Sex Education Time Jump: What Happened Between Seasons 2 & 3

Warning: this post contains spoilers for Sex Education season 3.

The season 2 finale of Sex Education saw Otis apologize to Maeve for the way he acted at his party, revealing that he loved her in a heartfelt voicemail message that was deleted by Maeve’s new neighbor Isaac. Eric left Rahim to be with Adam, Ola dumped Otis to be with Lily after coming out as pansexual, and Jean Milburn found out she was pregnant with Jakob’s child, which was made all the more complicated by the fact that they’d broken up right before. Fast forward to season 3 and the time jump did some characters good, evolving relationships past where they left off in the season 2 finale. After a few short months, however, some characters in Sex Education still couldn’t face the emotional ramifications of what happened to them at all. 

In the case of Otis, he spent the months between Sex Education season 2 and season 3 hooking up with Ruby, one of the most popular girls at Moordale. They’d started their illicit affair during a party and have been together, more or less, ever since. Of course, Ruby didn’t want anyone to know about their relationship and so Otis was constantly taking calls and sneaking away to have sex. He also took the time to grow out a mustache, which was a statement that attempted to show he was over Maeve and that he’d also moved on from the sex clinic, which was effectively shutdown. During the time jump, Maeve and Isaac grew closer as well, which was made easier since Otis and Maeve stopped speaking to each other. This allowed Isaac and Maeve to bond without the former seeing Otis as competition for Maeve’s affections.

Maeve was trying to reach her mother, who was still angry and not talking to her after Maeve called the cops. To say their relationship was strained would be an understatement. Despite the tension, however, the time jump allowed for Elsie to be taken into a caring foster home. The months after the season 2 finale of Sex Education did see some happiness for others — Eric and Adam were going strong and the time away from school allowed them to grow their relationship without being under the scrutiny of schoolmates or Rahim; meanwhile, Lily and Ola dove headfirst into a seemingly healthy relationship after everything that happened with Otis. Not much happened with Jean, except that she spent the time between season 2 and season 3 trying to avoid telling Jakob she was pregnant.

Some shows use time jumps to radically change the characters viewers have come to know and love, while others use it to speed up the story, jumping years ahead to tell new stories at different stages of the characters’ lives. Luckily, Sex Education’s time jump between seasons 2 and 3 was just the right amount to push certain storylines forward and to create a bit of tension without foregoing the core of the series.

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Mae Abdulbaki
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Mae Abdulbaki is a movie reviews editor with Screen Rant. She previously wrote about a variety of movies and TV shows for Inverse, CinemaBlend, Pajiba, and The Young Folks, where she wrote reviews, features, news pieces. Her other work can be found at The Mary Sue, Film School Rejects, UPROXX, Heroic Hollywood, Looper, The List, and Bam Smack Pow, among others. Mae has also appeared on television segments, podcasts, and panels to discuss all things entertainment.

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