Sex Education season 4 ending: what happens to Otis and Maeve in season finale of Netflix series

Sex Education has now come to an end, after four years and as many seasons, the final eight episodes have now aired on Netflix, and many viewers will be bingeing their way through it.

The season is full of drama, heartbreaking moments, and hilarious scenes, as the Sex Education gang find their places at a new sixth form where the rules all seem upside down.

This is everything that happened to the main characters of Sex Education season four, including Otis, Maeve, Eric, Adam, and Ruby, and how their storylines ended.  

There are, of course, major spoilers for the final season of Sex Education ahead, so if you haven’t finished the show, read on at your own risk.

What happens in Sex Education season 4 finale?

Having been conflicted over his sexuality and religion for much of the show, Eric finally decides not to get baptised after coming out to his church to a silent reception. However, when his pastor meets him at a fundraiser organised for the church and tells him that he wants to have more conversations about tough subjects, Eric decides that he wants to become a pastor.

Maeve beings her studies in the US as the teacher’s favourite, but is soon crushed when she is told that she isn’t good enough to be a writer. When she learns that her mother has died she returns home for the funeral and at first decides to stay with Otis and not return to the US. After speaking to Jean, she realises her true potential and skill as a writer and tells Otis that she will go back to the US and, realising that she doesn’t know when she will come back, the pair sadly break up.

Otis, having split with Maeve, blames his mum, Jean, for telling her to go back to the US, but eventually realises that it was the right thing for her to do as her career is too important to give up on so easily. He makes up with him mum, and begins to adapt to life without Maeve.

Jean spends the season struggling with poat-natal depression and with the arrival of her chaotic sister, who has come to ‘help out’. After struggling to set up a radio show, and having a brutal argument with her sister, she breaks down and realises that she needs to make changes. She reconciles with her sister as they both accept they need to deal with their traumas in a healthy way, and returns to her radio show on her own terms, with more support for her parenting needs. 

Adam, who has had a rough time throughout the series, finally finds his groove working with horses. He reconciles with his father after finally telling him how he had lived in fear of disappointing him. He takes his dad on a horse riding lesson, and is comfortable to come out to a woman who he works with and clearly has a crush on, telling her that he is bisexual. She then asks him out, and Adam happily accepts.

Ruby grows in the final season, actively attempting to become a better person - she makes amends with Otis, who had left her heartbroken in the previous season, and with O, the new therapist who we learn had bullied her when she was younger. Ruby also finds a new group of friends at the new school.

Michael Groff, has also been working to atone for his behaviour in previous seasons - he takes a much more active role in his son’s life and finally tells him he loves him. With Adam’s blessing he also makes inroads with Maureen, his ex-wife, and in the finale he joins her and Adam for a night in front of the TV.

Cal, who has struggled with their gender identity as a non-binary person throughout the show, runs away, causing panic among their friends. When they are found, they realise how many people care about them and begins to heal.

Jackson struggles with health anxiety in season four, having found a lump on his testicles, and struggles to speak about what is bothering him. However, he finally learns that the lump is benign, much to his and his mums’ relief. He also finds his birth dad, a married man with whom his mother had had an affair. He is rejected by his dad, and angry at his mums for keeping the truth from him, but realising that they truly love him, they begin to make up.

Viv has a rocky time of it this season, having got into a relationship only to find that her new partner is possessive and manipulative - with the support of her friends she cuts the relationship short and stands up for her own happiness.

Aimee and Adam also finally pursue a relationship after a season full of romantic tension. When Maeve decides that she shouldn’t stand in the way of their relationship because it makes her uncomfortable, she gives them both her blessing to see each other.

Do Maeve and Otis split up?

Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be for Otis and Maeve in the final season of Sex Education. Although fans will have rooted for the pair to get together since he first season landed on Netflix in 2019, the show ended on a bittersweet note.

Maeve is given an opportunity to extend her time studying in the US, where she has hopes of becoming a successful writer, whilst Otis remains back home in the UK.

Whilst Maeve has initially believed that the move to the US would only be for a few months, after getting noticed for her talent, she realises that she will likely be living there for an extended period of time.

Whilst Maeve and Otis don’t have an acrimonious breakup, they mutually agree that it is best that they split and give each other space as they don’t believe they can continue a meaningful relationship over such a long distance.

In a heartbreaking final scene, Otis reads a letter left for him by Maeve before she returned to the US. We hear Maeve’s voice as she tells Otis that he cracked her heart wide open, and that whilst they cannot be together, she will never forget him and will carry Otis in her heart forever.