Sex Education Season 3, Episode 3 Recap: Turn and Face the Change

The students all get dressed in their new Moordale uniforms, some adding their own little flair to it. As Eric gets ready, he texts Otis that he’s excited for their double date. Otis, however, is preoccupied, as he hears music coming from outside his room and frantically looks through his records to find that the music he hears is his. He goes into Ola’s room, and sees that she has his record. Angry, he tells her to ask before taking his stuff. The record then skips and he starts to freak out. All the while, Ola and Jakob are also having a screaming match about not being able to find their things.

Downstairs, Jean is in her office talking to Aimee. She has her goat with her, who’s just walking around the room. But they can’t get much out due to what’s going on upstairs. Jean excuses herself and goes upstairs, yelling at the three of them to keep it quiet while she’s working. When Jean goes back downstairs, Aimee is looking at a vagina model in the office. She tells Jean that it doesn’t look like hers, and Jean directs her to a website that shows different kinds. They both take a seat and continue their conversation. Jean asks Aimee if she’s comfortable to say why she’s here. Aimee responds, saying that she had been sexually assaulted last term. She thought she was over it, but she hasn’t been able to have sex because it doesn’t appeal to her like it once did, and she doesn’t like the way her body looks and especially doesn’t like her boyfriend touching it. Jean asks if she is able to go into detail about the assault, and Aimee begins to, but stumbles, apologizing that it’s hard for her to talk about it. Jean tells Aimee that they can talk whatever she wants to talk about, and they can take their time healing her relationship with her body. 

Aimee then leaves, goat in tow, just as Ruby arrives and starts honking the horn. In the house, Otis and Ola are still squabbling, and barely talk to Jean, both quickly running out of the house, leaving Jean and Jakob alone.

Maeve gets ready for school and calls Otis but quickly hangs up, not knowing what to say to him if he were to pick up. She leaves it be and heads out to school. Elsewhere, Ola and Lily are riding their bikes to school, while Ola is complaining about Otis and living at his house. They stop at the place where in the last episode, Lily had seen the crop circle. But there’s nothing there anymore, and Lily is mystified. Ola just thinks it’s a hoax.

At school, Viv goes up to Hope to tell her the ideas she’s had, which Hope half-listens to. She tells Viv that she’ll set up a meeting and that in the meantime, to make sure everyone is wearing their uniforms properly and to inform her if they aren’t. At another part of campus, Jackson is walking and suddenly feels faint. He gets caught by Cal and they ask if he’s okay, giving him water. Viv then comes by and tells Cal they’re wearing the wrong uniform, that it’s too big. Jackson gets upset at Viv, saying she can be so cutthroat.

Otis and Ruby walk through the school hallway with Anwar, and Otis stops to say hi to Eric, who mentions how he doesn’t like the color scheme of the uniforms. Adam says he likes it, as he takes a bite into his food and gets sauce all over his tie. Ruby, who hadn’t stopped and continued walking, looks back at Otis and yells at him to come with her. He leaves, and Eric looks at Adam, telling him he needs to make an effort at their double date that night. Rahim then sneaks up on him and tells him he wants his books back, as well as the poems he wrote for him. Eric tells him he’ll get them back to him.

All the students walk into assembly and Aimee sits down next to Maeve, who asks her how therapy was. Aimee says it was great, and starts saying how she learned that vulvas aren’t all the same. Maeve suggests a book for her to read and she’ll let her borrow. Steve then comes and sits next to Aimee and asks if she’s okay. Aimee says she’s find and goes to hold his hand, but you can tell she isn’t comfortable.

Hope comes on stage and introduces the choir to sing a new school anthem, all in Latin, which makes everyone a bit weirded out. As assembly finishes, Hope tells Ola and Lily she needs to see them in her office, and tells Maeve to come with her as well. They all walk to her office, where Cal comes as well. Hope tells them all that she wants them to be following uniform rules by the end of the week and gives Cal new clothes to put on. They tell her they aren’t wearing a skirt, throwing that back on the table. Hope says that that’s fine, but no baggy clothes are allowed. She then tells Lily that the eccentric hair and makeup she wears can’t be worn to school, that Maeve has to ave one color in her hair, and that Ola can’t wear her badge (an LGBTQ+ badge). Hope then asks Lily what her parents thought of the musical she wrote last year, which Lily says that he parents didn’t really get it. With that, Hope sends them back to class, but not before calling to Maeve and mentioning how Ms. Sands told her she’s interested in applying to the Gifted and Talented program in the U.S. Maeve says she can’t afford it, so she isn’t applying, but Hope says she’s going to see if she can get funding, so Maeve needs to send her application in.

