha wanted to kiss them because she was trying to read their lips. On the other hand, Aisha tells them that she’s in an ethically non-monogamous relationship, so she’d love to take them out on a date.
Ruby
Ruby makes it to school looking like a real campaign manager, and she seems genuinely excited to work with Otis until she realizes that he’s not in. O ends up stealing Otis’ clients, leaving Ruby flustered. Ruby tells O that she really wants to make her life hell, the way she did with her back when they were 10. O has set up a debate between Otis and her without telling Otis, and Ruby does a survey to figure out if O has ever been bad to anyone in the college. Unfortunately for her, she isn’t able to get any dirt from anywhere. Worse of all, Eric tells her that Maeve is back, and this really hurts Ruby. It seems like she’s still stuck on Otis, as O guessed.
Aimee and Otis
Because Maeve spends all day inside the hospital with her friends waiting outside, Otis and Aimee spend the whole day together, cooped up in a car. Otis notices that Aimee is talking a lot about Isaac, but she won’t admit that she likes him. She takes some pictures of Otis to practice with Isaac’s camera, and in the end, she finally caves in and asks him to “therapy” her. She doesn’t want to hurt Maeve’s feelings, and although she’s pretending she’s talking about someone else, it’s clear that Aimee has feelings for Isaac but doesn’t want to act on them without Maeve knowing about it. Otis tells her she should tell Maeve the truth if she thinks her feelings for Isaac are real.
Adam and the Horse
Adam’s new friend, the daughter of the farm owner, teaches him how to ride the horse. She shows him the ropes slowly, and he overcomes his fear little by little. He’s also getting better at driving with his dad, who tells him really nasty things that he doesn’t want to hear, but it’s alright.
Jean’s show
The radio show, as we know, isn’t successful, so in Sex Education episode 4, we see that the higher-ups have invited guest speakers to Jean’s show. Ironically, the first guest is O, and Jean doesn’t appreciate it very much at first. She knows she’s not doing so well, but she’d rather work things out on her own than have a 17-year-old show her how things are done. O is great on the show, though, and she gets Jean to talk to her listeners in the way that she normally would before Joy and everything else. Otis, on the other hand, tunes in to the show too, and we wonder how he feels about his mom working together with his biggest enemy.
It seems that Otis has some thoughts about Ruby because he ignores her all day even though he has time to text her back. He wasn’t really with Maeve the whole time. Additionally, he never told her Maeve was back, which is strange because she knows they’re together. Sleeping in the same room with Maeve and Aimee, when Otis gets another message from Ruby about the campaign, he ignores her again. Maybe he’s having second thoughts again. Ooh la la, does Otis still have feelings for Ruby too?
