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chainofclovers · 5 months

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sex education s4

Anyway so finally finished the entire series...

Sex Education is such a fascinating show and I really genuinely enjoy a lot about it and I think nearly all of the actors are VERY talented which makes it a joy to watch but also I struggle with the dialogue-writing so much. I feel like the ethos of the show is to try to capture the ways humans make mistakes and try hard and screw up and find and re-find each other (which is a very, you know, human and relatable thing), all within this hyper-stylized world that contains all the same problems of our world but also contains a deeply engrained emotional intelligence that informs nearly every conversation?!

So you've got all the normal fuck-ups of life and also all the honoring of emotional journeys, and somehow the way the emotional journey piece of it is written actually makes the sex and relationship mistakes feel more shocking?! It's like we rarely get to settle into those intimate scenes between people for long enough to really feel repercussions. And instead we keep having to pause so some character can say the most basic thing. I don't think this is an actual line in the show, but it feels like half the stuff that comes out of people's heads is basically "Relationships can be intense and that's why relationships are so hard."

And I think Jean Milburn's bad radio show is kind of a way to poke fun at the very unnuanced therapy speak of it all, but maybe not?!

The show is WONDERFUL when the dialogue is specific and weird. Like when Adam and Eric reunite at the funeral and Adam's like "I work with horses now." What a line! Perfection. But those moments were far too few and far between for me.

I do like that the show makes it clear that as much as you might try to craft a safe, thoughtful, emotionally careful world for yourself, that doesn't mean life isn't hard. Cal's dysphoria and sense that the world doesn't want them is incredibly real and well done. And I thought Eric, Viv, and Jackson all had important moments of connection that transcended the dialogue and felt real, too.

I struggled a lot with Michael's storyline. I was actually interested in him and Maureen realizing that the work they've done as individuals makes them more appealing to each other, and I liked that they ended up exploring that and will likely end up getting back together. But! Michael's rebound with that teacher was never going to be what he needed, but I hated the way that lesson was taught. Sure, maybe he was always going to return to the familiar-but-new of his wife and family unit. But I HATE that the sex scenes on the show are often centered entirely around a specific moment of performance/pressure/penetration (literal or emotional) at the expense of what a human body might actually need. There's something in the middle of the spectrum of being humiliated for losing your erection during casual sex and returning to your wife. That middle point is sex--even casual sex--with someone who's willing to connect emotionally, to compliment, to experiment with foreplay, to kiss and touch and make it feel safe to have sex. I don't believe a show has a responsibility to depict that, but in this specific case it felt bad to watch a character so deeply need something other than he was getting and for the "lesson" to feel skewed a few degrees away from where I felt the real lesson actually was.

And let's be real, a large reason I've stuck with this show is because of how much I love Hannah Waddingham, and I found Jackson's storylines with his mums a bit strange precisely because of the surface level pseudo-deep emotional dialogue they're all forced to work with. At this point I've watched many, many hours of Hannah Waddingham working. She's so good. And you've got Hannah Waddingham, Sharon Duncan-Brewter, and Kedar Williams-Sterling, three phenomenal actors, in a room together, and it felt like an opportunity to go into exactly WHY they hid the real story of Jackson's conception from him, and why they went to such lengths to create the handmade picture book (adorable, but in hindsight so strange). All of these actors are more than capable of really getting into it re: deep desires for a particular type of family, and the haunting of the past, queerness, how Roz felt as the biological parent who wanted to give Sofia a certain type of family, how Sofia felt as the new partner starting a relationship with a pregnant woman, etc. There was no need to rely on a letter nonsensically kept in a bedside table, or surface-level platitudes.

Over and over, I feel like they created such fantastic scenarios, and cast such wonderful people to act them, but then the actual words spoken in conversation didn't ring true. And the juxtaposition of the frantic snapshots of sex (which do paint an empathetic portrait of desire and how lonely desire can be) with the tedious dialogue just didn't do it for me this time around. I'm all for some heightened utopian fantasy coupled with the painful reality that even when people love you, identity and self-determination are struggles. They just didn't quite make it there. But the actors really are so good that I enjoyed it anyway. Mostly. Often.

