The Sex Lives of College Girls season 3 ending had everything: breakups, protests, and bisexual awakenings. What it didn’t have was a cliffhanger. So, what went down in the Sex Lives of College Girls finale, and what does this gift-wrapped ending mean for a fourth season? After all, we already lost one college girl at the end of episode two, with Leighton (Reneé Rapp) ditching Essex College to focus on her pop career transfer to MIT and be closer to her girlfriend, Alicia (Midori Francis).
Of course, that doesn’t mean the rest of the quartet—or their new roommate, Kacey (Gracie Lawrence)—are going anywhere. Here’s where Bela (Amit Kaur), Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), and Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) stand at the end of season 3 and what that means for a potential fourth season.
What’s up with Kimberly?
By the end of season 3, Kimberly is in her civil disobedience era, having helped a group of student protesters shut down the livestream of a Congressman’s hateful speech on campus. Ultimately, she decides to risk her future seat on the Supreme Court by cutting the wires of the school’s internet servers, getting arrested in the process.
Read morePauline Chalamet Is Finding Her Vision
The star of Mindy Kaling’s new show The Sex Lives of College Girls has that famous Chalamet mystique—but with her own, unique star power.
By Jenny Singer
Though her arrest certainly put Kimberly’s political aspirations on the line, her love life might be on the upswing. After hitting it off with her fellow protester Noah (Trevor Flanagan-Tordjman), she’s bailed out of jail by Eli (Michael Provost)—you know, the guy whose party habits were unaligned with her life plan. Suddenly that doesn’t seem like such a barrier anymore…
Meanwhile, Whitney is back on the soccer team.
In a triumphant moment of solidarity, the rest of the Essex soccer team—as well as other student athletes—band together to support Whitney, who quit over a series of incidents that negatively affected her physical and mental health. Together, Whitney & Co. are able to pressure the school’s athletics board into implementing better practices to protect its students.
And then there’s Bela.
My personal favorite arc of the finale involves Bela’s bisexual awakening. Unlike Leighton, Bela doesn’t really struggle with her realization that she’s into women after kissing Haley (Belle Adams) in the finale, choosing to tell her friends and co-eds as quickly as possible. Though she does change her plans to come out publicly when her mom shows up to her comedy show, she doesn’t hold back for long. Ultimately, she’s fully accepted by her mom when she does choose to share the news by holding hands with Haley.
Read moreFor Amrit Kaur, Breaking Stereotypes Is Just Part of the Job
Her character on Sex Lives of College Girls is an unapologetic force. You could say the same about Kaur.
“I wanted Bela to be a counterbalance to the story we did with Leighton,” Sex Lives showrunner Justin Noble told The Wrap in a new interview. “Leighton came into college knowing exactly who she was. But she was closeted, and that’s what made it tough. Bela is not that person. She’s the form of queer representation where she’s discovering it on her own in real time as we watch.”
Similarly, Noble told Variety that Bela’s story is another “version of the coming-out story” that he’s heard from “a lot of my friends and coworkers,” adding, “They think they know exactly who they are, until they have a moment of realization and then start experimenting with that. I wanted to show that, too, because I think it’s almost equally common, and Bela felt like the person to do that with.”
Did anyone have a tough time?
Well, I can’t say Kacey had the best experience during this finale. After sleeping with her boyfriend Cooper (Roby Attal) because she feared her virginity would ruin their relationship, he breaks up with her for being too clingy. Though she’s devastated enough to quit the school play, a much needed pep talk from Kimberly, Whitney, and Bela helps her push through the pain and perform an epic rendition of “Never Enough” from The Greatest Showman.
So, will there be a season 4?
While there aren’t any loose ends to tie up, this is not necessarily the end of the road. While Noble told Variety that HBO hasn’t given him the green light to move forward, he’s “hopeful” there will be a season 4 following the Sex Lives of College Girls season 3 ending.
“I don’t think anyone is tuning in or not tuning into a show they enjoy based on whether or not someone was in peril at the end of the last season,” he said of the season’s happy endings. “This in particular is such a season of growth for all of our girls. Their big triumphs at the end of the season are there because they went through it earlier on. And I was just so excited to put out a season finale that chooses joy and has all these girls standing up strong against the things that are against them, and getting this four-minute-long symphony of wins.”
Fair enough!
The post The Sex Lives of College Girls Season 3 Ending, Explained appeared first on Glamour.
