'Sex Education' Season 2 Episode 3 finds Otis in competition with his mother at Moordale amid love triangles
Spoilers ahead for 'Sex Education' Season 2 Episode 3
Poor Otis Millburn (Asa Butterfield)! Poor Aimee Gibbs (Aimee Lou Wood)! And poor Eric Effiong (Ncuti Gatwa) -- but in the best/worst way!
Otis, who has always lived one squirm away from complete embarrassment at home, is tense at school too, thanks to his mother, Dr. Jean Millburn (Gillian Anderson). After the school board's intervention, Otis' mom is now in his school trying to get students to talk to her about their sex ed needs.
She still doesn't know of course that Otis is the "sex kid" or as Eric calls him "Sex Wizard" who is in direct competition with her since students much prefer seeking him out rather than her (unless they are short on cash).
To be fair, Otis does give better advice than her because he is going through the same anxiety-inducing puberty as his peers and has a much better barometer on their inner lives. This is demonstrated when Jean's assessment sends Olivia's boyfriend into panic mode because he thinks Olivia (Simone Ashley) is trying to kill him or has a "ghost fetish" because she puts a pillow over his face when she is coming, while Otis understands that Olivia is too shy to let her boyfriend see her dumb "sex face" when she is coming.
Otis, while dispensing wisdom, also skulks around the school, eyeballing the room his mother is sitting in, waiting for disaster to strike. He knows exactly how Jean "gets into people's heads" and is trying hard to distance himself from her.
Headmaster Groff is also not happy about Jean being there, especially after he sees his wife step out of the room Jean is sitting in. Homelife for Otis is even worse because he is, technically, as Eric puts it "dating his sister" Ola since Ola's dad and Jean are now a couple.
But more than that, Otis, who has been a single kid and the center of his mother's attention all his life now has to deal with a dad-like male authority figure in his life that rattles him. Things come to a head at the most passive-aggressive "family" dinner ever with Ola and her dad and Otis and his mother, followed by an aggressive game of Monopoly that has Otis flinging the board in anger after losing to Ola's dad.
Like we said poor Otis. But in between all his misery, he still finds time to find a meaningful gift for Miss Maeve-who-hates-her-birthday. Tres sweet! However, Otis still doesn't realize he is in a love triangle with Ola and Maeve.
Jackson (Kedar Williams-Stirling) has left love and sports behind and made a fresh start. He takes on a new mistress -- the theater. It is fabulous to see him finally exploring what he wants to do and makes a dreamy Romeo for the school musical play, flooring Lily (Tanya Reynolds) and Mr. Hendricks (Jim Howick) at the auditions.
Aimee, poor thing, gets sexually assaulted on the bus to school. At first, you think it hasn't affected her but at the end of the day, she is on her bed, sobbing her heart out and too traumatized to catch the bus the next day.
It is a horrible way to start a new school year and is in complete contrast to Cloud Number 9, where Eric has been sitting. Eric, who found his groove last season, has caught the eye of French boy Rahim (Sami Outalbali) who asks him out on a date.
They kiss, they dance and all is going well till Rahim takes him to his room above the shop. The same shop where Adam Groff (Connor Swindells) has got a job bagging groceries. It is the first time Eric sees Adam after their surprise make-out session in detention.
Adam is still the first boy Eric ever kissed and he still has feelings for him. So Eric goes into shock when he sees him and squirms when Rahim kisses him goodbye.
He steps out of the shop and immediately starts hyperventilating -- for Eric having Crush No. 1 and Crush No. 2 in close proximity is something that he had never imagined would happen. We smell another love triangle in the air with Eric smack in the middle of it!
'Sex Education' Season 2 aired on Netflix on January 17.