#sex education #sex education s4 #sex education critique #hannah waddingham #hot dork club #queer things #cw dysphoria

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neonstatic · 7 months

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sex ed season four... not surprised the writers had no idea it was the last season. it's definitely the weakest season. i still remember how hooked in i was by s1 and s2, and i was in love w otis and eric's friendship and deeply related to both their personal struggles. and ofc i love all the characters too: maeve, aimee, ruby (ofc), adam (yes him too ofc!!), viv (underused underrated), jackson (ditto), isaac (literally my husband) and jean (milf).

i think the season lost me bc of its setting? why is cavendish some sort of lgbt haven school. it rly pulled me out, felt v utopic. i loved that there were new trans characters---and that they had a v untypical dynamic. roman is a gnc trans man and abbi is a trans girl, and i expected they would have as close to heteronormative sex as possible but nope! (i personally found roman v charming, he's my bb boy. but wtf does he have his gf's name tattooed so big non his chest jesus) i liked that there was a deaf character, aisha, who is queer and poly...but all 3 of them were so lacking in personality. they felt like checkmarks :/ i liked cal's introduction to the story in s3 but they too feel like a checkmark. i know that they're nb, dysphoric, quiet, and like to smoke. that is sooo little info. even o---whose character was butchered and made into a villain post-production according to yasmine benoit, her creator---has a lot more personality. and ykno what, yeah o was very unlikeable. she looked smug and two-faced. me personally? i like that and i found her cool. it's still sad tho that it wasn't the intention at all, and that it makes one of the few ace characters in media into a manipulative dick whose coming out scene didn't feel genuine.

still glad maeve and otis broke up i rly couldn't stand them together anymore teehee no more push and pull, no more on-off!

eric meeting god was corny ok. wtv happened to realism. rly had to suspend my disbelief w this one. (lowkey also when the pastor went to the school ball. it feels too good to be true idk.) but it's fitting htat he wants to be a pastor. ruby should become a pr manager srsly. and she should date me. jackson and cal should get back together also. or not. i don't believe in hs sweethearts. (says the one who was classmates w elementary school sweethearts)

joanna was such an annoying character im sorry. why would you do that. and who tf is dan i dont remember him

anyway yeah you can tell it shouldn't have been the last season. i was happy to get a finale cus so many shows go on forever but yeah that wasn't a proper ending. oh well!

#ray says #sex education s4 #sex education spoilers

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thenotificationmachine · 1 year

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A Rant About the State of My Favourite Stories

I bet you're all wondering by now why I keep ranting about my annoyances over Helluva Boss instead of just talking about something else. First of all, I should definitely start doing that; there's no point dwelling on this painful abortion of a series/setting when I have other things to enjoy.

But secondly, I was so invested in Helluva - and hence so, so disappointed when it began to fail (both in terms of my expectations and its own continuity) - was because it was something NEW when so many of my interests have essentially stopped growing.

That's not to say they're dead - on the contrary, in many cases they're still alive and kicking - but there's no way I'm invested in what new stuff is being produced. I was really into Star Wars until I realised how badly Disney was destroying it with the "sequel" trilogy and all the horrible retcons, but at the very least I still have the movies, the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons (yes, I actually liked Rebels) and - if absolutely necessary - the old, confusing but still somewhat interesting Legends continuity (aka the old Expanded Universe), even if it's way too messy for my liking.

Warhammer 40k has certainly become weird since the Gathering Storm, but since the staff at GW put out what essentially amounts to a license to ignore the Primaris marines, Votann and any other botched modern lore I dislike by saying that "everything is canon, but not everything is true", even if that wasn't their original intent, I'll happily take it. And then there's the Horus Heresy if things get REALLY bad.

Doctor Who has certainly declined HORRIBLY since Chinballs took over and politicised everything while destroying the Doctor's backstory, but at the very least I can just ignore everything that came out from 2018 onwards.

