With the Internet abuzz with the new Ted Bundy docuseries, the documentary about the infamous Fyre Festival, and the super creepy-yet-charming drama "You," Netflix is ringing in 2019 with a bang.
But in the midst of all the typical hype social media puts on all of these shows, there is one that is modestly flying under the radar: "Sex Education."
The British series, which premiered on January 11, 2019, centers on a 16-year-old virgin (Asa Butterfield) who runs a makeshift sex therapy practice for his sexually ambiguous classmates, with the help of his friends Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) and Maeve (Emma Mackey, who looks VERY similar to Margot Robbie). Though he may be a virgin, he retains all of his sexual knowledge from his mother (Gillian Anderson), who is an actual sex therapist.
What's so interesting about "Sex Education" is that it takes this seemingly unoriginal plot (a bunch of horny teens navigating through their sex life) and turns it into a plot that will make you laugh and empathize with each character. Maeve is one example of this. Though she might be considered the tomboyish, snarky social outcast of the high school, her private life of living in a trailer park with her dysfunctional family and rocky relationship with the star swimmer Jackson (Kedar Williams-Stirling) provide this series with an actual reason to watch.
The show also has tremendous themes of non-toxic masculinity, mental health, and LGBTQ representation.
Eric is known to wear extremely colorful outfits and makeup and Otis fully supports him in each endeavor; he goes so much as to go in drag with Eric in one episode to see "Hedwig and the Angry Inch". In regard to mental health, Adam (Connor Swindells) struggles with his bisexuality, as evident with his tense relationship with his dad (the headmaster of the school) and his deteriorating social and academic lives.
It's very hard to explain each important theme in depth without spoiling the plot. But "Sex Education" makes a good binge (especially in the nasty cold spells most of the country is enduring this winter) for making a robust plot filled with wisdom and the teenage misadventures we all did in high school.
Now can we get a season 2?!
All episodes of "Sex Education" are streaming on Netflix.