In the girls locker room, Cal goes to change their clothes, which gets uncomfortable when some girls start laughing at them because of their binder. They put on the tighter fitting clothes but absolutely hate it.

At the trailer park, Maeve’s mom is trying to get into Maeve’s trailer. Isaac comes by and tells her that Maeve changed the locks, and that she can wait with him until she gets home. Inside, it looks like he was painting a portrait of Maeve— her mom says it looks just like her, especially the angry eyebrows. Isaac asks her if she’d like to sit for a portrait, and she accepts.

Back at Moordale, Otis goes up to Maeve and asks if she called him this morning. She just tells him it was an accident, even though it wasn’t. Ruby comes up to them, and seeing Maeve, says, “What are you doing here, cockbiter.” Otis tells Ruby not to call her that, and Maeve walks away. Ruby confirms the time of the double date with Otis, but that they will be meeting there and not at her place.

Viv goes up to Jackson and asks why he’s being so weird to her, and he tells her that it’s because she stole his job. But before they can really continue the conversation, he joins up with Cal and Cal asks Jackson if he wants to hang out with them, so they leave school together.

Maeve gets home to find out her mom is with Isaac and goes over to his trailer, asking what’s going. Her mom doesn’t speak directly to her, only through Isaac, saying she needs her passport, and that she’s getting her portrait done. So Maeve tells her to come by when she’s done and leaves. Later, when her mom finishes, she goes over to Maeve’s, and she gives her her passport. She tells her mom that she did what she did because she didn’t want Elsie to end up like her or her brother, and that her mom has a mental illness that will take time for her to learn how to handle and make peace with. Maeve tells her mom that she’ll always love her, even though she may hate her.

Meanwhile, Eric is getting ready for his double date, dancing and singing along to a song, while he also gets Rahim’s things together. He leaves his house to find Adam waiting, and wearing a hoodie and jeans. “I thought you were dressing smart,” Eric says, who’s dressed to the nines. Adam thinks that what he’s wearing is smart, and they both head off to the double date.

At the Milburn house, Ola is there and in the bathroom, and notices she’s started her period. She goes downstairs and asks Jean for a tampon. Jean says of course, while she is unpacking mugs. She tells Ola that her dad has very good taste, but Ola sys those were her mom’s. Jean tells Ola that she can talk to her any time since she imagines the move must’ve been hard. Ola then asks if she got pregnant on purpose to trap her dad, because she knows she hurt her dad a lot. Jean denies that, as Otis comes downstairs asking if Ola had used her razor. She admits to using it because she couldn’t find hers, and he gets upset, saying that he’ll have to start labeling his things. Jean tells her son to be nicer, and he responds saying that they aren’t siblings anyway—still being a jerk about it all.

Cal and Jackson hike up to this high point where there’s a wonderful view. Cal takes out a joint and starts smoking and offers it to Jackson, but he declines, never having tried it before. “It’s okay, you do you.” Then, at second thought, he decides to try it, and takes a hit of the joint, coughing. Cal then asks him why he got faint, and he tells them that it was because of his anxiety, and that it has been bad recently, because he doesn’t know who he is at the moment, without swimming or being head boy. Cal admits to him that they have anxiety too, and these two seem to be bonding very well. As they back back down the hill later, Jackson asks Cal about the uniform situation, and they tell him how they don’t like clothes clinging to their body. Jackson thinks they should go to Hope about it, but they just want to let it be. Jackson then tells them, as the sun sets, that this is the first time he’s felt calm in a long time.

We move to the double date at a bowling alley, with Eric and Adam, and Otis and Ruby. Ruby begins it by complaining that the place smells like canned soup and that there isn’t anything gluten free on the menu. Adam asks, “So you’re diabetic?” Eric looks over at him and says, “Gluten, Adam, not glucose.” Quite a rocky start!

Ola goes over to Lily’s and starts talking about Jean unpacking her mom’s things and how she feels about that, but Lily is preoccupied with the crop circles. She looks over to Ola and tells her she’s ready for her to read her story. Ola looks excited for it, but at the same time wishing Lily would hear her out on what’s going on with her life.

We then go to Aimee, who is home and looking through the website Jean had told her about. She looks through all the different kinds of vulvas and takes a mirror to look at hers, finding that it looks like one from the website, which she becomes very proud of.

