‘Sex Education’ Season 4 Episode 6 Recap: With Or Without You

Large events always make for great television—it gets all of the characters into the same physical and emotional space, forces long-simmering tensions to erupt, and in Sex Education, it finally reunites characters who haven’t shared the same air all season long. Maeve’s mom’s funeral is the moment that gets the Moordale gang, including teachers Mr. Hendricks and Ms. Sands, back together. 

The growing chasm between Eric and Otis finally hits its peak on the way to the funeral. It starts with Otis recapping the disastrous situation with Maeve and Ruby, to which Eric rightfully calls out that Otis mainly told Maeve about the platonic sleepover to make her jealous. But Otis hits back by saying that he only stayed over at Ruby’s because Eric uninvited him from gay club night, which sets Eric off. All season long, he’s been trying to open up to his best friend only to be shoved off or silenced when something in Otis’s life takes precedence. 

“Can you tell me one thing going on in my life right now?” he asks Otis, and when the response is, “you’ve been going back to church,” Eric rightfully loses it. He’s been having complicated visions about his decision not to get baptized, including one at the start of the episode that involves a mystical fish and the image of female God in front of him on the bridge telling him that he belongs in the church, and Otis’s inattentiveness only fuels Eric’s theory that they don’t have a lot in common. 

Eric voices all of this, saying that they have different economic situations, racial backgrounds and beliefs about religion, and Otis doesn’t want to acknowledge any of it. After a tumultuous funeral procession (we’ll get into that shortly), Otis wants to just move on like none of this ever happened and Eric just can’t do that. They settle on taking some space from each other, an undefined gray area that comes with only three episodes left.

With all of this lingering, Eric also has his long-awaited run-in with Adam when they’re pallbearers alongside Otis and Jackson. Their breakup was predicated on Adam’s insecurity with his identity and even though he’s now out to both of his parents, Adam admits that he’s still struggling with being out to everyone else. He asks Eric when he stopped feeling ashamed about his sexual orientation and Eric responds saying that the key to it all is loving yourself. If these two don’t get another scene together in the remainder of the series, it’s a nice bookend to a very emotionally charged television relationship.

The main event is Maeve’s mother’s funeral, though, and on the day of it she can’t find her junkie brother. She sends Otis on a chase to “Dodgy Mo’s” apartment but Sean isn’t there (a flower arrangement in the shape of “MUM” is, however). Maeve is resigned to do it alone until her brother shows up midway through and insists on eulogizing their mom. He’s angry and upset and his eulogy reflects that: he goes off on her drug addiction and later expresses to Maeve that he’s scared he’ll end up like their mom. Maeve has an escape hatch in America, but Sean is resigned to live this small-town life.

She’s hurt and embarrassed by Sean but after a pep talk from Isaac, she gathers herself and gives her own nuanced eulogy. Yes, her mom was a drug addict, but she also helped Maeve create her own business at 8 years old. Yes, she was often high, but she’d make them the best sandwiches. The send-off is punctuated by Mr. Hendricks playing “With or Without You” by U2 (Maeve’s mom’s favorite song) on the piano and a lovely little singalong. 

Jackson is continuing to have anxiety about his potentially cancerous lump (he’s the second character experiencing unhinged visions) and he leaves the funeral to get some air. Viv comes out to check on him and Beau is not far behind, and his constant hovering presence is rubbing Jackson the wrong way. But Viv is falling in love and she doesn’t take his comments lightly, telling him that Beau is her boyfriend and that’s the end of the story…which is a shame, because Jackson later finds Beau suspiciously going through her purse. Things aren’t boding well for this entire triangle, but at least there’s a little bit of good news: Jackson’s lump is benign. 

Across the board, the relationships in Sex Education aren’t having much luck. Maeve tells Aimee that she doesn’t feel comfortable with her dating Isaac; Joanna finds out that the man she’s been dating is her sister’s baby daddy; Maeve and Otis try to have sex again but he has a mental block related to his mom and her previous depression; Adam discovers his parents are sleeping together behind his back; and Cal and Aisha’s relationship goes to the next level sexually, but when Cal discovers they’re still getting their period, it sends them into a downward spiral. Cal’s mom is actively worried and calls into Jean and O’s sex talk radio show where she receives advice to keep an open space so that Cal feels comfortable coming to her. 

Everything seems to be rosy for O, especially after the triumphant win at the debates and her new partnership with Jean, but Ruby has other ideas in mind. Though she’s upset with Otis and resigned as his campaign manager, this fight with O is bigger than him. Ruby seizes the opportunity to use O’s growing platform against her, calling into the show to out her as a bully and uploads the video from when they were children for all to see.

And speaking of anger, Aimee finally finds her purpose and wants to use her photography as a medium for female rage after she’s catcalled by construction workers while in a post-funeral malaise. There’s a pair of jeans that she keeps taking in and out of her closet that’s going to be central to her art moving forward; we’ll have to see just how it plays into her newfound passion.

Radhika Menon (@menonrad) is a TV-obsessed writer based in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared on Paste Magazine, Teen Vogue, Vulture and more. At any given moment, she can ruminate at length over Friday Night Lights, the University of Michigan, and the perfect slice of pizza. You may call her Rad.