This article contains spoilers for Sex Education season 4 episode 6.
In the sixth episode of Sex Education's final season, Maeve is desperately trying to give her mother, Erin, a decent send-off. Otis and Aimee do their best to help where they can, but Maeve's brother Sean almost ends up ruining the entire service. While the funeral is at the forefront of his mind, Otis also ends up trying to address some of the other close relationships that he's been neglecting.
Here's a more detailed rundown of everything that happened in Sex Education season 4 episode 6.
Changing friendships
The episode opens with Eric having an encounter with God (who is the same woman as the homeless lady he's been crossing paths with) in his dreams, where she tells Eric not to turn his back on his faith.
The atmosphere is still tense at the Milburn household, and O makes things worse when she turns up during a free period to run through some things for the show with Jean. Otis leaves to head to the funeral; on the way, he meets up with Ruby and asks her to help him fight back against O, which she reluctantly agrees to.
He then asks her to tell Maeve that nothing happened between them the night they accidentally slept in the same bed. Hurt, Ruby says he needn't worry, as they're not more than friends. In fact, they're not friends at all, and leaves. Later on, Eric joins him on the journey.
Meanwhile, Aimee is helping Maeve to get ready for the funeral. Maeve tells her that the situation with Isaac makes her feel uncomfortable, and Aimee promises they will just remain friends. Anna also mentions that Wallace University has asked if and when Maeve will be returning to the US to finish her course, but she says she'll call them back later.
Elsewhere, Jackson gets an appointment to discuss his test results, and he's clearly stressed about the appointment, O starts trying to help Jean deliver her lines in a 'pithier' way.
Preparations
Jean is upset that Celia sent O to help train her for the show. O offers to listen to her problems, suggesting that she could be feeling more exposed on-air compared to one-on-one appointments.
Jean soon opens up, saying she thinks she came back to work too soon, and we see a flashback of her dealing with the grief and depression of her husband leaving her. She said that running her clinic was enough whilst she was raising Otis, but didn't want to fully fall off the career wagon as a single parent.
At the stables, there's a hint of possible romance between Jem and Adam. She asks if he'd be interested in teaching a class of his own, whilst Adam is fretting about seeing his ex at Erin's funeral.
At Moordale Crematorium, Maeve can't get hold of Sean. In her frustration, she lashes out at Aimee who has made cakes and the order of service, because she's sure it's all wasted effort as Maeve is convinced no one will turn up.
Whilst they're cycling, Eric asks Otis about the evening with Ruby and whether it was a move to make her jealous. Otis, meanwhile, tells Eric he's left him behind for his new friends; before Eric really gets a chance to refute this, Maeve phones Otis and asks him to try and get her brother from 'Dodgy Mo'.
At Mo's, Eric tells Otis he always drops him the minute Maeve is back in town. When they speak to Mo, he explains that Sean didn't come back to his house the previous night, so they tell him to get Sean to call his sister. Mo also hands over the flower arrangement that Sean had bought for the cremation.
Eric tries to open up about the existential crisis he's been having about his faith, but Otis falls off his bike and wrecks the flowers. Eric tries to tell Otis they're actually quite different as people, but Otis is fixated on putting the flowers back together and not really listening to him.
Sean's return
Otis and Eric arrive at the crematorium with the flowers just as the hearse does. Maeve is shocked to see lots of friendly faces from Moordale arriving for the funeral, and thanks Aimee for having the forethought to invite them.
Jackson, Eric, Adam, and Otis struggle to carry the coffin in, and then the celebrant (Elizabeth Berrington) begins leading what can only be described as an awful service, failing to read Erin's name properly and mucking up the entrance song.
Sean finally arrives partway through and begins disrupting the service. Despite Maeve urging him to stop, Sean calls it 'complete crap' and stands up to share his feelings about his mother and his difficult childhood.
Maeve eventually kicks Sean out. Outside the crematorium, Sean says she'll be fine, she can go back to America and live her life and forget about him, whilst he's worried he's going to die alone, like his mother. Maeve asks him not to go, but he leaves, refusing to say goodbye to his mother.
Elsewhere, Jean and Jo are in town, and Jean hides from Dan, the man he sister has been dating. She tells Jo that she's 95% sure Dan is Joy's father, and that she can't keep seeing him. Cal's at home, and doesn't want to talk about why they came home early with their mother.
A proper send-off
The service is paused whilst Otis tries to find Maeve. During the break, Eric and Adam have a catch-up. Adam reveals that he did eventually come out to his parents, and they were supportive but is still finding it difficult to be fully out. Eric tells Adam that he's got to love himself, and believe he deserves good things in life. Adam says he misses Eric, even though he knows they weren't right for one another.
After Otis returns without Maeve, Isaac goes to look for her instead. He finds her in the back of the hearse and encourages Maeve to get back inside and finish honoring her mother.
She comes back and gives her eulogy speech, acknowledging her mother's faults but still marking her death properly. Mr. Hendricks (Jim Howick) gets up from the back of the hall to play an acoustic version of the U2 song, "With Or Without You", the song that was meant to play as Erin's entrance music, and the others join in.
During the singing, Jackson frets about his appointment again and walks out. Viv follows him out, but when Jackson says things with Beau seem pretty intense for an early relationship, Viv gets extremely defensive and leaves. Jackson later spots Beau going through her bag.
Meanwhile, Adam and Eric hug, and Miss Sands (Rakhee Thakrar) and Mr. Hendricks tell Maeve how they've been and how proud they are of her for everything she's done.
Otis asks Eric if they can just get back to being friends, but Eric is upset that Otis isn't listening to him properly, and the pair resolve to take some time apart from one another. After Eric leaves, Otis apologizes to Maeve about the night with Ruby, and she lets him walk her home.
The end of a very weird day
On Aimee's journey home, she stops to take some photos of some garden gnomes and is catcalled by some laborers, prompting her to confront them, furious for interrupting her day.
Adam drops by his father's house because he wants to hang out with him after the funeral. He spots Michael's shirt is done incorrectly, and then his mother's coat hanging up, and leaves before Michael and Maureen can explain what they've been up to together. He returns to the stables and hugs Midnight the horse, instead. Elsewhere, Jackson goes to his appointment with his mothers and finds out the lump on his testicle is not cancerous.
Jean and O are back in the studio for another episode of Sexology. Cal's mum phones in to ask for advice about opening a dialogue with her child about them being non-binary. Then, Ruby phones in, accusing O of being a bully. She threatens that she's tagged O in a video online that proves her to not be the kind person she pretends to be.
Back home, Maeve tells Otis that she might not go back to America after all, deciding the stability from being back home and being with him might be what she needs right now. They start kissing and try to have sex again, but Otis' problems with sex are resurfacing so he stops everything. They lie down together and agree it's been a weird day indeed.
Sex Education season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.
