This article contains spoilers for Sex Education season 4 episode 7.
Sex Education's penultimate episode is an emotional one. Jo and Jean aired their grievances, Otis and O settled their differences (whilst trapped in a lift), Adam confronted his father about his insecurities, and Isaac finally lost his temper with Cavendish's inadequate accessibility measures. Here's everything that happened in Sex Education season 4 episode 7.
'Time to be a mum'
Sex Education season 4 episode 7 opens with a flashback to Jean and Jo as girls; at a party, Jean interrupts a significantly older man making a move on her at a party her mother was running.
In the present, Jean phones Otis to invite him and Maeve around for dinner that evening. Reluctantly, Otis agrees... and then Jean's manager Celia arrives for 'a chat'. Celia's boss Terry is unhappy with the show, but Celia wants to regroup and push on with it. Surprisingly, Jean tells her she's not the right fit for the show after all, and says she just needs to be a mum at the moment.
Before school, Jackson receives a text revealing that the sperm clinic has no record of the donation, and Cal records an entry into an audio diary about them feeling more dysphoric than ever.
At Cavendish, Otis enters with Maeve. He attempts to apologize to Ruby for the things he said to her about Maeve, He also still wants her help on his campaign, but Ruby reveals she's started working for Connor now. Meanwhile, Aimee asks to show Isaac her first photo campaign. She'd taken photos of herself doing things she loves whilst wearing the jeans she had on the day she was assaulted on a the bus.
Maeve arrived to enroll at the school, but she fails to do so after Dodgy Mo calls her to ask if she can come and pick up her mother's ashes. He also tells that Sean has packed up all his things and left.
Isaac's protest
An announcement plays out at school to call students to their mock exams. Otis rushes to the elevator to get there on time, and finds himself getting trapped in there with O, of all people.
Outside the entrance, Beau confronts Viv after spotting her talking to a boy. Although he simply asked her a question about the test, Beau argued she was flirting with him, grabbing hold of her wrist and hurting her.
Aimee and Isaac are waiting for the elevator, again. Angered that he can't get to his exam, Isaac tells Siobhan the caretaker to fetch the Principal. Just as the exam gets underway, the fire alarm goes off, but the classroom empties out to find the stairwell blocked off.
Isaac launches into a speech about how frustrating the lack of accessibility has been at the school. Aisha joins in as she almost got left behind in the classroom by her peers because she couldn't hear the alarm, and that could have been exceptionally dangerous if this was indeed a real fire. Principal Lakhani placates the students by saying they'll get the elevator fixed, but they stage a sit-in protest and refuse to move until its done.
Meanwhile, Maeve arrives at Dodgy Mo's house to pick up the ashes. She also asks after her brother, and he tells her that Sean had wanted to get clean, but couldn't do that staying with Mo.
Jo and Jean's big fight
At the stables, Adam attempts to move a tractor out of the way for a delivery driver... and promptly drives it through a fence. He assumes this means he's about to be fired and apologizes to Jem, who reassures him that he's otherwise very good at his job.
Joanne receives a text from Dan inviting her out that evening. Before she can answer, she follows a noise outside and finds Jean hammering away and dismantling the treehouse outside. Jo tries to help, but Jean stops her and the pair fall into the mud on the ground, leading to a big bust-up. Jo accuses her sister of being incredibly controlling, whilst Jean says she thinks Jo would seriously benefit from some sort of therapy and says she is self-sabotaging. Their argument culminates in Jo packing up all her things and moving out.
O and Otis remain stuck in the lift whilst the Cavendish protest is ongoing. When Cal and Roman fetch some snacks for their fellow students, Eric storms out of the room after seemingly recognizing more signs from God. Abbi follows him out, and Eric ends up sharing how he still wants to stay connected to the church and wants to get baptized, but feels guilty about it. Abbi offers to support him in whatever decision he makes, and they pray together.
Maeve arrives at Jean's house just as Jo is storming off, and sits down in the house to make some awkward small talk whilst she waits for Otis to arrive. Together, they discuss how Maeve is feeling after her mother's death. Meanwhile, O tries to make conversation with Otis in the lift, and he ends up accusing her of saying she's asexual purely to sabotage his campaign.
Maeve ends up cutting herself whilst she helps Jean make dinner. As Jean helps her, Maeve opens up about what she really wants to do with her life, and how she'd been told she wouldn't be able to make it as a writer. Jean encourages her not to change her path just because one tutor said she wasn't good enough, and explains that she thinks Maeve has done a very good job of raising herself.
Moving on
O reveals that she had learned everything she knew about sex and relationships in order to try and befriend the popular kids so she could feel like she fit in with the other students (and that's presumably why she bullied Ruby at school all those years ago, too).
O and Otis are finally freed from the lift, and Principal Lakhani promises that the school will set aside sufficient funding to replace it. On the way out, O tells Otis she thought about his sex phobia issue and wondered whether he was actually afraid of having his heart broken, rather than sex itself. In turn, he encourages her to apologize to Ruby as he doesn't think anyone is better off alone.
Elsewhere, Adam stops by to visit his father. Adam explains that he doesn't want to feel like a failure and worry about disappointing Michael Groff anymore. He also assumes that the only reason his dad had tried to come back into his life was because he was trying to get back with his mother.
Jackson searches his house for the info he assumes his parents are hiding from him about their donor and finds a letter in one of their nightstands signed by a mystery man called Jerome. He then pays Viv a visit to tell her the news but stops when he finds her crying and ignoring harassing texts from Beau.
After dinner with Jean goes well, Maeve tells Otis she's going back to America after all, but doesn't want to lose him. He's initially optimistic, but when Maeve suggests that she might not come back this time, he tells her he can't make it work as he'll feel like he's holding her back. They kiss, admit they love each other, and spend the night together.
The following morning, Maeve gets Isaac and Aimee to meet her at the caravan park. There, she encourages them to explore the feelings they clearly have for one another and apologizes for saying it would make her feel weird. Then, she asks them to help her scatter her mother's ashes on the hill overlooking the park.
Sex Education season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.
