The series set out to do something ambitious: Tell the story of an illicit student-teacher affair as the focal point of a show through a modern lens.

And while we didn't get a nuanced portrayal of this highly topical issue, we did get some closure, courtesy of A Teacher Season 1 Episode 10, so for that, we should be thankful.

Following A Teacher Season 1 Episode 9, Claire and Eric were both in pretty dark places before they separately realized they needed help.

However, instead of seeing how things progressed in their lives, we jumped ahead 10 years to when a chance encounter between Claire and Eric allowed them to say their peace finally.

While the show has used time jumps to its advantage previously, fast-forwarding a decade to 2024 felt like taking the easy way out.

The post-high school installments have been some of the show's strongest, partly because they delved into the direct aftermath and fallout from the affair.

Watching Claire and Eric struggle to put their lives back together and try to make sense of everything that happened until this point was a show worth watching.

But jumping ahead to the end, when both characters had seemingly clawed their way out of their dark hole of despair, felt like cheating.

Claire: Now being a mother, knowing I did that, I cannot understand it myself. It’s taken me so long to figure out how to live with that. Every day I think about what I should have done differently. I just want you to be OK.

Eric: You’re kidding, right? You called me here today because you’re sick of feeling guilty. I’ve seen you. I’ve seen your photos, your perfect family, your big house.

Claire: My life is not perfect. Yeah, sure, I got lucky. I found a husband for reasons I will never understand doesn’t judge me the way other people do, but like I can’t get a job. I can’t go to PTA meetings. The way other parents look at me. It’s a google search away. I am one click away from ruin. It’s hell.

Eric: You’re still making this about you.

Claire: No, wait, Eric, please.

Eric: I will never be just one click away from this, Claire. I have to live with this forever. So do you.

_{🔗 permalink: I have to live with this forever. So do you.}

Those 10 years are when the most interesting character development would have taken place, yet we skip past all of that progress and growth and evolution to the place where Claire and Eric find themselves in the "present."

It's a wasted opportunity but somewhat necessary given the confines of the 10-episode order.

So, here we are in 2024, and life seems to have turned out decently enough for Claire and Eric.

The former is now a married mother of two, while the latter leads therapeutic wilderness trips for troubled youth.

Maybe not the life either dreamed of but certainly nothing to cry about until a chance run-in at the grocery store begins to show the cracks in their new lives.

Claire carries around a lot of residual guilt about their affair and how it threw both of their lives off course, but until she runs into Eric in the supermarket, it doesn't seem to be something that keeps her up at night.

Despite all of his blustering for most of the series, for Eric, the trauma of their affair is still fresh in his mind, always lingering beneath the surface.

His chance encounter with Claire nearly sent him over the edge, and even engaging in sex with someone as familiar as Alison was almost too much to handle.

Eric: I am sorry about what happened senior year.

Alison: Oh jeezus.

Eric: Oh, come on.

Alison: What?

Eric: I’m just… I’m being serious.

Alison: But that was like a whole lifetime ago. Yeah.

Eric: Yeah.

_{🔗 permalink: I am sorry about what happened senior year.}

His entire life was turned upside down after things ended with Claire, and while he has had to move on with his life, he's nearly been able to get past what happened between them.

Even his job choice shows how heavily the past 10 years weigh on him, choosing a profession where he can help troubled teenagers, much like he was.

Everything in Eric's life has been a direct result of this illicit student-teacher relationship. In contrast, Claire has gotten to move on with her life, only sometimes inconvenienced by her past.

And while their "chance encounter" was convenient, it led to a much-needed sitdown between the former lovers that had been 10 years in the making, though it was less than a month for us.

What the 10-year time jump managed to accomplish was for Claire to get off that high horse of hers and realize why their relationship was so wrong, at least in some respects.

She finally voiced what we've all been yelling at her to say for months, as she admitted to Eric that she abused her position as a teacher when they started seeing each other.

She also took responsibility for not stopping things after Eric kissed her, which was music to my ears.

Everything we had wanted Claire to say was happening until she put her foot in her mouth when she tried to place some of the blame on Eric for the affair.

Nothing that happened was Eric's fault, but once Claire got going, she couldn't help but try to play the victim once again.

Eric: Why did you text me?

Claire: I have been… I’ve been wanting to for years. I feel like such a coward. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about reaching out to apologize, and I know that I should have, but I just wanted both of us to move on. And I was so happy you were able to go to UT and move forward with your life. I just didn’t want to pull you back.

Eric: I didn’t move forward with my life. Our relationship fucking destroyed me.

Claire: I’m so sorry. My marriage wasn’t working, and so I blew it up because it was the only way I knew how to end it. That’s not an excuse. You were the victim of that, and I shouldn’t have let it happen. I violated my role as an educator, and I should have never betrayed those boundaries. I should have… I should have stopped you. I shouldn’t have let you kiss me. I should have… I should have just turned you down.

Eric: Is that what you think happened?

Claire: You came into the classroom and kissed me, but I should have ended it.

Eric: You agreed to tutor me. You took me to UT. You insisted I call you Claire. You took me away from that dance, and you told me to get into the backseat of the car.

Claire: I never wanted you to do anything you didn’t want to do.

Eric: You’re in denial. Do you realize how long it took me to realize I wasn’t responsible? That you were the one creating those moments. Do you know how long I hated myself because I thought that I hurt you? I lost years, Claire. I saw my brother the other day. He’s 17 now. Same age I was. He looks so fucking young. I was just a kid, Claire.

Claire: I know. I know.

_{🔗 permalink: I was just a kid, Claire.}

Her woes about how she's just one click away from her life being ruined felt false, especially after seeing how happy and picturesque things seem to be.

She has two beautiful daughters and a loving husband who found a way not to judge her for her mistakes.

She's even managed to make amends with Nate and Wyatt. Overall, life seems pretty good for Claire.

As for Eric, well, he's still traumatized by what happened all those years ago and is hanging on by a thread.

He hasn't been able to move on with his life, not like Claire, and Eric telling her off was a great moment.

He finally got to say everything that had been boiling beneath the surface, and hopefully, this confrontation will let Eric move on in a way he wasn't able to previously.

Saying all of this to Claire must have been freeing, and it was about time that Claire grasped the amount of pain her actions had caused.

Just because his social media presence suggested that Eric's life may be OK doesn't mean that's how things turned out.

Claire may have been able to lull herself into a false sense of relief that what she and Eric did had no long-lasting consequences, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

Eric: So you’re married now? You have a kid?

Claire: Well, two actually.

Eric: You guys live in Houston? I googled you.

Claire: I’ve googled you too.

_{🔗 permalink: I’ve googled you too.}

Everything we do in this life affects someone, one way or another, and it's up to us to make the most of what we've been given.

If you take anything away from this series, let it be that.

Some stray thoughts:

• I agreed with most of what Eric said during his lunch with Claire, but I don't believe she was creating moments to get close and seduce, at least not at first. Claire crossed a line, but it's unlikely she set out to bed her 17-year-old student. She should have to carry what she did as an educator but not that.

• The 10-year high school reunion was a good reason for Eric to return home and "run" into Claire, but I either wanted to see more of it or have him skip it altogether. The scene with his former best friends was too brief and barely provided any context for how they fell out of touch.

• Eric's scenes with Alison were much better, especially when Alison mentioned that everything that happened in high school was such a long time ago. That may be true for her but not Eric and was a great line to show that dichotomy.

57 TV Schools That Made the Grade

Open List

So what did you think, TV Fanatics?

Are you happy with where the show ended?

What are your feelings on the time jump?

Did all sympathy vanish for Claire after this episode?

Don't forget to hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts.

The post A Teacher Season 1 Episode 10 Review: You Can’t Go Home Again appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Eric leads therapeutic wilderness trips and heads back to Texas for his high school reunion.

Claire is married with two girls, and her family travels to Texas for Wyatt's 75th birthday.

Claire and Eric bump into each other at the supermarket, and the chance encounter leaves Eric traumatized and Claire feeling guilty.

Eric goes back to his mother's home without the groceries and is reunited with his teenage brothers who are now in high school.

Nate and his family also go to Wyatt's for Wyatt's birthday, and Wyatt and Claire talk, with Wyatt mentioning how proud he is of Claire.

Eric arrives late at his high school reunion and is reunited with former best friends Logan and Josh and ex-girlfriend Alison.

Logan and Josh have to cut out early, but Eric and Alison go back to her hotel room where they hook up.

Eric apologizes for everything that happened their senior year, and Alison says it's ancient history.

Claire later texts Eric in the middle of the night, wanting to meet up for lunch, and the pair meet the next day.

Claire apologizes for not putting a stop to the affair and hadn't reached out sooner for not wanting to drag Eric back down.

Eric says everything that happened was Claire's fault and that he hasn't been able to move on with his life, as they both have to live with the consequences of their affair.

The post A Teacher Season 1 Episode 10 Recap: Episode 10 appeared first on TV Fanatic.

That seemed to be the running theme of A Teacher Season 1 Episode 9 as both Claire and Eric struggled with their new normal.

Of course, they were nowhere near OK, despite their continued pleas to the contrary. Fortunately, by the end of the installment, both reached the realization that no matter how hard they tried to hide it, they were, in fact, not fine.

Starting with Eric, he's in a pretty dark place after Claire's rejection.

Lethargic and surly, Eric has seemed to cut everyone out of life as he sinks further and further into despair.

He's no longer the reckless partying lothario we saw on A Teacher Season 1 Episode 7. For a while, Eric chose to bury his pain and guilt by excessively indulging in the frat lifestyle, and he was still socializing with others.

The Eric we meet in the present day continues to bottle his emotions, but he's also become disinterested in life.

As a result, he's stopped going to class, putting his academic future in jeopardy, and stopped hanging out with his friends.

It's a more subdued and dejected Eric, who still isn't ready to accept that he needs help until a chance meeting at the bar.

Eric: You all right?

Chloe: I’m not gonna hook up with you. I’m… you’re way too young, and I just got out of a long-term thing. Five years. It’s been really hard.

Eric: Yeah.

Chloe: Yeah, my friends know it has. They just don’t want to hear about it. They just want to fix me, as if sex could fix me. I can’t really… I can’t really talk to them about it. I can’t really talk to anybody about it. No one understands. I don’t know, I just feel so confused. When we first were together, I was so madly in love with him. I felt sick. But he put me through the wringer, and now that I’m out of it, I can see how unhappy I was. I don’t want to feel this way anymore.

