Sex Education fans know that the complicated relationship between mother-son sex therapist duo Dr. Jean Milburn (Gillian Anderson) and Otis (Asa Butterfield) is at the heart of the YA dramedy. But we’re about to see a whole new side of Jean when Sex Education Season 4 premieres on Sept. 21, because she now has a newborn to care for, too: her daughter Joy, who was born toward the end of Season 3.
“Jean’s just had a new baby and her story in Season 4 is about her overall ambitions and career goals, and how these collide with the pressures of motherhood,” Sex Education executive producer and creator Laurie Nunn told Netflix. “Being a single parent to a very small child is exhausting, and Jean is being pulled in different directions.”
Much like summer holiday reading, we’re here to help you prepare for the Sex Education school year early by answering all your questions about Jean, her pregnancy, and Joy. Pencils out — you’re going to want to take notes.
Jean’s pregnancy actually goes all the way back to Season 2. In the finale, Jean assumes she is perimenopausal and goes to her general practitioner for a diagnosis. Her doctor confirms Jean is correct — she’s perimenopausal… and also pregnant. Jean is particularly surprised about her pregnancy since she is in her late 40s and her plumber ex, Jakob (Mikael Persbrandt), whom she assumes impregnated her, had a vasectomy.
All Jean can do in response is cry in her doctor’s office. After all, Jean has only just realized she is suffering from a broken heart following her split with Jakob (more on this below).
Jean and Jakob, her sexy Swedish handyman, meet early in Season 1. They finally consummate their simmering attraction in Episode 7. While Jean assumes Jakob is used to hooking up with his clients, she’s actually the first person he has slept with since the death of his wife, who was ill. When Jakob explains that he is genuinely interested in Jean and would love to get to know her, she rejects him. Once Otis returns home, he finds Dan (Daniel Ings), the younger man Jean was casually sleeping with earlier in the season, grabbing a post-coital snack.
But, by the Season 1 finale, things start looking up for Jean and Jakob. She tells Jakob she has real feelings for him, and then pursues a real relationship through much of Season 2. But, in Episode 4, Jean kisses her ex, (and Otis’ father) Remi (James Purefoy) and they nearly have sex. She admits the infidelity and Jakob ends their relationship.
A lot of drama, of course. Jean finally reveals her pregnancy to Jakob at the beginning of Season 3, which picks up several months after Season 2. Jakob instantly understands the stakes of this news, and the pair have an emotional discussion about their imminent baby. At first, they agree to co-parent without getting back together as a couple. But, once Jakob moves into the Milburn household with his daughter Ola (Patricia Allison), it’s only a matter of time until he rekindles his romance with Jean.
In Episode 5, Jakob opens the episode by taking a ring out of his pocket. It’s a man’s ring. Later, Jakob explains he found it around the house and has been considering Jean’s sexual history. Jakob’s anxiety is heightened when he and Jean run into Dan, Jean’s motorcycle-riding ex, outside the doctor’s office. After seeing Jean with a former paramour, Jakob admits he doesn’t trust her — and wants a paternity test. He also says that he doesn’t even know if they’re together in the meantime.
In Episode 7, we learn why Jakob is having such a hard time trusting Jean. During a therapy session, he reveals he married his first wife at a very young age. Their relationship changed once they had kids, and his wife eventually wanted to leave him. She also had an affair. Jakob never had a chance to process the betrayal or grieve the destruction of his marriage because his wife got sick. Despite everything, Jakob still took care of her.
In Season 3, Episode 7, Jean goes into labor early during a live interview after seeing the mayhem at Moordale Secondary. She suffers severe medical complications after giving birth to Joy. Jean hemorrhages, passes out, and is rushed into surgery.
By the finale, it’s confirmed that Jean and the baby are fine. The doctors found the source of Jean’s bleeding and saved her. Loopy and hopped up on pain meds post-surgery, Jean reveals to Otis a long-held secret: She’s the King of Everything. Isn’t that the best news you’ve ever heard?
It’s Dan, actually. The first time we realize Jakob might not be Joy’s father is in the Season 3 finale, when Jean opens Joy’s paternity test. Her shock at the results suggests they aren’t what she was expecting.
In Season 4, we get confirmation that Jakob is not the father. He left Jean due to that fact. In the premiere, Jean is frazzled by raising a baby as a single mom. In Episode 2, Otis tells his aunt Joanna (Lisa McGrillis) that no one other than Jean knows who Joy’s father is, and, in fact, Jean gets quite touchy about the subject. In an initially separate storyline, Joanna starts dating Dan. In Episode 5, however, Jean sees Dan walking around town and admits to Joanna that he is Joy’s father. Or, at least, she’s 95% sure he is. In the finale, Jean invites Dan over to tell him he’s Joy’s dad.
Do you remember that single dalliance we mentioned between Jean and Dan in the Season 1 finale? All it takes is one time.
All interviews in this article were completed before May 2023.
