Sex Education Season 3, Episode 6 recap: The patriarchy

The following article contains SPOILERS for Sex Education Season 3, Episode 6.

Sex Education Season 3 is now entering its final stretch with Maeve and Otis knowing how the other feels and many other stories reaching their climax (pun very much intended).

Read our recap for Sex Education Season 3, Episode 5 right HERE.

This episode begins with a backstory on Lily’s erotica origins and how her mom tries to prevent her daughter from following this passion. Lily’s mother says “nice girls” do not talk about s-e-x things and tries to push Lily away, which obviously fails.

In the present day, Lily’s latest erotica story is published in the town’s local gazette, and of course, it traces back to Moordale Secondary. Hope arrives on campus that day, after reading the periodical, to a school board member in her office. This interaction and the pressure from Moordale’s school board sets up so much of Hope’s actions and the rest of the episode.

Sex Education Season 3, Episode 6: Otis & Maeve Struggle…again

Because he is head over heels for her, Otis tries to talk to Maeve about their kiss and the future of their relationship. The first heartbreak of the episode (blatant foreshadowing) comes from the one phrase uttered by Maeve when she says, “I like Isaac,” and my heart dropped. The timing of this couple never lines up, and although it agitates me, I hope the ends will justify the means. Their conversation is eventually cut short when a school-wide assembly is called.

Hope is on the stage with three chairs and announces that a rebrand will be initiated ahead of an open day where the press will be invited. To ensure her students do not go against her core disciplinary beliefs, Hope enacts a new punishment system. She brings up Cal, Lily, and Adam, and the next heartbreak occurs.

Cal is punished for trying to maintain their NB identity, Lily is punished for writing “dirty” things, and Adam is punished for throwing poo out the bus’s window (even though it was technically Rahim). They all have to wear literal signs that explain their wrongdoings, along with turning in their phones and not being able to converse with their students.

This whole scene is THICK with tension, and it was making me feel super uncomfortable. This is reinforced when Jackson and Rahim try to dispute this traumatic punishment style. Hope’s sign punishment and the fact that some people are starting to voice their discomfort help set up my theory that Hope will have an eventual downfall, but more on that later.

Following this horrific assembly, Maeve receives a call from Isaac that Elsie is missing and it was her mother took her during visitation. Otis gives Maeve a ride so she can give her assistance, and this leads to the love triangle being together for the first time in the third season.

Otis and Isaac try to out-help the other, which leads to frustrations for Maeve and the cop, so all three of them step outside, and Isaac finds out Maeve and Otis kissed in France. All three of them go their separate ways, and it looks like Otis messed up regarding his relationship with Maeve once again. Later, Maeve reaches out to Isaac, and Otis almost reaches out to Maeve before thinking twice, and this episode ends with this love triangle still up in the air.

Sex Education Season 3, Episode 6: Fallout of Hope’s Punishment

Lily and Ola have been having their first major fight as a couple, and it’s the next heartbreak of the episode. Lily is trying to cope with her sign punishment when Ola comes up and attempts to apologize for her part of the argument origins in France. Lily gives the speech of a lifetime here that you all have to go back and watch.

After years of keeping to herself and thinking she would be made fun of if she expressed her interests, Lily explains that she finally found someone who she can trust in Ola. But now that Ola has pulled away a bit, and people have laughed at her for the published story, Lily is back to feeling like a pariah. After being quite possibly the only true and honest person at Moordale, except for maybe Eric, seeing Lily close herself out is so agonizing.

MORE: Sex Education’s Aimee Lou Wood interview

Because it is illegal to be gay in Nigeria, we are witnessing a subdued Eric for the first time. After trying to stay in contact with Adam, who has now lost his phone thanks to Hope’s punishment, Eric feels isolated in his family’s country. He has to lie to everyone about his sexuality until he finds out the wedding photographer, Oba, is a gay man.

The two get to talking, hit it off, and Oba convinces Eric to come to an underground nightclub where queer folk can be themselves. For a second, we are led to think Eric might experience another hate crime, but those worries are quickly put to rest.

Oba shows Eric a fun and good time, which leads to them making out, and that is it. I imagine this night will come back to bite Eric because he cheated on Adam, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t get excited to see queer and other folks finding a way to be themselves in a repressed nation.

Finally, there is my favorite story, and that is everything regarding Jackson, Cal, and Viv. At the start of the episode, we see Cal standing up to Hope and calling their headmistress out for pitting nonbinary folks against each other like she has pitted two black students against each other in Jackosn and Viv. After the assembly, Jackson and Cal start trying to plan what they will do at the forum, but that is expected. What is not expected, however, is the interaction between Viv and Hope.

Hope shows her true self and admits to Viv that she is using Viv for publicity since she is a black girl and the head girl. Hope gives Viv some tools for a presentation during the new Sparkside’s open day, which I am sure will go so well for Hop in the end.

This meeting ends with the Headmistress expressing how she does not care about the Moordale students’ problems to the point she will not even be attending the forum. Viv secretly records the Headmistress sharing her audacious remarks and sends them out to the entire student body. I’m sure convincing plenty of them to attend the student forum.

Viv has now put her own self-interests aside because she sees how harmful Hope is to her fellow students. Although it took much longer for her to see this, I am very excited to know where this recording goes, along with the presentation Viv will give in front of the town’s media and press.

Sex Education Season 3 is streaming now on Netflix.