I know that slow burn stories aren’t for everyone. But seeing as the first ship I ever got crazily invested in was Booth and Brennan when I watched Bones when I was 15, every time I see a slow burn romance bubbling in a piece of media, I strap in for the tumultuous and exciting journey I’m about to be taken on. It can be tough to draw out a romance over multiple seasons, especially when you’re not certain you’ll get to continue the story. Just look at the way Single Parents ended. Yes, I’m still bitter about it.
My latest slow burn fascination is Otis and Maeve’s story on Sex Education. As with all stories of this nature, season three threw some interesting curveballs their way, but in the end, I’m still excited to see where the story takes them. I’m here for the long haul, and I’m willing to wait patiently to see how things play out.
Throughout each season of the show, it seems as though the biggest thing standing in the way of Otis and Maeve being together is timing. It’s a common enemy in any slow burn story. One realizes their feelings for the other too late and is forced to watch them date someone else. One confesses their love for the other only to have the voicemail mercilessly deleted by a jealous friend. They have all the makings of a classic, angsty teen romance.
The new season brought with it my favorite curveball as Otis went from casually sleeping with Ruby Matthews, the most popular girl in school (and my favorite mean girl character since Blair Waldorf), to being her full-fledged boyfriend. Now, we’ve seen Otis date someone else before, since he spent much of season two dating Ola, but it was clear from the start that they were a mismatch for each other and it was almost a relief when they broke up. For a brief glimmering moment there was hope that Otis could work things out with Maeve. Of course he only made them worse when he made a drunken speech at his house party—embarrassing Maeve, Ola, and himself—and then had sex with Ruby that same night.
I didn’t expect to love Otis and Ruby together as much as I did. I hoped to be able to guard my heart, knowing that Otis is clearly in love with Maeve and shouldn’t have asked Ruby to be his girlfriend in the first place. But that didn’t stop me from falling for their dynamic and loving every moment of Ruby opening up in a way we’d never seen. Even though I knew their fate would be grim, it was fun while it lasted. And though I was in my feelings on Ruby’s behalf, I still enjoyed the moment when Otis recited his deleted voicemail to Maeve and then they finally kissed. I’m simply a sucker for romance.
Now I’ve seen some people on the internet say that now it’s too late to get Otis and Maeve together, and I wholeheartedly disagree. For one thing, I waited for over 100 episodes for Booth and Brennan to get together, so in this scenario, I know a thing or two about patience. And from what I’ve seen so far, Laurie Nunn has given me reason to believe that she knows what she wants to do with these characters, and I’m interested to see how her vision plays out. It might not be what I pictured for them, but it’s not my show. The new complication with Maeve going to America is tough, but at least now they’ve been able to really confess how they feel about each other at the same time. This is still a slow burn, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s moving fairly quickly. This is probably to do with the fact that the show is on Netflix so it’s meant to be binged and then we’re left to wait at least a year wondering what happens next. I understand how that can be frustrating and it can make someone lose interest in a couple. But even with the brief and exciting distraction of Ruby, I can still say I want Otis and Maeve to be together. It’s been clear from the start that’s where the show is going, and thankfully this show isn’t on network television, so I know I won’t have to wait 100 episodes for them to finally get together for real. And based on what I’ve seen so far, I think it will be worth the wait.
Podcast Update
No new episode this week, so take a moment to listen to our episode on Succession! We had a lot of fun watching the premiere last week with our themed snacks.
And if you want to prepare for next Wednesday’s episode, watch the pilot of The Walking Dead, so you’ll be ready for our thoughts on it next week.
Premieres This Week
The final season of Insecure starts this Sunday, October 24th at 10pm on HBO.
Season 2 of the anthology series Love Life premieres on HBOMax on October 28th.
Other TV News
IATSE avoided a strike last week by negotiating a new contract with AMPTP. The next steps are to have members ratify the agreement.
Though this is a step in the right direction, some members of the union have been vocal that this agreement does not encompass everything they asked for. Read more about what this could mean for continuing to tackle these labor issues here. And you can read more about what the new agreement includes here.
That’s all for this week! Remember to subscribe so you can get these emails straight to your inbox every Friday and tell a friend to do the same. In the meantime, you can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram.