Relationships in Fiction: Adam Groff and Eric Effiong - Sex Education
Rather than a relationship with any real chemistry, this one seems to be a product almost entirely of uncertainty. Adam is an untethered social pariah who is steadily becoming more and more entrenched in the feeling that he is trapped, and this feeling is soon compounded by a literal countdown until he is sent to military school and truly loses any autonomy and sense of self he might have gained. Eric on the other hand goes through a lengthy process of rebelling against traditional roots to the extreme, having his conviction shaken, and finding himself again through the support system his family and community provides. Either way, both characters are at critical moments in their development where they are trying to figure out who they are and their place in the world.
Adam bullies Eric long before he ever puts his feelings into action, and just like little boys pulling little girls pigtails on the playground its only an excuse to get Eric’s attention and be close to him. Regardless of actual intentions which could come from a place of power or a need to feel in control which his father never provided him, Adam subconsciously chooses Eric to bully and harass because he has unexplored sexual desires.
This desire culminates when he sees Eric at the dance, unabashedly confronting his father and striding into the auditorium wearing makeup and African-inspired garb and realizes that Eric is being everything that he could never be. Regardless of the perceived control he needs to attain, like in the first episode, Adam really has no control over his own life. He could never be accepted by his father for being a different sexual orientation, or even be accepted for not being the perfect idealization that Mr. Groff had built up in his mind for Adam. These feelings are only really expressed when Adam directly confronts Mr. Groff at the dance. However, years of emotional abuse stall Adam’s confrontation and the fear of repercussions and the feelings of inadequacy stop him from actually taking steps to leave the situation. And Adam realizes with dismay that he will never have the same interaction with his father that Eric had with his. There will be no moment of relief and acceptance and kindness.
Eric on the other hand is confident in who he is and spends most of the series expressing his individuality by removing himself from his religious family and blazing a new trail with his own sexuality and self-expression. The beating in episode five made Eric reevaluate his lifestyle and rejection of being “normal” and made him close himself off to the rest of to the only support system he had to be genuine with and that was Otis. While his family was supportive and helpful, with Eric’s radical diversion from their version of normal they couldn’t understand in the same way that Otis did. Without him Eric is left untethered and feeling like his “living out loud” philosophy is false. Adam is disturbed by this sudden change in demeanor because he sees Eric as someone, though foolish, also brave because Eric is unabashedly himself in all situations. Adam sees him as someone who is not afraid of what anyone things and certainly not his father. Seeing it is possible to knock him down a peg and shake his self-confidence is jarring for Adam and it shows in the limited interaction they have together in Episode 6.