Phew! Episode 5 of Season 4 of Sex Education has us in a daze. Teenagers are always a mess, as Otis says, and this episode is too. Not to say that it isn’t a good episode, but it covers a lot of second-hand embarrassment. We’re finally seeing more of Otis and Maeve, but it isn’t in the satisfying, “we were waiting for the moment they got together” kind of way but rather, “Oh well, this doesn’t seem to be working out so well for them” kind of way. Because Maeve has so much going on for herself, Otis hasn’t had the chance to tell her about Ruby, and it’s been gnawing at his brain for a little bit. Will Otis make a mess of things, or is it because Maeve is just completely out of sorts? They’ll get over this obstacle, too.

Spoilers Ahead

Aimee And Isaac

Isaac and Aimee finally spend some time together when she goes back to college, and Isaac tells her he likes her. Aimee feels the same way and decides to talk to Maeve about it, even though it’s a difficult time for her. Aimee meets Maeve just before she’s about to go on a date with Otis, and she tells Maeve her feelings. Maeve isn’t really in the right mind to deal with the situation at that moment. She tells Aimee that they can talk about it later, but we can tell that Aimee thought long and hard about how to tell Maeve her feelings, and she also felt like a terrible friend for developing feelings for her best friend’s ex.

Jackson and his moms

Jackson is really worried about his situation, and he thinks he may have cancer passed down from his genetic contributor. He speaks to his mom about it after getting some advice from Viv, but they’re not happy to hear it. Jackson ends up crashing Viv and Beau’s movie date because of the fight, making Beau angry. It still feels a little bit weird that he’s doubtful of Viv when she’s told him many times that Jackson and her are just friends. Ultimately, Beau tells Viv that he’s falling in love with her, and Viv reciprocates those feelings. Viv leaves Jackson behind in the cinema and goes home with Beau. On the other hand, Jackson’s moms are hiding something from him that he may not want to hear.

Eric and Church

Eric tells Abbi about using the college fundraiser for the soup kitchen, and she loves the idea, even though Roman might need some persuasion. When he tells his pastor, he’s happy for the help but asks Eric why he isn’t coming to baptism classes. Eric’s been guided (maybe by a divine power) to help with church stuff, but he’s closer to making the decision to not get baptized than ever before. He meets his queer club fling there, who is part of the church choir, and asks Eric to stay back and listen. Again, Eric has a kind of hallelujah moment, possibly confusing him yet again.

Jean may be depressed

At work, Jean is told by her boss that they’ll be hiring O permanently because a youngie alone with the oldie is what the show needs. She also tells Jean that she’s embarrassed by the menopause she’s going through, and Jean makes her feel better about herself. This is what she’s good at, but it doesn’t reflect on the radio show. Jean and Joanna take Joy to the doctor, and everything is perfect with baby Joy. But Joanna tells the doctor that Jean may not be doing so well herself, and the doctor offers to prescribe some medicine because Jean has a history of depression. Jean tells the doctor she’s doing just fine, and she dealt with it the first time without medication, so she’d like to do the same this time, too. Later in the day, a drunk Joanna shows up and tells Jean that she’s in a huge debt.

Otis finally returns home after three days of being Maeve’s support system, but when Jean sees him, he leaves to go on a date with her again. Jean is a little bit angry with Otis, but Otis reminds her that she’s been absent as a parent for him ever since Joy was born. He understands how difficult it is, but it’s also not fair that he has to be treated as an adult when he needs the support of his mom. Otis is also mad that O, his virtual enemy, is Jean’s co-host, but Jean hasn’t realized this because she hasn’t been paying enough attention to her son. Jean has a complete breakdown and calls the doctor again, probably for the medication she had previously offered her.

The Big Debate

Otis and O have their debate in front of the whole college, and O brings up Otis’ misogynistic dad and calls Otis sexist. Otis tries to get O back through what little gossip Ruby has found about her. O has been ghosting some people herself, so how can someone who fails to communicate give people advice? It turns out O is actually asexual, and she comes out in front of the whole college because of Otis, leaving him canceled and her winning (yikes). O is definitely struggling herself, and it may be helpful if she’d just apologize to Ruby. Looks like they’re actually in a similar boat with no friends and all. 

Adam and Jem

Jem tells Adam she’s dyslexic, which is why she helps with the farm rather than going to school. Adam says he’s just bad at it, so he’d rather not continue going through that trouble. Jem thinks Michael is a supportive father, but Adam tells her that he used to be a bully, but now he’s making changes and learning to be helpful and basically be a good dad. Jem brings Adam to hug a horse to make himself feel calm, and it actually works. Adam is slowly getting better on the farm and learning to love horses like he loves dogs.

Maeve And Otis

Otis finally gets to take his love Maeve out on a date—the moment he’s been waiting for over the last few years. She looks stunning; he gives her flowers, but then he wants to tell her about Ruby so that it won’t bite him back later on. Maeve tells him that she’s had a terrible day, though, because Steve is doing drugs again, even though their mom died of an overdose, and Aimee told her about Isaac. Otis stops himself from spilling, too. They go to see a movie, but Joanna is there too, and she asks Otis to buy her a ticket. Maeve’s stolen some tequila, and during the movie, she and Joanna get drunk while Otis sits and grumbles on one side. They get thrown out of the cinema, and Otis somehow sends Joanna home.

Maeve doesn’t want to go to the dinner reservation Otis has set up for them, but instead, she takes him to Moordale Secondary, and they lay down in the dirty, empty pool. Maeve decides she wants to sleep with Otis (that’s not very hygienic love!). Otis tries really hard to resist and tells Maeve that she’s drunk, so they shouldn’t, but Maeve doesn’t want to take no for an answer. Ultimately, Otis stops Maeve and tells her that he spent a night with Ruby when they were fighting, and he had to tell Maeve before things got out of hand. Maeve doesn’t really have time to reply because security shows up, and they have to run out of there. At the end of Sex Education episode 5, Jean comes to pick them up, and Otis introduces her to Maeve.