_{🔗 permalink: I don’t want to feel this way anymore.}

What started as possibly being the girl to drag Eric out of depression ended up happening, albeit in a different way.

Instead of having Chloe be a romantic prospect who convinces Eric to get the help he needs so they can be together, Grace Gummer's character was a kindred spirit, nursing a broken heart after getting out of a toxic relationship herself.

Through Chloe, Eric was able to see the parallels to his own relationship with Claire and finally get some much-needed perspective.

Eric is still pretty messed up by what happened with Claire, but he's no longer looking at their relationship through rose-colored glasses for maybe the first time.

He can't see yet just how inappropriate and screwy everything was but listening to Chloe pour her heart out to him allowed Eric to see things from a new angle.

It was as if he was listening to someone impartially describe his and Claire's relationship for the first time.

In this iteration, no one was commending Eric for banging his teacher or unnecessarily vilifying Claire.

It was just a statement of facts that resonated with Eric, allowing him to see the truth for how things were, not how he remembered or wished they were.

It was a small moment, but it got through to Eric.

After insisting to no end he was fine, Eric accepted that he needed help and made the first smart decision in a while by choosing to go home.

Eric: Hey.

Sandra: What’s wrong.

Eric: No, I just thought I’d come home, you know, for the weekend, or maybe longer. I need help, mom. I need help.

Sandra: I know. I’m glad you came home.

_{🔗 permalink: I need help, mom. I need help.}

Nothing will be solved magically overnight, but as they say, the first step is admitting you have a problem.

Well, Eric admitted he needs help, so hopefully, with due time, he can find a way to move on with his life.

No one said it'd be easy, but again, it's a start.

And then there's Claire.

Watching her downward spiral was difficult because, on the one hand, it's hard to feel sympathy for her after everything she's done and the way she destroyed the lives of those around her.

On the other hand, though, no one deserves to be degraded like that, and after hearing her tale of woe about how scarring it was to grow up with an alcoholic father, we — or at least I — can't help but feel a little sorry for her.

This doesn't erase or excuse her behavior over the past two years, but it does humanize her more as a character, and we, as the audience, have to reconcile these different sides of Claire.

She's selfish and inconsiderate and self-destructive and predatory, but she's also more than just her worse character traits.

We see Claire struggling as she tries to make sense of her worth and identity.

Guy: I don’t think I can hit you any harder without hurting you.

Claire: Just do it. Come on.

Guy: Are you OK? Oh my god, I am so…

Claire: Why’d you stop? Come on.

Guy: No, no, no, I’m not.

Claire: Come on. That was great. Keep doing it.

Guy: You’re fucking bleeding.

Claire: I’m fine.

Guy: I don’t think I can do this. I’m really sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. Are you OK? No, like actually, are you OK?

_{🔗 permalink: No, like actually, are you OK?}

So much of how Claire defined herself — teacher, wife, sister — have been stripped away, leaving her to grapple with her new titles — felon, sexual predator.

These latter seem to have overridden everything from her former, and Claire finds herself readily accepting whatever is thrown her way, not believing that she deserves better.

Watching Claire not only accept but also seek out the debasing treatment from her internet date highlighted how much her sense of worth is tied into what others think.

She's at such a low point in her life that she started to believe that was all she would ever be.

Gone is the 'holier than tho' persona who believes she was unjustly punished, replaced by this depressive, fatalistic character.

While it's about time Claire got off her high horse, she still doesn't seem to realize why her affair with Eric was wrong, other than it hurt those closest to her.

That's frustrating to watch, seemingly cheapening Claire's melancholy.

It's almost as if she doesn't deserve to be this sad or feel this way, still not grasping the weight of her poor decision-making.

Maybe it's nitpicky, but any emotional breakthrough doesn't feel earned, which again adds to my disparate feelings about Claire.

Wyatt: Claire? Claire? Talk to me. What is it, Claire?

Claire: Stop trying to help me.

Wyatt: I’m just trying to do right by you.

Claire: I can’t even look at you. This whole good man act. You know I used to go through our trash when I was a kid? I used to count the number of empties to make sure you weren’t going to die. I was 10 years old, and I would get into bed terrified, thinking, maybe I missed a cue or something, and that when I woke up, you’d be gone. What, now I’m supposed to watch you thrive? Knowing that you could beat it, you just couldn’t do it for me.

Wyatt: Claire, I wish I could go back. I would give anything to be able to…

Claire: I have spent my entire life running from you, trying to feel safe. I… I wanted to help kids that were like me and give them what… what I never got, and somehow I’ve hurt everyone, and I’ve fucked everything up, and I don’t know how to fix it, and I’m such a fucking horrible person.

Wyatt: You are gonna find a way to keep going, I promise you.

Claire: I don’t want to be here. Everybody wants me gone. I just want to be fucking gone.

Wyatt: I know. I know it feels that way, but you got to stay. You gotta stay. You gotta.

_{🔗 permalink: You gotta stay. You gotta.}

If this was the writers' goal, then kudos to them, for it's about the first time Claire has felt like an actual character worth caring about.

Over the past eight episodes, she's oscillated between predatory teacher, egotistical wife, and haughty sister.

Now, for the first time, we get to see this broken woman that Claire has hinted at throughout the series but never showed.

