Season three of Netflix’s “Sex Education” taps into social taboos

By: Steve Lin, Columnist

Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own.

4/5  ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭒

Netflix released a new season of Sex Education on Sept. 17. It was on the top ten most watched TV shows in the United States(U.S.) for a couple of weeks. The new season of Sex Education explores the idea of empowerment.

Sex Education is a British commedy TV show about a bunch of teenagers who go to a private school, Moordale High, and are curious about sex. In a funny way it explores the topics of sex, relationships, family, character, and friendships. When it shows Otis’s family, or Adam’s family, or even Eric’s family, the show makes it clear that no family is perfect. 

In my opinion, it’s not only funny, but has some important messages about sex and relationships as well. For example, it teaches people how to be positive, or how to just be themselves through Otis, the main character.

Whenever characters in the show were depressed, Otis always said something that made their day better. The whole show practically centers around positivity.

I rather like Otis’ character because he always seems to be the most reasonable in the show. He manages to balance school, and family issues all at the same time, and it’s amazing to see how he does it. 

Even though the show centers around the school, and Otis as the main character, I rather like that because he always seems to be the one encouraging people to do well and be better people. He’s almost always the one giving out sex advice, relationship advice, or both. 

I also like the fact that he has a gay best friend, Eric, in the show as well because by putting a gay best friend in the show preaches identity acceptance. It proves that anyone can have friends, and I feel like those two being best friends is symbolic.

Granted, there are some very emotional scenes and events in the show, but that just adds to the purpose and message of the show itself. The audio description track, which describes what’s happening in the show adds extra character to the show as well.

If you’re blind, and want to watch something emotional, the audio description really knows how to illustrate those emotional scenes. The quality of the descriptions are also better than I expected.

Normally, the quality and pitch of the audio description isn’t very good for comedy, but it has been great for the last three seasons. In other TV shows, it’s a monotone, and the tone and pitch never change. 

However, in the show, the tone and pitch keep up with the action of the show, making it interesting to listen to, and keep up with without losing interest. By making the track keep up with the scenes, with the right amount of tone and pitch, makes it that much more easy and exciting to keep up with. 

Even in scenes of humor, the audio description knows how to describe it with the appropriate amount of humor. With the sex scenes, for example, depending on the type of scene, it knows how to add the right amount of gusto to what’s happening, when it’s happening. 

If you take any emotional scene, like scenes where characters are seeing a therapist, or where something very emotional happens, it knows how to describe everything and capture the atmosphere of the situation without the describer sounding too uninterested. Some describers just don’t know how to describe something and make it sound interesting, all while capturing the right atmosphere, at the right time. 

Season three has been my favorite so far, because it truly shows that in the face of discrimination, the students didn’t care. Some of them continued to speak out, and speak up for others and their rights. Even Otis spoke up for his beliefs, which he did throughout the show as a whole.

The show is not only LGBT inclusive, it makes it clear that it’s okay to be different, regardless of orientation. In my opinion, it encourages people through relationships to always stay positive even if you’re having a bad day. When someone was feeling down about themselves, another character was there for them.

Otis is always a positive person in the show even though he has his problems, especially with his parents, teachers, and friends. My second favorite character was Eric, because Eric seems to be an encouraging character as well.

In my opinion, it was one of the best comedy shows about relationships I’ve ever seen.

So if you’re looking for something to watch that’s funny, almost family friendly except for the sex scenes, and can make your day a brighter day, sit back, and watch an episode of Sex Education. In my opinion, it’s not a show to be binge watched, but rather, a show to be watched slowly, to make your day brighter.

Editor in Chief