Sex Education: 5 Times We Felt Sorry For Otis (& 5 Times We Hated Him)

Otis Milburn is the main character of the Netflix original Sex Education. The British series is a blend of comedy, drama, and coming-of-age in the bright setting of Moordale, where the high school teens seem to have a lot of sex problems. Otis’s mother Jean is a sex therapist, and despite his lack of experience, he’s picked up a few things from her.

The fact that his mother is a sex therapist is enough reason to feel sorry for Otis, who feels insecure and embarrassed by this situation, especially when the entire school finds out. However, this is no excuse for his awfully insensitive behavior towards his mother, along with other characters. Here are five occasions when viewers felt sorry for Otis, and five times they hated him.

10 FELT SORRY: When Jean Sings At Assembly

Otis already feels embarrassed that his mum is a sex therapist, but in season 2, the entire school finds out about it. Jean is asked to observe the school’s SRE curriculum and speak to the students about what they want.

Having never dealt with high school teenagers (besides her son), she awkwardly stumbles through a rundown of why she’s here while the kids laugh at her. She concludes her speech with a cheesy rendition of “Let’s Talk About Sex” while Otis wishes he could disappear.

9 HATED HIM: Called Ola A House Cat

Sometimes Otis can be really wise, but other times, his total lack of experience becomes glaringly apparent. For instance, after he racks up the courage to ask Ola to the dance, he spends the entire night wishing he was with Maeve.

Ola asks if something has gone on between Otis and Maeve. In reply, he compares Maeve’s social standings to that of a lion on the food chain, while Ola is a mere house cat. Understandably, she’s offended. Meanwhile, Otis doesn’t understand what he’s said wrong.

8 FELT SORRY: Failed Camping Trip

Otis has a complicated relationship with his father. Remi and Jean divorced after she discovered he couldn’t commit himself to her alone. He regularly calls to check on Otis, but in season 2, he travels from the US to the UK to see Otis in person.

He takes Otis and Eric on a camping trip, where they see a nightingale that’s actually a crow, get lost in the middle of a torrential downpour, and end up in a hotel where Remi sleeps with the receptionist. Otis also learns that Remi actually came back to escape the failure that is his second marriage, not to see him.

7 HATED HIM: At His Party

One of Otis’s lowest moments is when he gets drunk at his own party. His initial plan is to host “a small gathering of friends” at his house to prove to Ola and Maeve that he’s “chill.” Eric accidentally ends up inviting their entire year, including Maeve.

Eric encourages Otis to drink and loosen up, but he ends up getting very drunk. Otis asks Ola to come and pick up some things, but really he wants her to see his party. She’s offended that Maeve got an invite, so he tries to placate them by giving a speech that ends up offending them both.

6 FELT SORRY: Maeve Kisses Jackson

After finally admitting that he has feelings for Maeve, Otis is swindled into helping Jackson get her to be his girlfriend. Otis inadvertently helps him, but when Jackson finally decides to ask Maeve out properly, Otis tries to sabotage his attempts by giving him bad advice.

Unfortunately, the bad advice works. Jackson sings for Maeve in front of their classmates, and Maeve is smitten. She kisses Jackson while Otis’s heart breaks. Not much is worse than unrequited love.

5 HATED HIM: Breaks Jean’s Heart

In season 2, Jean experiences chest pains and a lot of unexpected crying. She feels alone, especially after she and Jakob breakup. What makes the situation even worse is that Otis is – well, a teenager, and she finds out that he’s been lying to her.

The morning after Otis’s party, Jean questions him about what happened, but he leaves her to clean up his mess. Later, when she learns he’s been running a sex clinic, he accuses her of feeling insecure and alone. He delivers the final blow when he says, “It’s not my fault Dad left.” When Jean goes to a doctor thinking she’s perimenopausal, the doctor diagnoses her with a broken heart – and Otis is one of the main reasons for it.

4 FELT SORRY: Ola Breaks Up With Him

After Ola asks Otis to stop seeing Maeve, he’s torn, but decides to do what he thinks is the right thing and be a “good boyfriend.” He breaks Maeve’s heart, determined to prove to Ola that he can be what she wants him to be.

He returns from the camping trip, ready to tell her that he loves her, but she breaks up with him, having realized that she definitely doesn’t love him. In this scene, Otis has lost his girlfriend and the girl he loves, who also happens to be one of his best friends.

3 HATED HIM: When Eric Is Hurt

Otis gets tickets to see Hedwig And The Angry Inch for Eric’s seventeenth birthday, and they both dress up in costume. Eric’s father worries that it’s not safe for him to go out dressed like that, but he reassures him that he’ll be with Otis.

Meanwhile, Otis gets caught up in helping Maeve and Ruby with a clinic emergency. Afterward, he and Maeve nearly kiss while Eric gets beaten up after having his things stolen. Otis comes home to find Eric, upset and bloodied, but all he can talk about is his moment with Maeve. Understandably, Eric is extremely upset at Otis’s selfishness and insensitivity.

2 FELT SORRY: Courgette Lady

In the show’s first episode, Otis is in biology class, where Mr. Hendricks is teaching SRE. Everyone suddenly receives a notification on her phone. It’s an old clip of Jean using a courgette as a prop for one of her educational videos.

One of the students plays it on the classroom’s television set while Otis flees the scene. Outside, he starts hyperventilating and worrying that from now on, everyone will know him as Courgette Lady’s son.

1 HATED HIM: When He’s Rude To Jakob

One of Otis’s most blatant demonstrations of disrespect occurs when he’s rude to Jakob in season 2. Jean and Jakob have finally revealed (perhaps earlier than they’d intended to) their relationship to their children, who are a little uncomfortable about it.

Otis becomes petty and rude, especially to Jakob. When the four try to have a dinner that will help them bond, Otis explodes and yells at Jakob during a game of Monopoly. Jean asks him to apologize, so Otis tells him that his mum wanted him to apologize. He isn’t sincere in the slightest, and he wants Jakob to know it.

About The Author

Svetlana Sterlin
(256 Articles Published)

After years of relocation, Svetlana Sterlin (she/her) was raised by her Russian parents in Brisbane, Australia, where she completed a BFA and contributes to ScreenRant and Our Culture Magazine. An avid cinephile and bookworm, Svetlana also writes creatively across multiple forms and genres. Her fiction and poetry appear in several printed and digital publications. Find more from Svetlana here: https://linktr.ee/svetlanasterlin.

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