She's often used her traumatic childhood as an excuse for her behavior, but it's hard to take her at her word when she's always playing the victim.

Here, we get a stripped-down, vulnerable version of Claire, and it works, so far as making us feel something other than disdain toward her.

If the writers had introduced this version of Claire sooner, the series would have been able to tell a more nuanced version of an illicit affair instead of the half-baked iteration we got.

Some stray thoughts:

• Matt finally got to say his piece to Claire, and it was glorious. In comparison to Nate, Matt's reaction to Claire was pretty tame, but at least he got to say what was on his mind, and hopefully, good things continue to happen for him, not that we'll ever know.

• Even though Eric quit the frat, you'd think some of his friends or at least Cody would be more worried about him. Did Eric manage to alienate everyone in his social circle other than his roommate Ryan, who still gives a damn, or did the series not spend time depicting that?

• Did anyone else think this episode felt like a series finale instead of a penultimate episode? If so, did you wish this was the last episode, or do you still want to see what else the writers have in store?

• On a slightly unrelated note, if you guys haven't seen Saturday Night Live's parody skit of A Teacher, I highly recommend it. In short, it's how the situation between Claire and Eric should have played out had Claire been the professional she was supposed to be. It's highly entertaining and worth a watch.

19 Underappreciated Leading Ladies

Open List

So what did you think, TV Fanatics?

What was it about Chloe that got through to Eric?

Has your opinion of Claire changed?

Do you wish this was the series finale?

Don't forget to hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts. If you missed the penultimate episode, remember you can watch A Teacher online at TV Fanatic.

The post A Teacher Season 1 Episode 9 Review: Episode 9 appeared first on TV Fanatic.

They go back to his place, and Claire learns the guy googled her and degrades her during sex.

Claire works for her father and a fellow coworker tells her she’s lucky to have Wyatt as a father.

Claire and Matt sign divorce papers, and Claire asks Matt how he's doing.

Matt says he's surprised Claire cares and doesn't understand how he ever loved her after her affair.

Claire later goes back to the guy's apartment for sex, and things turn violent.

Claire leaves upset and goes home where she has a break through with Wyatt.

Meanwhile, Eric has become isolated. He has dropped out of pledging and is on academic probation.

His roommate Ryan tries to talk to him about it, but Eric insists he's fine.

Eric goes drinking at bar and runs into a bachelorette party.

The girls try to set Eric up with their single friend Chloe.

However, Chloe reveals she's not going to sleep with Eric. 

She just got out of a toxic relationship, which parallels Eric’s relationship with Claire.

Eric then goes home and tells his mother he needs help.

The post A Teacher Season 1 Episode 9 Recap: Episode 9 appeared first on TV Fanatic.

However, there's still some ambiguity about what's driving those decisions on A Teacher Season 1 Episode 8.

Has she realized that her actions have consequences, or does she simply not want to go back to jail?

As with life, it's probably not just one thing that has finally made Claire see reason but a culmination of everything that's happened since being released from jail.

If Claire at first thought she could just pick up where she left off and scrape together some semblance of normalcy, she was sadly mistaken.

Yvette: OK, so you just fill out one of these, do an interview, our target customer’s everyone, blah, blah, blah, and after a quick background check we’ll be good.

Claire: OK, so about the background check, there may be this small misdemeanor that comes up but…

Victoria: Claire Wilson? It really is you.

Claire: Just excuse me for one minute.

Victoria: You’re out already?

Claire: I served my time, Victoria.

Victoria: Oh come on, you got to be kidding me. OK, no, no, no. This woman cannot work here. Google her. Claire Wilson, you’ll see, she’s a sexual predator.

_{🔗 permalink: I served my time, Victoria.}

Even something as simple as grabbing coffee and a scone from a food truck has become infinitely more challenging, as a cash-strapped Claire struggles to cover the cost.

Then, of course, there are the more difficult elements of readjusting to society, such as getting a job.

Part of the job application process is a background check, and a misdemeanor of any sort isn't too enticing to any sort of potential employer.

Worst of all, Claire has to contend with not being able to escape her past.

Like Eric, people have a hard time letting Claire forget what happened, but it's somewhat warranted in this instance.

Having Victoria loudly proclaim that Claire is a sexual predator may have been overkill, but it did drive home the point that just because Claire has served her time doesn't mean she has paid for the wake of destruction she's caused.

Matt is a wreck, Nate could have lost his job, and Eric, well, Eric's still beating himself up over Claire going to jail.

That's certainly a lot of damage caused by Claire simply wanting to be "free," something which she finally starts to get an idea of by the end of the installment.

While in prison, Claire may have been able to convince herself that what she and Eric did was OK, but upon getting out and seeing firsthand the consequences of her actions, she realizes that maybe, what they did was wrong.

To her, it's not wrong in the sense that it was an abuse of power or some form of sexual assault, but rather their affair was wrong because it hurt the people closest to her.

Claire: You do know it was consensual, right? If the roles were reversed, you would be high fiving me right now.

Nate: Are you listening to yourself? He was your student.

Claire: I know, but he pursued me. He kissed me.

Nate: And you didn’t say no.

Claire: I wish I could have been the perfect little wife and popped up a bunch of babies like I was supposed to, but I wanted… I wanted to feel free. I wanted to do what I wanted for the first time in my life. Look, I get that you and dad are cool now, but you have no idea what it was like for me in that house with him. For you guys to just show up like that…

Nate: Don’t blame your fucked up childhood, all right. Take responsibility.

