‘Sex Education’ Finally Gives Streaming Its Heath Ledger in ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ Moment

By Josh Sorokach @joshsorokach
Published Jan. 16, 2019, 2:45 p.m. ET

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There are two iconic moments from late ’90s teen cinema I think about on a weekly basis. First, an apoplectic Laney Boggs asking Zack Siler a simple yes or no question: “Am I bet? Am I a bet? Am I a fucking bet?!” Minor She’s All That spoiler: Laney was, in fact, a fucking bet. The second moment is notorious bad boy and burgeoning lothario Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) serenading antisocial troublemaker Kat Statford (Julia Stiles) in the 1999 classic 10 Things I Hate About You. Unless you have a Grinch-type situation going on with your heart, you undoubtedly melt when the marching band begins to play Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” and Ledger’s booming voice declares his eternal love.

There are no shortage of dramatic declarations of love in pop culture. The ’80s had Lloyd Dobler and his boombox of heartache and Tom Cruise reminding Kelly McGillis that she may have misplaced her lovin’ feeling. The 2000s gave us Seth Cohen climbing aboard a coffee cart and asking Summer Roberts to acknowledge him now or lose him forever as Patrick Park’s “Something Pretty” played. Grand gestures are nothing new in the emotionally chaotic teen comedy genre, but crafting a memorable “dramatic declaration of love” is deceptively difficult. It requires the perfect combination of actor, story, and song. This is something Netflix’s newest teen dramedy Sex Education understands all too well.

Minor spoilers for the first season of Sex Education ahead.

Premiering last Friday, Laurie Nunn’s incredibly charming new comedy follows the unlikely alliance between a teen virgin (Asa Butterfield) and a brilliant social outcast (Emma Mackey) who team up to run an underground high school sex therapy clinic. Sex Education is not only an exceptionally well-written homage to past teen films, but it also provides Netflix with its very own “Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You” moment.

Photo: Netflix

In Episode 4 of Sex Education, big man on campus Jackson Marchetti (Kedar Williams-Stirling) asks local teen sex expert Otis to help him capture the heart of enigmatic outcast Maeve Wiley. The only problem? Otis is harboring a crush on Ms. Wiley. Against his better judgement, Otis attempts to torpedo Jackson’s chances with Maeve by offering him some truly terrible advice: Go big by making a grand romantic gesture. Otis knows that Maeve detests dramatic declarations of love, so Jackson taking a page from The Notebook or 10 Things I Hate About You will surely end in calamity.

Or will it? Never underestimate the allure of a well-done romantic gesture.

In one of the most rewatchable moments from Season 1, Jackson, with the help of the swing band, serenades Maeve with a charming performance of Billy Ocean’s “Love Really Hurts Without You.” As you can see, even noted iconoclast Maeve Wiley can’t resist Jackson’s innate musical charisma.

Come on. How delightful is Kedar Williams-Stirling’s performance? The entire scene is so well done. From Jackson’s “Will you please be my girlfriend?” and Maeve biting her lip and replying “You dickhead” to Otis’ heartbreaking reaction and Eric’s pitch-perfect “Well that was unexpected,” the entire sequence is extremely well acted.

Sex Education’s “Love really hurts without you” scene is the perfect addition to pop culture’s long and storied history of dramatic declarations of love.

Stream Episode 4 of Sex Education on Netflix.

Where to stream Sex Education