Copyright Screen Rant
Even though it ended two years ago, Netflix's Sex Education still enjoys an impressive 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and one legendary fantasy author inadvertently hit on the reason why. Sex Education followed British teenager Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) as he navigated the trials and tribulations of Moordale Secondary School. While initially indifferent to sex thanks to his own mother, Jean (Gillian Anderson) being a sex therapist, Otis eventually experiences his own sexual awakening. During its run, Sex Education was praised for its layered and compelling characters, with its teenagers and their issues being given weight usually only granted to adult characters. The show refused to smooth down the sharp edges of its teenagers, just as it refused to cave to lazy tropes that too often define teen characters. Sex Education was a standout for four seasons, and, in a recent interview, one famous new fan inadvertently explained just why it still resonates. R.A. Salvatore Thought Sex Education Was Brilliant For How It Depicted Teen Sexuality Today In an interview with ScreenRant's Alisha Grauso for his latest book The Finest Edge of Twilight, legendary fantasy author and Drizzt Do'Urden creator R.A. Salvatore shared his thoughts on some shows he's watched in the past few years that have stuck with him. One of those was Netflix's Sex Education, which he didn't get at first, but once he did, loved. He explained that, coming from an older generation, the frank and graphic discussion of sex among teenagers, at first, almost offended him. But as he sat with it, his perspective changed: "[T]here's another one I just watched that confused me a little bit, offended me – I almost say because I'm older – it's called Sex Education. It took me a while to understand what they were trying to do. But as I figured out what they were trying to do, I said, this is absolutely brilliant, because what they're showing in that show is the reality of what it is to be a teenager with a smartphone. 'Look how graphic this play is that this kid wrote,' well, what do you think they're watching on their smartphones? I thought that show was absolutely brilliant on the back end. A lot of times, I'm watching it [one way] because I'm old, but the actors were fantastic and the writing. They really wanted to put it in your face, almost as if they were saying, 'Get over it. We're okay.' And I loved it." Though it took him a while to get on board, in the end, he summed it up with, "I feel better for having watched it, and that's how I judge TV." Salvatore Hit The Nail On The Head About Why Sex Education Was So Good The fantasy author came to his assessment of Sex Education on his own – after all, if anyone knows how to tell a great story, it's him – but his experience is nonetheless an uncanny demonstration of Rotten Tomatoes' critics consensus: "Bawdy, heartfelt, and surprisingly wise, Sex Education is a raucous romp through a group of teenagers whose sexual misadventures are so thoughtfully rendered, adults could learn a thing or two from them." Sex Education premiered in 2019, long past the time when we can any longer pretend that teenagers are still naive about sex, or that they're abstaining. In a world where kids can access porn from the phones in their hand during class, thoughtful, honest depictions of the modern teen experience have to account for that. Unlike numerous other shows about teens, Sex Education tackled the taboo subject head-on.