Claire: How have I not? I just spent six months in jail. I’m about to have five years’ probation, and I’m immortalized as a teacher slut. Is that not enough?

Nate: So, your life was boring. Who gives a shit? People kill to live boring lives, Claire. That doesn’t give you a license to do whatever you want. Do you even realize the damage that you’ve done? How much shit I get from Lisa for having you here? You jeopardized my career, and don’t even get me started on Matt; he’s barely functioning. And that kid.

_{🔗 permalink: So, your life was boring. Who gives a shit?}

That's an important distinction because Claire has yet to realize the screwed up power structures at play here.

Even if the affair was consensual, as Claire claims, Claire was still Eric's teacher.

She should have been cognizant from the beginning that regardless of their age, Claire was in a position of authority, so any sort of dalliance would never be OK, even if no laws were technically broken.

It's something we can hope Claire will come to realize in time.

Like Eric, she'd also benefit from speaking with a therapist, and there, maybe she'd also be able to dig into her motivation for having an illicit affair with her student.

Her bullshit claim to Nate about wanting to do whatever she wanted for the first time in her life still rings false, for there are many other ways she could have gained that freedom that didn't involve sleeping with her student.

So, she found Eric attractive, and he pursued her. So what?

We all have wants and desires, but we also have enough common sense to not always act on our baser urges, especially when it's a moral gray area.

Eric: I’m sorry, Claire. I am so sorry.

Claire: Eric…

Eric: This is all my fault. I convinced you to run away, and then I left like a fucking idiot.

Claire: It’s not your fault.

Eric: I mean if I hadn’t… if I hadn’t told the cops, none of this would have happened.

Claire: It’s not your fault.

Eric: All I can think about is just you being in jail because of me.

Claire: No, I’m the one who… I just wanted someone else to know how happy we were. We were happy, right?

Eric: Yeah. Yeah, Claire, are you kidding me? Last year with you was… being with you… it was… it was everything. I can’t do anything without you. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t go to class. I’m… without you, I’m alone. I need you.

Claire: What we had was an escape. It wasn’t love. Look at what it’s doing to us. I’ve tried to convince myself that it’s OK, but it’s not.

Eric: No.

Claire: You need to leave.

Eric: No, you can’t. Come on.

Claire: This is violating my probation. You need to go.

Eric: Claire, please.

_{🔗 permalink: This is violating my probation. You need to go.}

Naturally, Claire was aware of this but still made bad decisions after bad decisions, trying to blame her poor decision-making on her messed up childhood.

Growing up with an alcoholic father couldn't have been easy, but plenty of other people come from difficult upbringings, and they don't go around having sex with 17-year-olds.

Nate was completely right when he told Claire to take responsibility for her actions, and while she still hasn't done that exactly, it seems something finally got through to her.

The old Claire would have jumped when a heartbroken Eric showed up at her door; consequences be damned.

But this post-jail Claire, the one who has been called a sexual predator, forever immortalized as one on the internet, and made to feel less than human during a standard drug test, has enough common sense to walk away at this point.

And it's that decision that makes it possible for rehabilitation.

That's not to say all her sins will be magically tossed aside, but taking the first step and realizing how toxic their relationship meant that Claire could have some future when all is said and done.

It may not be the future she imagined, but it's better than the path she was heading down.

Some stray thoughts:

• I'm not sure about the rules of parole, but wouldn't it have been easier for Claire to make a fresh start if she moved and changed her name? At least then, it would be less likely that people would automatically know about her past indiscretions.

  Sure, there's a chance someone could find out, but getting out of town with a new name seems like a decent start to trying to get her life back on track.

• Poor Eric. He's the real victim here, but he can't see that yet. He's still ravaged by guilt over what happened and hurt even more after Claire rejected him. He's about to hit rock bottom, and it's not going to be pretty.

• Kudos to Nate for telling Claire off. Someone had to take her down a peg and get to her to see reality.

27 Characters Who Have a Secret and Can Keep It

Open List

So what did you think, TV Fanatics?

What factors went into Claire's decision to start making better choices?

What person did she hurt the most?

Is Claire capable of rehabilitation?

Hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts. If you missed the latest episode, remember you can watch A Teacher online at TV Fanatic.

The post A Teacher Season 1 Episode 8 Review: Episode 8 appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Nate and her estranged father Wyatt pick her up.

While Claire gets back on her feet, she stays with Nate and his family.

Matt has dropped off Claire’s stuff at Nate’s, and the audience learns the marrieds are getting divorced.

Nate says while Claire is living with his family, she has to abide by their rules, which includes getting a job.

Claire goes for a morning jog and stops to get coffee and a scone from a food truck. She doesn’t have the money, but the employee gives the food anyway.

She later goes to apply for a job at clothing store.

Things seem to be going well until Victoria, Logan and Cody’s mother, comes into the store and loudly informs the entire store, along with the manager, that Claire is a sexual predator.

Claire then goes to probationary office, where she has to wait for over an hour.

Upon going back to Nate’s house, Claire looks herself up on the internet and sees the top search results are about the scandal and trial.

After dinner Claire and Nate get into fight, where Nate tells Claire to take responsibility for her actions.