Returning to the double date, Adam is getting stuff all over his sweater. Ruby asks Eric if it’s illegal to be gay in Nigeria, to which Eric tells her that it is, but his immediate family knows that he’s gay. Otis then asks Adam how his dad is, and Eric glares at him for asking that. Otis then talks about how his mom is pregnant with Ola’s dad’s baby, so it’s a bit weird, especially since they used to date, and now they’ll be siblings. The rest of them agree that Otis should never mention to people that they used to date. Adam then asks him how he feels about it, and Otis says it’s been a big adjustment. Adam tells him that it’s been hard for Ola too, especially after her mom died and sister left, that it’s just been her and her dad, and maybe they can help each other out. Everyone is shocked at the sincerity and depth of what just happened, until Ruby gets a phone notification and yells out. Eric asks her what’s happened and she says that Kim K is having another surrogate baby. Out of nowhere, Adam asks if they ever wonder why the other surrogate wasn’t in the show. They all look at him, surprised at what just came out of his mouth. He admits that he watches the Kardashians, and Ruby becomes more keen to get along with him, signaling that this double date has taken a turn for the better.

They go on to play bowling and all have a lot of fun. Later, as Otis and Eric return the bowling shoes, Ruby and Adam talk. She asks him, “So, ultimate question, Khloe…pre or post revenge body?” Adam tells her pre, and Ruby agrees, and then they go over to join Otis and Eric. Eric asks Otis and Ruby if they’re going back to her place, and Otis mentions how he’s actually never been. The two of them leave, with Eric and Adam following.

At the Milburn house, Jean feels the baby kicking and asks Jakob if he wants to feel it, but it stops when he puts his hand on her stomach. He asks her what she thinks about Thor as a name, and she laughs, saying it’s the name of a superhero, so it’s a bit silly. He states that it was his father’s name, and Jean apologies, saying they can think about it. He tells her that the baby needs a strong boy’s name, causing Jean to counter as to why he assumes it’s a boy and why does it have to be a strong name, and why he would assume the baby would take his last name. Jean is suprised that Jakob thinks so traditionally, and that she didn’t find that out until now. She speculates, saying next year, he’ll come out and say he votes conservative, to which he responds that he doesn’t vote, and never has, and Jean is in absolute shock at that.

As Adam an Eric are walking home, Adam tells Eric that he doesn’t think he should go to Nigeria because it might be dangerous for him. Eric tells him that he wouldn’t understand, an Adam asks if Rahim would understand. Eric retorts as to why Adam would ask that, and Adam asks another question back—why he kept all of Rahim’s things. They walk into Adam’s house to find his mom, Maureen, making out with a guy. She tells the boys that this is the person she’s dating and introduces Adam, and Adam introduces Eric as just his friend. Eric gets upset at that and leaves to go home.

Ruby takes Otis to her house for the first time and go in to find that her Dad is stuck on his bed, almost falling off it. They help put him back and Ruby introduces them to each other. Her dad asks Otis to stay a while. The doorbell rings, and it’s Ruby’s dad’s weed dealer. Ruby rolls a joint for her dad, explaining how it helps him with his pain. Her dad asks Ruby and Otis if they want some, and they both pass. Dad says how Ruby is so nice to him and her mom, and that she’s also been really happy since she started going out with Otis, saying how she goes on and on about him. Her dad then falls asleep, so Otis and the weed dealer carry him back to bed. Ruby asks Otis if he wants to stay over, but he says that he should get home.

Returning to Maeve, she’s in bed reading, when her mom texts her that she wants her to know she’ll get better, and mentions that Isaac painted her, and that she likes him. Maeve goes over to Isaac’s and asks to see the painting, saying it looks nothing like he, but her mom’s is pretty good though. She thanks him for getting her to stay. She goes to leave, and Isaac tells her that she said he doesn’t know her, but he does. He begins to list all the little details he knows about her, and explains how he feels and how he wishes he could take back what he did, because he’s afraid he won’t have her in his life anymore. Maeve kisses him on the cheek and tells him, “You’ll always be in my life, but if you ever lie to me again, I will cut your ball sack off, ok?” He smiles, and she tells him she’ll see him at breakfast, and leaves.

Adam, in bed, and teary eyed, texts Eric, saying that he wasn’t ready (to tell his mom). Eric texts back that he knows and that it’s okay, but it seems like their relationship is taking a bit of a stumble.

At the Milburn house, Ola is drinking tea out of one of her mom’s mugs when Otis comes in. She asks how his night was, and he said it was good. He apologizes about earlier that morning; that he’s an only child and he’s not used to sharing his space, but that he’s working on it. Taking Adam’s advice, he says that it must be hard for her too, and that it’s okay for her to borrow his records. Otis goes up to his room and is about to call Maeve when Ruby calls, apologizing for her dad. Otis says it’s okay and that it was nice to meet him. Then, Ruby, visibly smitten, tells him, “I love you.” On the other end of the line, Otis reacts in the worst way possible, answering, “That’s nice. Good night, then.” He hangs up, leaving Ruby to digest what just happen, and quite possibly feeling her heart break. Oh Otis, what have you done?

Isabel Maina

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