And as for the Lord of the Rings (and the rest of Tolkien's legendarium), it was always a static work once Tolkien and his son passed away and so any bad adaptations mean even less than they do in any other context since I can just go back to the books (and Peter Jackson's movies, since they're great).

But all the same, I can't look forward to any new things coming out of the above fandoms besides fan works (except Warhammer) and have to rely on the old stuff otherwise. Not exactly the most ideal situation for a fan of something. So Helluva, which was something entirely new, was genuinely exciting with its worldbuilding and captivating characters (especially a certain pink succubus). This made it all the more painful when it began falling apart since there was no extensive mine of past material for me to fall back on and since the story direction and characterisation has (in my opinion) begun falling apart so (relatively) early in, it will always feel... incomplete to me and I can only rely on my own headcanons and fan materials, which don't feel the same as the canon, botched as it is. Combine that with me being tired of losing most of my interest interest in almost all of my former fandoms and the fact that my favourite character, the only one I've truly managed to make a connection with, is a side character that has way more potential than screen time than Viv is willing to give her, feels genuinely heartbreaking to me. Melodramatic, I know, but that's how it feels to me.

Alright, now that I've said my piece, I'll get back to enjoying the remaining fandoms I have and try to stick to Helluva through the fandom side of things. Who knows, I might even try to tell my own versions of the story someday - I doubt I could do as badly as Viv, anyway. And at least I have video games to enjoy; Metroid and Zelda still have expanding storylines that I don't have to ignore!

#sorry for the rant #I had to get this off my chest #I'll try not to rant about Verosika anymore #I admit that I have a problem regarding her getting sidelined and now it's up to me to fix it #I have more than enough to enjoy in the meantime #I just have to muster the enthusiasm to care again

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metaphoricalcolours · 7 months

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// if you haven't seen the fourth season of sex education... spoilers ahead!

i love the fact that the sex education finale actually felt like a finale where every character's story got a final chapter. i did not expect it to last as long as 1 hour and 25 minutes but the episodes were longer this season (?) but it was like a film so that was nice.

the scenes with adam and his dad always felt special, and i liked watching their relationship evolve in a positive way, and adam finding the strength to tell jem about his sexuality (especially after we'd seen him as a bully, then as an unhappy boy struggling to accept himself) and accepting to go on a date with her was a beautiful moment.

eric initially accepting to get baptised but eventually deciding to speak his truth in front of his fellow churchgoers was also a great scene, as well as the follow-up with the symbolic scene he shared with god leading up to him deciding to become a pastor. very cool to see otis and him making up and otis being honest with him about how he felt, THAT is exactly how friendship problems should be dealt with!!

i still adore isaac and aimee together, they're adorable and i love that aimee found it in herself to face her fears and found something she enjoyed doing with isaac's help – speaking of help, she herself helped viv with her relationship, i feel like we didn't get to see them in many scenes together so another thing this finale did right was showing us characters that didn't usually interact, bond over events... such as cal going missing. i love that their schoolmates cared enough to go look for them, regardless of whether they were friends or not, and didn't give up until they found them. we got to see cal's vulnerable side, and it felt like they became a more prominent character. i kinda wish we'd seen them with jackson more often but they're not that close anymore so i guess it made sense.

joanna revealing what happened to her on the radio and jean listening to her sister with tears in her eyes was also very special, we know they're not the closest sisters ever but joanna being willing to say it out loud and on her sister's radio show was so :(

loved the 80s themed party as well since i'm a sucker for all 80s things (otis in eric's clothes!!!) and the auction with the art teacher rooting for aimee! also the fundraiser eventually being used towards cal's top surgery and the pastor making a first step to make things better in church! really, what's not to love about it? even maeve getting what she deserves with her roommate secretly "stealing" her story and helping her get visibility! and maeve standing up for herself in front of the teacher who almost had her giving up! honestly. the only thing i wish the writers hadn't done, maybe, was deciding to get jean to call dan at the very end of the episode. don't give us an open ending!!

a++ for the final monologue given to us in the shape of maeve's letter to otis 💛

#sex education

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inadequate-nefelibata · 3 years

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It’s the “Boys Being Hugged from Behind by their Love Interests” Extended Universe!

