For Millennials. By Millennials.
Attention! Proceed with caution folks as the article contains a lot of spoilers!
Well, that was a pretty emotional Sex Education season 3, with a lot of surprises and twists and turns. In the end, we make our peace with all of the growth of the characters. And we desperately want them to return for another season. Are you listening Netflix? Anyway, if you’ve binged the entire season in one day or week, you might have been completely shocked to watch that hospital scene with Jean Milburn (Gillian Anderson).
First of all the pregnancy itself was a big surprise because of how it’s generally harder to conceive for women when they’re older as well as the fact that the only person she had a s*xual encounter with was her ex-boyfriend Jakob Nyman (Mikael Persbrandt). The complications of pregnancy for older women are beautifully portrayed here as well with Jean’s frustration at discriminatory words from male doctors and staff. And the surgery that she had to undertake. But fortunately, she makes it out alive and well!
Related: Gillian Anderson Shares Her Favorite ‘Sex Education’ Scenes
But nothing is simple in Sex Education, there’s always a twist you do not expect
After she gives birth to Joy, her first daughter, she is going over the mail that Maureen (Samantha Spiro) brought for her. There’s a DNA Paternity test. And upon seeing the results, she says “Oh sh*t.”
This could mean only one thing; Jakob is not the father. Because in her mind, she was 100% certain that it was Jakob and that even him demanding a paternity test was totally outrageous. And I kind of agreed with Jean, because she did not have any sexual encounter with anyone else. At least not that the audience was aware of.
But could it mean Otis’s dad, Remi Milburn (James Purefoy) could be Joy’s father too? We only knew about them kissing, which led to Jakob and Jean breaking up because Jean realized she could not commit. But perhaps they did more than kiss whilst drunk and Jean does not remember that happening.
Or could it be that fling she and Jakob ran into after one of their hospital check-ups, Dan (Daniel Ings). Dan is one of Jean’s many one-night stands. But she was seeing him right around the time she was seeing Jakob. This leads to Dan questioning whether the child is his. This exchange of conversation leads to Jakob having trust issues with Jean and he asks Jean to do a paternity test and it seems that he was right in doing so. We do eventually understand where Jakob’s insecurities are coming from as we learn that his late wife also cheated on him but he forgave her and took care of her whilst she was sick.
Asa Butterfield was asked in an interview what the paternity test mail could mean, and he said that “More drama, that’s what it means.” Mimi Keene (who plays Ruby Matthews) added that we need another season in order to get a more resolute and conclusive ending and all the fans (including I) passionately agree. Because I really need to know who Joy’s father is.
What would it mean for Jakob and Jean?
We see that Jakob and Jean were fighting with each other and having a hard time adjusting to each other. Jean even says that Jakob feels like a stranger to her because they have nothing in common with each other with wildly different political views. But Jakob is dedicated to being a father to their daughter.
Jakob has a big heart and is very kind, so perhaps he would still be there for Joy and Jean. But without Joy, there was nothing binding them together. We can’t say for sure what would happen but Sex Education does resolve all the storylines in an insanely humane and realistic way so we can expect a satisfying conclusion to this.
I’m also curious about how Ola (Patricia Allison) would react to this news. She was already wary of Jean because she had already hurt her dad’s feelings first. But Ola made her peace with her new family, in a heartbreaking scene, she voices her fear that Jakob will like the new family more than her. But Jakob assures her that nothing of that sort would happen and that she would always be his daughter, his treasure. Ola then comes in to meet Jean and Joy. And the way her eyes smile while holding her little hand was one of the most wholesome moments in the season.
Otis would also not be happy hearing that Jakob is not the father because he’s come to see him as a father figure when his own father is usually missing from the picture. Jakob also comforted Otis when Jean was in surgery and it was uncertain that she’d survive. He assured Otis that he would always be there for him no matter what happens and that was something that Otis needed to hear.
Otis and Ola both would definitely have a hard time reacting to the news and adjusting to what happens. But I cannot wait to see what happens because I trust Laurie Nunn completely at this point!
