Who Dies in ‘Sex Education’ Season 4?
Though it’s firmly a dramedy rather than a drama, Sex Education has never shied away from tackling painful subject matter, and creator Laurie Nunn did warn us that the fourth and final season would be its darkest yet.
“When you’re in your late teens, there can be this feeling that if you mess up, that’s it—that’s your final chance, and life is over,” she told The Guardian. “I wanted to say that that is not the case, there are always second chances. Because I started from that place, those slightly darker themes started to come out.”
Related: All About Season 4 of 'Sex Education'
That’s never more true than in the sixth episode of the season, which brings most of the show’s major characters together for the funeral of Erin Wiley (Anne Marie Duff). Maeve’s relationship with her mother has never been easy. Erin has been a drug user for many years, forcing Maeve and her brother, Sean, to essentially raise themselves. In Season 2, Maeve was forced to call social services after Erin relapsed, because she was afraid for her younger sister’s safety. Although Erin vowed she’d never forgive Maeve for this, the pair later reconciled during Season 3, and Erin made amends to Maeve for everything she’s put her through by encouraging her to follow her dreams, and giving her the money to attend the prestigious Wallace University writing program in America. But despite this moment of self-awareness, Erin continued to struggle with her drug addiction off screen, and ultimately it’s an overdose that kills her.
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Maeve, who’s already been through more trauma in 18 years than some people see in a lifetime, is left to plan her mom’s funeral pretty much alone, since Sean has turned to drugs himself to cope with the loss. And on the day, everything that could go wrong does go wrong. The celebrant, Samantha, keeps getting basic details about Erin wrong and seems more concerned about getting the service wrapped up on time than on actually helping anyone to grieve. The floral arrangements end up half destroyed, thanks to Otis’s clearly doomed efforts to deliver them to the venue via bike (come on now, does Uber not exist in Moordale?). Not even the music works— U2’s “With Or Without You," Erin’s favorite song, starts playing as the service begins, only to glitch out because of the venue’s unstable wifi.
Most devastating of all, it looks like Sean is going to be a no-show for the service—and when he does belatedly show up, everybody soon wishes he hadn’t. Visibly drunk, high or both, Sean delivers a raw, ugly eulogy in which he recounts just what a neglectful parent Erin was, kicking off with the unforgettable line: “My darling mummy died doing what she loved. Drugs.” Ultimately, Sean storms out after spending less than five minutes at the service, ignoring Maeve’s pleas for him to stay. Nothing Sean says is wrong, and it’s hard to argue when he points out that Erin didn’t care about saying goodbye to them, so why should he care about saying goodbye to her? But what he misses is that the funeral isn’t for the dead—it’s for the living, and the only person he’s hurting with this display is his sister.
Poor Maeve looks, understandably, just about ready to keel over herself by this point. So she goes AWOL for a while to curl up inside the hearse like a cadaver (relatable, frankly), until Isaac persuades her to come back inside. And when she does, she scraps her original eulogy and delivers an off-the-cuff one. This speech adds some nuance to the damning story Sean told about Erin—who was mostly a bad mother, but not a bad person—and pinpoints the specific pain of loving someone with an addiction; the messy, frustrating process of trying to love them without abandoning yourself. “I really hate her for everything she put me through, but I also miss her,” Maeve concludes, tearfully.
At this point, it’s Mr. Hendricks’s time to shine. One of the funeral’s most delightful surprises is the return of Moordale High’s beloved music teacher, along with Miss Sands, the English teacher who fostered Maeve’s talent early on. After Maeve returns to her seat, Mr. Hendricks steps up to play a stunning rendition of “With Or Without You” on the piano, and at this point, there’s not a dry eye in the house either on or off screen. RIP, Erin.
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