Sex Education, the series about British teenagers going through puberty, has become a global hit. Its third season debuted on Netflix earlier this month to rave reviews and a top spot on the streaming giant's trending charts. It has even already been renewed for another season.
Despite the range of topics discussed in the series — which range from asexuality and sexual assault to geriatric pregnancy — what has become the main talking point of the latest season is the love triangle between three of the main characters. While some fans had been eagerly anticipating the slow-burn build-up of Otis and Maeve's romance since Season 1, others became attached to Season 3's new exploration of the dynamic between Otis and Ruby.
However, the Otis-Ruby coupling was short-lived, and many interpreted it as being just another stepping stone towards Otis realizing his true feelings for Maeve. The debate between fans as to which is the better pairing has been raging since Sex Education's third batch of episodes was released. And it's almost certain that creators of the show were angling for tension among watchers by employing the classic love triangle scenario.
But what they may not have anticipated was that some people might interpret Otis's role in the drama as being that of a "villain". Certainly, Asa Butterfield, the actor who portrays Otis, didn't see it coming. Yesterday, Butterfield took to Twitter to respond to an Esquire think-piece that suggested Otis was not only "a villain" but also a "despicable friend, boyfriend and son." Butterfield tweeted, "Imagine being so pressed over a fictional teenage boy's fumbling attempts at love. Sooooo much wrong with that article I don't even wanna give it more attention."
And many fans of the original Netflix series agree with him, with one suggesting that those who see Otis as a villain have "missed the point of the show."
"There aren't any villains," they wrote, "just people capable of doing good and bad things as they stumble their way through figuring out themselves".
But some Twitter users weren't so sure, pointing to times in the series when the character had acted in questionable ways. The consensus of many, however, seemed to be that although he often made mistakes, Otis wasn't quite deserving of a "villain" title.
One even suggested that his fallible nature was accurate to that of a real-life 17-year-old boy. They wrote, "Otis is not supposed to be a gleaming character of perfection. He's supposed to get things wrong and grow and change and get things right and then get things wrong again. He's 17."
Sex Education has gained critical commendation not just for its normalization of sexual topics, but also for its realistic exploration of what it's like to be a teenager. And a crucial part of that is not seeing things in purely black or white.
We'll have to stick with Asa on this one and suggest that those who see Otis as an irredeemable villain are probably just speaking from their own personal experience of telling someone "I love you", and not hearing it back.