'A Teacher' Episode 4 Preview: Eric and Claire have been careless, here are 4 ways their affair can get exposed
The FX on Hulu series called ‘A Teacher’ follows a female high school teacher and a male high school student caught in a sexual and romantic relationship. The show explores the nuances of this predatory relationship as well as its consequences.
Claire Wilson (Kate Mara) is a young teacher at a suburban Texas high school. New to the school, she soon gets close to a student called Eric Walker (Nick Robinson). Eric is a 17-year-old who works hard both in school and at his part-time job. He’s good-looking, sensitive, and intelligent. Claire, who is also a good-looking woman in an unhappy marriage with Matt Mitchell (Ashley Zukerman), soon falls for Eric. We see the two get close, share secrets, have sexual fantasies about each other, move away from each other because of possible repercussions, and finally give in to it and have sex.
While so far, in the first three episodes that aired back-to-back on Tuesday, November 10, on FX on Hulu, we only saw the relationship being set up, there are an awful lot of ways this can and will go wrong for the both of them. For Claire, the stakes are higher, of course. Regardless of that, both have been equally careless about things. So, here are the possible ways they can get caught:
One, when Claire took Eric on a tour of the University of Texas, the two ran into Cody (Cameron Moulène), a frat boy and Eric’s best friend Logan's older brother. When Cody asks Eric to introduce her, Claire gives her name and pretends she’s a friend of Eric’s. The two then go to his frat party where many people see them. When Cody later asks him about Claire, Eric pretends she was a college student he met at the diner where he worked. He gave a different name, but luckily Cody did not remember. But in the event he does, Logan will immediately recognize the name of their English teacher.
Two, when Eric first kisses Claire, it’s in school -- something that is extremely risky. Even later the two talk about their feelings in a seemingly empty hallway during the school dance. In both instances, it is possible that someone saw or heard them. And we might find out in episodes to come if that’s true.
When Eric gets busted for underage drinking at a house party, the cop that shows up is Nate Wilson (Adam David Thompson), Claire's older brother. Unwilling to call his mom, he requests him to call Claire in order to give him a ride back home and she does that. Nate is a former military man. And he seems like the kind of cop who can sense something fishy. Showing overfamiliarity with his soon-to-be lover’s cop older brother seems like a classic mistake. And this can easily lead to trouble for Eric in the future.
And last but not least, Eric, during this time, reconnects with his ex Alison (Camila Perez). The two seem to be getting along well again. This can spell trouble when Eric gets involved with Claire, because if no one else, the person you’re dating (even if casually) will notice you being into someone else.
In three episodes, the two have made several mistakes (discounting the fact that even being together is a general mistake). Hopefully, they’ll play it more carefully ahead.
New episodes of ‘A Teacher’ drop every week on Tuesday, only on FX on Hulu.