'A Teacher' Episode 4: Claire is bad person here but Eric is no saint either, especially how he treats Alison
Spoilers for ‘A Teacher’ Episode 4
After their fateful night during the homecoming dance -- Eric (Nick Robinson) and Claire (Kate Mara) had sex in the backseat of Claire’s car -- this scandalous relationship between a teacher and a student begins to take shape. It is obvious from the get-go that Claire should have known better.
As she sets the tone and ground rules for their relationship and then breaks them at will -- she had initially said they shouldn’t communicate on any social media and then proceeds to send Eric salacious photos on Snapchat -- it is abundantly clear that Claire has the upper hand in the relationship. Even though the age of consent in Texas is 17 (Eric’s age), there is no doubt that Claire (whether she sees it that way or not) is grooming the young teen.
It’s a predatory relationship with much that is wrong and will obviously end up with both parties hurt and with Eric needing some serious help later. And Hannah Fidell’s writing in the show doesn’t leave Claire’s culpability ambiguous. Add to that, her relationship with Eric is adultery, after all, she is a married woman. And what she is doing will irreparably harm her husband Matt (Ashley Zukerman). So, suffice to say, Claire is the obvious bad person here.
But Eric is no saint. Yes, there can be no blame for him as far as his relationship with Claire is concerned -- there is simply no justification for that -- but there are other ways he is not being a good person. For starters, his behavior with Alison (Camila Perez) is reprehensible. Eric, in the second episode of the season, reconnects with his ex, Alison. They had broken up a year ago and suddenly, things became okay again after a house party where the two hooked up. In fact, Eric even asked her to the Homecoming dance. And there, he left without informing anyone.
To Alison, this felt like he was not just ghosting her, but publicly humiliating her as well. It was Eric after all who had broken up with her the first time. And now, he was sending her mixed signals again, making her feel confused and angry and hurt. Yes, he is infatuated with Claire. But he should have done better with Alison.
The second person Eric is hurting is his mother. The show established Sandy (Rya Kihlstedt) as a single mother, who works hard to take care of Eric and his younger brothers. They aren’t from a rich family, and she juggles her work and her family with enormous amounts of effort. But when she goes out on a date one evening -- and it's a rare occasion for her to be going out, leaving her kids home -- Eric goofs up.
He was supposed to babysit. But he prioritizes sex over this responsibility and goes out to meet Claire, leaving an inexperienced babysitter to take care of the situation. Eric returns to find his mother back and fuming. His younger brother had burnt himself during his absence.
Eric, of course, is not to be blamed for his relationship with Claire. But he can and should be blamed for hurting the people who love him. He should have been more responsible in each case. And he should have done better.
The show does not try to make Eric look like the bad buy. And he isn’t. But he’s not the greatest teenager there is.
‘A Teacher’ airs on Tuesdays at 3 am ET on FX on Hulu.