If it wasn’t already rewarding enough that Asa Butterfield be cast as the lead, Sex Education perfectly captures the hardships and triumphs of being a teenager, and season two only gets juicier.

Butterfield, notorious for seizing roles where he plays a socially-awkward boy on a journey of self-discovery, plays Otis Millburn, the son of two sex therapists. After years of being raised as though he were his parents’ patient Otis developed their therapeutic skills, which allow him to break free of his shell when his peers call on him for relationship and sex advice.

However, this show isn’t all about the birds and the bees, which is what makes this show one of substance, which cannot be said for most teen Netflix drama series.

Compared to season one, which was mainly about Otis’s growth, season two focuses on the intimate issues of supporting roles as well.

Taboo topics like female masturbation were carefully explored. This matter was not only discussed with teenage girl, but also with middle-aged woman hoping to get their groove back in the bedroom. A topic I was most shocked, but proud, to see displayed was the reality that not all young men are comfortable with masturbation.

This perfectly illustrated the effects of toxic masculinity on developing minds. Society casts men and boys as these emotionless creatures obsessed with self-pleasure.

Though, what I would like to applaud most has nothing to do with pleasure whatsoever.

In episode three, the show’s airhead, Aimee, is sexually assaulted on the bus ride to school and for the next four episodes she suffers in silence, feeling unsafe around any male, her boyfriend included. She received no justice and the face of her assaulter appeared everywhere she looked. Those scenes were so important because they offered insight into the mind of a victim and how that person can be comforted.

The subject explored most was characters discovering their own sexualities. Three of the main characters struggled to come to terms with being homosexual, but of course in the end, they received their happy ending.

A topic that surfaces rather abruptly was something much needed for people who feel “broken” in reference to sexual desires, as described by a character during a meeting with Otis’s mother, Jean Millburn (Gillian Anderson).

Asexuality was also introduced in this season when a girl is pressured to give up her virginity for a trivial matter: so she, playing Juliet, can act more attracted to her Romeo in the school play. She felt as though she were broken in a way because she didn’t have the same eagerness for sexual contact as her peers.

I found myself learning and growing with the extremely relatable characters. This season had a little something for everyone and left me craving more drama.