Streaming Review: "A Teacher" on FX/Hulu
Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at 6:00PM by Christopher James
A Teacher is an odd little show. Hannah Fidell’s adaptation of her 2013 feature once again explores an illicit relationship between a female teacher and her male high school student. The miniseries sometimes feels like an Adrian Lyne movie by way of a 2013 indie film. It’s both muted and salacious. This makes for an odd viewing experience, given the subject matter. However, at less than 30 minutes a pop, A Teacher is still a quick and satisfying binge.
Kate Mara plays Claire, a thirtysomething English teacher in Austin, Texas. Her home life feels incredibly familiar. She has a nice, if distant, husband (Ashley Zukerman), a lovely suburban home and is in the process of trying to start a family. Still, there’s something in Claire that chafes against this life she’s built for herself. When she reads Dylan Thomas’ poem “Race against the dying of the light” to her senior AP English students, she captures the eye of Eric (Nick Robinson), a golden boy senior.
It all begins seemingly innocent enough...
Eric introduces himself to Claire at the diner he works at. Claire offers to tutor Eric for the SATs so he can get into University of Texas at Austin. Then, lines start to get crossed. A Teacher does a strong job of showing how little actions can be construed as grooming and abuse the power dynamic between teacher and student. Claire wars with herself on whether to allow Eric to follow her on Instagram. After deciding yes, the two begin a text correspondence that culminates in Eric asking Claire to pick him up from a party that got raided by cops.
Perhaps the most egregious non-sexual line crossed occurs when Claire takes Eric to visit the UT and the two of them end up at a frat party. It’s here that Claire opens up about being a commuter student who spent all of college taking care of her alcoholic father. Kate Mara gives a moving and measured performance throughout the miniseries. She’s a buttoned up woman who feels she has waited too long to give in to her desires. However, Mara never shies away from Claire’s selfishness. She refuses to acknowledge the role she played in instigating the relationship with Eric, mostly because she’s consumed with living out this version of her young adulthood she never got to experience.
Similarly, Nick Robinson grows into the role of Eric rather nicely, especially as the show progresses. He starts the series with an adorable “aw shucks” grin that feels infectious. However, Robinson really gets to shine as the story picks up. He illustrates how easily a teenage boy can mistake lust for love and helps define the maturity gap between Eric and Claire.
This may sound like a damning compliment, but A Teacher seems like the type of content that Quibi thought it was producing. Each episode barely scratches past the twenty minute mark, yet somehow feels like a ten or fifteen minute short. Still, there’s enough dramatic heft to each episode that makes it compelling and efficient. This makes A Teacher an oddly bingeable show despite the intense subject matter.
Perhaps waiting and binging is the best way to consume A Teacher. The initial three episodes (and even a few after that) all revel in the illicit affair of Clarie and Eric. Despite the very prominent advisory warnings about the sexual situations and grooming, one may mistake early episodes for paperback erotica. Part of this could be the quality of the lines, where almost everything feels like a telegraphed come on.
By the end, the limited series successfully, if ham handedly, articulates its condemnation of Claire and Eric’s relationship. Even with consent and Eric turning 18, A Teacher shows that this torrid affair creates lasting psychological effects on the young victim. There’s a tendency for mainstream culture to show leniency on this pairing, chalking it up to a horny teenage boy fantasy. A Teacher may speed through the fallout of the central relationship. However, by the end it does a strong job of articulating how Claire abused her power and, perhaps unwittingly, groomed her student. It would be too easy to vilify Claire. Instead, it tries to merely hold her accountable.
A Teacher walks a tricky tightrope, and it doesn’t always do so elegantly. Thanks to strong performances, it’s able to overcome some “after school special” writing to become an engrossing and thoughtful drama. B
The first three episodes of A Teacher are available on FX on Hulu. New episodes will be available each Tuesday on FX on Hulu.
Reader Comments (7)
I rarely think about Kate Mara, yet every time I see her in a movie, I am impressed.
I wonder how she hasn’t gotten more recognition for her skills. In every role I’ve seen her in, she is always “just right” for the role.
I'm surprised to hear they're not hour long episodes. Hulu is a service a pick up and drop fairly often so the next time I re-subscribe, I'll give this a watch.
I was shocked at how genuinely entertaining this show is. Mara has never impressed me as an actress, perhaps because of her roles. However, she tears into this one with absolute relish. And even though Robinson is playing a variation of high school kids he's played numerous times, his performance really digs deep.
The entertainment factor in knowing Robinson is 25, removing some of the ick factor. Still, after 3 episodes, I cannot wait to see how things blow up and how these perfectly cast actors handle the challenge.
This really got to me emotionally in a way I could never have imagined given the lurid subject matter. The performances are excellent and so organic - you really feel like this could have happened in exactly this way. I was bawling at the end.
A very good project. Which is developing very rapidly. Of course the first season is very weak. But I really liked how the life of the students is shown. This is done very naturally. Especially how students do not have time to prepare for subjects, and use different tools as in https://www.reviews.io/company-reviews/store/papersowl-com is a review. It really looks like a real learning environment. And not as is usually shown in third-rate TV shows. The thing is that one of the main characters is an excellent student.
This film was very interesting and it steamed very well on screen. But for children of younger age comics are also an interesting thing for entertainment. You can read the whole information regarding How Comics Can Help Students Learn Better on this page. I am sure you will find full information in this regard here on this website.
I haven't seen the first season, but I think it was interesting. It was probably due to the study load. But now it helps me a lot custom article review writing https://essayshark.com/article-review.html and so I have some free time. Which will allow me to watch a missed season.