Jackson Marchetti from Sex Education | Daniel Larusso from The Karate Kid (1984)

(I could not think of more examples, if you know others, pls send them my way <3)

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t4nk-media · 3 years

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things i liked about sex education season 3

so i made a post about some things i didn't like about season three, so here's some things i did like!

gonna gush about cal, viv, and jackson rq cause i love them so much

i really love cal so much they're probably my favorite character of the whole series. them as a character (laid back, stoner, skater, funny, and bold) just makes me so happy, but also the representation aspect was the best thing they've ever done. the actor who plays them is actually non binary in real life and uses they/xe pronouns. them also being black i think is super important. cal was just so loveable and always had good vibes. the most encouraging and "fuck it, do what you want, you don't have to be perfect/know everything" character. there was representation in more than one aspect for me and i just heavily related to them :) i think it should also be noted that even though there are a lot of lgbtqia+ characters in sex education, i'm pretty sure cal is the only one whose actor is part of the community irl.

VIV IS AUTISTIC! aside from isaac i think she's the only other canonically disabled character (outside of characters like jackson, maeve, and cal who have anxiety). i really love viv so much. she's so funny and smart and she's a go-getter and knows what she wants. she will put in the work to make sure she gets what she needs done. she's business only most times, although eventually, she loosens up. idk man i just liked seeing a black girl on screen in such a prominent role. she made me feel powerful and im surprised how much they developed her character! they did neglect her a little during s3, which i think was intentional to cause some tension between her and jackson, but that fixed itself so i can't be mad at it

i have loved jackson from the beginning! our black head boy. mad that mr groff was using him for funding, but i'm glad they showed us early on that he was more than just this jock. i think season 1 was his worst season cause even though they delved into his character, i feel like he was only used to further otis and maeve's relationship. in season two i liked him because he started to open up and made a real friend. i noticed that after maeve and jackson broke up, jackson really had no one and he had just started to open up with maeve (and himself) for the first time ever. i think him being friends with viv really made the difference because they both were supportive of each other, encouraged each other, and told each other off when necessary. the black boy, black girl friendship was unmatched and i'm so glad they didn't force viv and jackson into something romantic. jackson's friendship with cal was also really cool because they instantly became tight and i think cal really helped jackson with even more self discovery. jackson's whole character is self discovery i feel, but i'm glad he finally has good people around him to help with that. it's what he deserves

some specific things i liked:

- adam and his father's character development and the fact that they really did do it on their own. they might've done it for other people, but in the end they went on the journey alone and it was for the better

- that little bit that we did learn about ruby and her life outside of being the popular mean girl. ruby deserved way better and just generally more screen time because she really is an interesting character and they started to show us who she was, but cut us off after otis broke up with her

- seeing anwar and olivia support ruby after otis dumped her

- jackson and cal's friendship and the trials of their relationship (i'll probably make a whole post about this)

- eric being able to get in touch with his roots again (even though it felt like isolation...). i just love being reminded that eric is black. he's african. we see his home life and these family dynamics that non black people would never think about, and i think it's important that they be seen.

- otis shaving his pub3 stache.........

- aimee and maureen :3 aimee and maureen were so great honestly they deserve more attention. they're so wholesome and have grown so much i feel.

- aimee and maeve's friendship

- maeve BY HERSELF. i really like maeve honestly and i think that the mave x otis stuff really drowns out her true character. she's so accomplished and has so much depth and emotion. they touch on it briefly so many times, but it always ends up coming back to otis x maeve being the center of attention. im curious as to what theyre going to do with her character if there's a season 4 since she's in america

- adam and rahim's budding friendship as well as ola and adam's friendship which i hope we get to see more of again

- adam liking the kardashians lol

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