He also reminds her that her actions have consequences.

Eric texts Claire, wanting to see her.

He goes to Nate’s house and confesses he still loves her, but Claire sends him away.

She then packs up and goes to stay with her dad.

The post A Teacher Season 1 Episode 8 Recap: Episode 8 appeared first on TV Fanatic.

This adage was at the forefront of A Teacher Season 1 Episode 7, for no matter how hard Eric tried to move on, the events of his senior year of high school continue to haunt him.

He may say everything that happened with Claire is behind him, but it doesn't take a psychology degree to see through that thinly veiled claim.

Part of the show's biggest problem has been its inconsistent pacing and heavy reliance on exposition, but after spending over half the season struggling to find its footing, A Teacher finally gets things right this installment.

It was somewhat of a relief, having had to sit through six episodes, ranging from mediocre to downright insufferable, to finally see some payoff.

By solely focusing on Eric, the writers can better explore his emotional state at this juncture.

Had a 25-minute episode split focus on checking in on Claire while still in jail, the writers would not have been as successful in detailing the myriad of ways that the affair and its subsequent fallout has affected Eric.

The series would have tried to cram too much into too little time, as it's done in the past.

This way, the scenes and characters were given the needed room to breathe, instead of battling for attention with whatever's happening with Claire.

Cody: That’s fucked up how hard they came down on her. It’s not like she… I don’t know, it’s not like she took advantage of you or some shit.

Eric: That’s what I said. That’s what I’ve been saying.

Cody: Hey, plus I met her. She was cool, you know. So what? She’s a little older than you. You liked her. She liked you. It’s not a fucking crime. They got her sitting in some federal prison or some shit?

Eric: County jail.

Cody: Oh dude, that’s fucked.

Eric: Dude, you don’t even know. She had to take a plea deal. She might not have even gone in at all if we hadn’t… if I hadn’t convinced her to skip town, just us. But, I don’t know. It was messed up, dude. So stupid, you know, like, the prosecutor came down pretty hard.

Cody: Oh, you know man, you can’t control that kind of thing, man, you know. Like people just want to worry about shit they shouldn’t be worried about, you know. It’s like worry about fucking Syria or dogmeat in China or puppy meat in China. Fuck.

Eric: Yeah, honestly, man, I try not to even think about it.

_{🔗 permalink: Yeah, honestly, man, I try not to even think about it.}

Additionally, the series was also largely successful in weaving in bits of exposition without being heavy-handed.

The details surrounding what happened to Claire after she turned herself into the police were slowly revealed in a way that felt more natural.

The series also makes the smart decision in skipping ahead to Eric's first year of college, where the fallout from his affair with Claire still weighs heavily on him.

All the partying, bone-headed decisions, and random hookups can't hide the pain and guilt Eric feels for his role in how things played out for Claire.

Throughout the episode, we learn Claire is serving time in county jail, having had to take a plea deal due to her and Eric's impromptu and ill-advised decision to run away together.

That choice continues to haunt Eric, who unfairly blames himself for everything that followed.

What makes it all the worse is that Eric is constantly being reminded of the past year's events wherever he looks.

College was supposed to be a fresh start but going to UT — at one point, his dream school — has become his prison.

Chris: You’re not gonna sit here man and fucking smoke my weed and drink my booze without telling me about banging your teacher, man.

Eric: What?

Cody: You didn’t think I wasn’t gonna tell them that a fucking legend was pledging?

Chris: Let me get this straight, you nailed a hot…

Cody: The hottest.

Chris: The fucking hottest teacher while you were her student?

Ryan: You hooked up with your teacher?

Chris: Yes, bro, like multiple times and then sent her ass to jail like a fucking savage.

Ryan: Holy shit.

_{🔗 permalink: Yes, bro, like multiple times and then sent her ass to jail like a fucking savage.}

His classmates, especially those who hail from Texas, are aware of the scandal, and for those who aren't, well, Cody has made sure that his fraternity brothers and the other pledges aren't left out of the loop.

Even the stripper hired to "entertain" the pledges knew about Eric and Claire.

There's literally nowhere for Eric to escape, so he does the very mature thing and tries to drown out his pain with increasingly stupid ideas.

Excessive partying and one-night stands aren't the healthiest behaviors, but they're not exactly unheard of for incoming freshmen.

However, standing atop a moving car being driven by someone inebriated, whether sober or not, is not normal, going way past stupid into the 'something is clearly and dangerously wrong' territory.

You'd think being thrown from the moving car would have been enough of a wake-up call, and maybe it would have been if Eric ended up in a wheelchair rather than walking away with just a few scrapes and bruises.

Compounding the problem is that Eric's cut off from those closest to him.

He hasn't spoken much with Logan and Josh since college started, and his infrequent dinners with his family are tense, as Eric finds himself having the same arguments with his mother time and time again.

Sandra: Did you start going to counseling? Eric…

Eric: Mom, can you not?

Sandra: Come on. We talked about it. You were gonna go when school started. Look, they have a great counseling program there, and it’s free. I just think this isn’t something…

Eric: I don’t know how many times I have to ask you to please, please don’t bring this up anymore, please.

Sandra: Sweetheart, what happened to you is not something that you can just…

Eric: I didn’t go through anything.

Sandra: I’m just gonna say one thing.

Eric: OK, mom, look.

