The Sex Education finale ends on a bittersweet note for Maeve Wiley. After going through a lot of trauma she gets the ending she truly deserves, with a bright future ahead.
In the Sex Education finale, Maeve breaks up with Otis and leaves for America to pursue higher studies. She decides to complete her creative writing course and also gets a call from a publisher, which brings her closer to her dream of becoming a writer.
Season 4 did not begin on a high note for Maeve, as she had to deal with her professor’s discouragement and mother’s sudden death. However, she gets through it all and bravely decides to return to the U.S. on her own.
Sex Education began with Maeve Wiley, who was strong and independent, brought herself up on her own, and would do anything to get to her dreams. The series ends as, the same Maeve, achieve greater heights.
1. Why does Maeve go back to America?
Maeve returns to the U.S. to complete her creative writing course at Wallace University. She realizes that she can pursue her dreams in the U.S. and does not intend to return to Moordale.
Season 4 begins with Maeve pursuing her course at Wallace. However, her professor, Mr. Molloy, constantly discourages her. At first, Maeve takes it positively and writes something of her own. However, Molloy dislikes her piece, titled “Southchester,” and says she is not cut out to be a writer.
Molloy’s words affect Maeve gravely. At the same time, she gets a call from her brother about her mother having a drug overdose. She returns to Moordale but finds out that her mother is already dead.
Maeve takes a while to process the trauma, and for some time, she considers staying back at Moordale and quitting her course in America. But after having a much-needed talk with Otis’s mother, Jean, she decides not to be so hard on herself and goes back to finish her course.
Maeve had always wanted to get out of Moordale and pursue her dream of becoming a writer. Going to America would not only take her closer to her dreams but also help her get over her trauma and focus on individual growth.
Keeping all this in mind, Maeve takes the bold and brave decision to return to the U.S. and considers not returning to Moordale again, at least not permanently.
2. Maeve’s Novel Southchester Gets Accepted
In the Sex Education finale, Maeve receives a call from a publisher who enquires about her novel, Southchester, which was criticized by Molloy previously.
Maeve’s roommate had given the novel to a publisher, who liked the manuscript and wanted Maeve to mail more of her work to them. This gives Maeve the much-needed confidence boost after Molloy’s harsh criticism of her earlier this season.
It also hints at Maeve’s possible future as a writer and gives her a happy ending (well, sort of) as she takes another step closer to her dream of becoming a writer. She can now focus on writing her first novel and expanding her career away from all the traumas.
3. Maeve Confronts Molloy for His Behavior
At the end of the series, Maeve also takes up the courage to call out Thomas Molloy for mistreating her. While it is natural for a professor to criticize his students, it is important to be kind and not use words that might crush one’s dreams and break their confidence.
Maeve tells Molloy that he had no right to tell her that she is not cut out to be a writer, even if he was doing it with the intention of pushing her to do better. She opens up about her insecurity and reminds him that unlike others in the university (who are all incredibly privileged), she has not grown up being told she is brilliant. She has hardly received any encouragement from people around her.
As a professor, Molloy is responsible for encouraging her to work harder. Maeve reminds him that considering his position, his words hold a lot of power. It was unfair of him to crush Maeve’s dreams like that.
Molloy seems quite accepting of Maeve’s words and agrees that he was too harsh with her earlier. Things end on a good note between the two.
4. Do Maeve and Otis end up together?
No. Maeve breaks up with Otis before leaving Moordale. On their last night together, she tells him that she has always wanted to move out of Moordale and is not sure she will ever return.
It is clear that Maeve does not intend to return to Moordale. It almost seems like a meta-reference to Mackey herself, who recently mentioned in an interview that she would not return for another season, and it is time for her to move on.
Since Otis and Maeve want to follow paths completely different from each other and have different priorities, they decide that it is best for them to part ways. Both already knew the difficulties they faced during their long-distance relationship and did not feel they were in the right headspace for it.
It was a mutual decision for Maeve and Otis to break up. After Maeve leaves, Otis and she decide not to be in contact for a while, as it would give them time to get over each other. Maeve leaves Otis a heartfelt letter before leaving, where she mentions that he will always be in her heart.
5. About Sex Education
Sex Education is a British comedy-drama streaming television series created by Laurie Nunn for Netflix. It premiered on January 11, 2019 and has an ongoing manga adaptation that began serialization on July 15, 2022.
It follows the story of Otis Milburn, an awkward teenager who is trying to navigate his life through high school. He is trying to find his own sexuality while helping others in his school with their pressing sexual problems in his makeshift sex clinic. His source of advice? His mother, Dr. Jean Milburn, a real sex therapist and his biggest source of embarrassment.
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