Sex Education fans are divided over Eric and Adam's storyline in season 2

18 January 2020, 15:48

By Sam Prance

Netflix viewers are split over what happens to Eric and Adam in Sex Education season 2.

Sex Education is back and fans are calling out the Netflix series over the development between Eric and Adam in season 2.

Sex Education season 2 is already receiving rave reviews from critics. Season 2 opens with Otis (Asa Butterfield) discovering the "wonders of his own penis", Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) exploring his love life and Maeve (Emma Mackey) dealing with the return of her previously absent mother. It's moving, it's important and it has even more laugh-out-loud moments than season 1.

READ MORE: Sex Education fans are losing it over Otis' masturbation scene in season 2

However, there is one aspect of Sex Education season 2 which is dividing viewers. The new episodes delve deeper into Eric and Adam's (Connor Swindell) relationship and fans are criticising the series for the "problematic" storyline that unfolds.

WARNING: SEX EDUCATION SEASON 2 SPOILERS AHEAD

In season 1, Eric is terrified of Adam. Every day, Adam bullies Eric at school. He steals his lunch, pushes him against lockers and calls him slurs. Eric does everything he can to avoid him. However, when they're put in detention together in the season 1 finale, they fight and it ends with Adam kissing Eric and giving him a blowjob. We later see them intimately graze hands in a biology class and the season ends with Adam's father sending him to military school, seemingly ending their love story.

Sex Education season 2 starts with Adam out of the picture. Eric meets new French student Rahim (Sami Outalbali) and they take an immediate interest in each other. However, when Adam gets expelled from military school, he returns to Moordale and starts seeing Eric in secret at night. Later Eric tells Otis and Otis is initially horrified but he says he's fine with it if Eric thinks Adam has changed. Eric decides to stop seeing Adam though and chooses to become boyfriends with Rahim.

However, as the season progresses, it becomes clear that Rahim and Eric aren't meant to be together. Eric's mum even tells him that she doesn't believe that he loves Rahim. The season then ends with Adam telling Eric that he understands that he hurt him. Adam interrupts a school play to ask Eric to hold his hand in front of the whole school. Eric says yes and then introduces Adam to his family. The season ends with Eric apologising to Rahim and Rahim telling Eric to be careful.

While some people love Adam and Eric's relationship, many are calling out the show for making Eric's bully his love interest. One fan wrote: "Sex Education Season 2 really gave Eric a 'healthy' romantic interest with Rahim but ended it to have Eric hook up with Adam (Eric's bully)? For a show that wants to teach teens about healthy sex, the Eric/Adam 'normalizing' abuse arc is bad". Another added: "why do writers think all gay boys secretly lust for their bullies?"

Speaking to Thrillist about Adam and Eric's relationship in the show, Sex Education's creator Laurie Nunn said: "I think if you rewatch the series we very much were telling a love story through bullying with Eric and Adam. Adam is just desperate for connection ... The fact that he bullies people and in particular Eric is his way of looking for intimacy in the world."

Speaking about the romance with PopBuzz, Ncuti Gatwa said: "Sometimes when I see the fan-made videos with romantic music and hearts and Adam is choking Eric against the locker, I kind of think to myself, okay, guys, we need to just think about things a little bit."

He then added: "But I think what's really great about the relationship is we see it throughout the course of the series and we see Adam throughout the course of the series. So he's not just like a bad guy. He's not just the bully. We see that he's dealing with a lot with his Dad and his identity and his sense of masculinity and all those issues."

Ncuit continued: "I think we don't excuse his behaviour but I think we gain an understanding of his behaviour and where it comes from."

As for if he thinks Eric and Adam will end up with each other longterm, he said: "I don't know. I have no idea."

What do you think of Eric and Adam's relationship?