If you’ve already read my review of Sex Education season one, you will already know that I was a big fan of the Netflix series when it aired early last year so I think it is fair to say that I was pretty excited for the new season. I settled down to watch a couple of episodes before bed but those couple of episodes turned into the entire series and a 04:30am bed time.

So I think it is fair to say that its definitely binge worthy but the real question is – Is it as good as season 1?

Season 2 pretty much immediately follows on from where season one left off. Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) is still coming to terms with his feelings about that detention. Adam (Connor Swindells) has been enlisted into military school by his father, headmaster Groff (Alistair Petrie). Maeve (Emma Mackey) is still suffering the consequences of her family’s actions, although her family troubles are far from over.

With Maeve gone from school and Eric’s poor business skills, the sex clinic takes a bit of a back seat although, with a new girlfriend Ola (Patricia Allison) and a ‘handy’ new hobby, Otis (Asa Butterfield) has plenty to help him pass the time.

However, Moordale is still full of sexually curious teenagers, and faculty, in need of advice and before long Otis finds himself, not completely unwittingly, drawn back into the therapy game but his mum (Gillian Anderson) finds new ways of inserting herself into Otis’ life, and his business.

The cast of season 2 remains largely the same, with some slightly beefier roles for Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood) and Mrs Groff (Samantha Spiro) and the odd newbie; handsome French exchange student Rahim (Sami Oualbali), super brainy over-achiever Viv (Chinenye Ezeudu) and Isaac (George Robinson), the dry-humoured new resident at the caravan park.

This small turnover of cast members allows for a strong continuation of the already established storylines from the first season which gives this season even more heart. Personally, I am a sucker for good character development which means I enjoyed this season immensely and I can’t wait to see where the next season goes. However, it does feel as though the second season is missing a lot of the simple humour that made season one so memorable. Don’t get me wrong though, there is still plenty of humour to go around it’s just lost some of its original sparkle.

One thing this season did get absolutely spot on was its handling of different, and difficult, social issues in a way that is prevalent and meaningful. Whereas in season one, the issues touched upon were quite varied , this season seemed to be a little more thematic, predominantly focusing on the concept of different sexualities (bisexual, pansexual, asexual etc) and sexual assault and/or harassment.

As Otis’ mother would tell us, ‘sex is normal’ and Sex Education goes out of its way to relate to as many people as possible, whatever their ‘normal’ may be.

Other than slightly lacking in the humour department, my only criticism for season 2 is that after that fabulous and emotional father-son moment at the end of season 1, we don’t see Eric’s dad (Deobia Oparei) at all this season, although that may be because the parental focus for this season falls more in the realms of absent parents rather than overprotective ones.

Overall, a brilliant watch, although I would recommend spreading your viewing out a little bit, season three of Sex Education is far too far away.