Sandra: OK, just listen to me…

Eric: I’m really OK…

Sandra: I just need you to know that I am here.

Eric: I’m having a great time, OK.

Sandra: Hun, when she gets out, you’re gonna need someone to talk to.

_{🔗 permalink: Did you start going to counseling?}

Sandra rightfully thinks Eric would benefit from counseling, but the stigma surrounding therapy, coupled with the unprocessed trauma of what happened to him, makes Eric resistant.

Eric still can't see that what happened with Claire was not OK.

At the very least, it was an abuse of power on her part, and at the worst, it was statutory rape.

However, Eric's still viewing the whole experience through rose-colored glasses, believing what he and Claire had was real and loving.

Even if he did get some perspective and started questioning things, he wouldn't get very far, not when his classmates and fraternity brothers view him as a god of sorts for sleeping with his teacher.

There's just a whole clusterfuck of feelings and emotions and hurt to sort through and process, but Eric can't do any of that because he refuses to acknowledge their relationship was problematic.

Until he can do that, he's not going to be able to move on with his life.

At this point, though, he doesn't have any real reason for further self-reflection or examination, for while he may be suppressing his feelings, he has yet to hit rock bottom.

He's obviously in a lot of pain, but he hasn't reached that breaking point yet, that point where he looks around and realizes that his life is in shambles and he needs to start dealing with his emotions.

Micah: We are deep inside and fully implicated in every single thing. One being in relation to a myriad of beings and to the whole. You are the sky. You are the moon, the stars. So am I.

Eric: So is Claire. I miss her. I miss her so much.

_{🔗 permalink: I miss her. I miss her so much.}

That point will come later, and there's no telling how bad things will get before then.

Let's hope he's able to re-establish some semblance of normalcy when all is said and done.

Some stray thoughts:

• I get that this is a TV show, but did anyone else think the stripper was a little too much? Having never been a part of Greek life, I'm not sure how factual the whole thing was, but it just was way over the top and not in a good way, especially after the drunken car escapades.

• Though Claire wasn't the focus of the episode, did that make anyone want to know that much more about what her life's been like since last we saw her? The next episode is supposed to be Claire-centric, so let's hope we get the same treatment from the writers and see how her life's been affected beyond the obvious.

19 TV Characters Who Don’t Know How to Chill on Vacation

Open List

So what did you think, TV Fanatics?

What are your thoughts on the Eric-centric episode?

When will Eric finally be forced to confront his demons?

What do you want to see happen in the Claire-centric episode next week?

Don't forget to hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts. If you missed the latest episode, remember you can watch A Teacher online at TV Fanatic.

The post A Teacher Season 1 Episode 7 Review: Episode 7 appeared first on TV Fanatic.

He goes to a party at the fraternity and afterward the guys talk about Eric's affair with Claire.

At another party Eric hooks up with a random girl who heard about his affair with Claire.

Eric and Cody grab lunch, and Eric laments what happened to Claire, blaming himself for her going to jail.

Eric later goes home for dinner and afterward gets into a fight with his mother Sandra over him not going to counseling.

Eric then learns Claire will be released early.

Eric then booty calls the random girl, but she only just wants to talk.

He gets angry and goes to the fraternity house, where he and some of the guys go out for a ride while drinking.

Eric, while drunk, stands on top of the moving car, but is thrown from the top when the driver, who was also drinking, slams on the breaks.

Eric is scrapped up and bruised but otherwise OK.

Eric and his roommate Ryan officially join fraternity, and as part of initiation meet stripper named Karen.

Karen stripes and dances for brothers, giving Eric a hard time over his affair with Claire.

Eric leaves upset and ends up doing mushrooms with classmate named Micah.

While high Eric confesses that he still misses Claire.

The post A Teacher Season 1 Episode 7 Recap: Episode 7 appeared first on TV Fanatic.

While it didn't seem possible, A Teacher Season 1 Episode 6 further illustrated just how much common sense Claire lacks.

The impulse to run away after everything that's happened is understandable. Still, taking Eric with her, especially after Nate telling her it could be construed as kidnapping, topped the idiot meter in a new way.

From the onslaught, it was evident neither Claire nor Eric gave much thought to the long-term ramifications of running away.

Their joint decision was motivated by lust and fear, but once the adrenaline wore off and they had more time to think things through, they came to the same conclusion, albeit independently.

Claire: I was a good teacher, right?

Eric: The best teacher.

Claire: Oh well. That’s that.

Eric: Hey, you’re so fucking beautiful, and you chose me.

Claire: My entire life, gone, for you.

_{🔗 permalink: My entire life, gone, for you.}

For Eric, he had more to lose than Claire by permanently leaving his old life behind.

He's a high school senior with his entire life in front of him and still has plenty of people in his life who care about and love him.

He may believe he loves Claire, but that love doesn't outweigh all he'd be giving up by running away with her.

Claire, for her part, had torpedoed her teaching career, alienated those closest to her, and found herself in jeopardy of spending time in jail.

So, of course, she decided to make things infinitely worse for herself.

A serious question needs to be asked whether Claire is just trying to get herself sent to jail at this point, or if she's just this dumb?

Yes, she had enough common sense to turn herself into the police, but that could have as much to do with her not having anywhere else to go.

Her life is essentially ruined, as everything she spent the past 10 years building crumbled around her.

