TV Shows #33

A Teacher (2020)
Developed By: Hannah Fidell
Starring: Kate Mara, Nick Robinson, Ashley Zukerman, Shane Harper, Marielle Scott, Dylan Schmid, Adam David Thompson, Jana Peck, Rya Ingrid Kihlstedt

Certificate: 18 Running Time: 21-30 Minutes per Episode (approx), 10 Episodes

I guess it's a dangerous subject to even talk about these days but I'm sure most of us had the hots for a teacher or two back in our school days. I know I did! For the overwhelming majority of us, that's as far as it ever goes, of course, which is as it should be. Startlingly, however, that is not as far as it goes in this FX miniseries which stars Nick Robinson as Eric, a 17 year old student who becomes infatuated with Claire, his 32 year old English teacher. Claire is played by Kate Mara who is, dare I say it, rather attractive. I know it automatically makes me a misogynistic pig for acknowledging that, but she is, so it's not hard to see why Eric finds her appealing. Apparently unaware of this, after a chance encounter outside of school, she offers to tutor him for his SATs. After a couple of study sessions and a probably-unwise guided tour of her old university where Eric is hoping to study, he tries to kiss her.

Despite rejecting Eric's advances, Claire seemingly finds the attention flattering, and I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say they are soon doing some sexual activities together. In the back of her car, outside the high school dance he took a date to, no less! I think she is meant to be a chaperone or something, so she has been entrusted with taking care of the students, or at least making sure they don't get up to no good, but here she is riding one of them, just outside! It's shocking behaviour, quite frankly.

She is married too, though things are a bit strained with her husband, notably their sex life due to their thus-far-unsuccessful attempts to have a child which has made sex perfunctory, so it's understandable to some degree that a guy lusting after her is exciting, but someone as hot as her could have her pick of men, so why a student? I guess one might just get caught up in the moment but (minor spoiler alert again!) their 'interactions' soon turn into a fully-fledged affair that goes far beyond the scope of any 'moment', complete with a romantic weekend getaway. Claire even sends him a photo of her tits while on a girls night out! To say her judgement is clouded is putting it mildly and it isn't long before her dear husband Matt (Zukerman) notices changes in her behaviour. Inevitably (it's pretty obvious it will happen but spoiler alert anyway!), they eventually get busted thanks to Claire's stupidity.

I don't think there's any doubt that she is the guilty party in all this either. Indeed, I suspect most guys would find it awesome to hook up with a hot teacher, especially at the time, but these things can and usually do have repercussions far beyond that of simply breaking the rules, and possibly the law, depending on where it takes place (the show is set in Texas so Eric is at least not below the age of consent), and the fallout can have lifelong implications for both parties.

It's this that the second half of the show attempts to explore. Whether it does a good job or not is open to debate but it's certainly not one of those shows that glamourises its controversial subject matter for shock/ratings purposes. Both the leads do very good work here and, inappropriate or not, they do have some chemistry which shows in their numerous sex scenes (and no, there's no nudity from Mara, in case you were wondering!). Everyone else in the show is perfectly fine as well, but if you're anything like me, you'll struggle to remember them afterwards, simply because their characters are of limited importance. Eric and Claire are obviously the focus and, while their cautionary tale could probably have been trimmed by an episode or two, it's generally well paced and mostly well written.

That said, the aftermath of their affair seemed a bit over the top to me (considering Eric was of legal age and all that), but I suppose it's probably also exactly how it would happen for real so it's hard to criticise it too much. I wasn't entirely satisfied by the ending either, and it's not a very rewatchable show, but it's a reasonably compelling watch while it lasts. I suspect most viewings will be because it features Kate Mara as a hottie Teacher, but give it a go if the premise interests you.

RKS Score: 6/10