All she had left was Eric, and even though that choice came with serious repercussions, she felt like it was too late to shift gears.

Once he left, though, there was nothing to keep her going.

Her going to the police read more like a sign of defeat rather than an acceptance of responsibility, for had Eric not left the motel, it's unclear what Claire would have done.

Sooner or later, her actions would have caught up with her, the latter of which being more likely since she and Eric were terrible at going off the grid.

The thing is, though, had Claire not run away with Eric, she may have managed to salvage some of her life.

While her relationship with Eric would result in her being fired, she could have saved her marriage with Matt — had she wanted — and most likely not gone to prison.

In Texas, the age of consent is 17, so even though Eric confirmed their relationship to the police, Nate was right in that it's unlikely Claire would have been charged.

Now, though, she's probably facing divorce and possible jail time.

We'll have to wait a little longer to discover the exact repercussions, which is somewhat of a letdown.

After patiently suffering through five episodes worth of heavy exposition and poor execution, this installment seemed like it would be the best to date.

Claire: I’m having an affair. I’m having an affair. I’m having an affair.

Matt: What?

Claire: I’m sleeping with my student.

_{🔗 permalink: I’m sleeping with my student.}

And while it was one of the better episodes, it still didn't live up to the hype.

Things should have hit the fan, and while they did to some extent, Claire and Eric's affair went out with more of a whimper than a bang.

There were supposed to be consequences galore once the cat was out of the bag, but the show took its sweet time in dawdling.

Even the reactions from the other characters were relatively subdued.

Matt had plenty of reason to fly off the handle, but he was relatively calm as he processed Claire's infidelity.

There was no yelling and hardly any crying as he tried to make sense of everything.

Sandra, Eric's mother, also didn't appear that keyed up over the news, though that could result from the series not spending that much time with her after learning about the affair.

Ironically, it was Logan's mother who seemed the most distressed by the news, for outside of Claire and Eric, she had the most emotional reaction this episode.

Speaking of reactions, is anyone else confused by Logan's?

At first, it seemed like he approved of the whole relationship because of how legendary Eric will be for sleeping with his teacher.

Logan: You’re gonna be like a legend, like a fucking god, dude.

Eric: Don’t say that, man. The fucking cops came to my house in front of my mom. I don’t know what’s going to happen to her.

Logan: That’s not your problem. She’s an adult. She’s like 30, right? It’s on her. You didn’t do anything wrong.

Eric: She’s under investigation because of me. She won’t talk to me. She won’t pick up the phone.

Josh: I mean, she’s probably busy with her husband. Like fuck, dude, she’s got a fucking husband. Fuck.

Logan: Eric, look, I get it, all right. I do. Like you probably really, really like her, but she’s been having sex with her high school student. It’s like, she’s got issues, man.

Eric: You guys don’t get it.

_{🔗 permalink: You guys don’t get it.}

However, in the next sentence or so, he completely changed his mind when he said that everything was Claire's fault, and she had serious issues.

It was like the writers wanted Logan to be the stereotypical 'one of the guys' and voice of reason simultaneously, and it just came across as weird.

What would have been better is if Logan took one stance, and Josh took the other, instead of Logan trying to cover every possible reaction to the news.

Some stray thoughts:

• Kudos to Matt for wanting to stick it out with Claire even after everything he's put her through. Though he's probably changing his tune after his wife's latest stunt, he still gets points for trying to make it work, especially after everything Claire did. Matt deserves better, so let's hope he eventually gets it.

• While Nate said Claire and Eric running away could look like a kidnapping, does anyone else think it does? Eric is 18 and can make his own decisions. Running off with Claire doesn't look great, so that probably won't play well with a jury, but kidnapping still seems like a stretch.

• Why wasn't Nate more upset with Claire? He put his job on the line when he helped Eric. Did it ever occur to him that he could get in trouble now that everything was out in the open, especially if the police kept digging? As an officer himself, it should have.

27 Characters Who Have a Secret and Can Keep It

Open List

So what did you think, TV Fanatics?

What was Claire thinking?

Are you disappointed by the lack of consequences thus far?

Were the other characters' reactions too subdued?

Hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts. If you missed the latest episode, remember you can watch A Teacher online at TV Fanatic.

The post A Teacher Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Episode 6 appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Nate says Claire most likely won't go to jail.

Officers show up at Eric’s house and ask him and his mother Sandra questions about Eric's relationship with Claire.

While Eric is cagey with his answers, he later tells the investigators everything after learning they know about the extent of his relationship with Claire.

Eric calls Claire and says he wants to meet, but Claire says she can't.

The news of Claire and Eric's affair spreads through the town like wildfire, and Eric meets with Logan and Josh to discuss the ordeal.

Logan tells Eric what happens to Claire isn't his concern, but Eric still refuses to believe that Claire was in the wrong.

Matt tells Claire he wants to try to make things work and makes preparations for the coming days.

At dinner, Claire says she needs some air and leaves the house.

She gets in her car and meets Eric, and the pair decide to run away together.

They go to a motel, and Claire laments the end of her teaching career.

They have sex, and Eric, regretting his decision, heads home in the morning.

After walking up alone, Claire goes to the police station to turn herself in. 

The post A Teacher Season 1 Episode 6 Recap: Episode 6 appeared first on TV Fanatic.